Archive for the 'Veronica Gantt' Category
10-31-2007
Veronica Gantt: Dancing With the Angels
I Can Only Imagine
“Blessed are they that mourn: they shall be comforted.” Mt 5:5.
Many are aware of a tragic accident that occurred this week when a driver struck and killed a 16 year old girl who was out of town attending a National Youth Conference. The driver fled the seen as Veronica Gantt lay lifeless. Every parent, youth minister and teenager continues to ache, and can’t help but consider, that could have been any of us, and in fact, it was one of us. (One Body in Christ). The grief is immobilizing~ leaving parents of an only child heartbroken.
Veronica was from St. Viator in the Las Vegas Diocese. Tonight, I had the honor of being with Veronica’s grieving community where students, parents, classmates, and her faith family gathered to grieve, hold one another and process.
I, like everyone else, was overwhelmed with emotion. What could anyone possibly say to bring comfort at a time like this? It seemed impossible…
“Nothing is impossible with God” Mk 10:27
I seldom get nervous speaking, but as I approached the pulpit my heart raced. I humbly gave my words to the Holy Spirit and asked him to proceed. This is what He shared:
Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the [valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
What do you say at a time like this? No words suffice
We want explanation… Why? What if? We question, We question ourselves, we question God… and yet, It’s impossible to explain, and is difficult to accept. The grief is real ~ it can be immobilizing~ And yet… Grief is a call to holiness- we are connected to the sufferings of our Lord in a very real way.
Henri Nouwen writes:
”Death often happens suddenly. A car accident, a plane crash, a fatal fight, a war~ when we feel healthy and full of energy, we do not think much about our deaths. Still, death might come very unexpectedly. Jesus was broken on the cross. He lived his suffering and death not as an evil to avoid at all costs, but as a mission to embrace. We too are broken. We live with broken bodies, broken hearts, broken minds, broken spirits. We suffer…
How can we live in our brokenness? Jesus invites us to embrace our brokenness as he embraced the cross and live it as part of our mission. He asks us not to reject our brokenness as a curse from God but to accept it and put it under God’s blessing for our purification and sanctification. Thus our brokenness can become a gateway to new life.”
2. Honor whatever you feel. Rage… anger… sadness… confusion… Remember that Jesus mourns with us.
”Jesus, the Blessed One, mourns. In Luke’s gospel Jesus mourns when his friend Lazarus dies. Jesus mourns over all losses and devastations that fill the human heart with pain. He grieves with those who grieve and sheds tears with those who cry.”
Jesus cries with us tonight. He sent us Mary, his mother who knows the enormity of such suffering. She had to experience the suffering and loss of her beloved in death, she too grieved, she did not feel ready, it was too soon, but Jesus responded… HE assigned John to care for her and she for him. Tonight, I assign you to care for one another …and to especially care for Veronica’s family.
3. This was not a surprise to Jesus: HE did not cause this, and although it was a shock to us, it isn’t for He who created Veronica. He who ordained her life from the moment she was conceived. He was preparing for her homecoming her entire life. “No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.” (Ecclesiastes 8:8)
4. We know that Veronica is a Saint! Bob McCarty, the Executive Director of the NFCYM addressed - 20,000 grieving youth on Thursday. Those who loved Veronica, because we are all connected one body in Christ. He proclaimed her sainthood to 20,000 voices who screamed out in honor of her life, now forever joined with the communion of Saints.
St. Veronica is changing hearts and lives in profound ways. Here is what some of the students had to say at the conference:
I HONORED Veronica today by….
Calling my mom and dad today and telling them I loved them…just cause…Emily
I really listened today…I wanted to try and hear God’s voice…Marylyn
I felt grateful that I am Catholic…and have faith that I am going to Heaven where I will see Veronica…Maggie
I felt like Veronica woke us all up to cherishing every moment…especially with my family
After hearing about veronica I called each person in my family and told them how much I love them.
Veronica’s reiterated the sacredness and fragility of life for me.
5. So where can we find any comfort? What do we know of Jesus? We know he has prepared a place
Jesus goes before us to prepare a place: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3) A place called heaven- a place that is perfect… where there is no pain, no suffering. .. Where we want to be, It is our home…
Veronica has been born into eternal life: God turns things upside down: For us, for those who love her, this is the worst tragedy that could ever happen… but for Veronica, it is the GREATEST reception, the greatest part, the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to her. Going home to a place where EVERYONE is nice (like her), where there are endless books for her to read, a library that goes forever… Volleyball games whenever she wants, and music that never stops, she can dance forever… Veronica is home, dancing with the angels.
6. Our commissioning:
St. Paul writes: “For to live is opportunities for Christ, and to die… is gain” (Philippians 1:21)
When Jesus went to heaven, he left the Apostles to carry the message. Those who are here tonight are carriers of the message. The message that Veronica lived by, to love her family, to love her friends and to deeply, passionately, and madly love her God. We are now called to go forth and do the same, and to cling to one another. St. Veronica is home, in the arms of Jesus, dancing with the angels…
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
“I can only image” by Mercy Me
The evening proceeded with a video montage of pictures of Veronica and her friends to the song I Can Only Image by Mercy Me. Tears flowed, hugs transpired and faith sharing from the community. Many got up and shared exactly what Veronica meant to them, how she had inspired their life and how her smile, her compassion, her generous heart and giving spirit, her faith, had all made a difference in their lives.
Veronica was an only child. We invited the youth to adopt her parents and to become their children (like Mary was to John). The way we survive is with one another, through one another, lifting each other up. We were never meant to do it alone, especially at a time like this. We need each other. The Gantt’s need their faith community!
I am forever changed because of Veronica’s life and death, like that of our Savior, He too, is very much alive, and tonight is holding Veronica as she dances with the angels. Welcome home baby girl! Dance into Jesus’ arms!
Happy Are Those Who Weep
Happy are those who weep. They shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:5),
There is undoubtedly a therapeutic, healing meaning to tears. Is not weeping, in fact, necessary? To understand? To let go? To enter in? But Jesus is also describing the state of those who have something to weep about, who feel the pain of the world. He’s saying, those who can grieve, who can cry, are those who will give comfort and compassion to the world.
Some grieve with tears, some try to filter through the head. Some localize grief in the body. Early Church Fathers wanted tears, in effect, to be a sacrament in the Church. St. Ephraem goes so far as to say, “Until you have cried, you don’t know God.” Weeping, the physicalities of holiness. (Luke 7:38), anointing bodies for death (Mark 14: 3–9), “Blessed are those who mourn… for they shall be comforted”. This reflection inspired by the writings of Richard Rohr
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