Phil. ❤️

She was dragging a cumbersome shopping trolley, packed to capacity with tins of cat food for her resident and visiting feline friends, the very first time we met. From that day forward, the supermarket would deliver to her place. Phil would carry heavy bags no more.

Pain and suffering were no strangers in the landscape of Phil’s life but her final two years were happy and cozy, at long last she was loved and appreciated. When I visited her, she would tell me stories of her life without a shred of self-pity, she trusted me. She prayed a lot and she cried a lot, Phil felt things deeply. In our time of Prayer, nothing was omitted, her beloved cats’ ailments were every bit as crucial as her own, all of life was precious to Phil. 

I learned a lot from her, many fine lessons, probably the most crucial of all on the day of her Funeral. I didn’t go with Phil’s family for a meal after her Funeral Holy Mass, instead I cycled to the beach. As I gazed on the broad Atlantic, my heart heavy, Phil’s final lesson wafted into my deepest heart; ‘The only way to die well is to live well’. Gentle monumental words falling softly into my deepest heart, lodging there for evermore. Phil lived and died with courage, acceptance and gentleness, she lived well and she died well. 

She had a wonderful sense of humour, like the time she told me that her brother was praying for rain because he was wondering if the windscreen wipers in his car were in good working order. When she laughed, her beautiful face shone, her whole countenance radiant like a thousand suns.

I asked a gentleman if he would take the above photo of us both as we sat happily in St. Anne’s Dayroom, little realising that very soon Phil would be taking her leave of this world. How glad I am now, that I asked. A few days later, as I prayed Holy Rosary at her bedside, she slept serenely without a care. Never was I present at such a peace filled passing as Phil’s. She glided seamlessly into Eternal Life, light as a feather.

I miss you Phil but I know and believe without question or doubt that you and I will meet again one fine day on that beautiful shore in Heaven’s bright city. Love never dies. Thank you for gracing my life with your sweetest presence. Because of you I know who God is. 

‘Moses was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with The Lord’. (Exodus 34:29)

‘Do something beautiful for God. Do it with your life. Do it every day. Do it your own way - but do it’. (Saint Mother Teresa)

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