We Remember~Deacon Brendan Brides

About a month from now, on October 10th, we will celebrate our third "We Remember" prayer service in Saint Jude's Chapel at Christ The King. The service is a special time where parishioners and others take the time to remember and pray for a loved one who has died. The prayer service was born from an assignment given to the Permanent Diaconate class of Fall River some five years ago. Each member of the class was told to prepare a prayer service of their choice for an event of their choice.  I was a member of that class and having been involved in the Ministry of Hope at Christ The King I choose "We Remember."Before submitting my project I had two dear friends, Sister Shirley and Sister Dympna, review my effort. I received much feedback - positive and negative! I made the recommended changes, submitted my project, got my grade and figured that was it. It wasn't. A few weeks later I met Sister Dympna at Mass and and I remember her very distinct and poignant question to me: "when are you going to actually conduct this prayer service!?"

On October 10th my role in the prayer service will certainly feel different: it will be my first time presiding as an ordained deacon but even more intimately for me it will be the first time I will "remember" a mentor, a friend, a fellow Irish person, a genuine Christian and somebody who was just a lot of fun to be with. Sister Dympna Smith will be sorely missed by many in our parish. Our loss is the Lord's gain, a gain we hope to share in some day when we are reunited with our dear friend and sister, Dympna. But for now, we remember.