Scottish Catholic Observer

As we approach the third Sunday of Advent, mourning the dead and realising the amazing potential yet brevity of our time here on earth is very much on our minds. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas Day, we first pay our respects at the funerals of those such as former South African President Nelson Mandela; the victims of the Clutha Bar tragedy in Glasgow and former Scottish Catholic Observer editor Hugh Farmer, who died last week.

Nelson Mandela’s legacy remains as debated today as it ever was. Before the funeral of the ‘father of the rainbow nation,’ however, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow said he would remember the South African leader ‘not only for his courage and his ideals’ but for ‘the great example he gave of the power of forgiveness,’ as ‘from his forgiveness great hope grew.’

The funerals of the nine victims of the helicopter crash at the Clutha Vaults bar in Glasgow began last Saturday. Among them, the funeral of father-of-one Mark O’Prey, 44, took place at St Bride’s Church in his home town of East Kilbride on Monday. John McGarrigle, of Cumbernauld, was laid to rest on Tuesday after his funeral at St Bartholomew’s Church, in Glasgow’s Croftfoot. The funeral of PC Kirsty Nelis, 36, took place at St Andrews Cathedral, Glasgow.

The family of former SCO editor Hugh Farmer bade farewell to the journalist on Tuesday at St Joseph’s in Clarkson.

The bereaved can often struggle to make sense of life and loss while they grieve. For them, it will likely be difficult to recognise the new hope and light that the celebration of Christ’s birth will bring into the world this month.

We must remember them in our prayers, as we remember everyone else who will struggle to find the peace and joy of Christ this Christmas, be it through loss—loss of Faith, position or loved ones— or as a result of other personal circumstances. May God give them the strength to endure and know that even in our celebrations we remember their pain.

Thank you, Lord, for the loved one you blessed my life with. Grant me now in my grief, a peace. Give me a comfort that might not make the tears go away, but that lets me feel your presence as you take up a place deep in my heart, with me. Amen.