Deacon Dave, Pray for us.
When we pray the Apostles’ Creed, we declare that we believe in the communion of saints. What does that mean? The Catholic Church teaches us about the three states of the church, “But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory, contemplating in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as he is … So it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods … those who dwell in heaven … do not cease to intercede with the Father for us.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 954 – 956.
Catholics are very familiar with asking for the intercession of Saints. The Hail Mary is a prominent prayer asking for our Lady to “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” Different saints have particular charisms for certain types of prayers. Saint Anthony helps me find just about anything that I have lost.
With greater frequency though, my children and I have been turning my husband for help. It started during the days between his death and his funeral. Baskets of food came to the house from so many friends and family members. My daughter Rachael, (with Down Syndrome) never turns down an opportunity for food, ever. She had consumed at least two pastries and had grabbed a giant blueberry muffin. Her sister Mary tried to stop her and got the defiant stink eye. Previous experience taught us that Rachael would crush a treat rather than allow someone to take it from her. Mary prayed a quiet prayer, “Dad, Rachael always listens to you. Tell her to give me the muffin.” Mary then asked, “Rachael, give me the muffin.” Rachael looked at Mary, then looked at the muffin and handed it to her. I know that doesn’t qualify as a miracle to the church but it spoke volumes to the rest of the family.
A few days later we were getting ready to go to the second visitation before the funeral. The power went out and our house is on well water. People had to take showers. I had to wash some of the kid’s church clothes that had been worn the day before. I went out to the garage and dragged out the gas generator. I asked Dave to help me get the thing started. It started on the first pull! Thank you, Dave!
I received a letter from one of Dave’s good friends, Dan M. Dave had helped to organize an annual two-day golf outing planned that first week in July in northern Michigan. Then Dave died on the Sunday before the trip. Here is the rest of the story from Dan’s letter to the Pope.
“Our eleven golfers left on Thursday that week for the two-day outing. We did so even though the forecast was very poor for the two days. In fact, many scheduled groups cancelled due to the forecast of 100% heavy rain and thunderstorms for the Friday golf. The 100% chance of rain predicted even caused two of our members to leave, but I told the group on Thursday that I would honor my wife’s suggestion to ask Dave to intercede for the rain to hold off. I even promised to write the Pope if the rain held off and we got our round in. It did. We felt a couple drops during our eighteen-hole round and that was it. The amazing part of this was that shortly after we drove off for home a deluge began and heavy rain continued as we drove the three hours home. Since the rain held off, and more so since the good Deacon was such a strong man of God, I am fulfilling my promise by sending this letter to you. I pray you will at least enjoy this brief story and will perhaps say a prayer on behalf of Dave, his wife, their children and extended family.“
The weeks following Dave’s funeral were busy with many business and financial matters. As our term life insurance policy was nearing its end, our agent had suggested we take out an additional smaller policy that would be in place before the other one ran out. Dave and I completed all the paperwork in March 2020. Nothing happened. The autopayment didn’t go through, we didn’t get billed, and we didn’t receive a copy of the policy. When I contacted our agent to make a claim for the old policy, I asked him about the new policy. He said that it wasn’t in effect as no policy was issued and no payment made. I asked Dave to take care of it as I had too many other things to deal with. Within a couple days I received a call back from my agent saying there might be a possibility that I have a claim. Maybe two months later I had a check for the full amount plus interest minus one premium payment. Thank you, Dave!
In January 2021 I received a letter from the Social Security Administration saying Rachael’s SS benefit as a minor dependent of her deceased father would end on her 16th birthday (in July) unless she had a permanent disability. By March, I made all the phone calls and filled out the paperwork, had a follow up phone interview regarding the nature of her disability and then heard nothing back from SSA. I presumed everything was all set. Then at the beginning of July I received another SSA letter saying Rachael’s SS benefit would end on her 16th birthday. Ugh. Due to Covid precautions, there was no possibility for an in-person meeting with an SSA agent. I called and called and called some more. Sometimes I got through to an actual person. As I related my story each time it looked like everything had been documented correctly and was approved but there was some glitch (unchecked electronic box on some form somewhere) that was preventing the benefit payments from going through. On September 16, after 10 weeks of ineffective phone conversations, I finally asked Dave to just take care of this for me. On September 17, the SSA benefit was deposited into my account. Thank you, Dave!
My daughter Catherine is on the autism spectrum. Very bright kid, but significant attention issues among other things. She started taking driving lessons when she was 15. She was highly motivated to learn and passed the written portion easily. Actual driving was another story. We struggled on and off with giving her driving time because honestly – it was terrifying. I have taught six other children with varying degrees of natural ability and was not daunted by the new driver abilities. This was at a whole different level. When she turned 18 her drivers permit lapsed and she needed to get an adult permit which lasts 6 months. We were working toward getting her to take a road test by March 2020. Then Covid shut things down and there was no way for her to take a test or get the permit extended. Driving was put on hold.
After a year of mom driving her to work, Catherine really wanted to get her license. Because of her disability, she qualified for specialized driver’s instruction with an occupational therapist. (Thanks be to God). The instruction lasted for 20 sessions. Catherine was ready for the road test. Before you go out on the road you have to pass Parking. You can make 6 mistakes and still pass. When backing into a spot she touched a cone, panicked and tried several times again hitting the cone each time. She couldn’t take the driving portion of the test. Back she went to the driving instructor for some additional help. Two weeks later she was ready to take the test again. During parallel parking she touched a cone. I shot a prayer up to Dave, “Help her get through this test!” I sat in the back seat during the test and was not allowed to say a word. About halfway through the drive, I realized she hadn’t made any mistakes yet. At the conclusion of the drive the road test evaluator turned to her and said she had never had anyone drive as flawlessly as Catherine had. Thank you, Dave!!!!
I purchased a replacement pressure tank for the house as one of the two I had was no longer functioning. It took me a while to get around to calling a plumber to get it installed. The plumber recommended a different configuration and installed one larger tank instead of two. When I went to return the $330 tank it had been nearly 4 months and I couldn’t find the receipt. The service desk clerk explained that the store’s return policy had recently changed and was now more strictly enforced. After several attempts he was unable to process the return. I asked Dave to help me out (you can see a clear pattern here) and the clerk tried one more time and the return went through. Thank you, Dave!
A couple months ago I was listening to some of Dave’s homilies online. It was so good to hear his voice but also really increased the pain of missing him. A few days later I had one of those early morning dreams where you wake up and then fall back into a light sleep. I was driving to a football tailgate party by myself (something I would not choose to do). I parked the car and turned around to make my bed – because cars can become beds in dreams. As I pulled the covers a very familiar foot stuck out. There was Dave (with a full head of hair – no grey). “Dave,” I said, “When did you get here?” “I am here,” he replied. Then I woke up. I don’t usually have dreams with any kind of meaning but this one brought me a great deal of comfort. He answered in the present tense. Here, now.
I do believe in the communion of saints. It is a consolation to know that I can turn to him for help particularly in family matters. More and more frequently I seek his intercession and I am rarely disappointed. We are much closer to the faithful dead than we know. If you have a dear one who lived a godly life and died, you might try asking for their help when you are in need.
As St Dominic was dying, he consoled his brothers with this, “Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.”
You Are Loved 