A personal note.

Dear Brothers, Family and Friends,

Very recently an old friend of mine died, Tony O’Meara of Reservoir. I’d had little to do with Tony over the years, but in the 1960s we were young Marist Brothers together, and more recently Tony lived in an aged care facility where I regularly visited one of our own Brothers, Dominic Stewart, so I occasionally visited Tony as well.  

I happened to be with Tony last Tuesday.  He was lying, peaceful and comfortable, and obviously very close to the end of his 14 year battle with dementia. Tony’s wonderful wife Judy was present, two of their six adopted children, Judy’s brother,  and a couple of attentive staff.  

It was a privilege to be with such a family at this time. Tony’s two youngest sons (full brothers to each other) were both mildly intellectually disabled, and both had attended Br Dom’s recent funeral, along with their Mum. The older of the pair, James, whom Dom had taught, was a young man in his twenties. He was really struggling, seated on a chair at the door, crying, but he couldn’t bring himself to enter the room to be with his dad. Then Judy arrived, and on seeing her distraught son, stooped to clasp him in her arms, the mother’s embrace bringing time to a stop for the rest of us. The silence was sacred…. the ground where we stood …..holy!

To witness love like this, who can dare say all hope of something better is lost!

Michael Herry