Did God and Dorothy plan on such an auspicious time for her to go home, right before Easter and the passing of our beloved Pope Francis. I can’t help but think she was smiling that she was there on the threshold of heaven to meet the Pope.
Each of us lives according to the beat of our own inner drum. Imagine the drum beat of Pope Francis and your own drumbeat. Each is unique. Dorothy was no exception.

Sometimes we wondered what her beat was. We couldn’t understand it, but the Master conductor did. And the Master loved it.

When I think of Dorothy, I see her in the mail room or in her usual place in the chapel or behind the lectern reading Scripture at the Eucharist, or at her usual place in the Piazza for meals and bingo.

Sometimes she was quietly sitting and watching and other times engaged in conversations. Some parts of her life were consistent and some others not so much. What was consistent was her love of God. She was opinionated, but then aren’t all of us. She knew what she liked, and it was hard to convince her otherwise. What we do know is that she was faithful to God and her spirituality.

The author of the book of wisdom gives us some profound thoughts to ponder. Even though we may suffer, God finds us worthy of himself. We need to hold onto that promise in the hard times. This life on earth is about being tested like gold in a furnace and being a sacrificial offering. That sounds challenging and it is. Starting over and over and over again is the call. And the result found in the Wisdom reading is that those who trust in God shall understand truth and the faithful shall abide with God in love. Seems like the hard work of being tested like gold in a furnace and being a sacrificial offering are worth it.

Dorothy was a teacher throughout her life even to her last days. What was she teaching you, us? As she was dying, she taught me something about surrender. She slowly let herself be transformed by the risen Christ. What a lesson for each of us! Christ is with us and understands us even to the end. What joy and hope that gives us!

Dorothy teaches us that there are many ways to be faithful to God and who are we to judge anyone’s way. Seems like the Pope Francis said something like that once about judging. And as a matter of fact so did Jesus. Dorothy taught us something about being faithful, about putting one step in front of the other and living in hope.

In the gospel, we heard the reading about God preparing rooms for us in the next life. So I don’t know what kind of room God prepared for Dorothy. I do know that it’s unique as she was unique. I suspect God let Dorothy pick out which one she wanted and it was probably close to Genevieve’s. We are reminded that an imperishable home, an indestructible dwelling will be waiting for us at the end of our lives. Yes there was a special place, a unique place for her because God so loved her and she loved God. Dorothy counted on that. That was her belief. If she were faithful to God, God would certainly be faithful to her. She was worthy of God’s love and fidelity and so are we. And in that room she may have a game of bingo going on with a Culver’s hamburger and a turtle sundae. And cardinals, the birds, are flying around. And there’s even some way for her to follow how the cardinals baseball team is doing this season. I hope they have a good season. But all this gives me hope and I expect it gives you hope that there’s a place for me too and for you too in the next reign of God. When we think of Dorothy let us remember her fun loving matching socks, her consistent sending of greeting cards for all occasions, her early arrival in chapel before liturgy to have quiet time to pray. So imagine her now being embraced by our God in her new home.

Let us close this reflection with the refrain from the song we sang for Pope Francis last Friday. It is meant for Dorothy too.

Go run into the arms of God, into the Light of everlasting love.

Oh, hear the angels sing the glory and bless your story, good and faithful one.
Well done!

Written by: Sister Diane Przyborowski