On the Death of a Friend

This week, my classmate and friend Danny passed from this life and this death into eternal life.  I met Danny 40 years ago in July 1980, when we both entered the United States Naval Academy as members of 2nd Company.  

When I picture Danny, two visions come to mind.  First, I see him in uniform, seriously relating an issue, an Academy event, or some 2nd Company happening.  But I also picture him sitting and talking, with that comforting and familiar grin on his face.  

Last fall, Danny and I reconnected at our class reunion.  We talked about our lives, our family, and our faith.  Afterwards, we exchanged several e-mails as he updated me on his struggles with leukemia.  The last line of a message he wrote in April, before he was hospitalized, was:

Please keep the prayers coming, thanks for thinking of me, and stay healthy – I think your walk is a fantastic idea.

Our Second Company journey began in 1980 with 35 of us; and, in 1984, 25 of us graduated.  We lived together, seeing each other all the time - having 3 daily formations, eating meals together, having classes, parades, sports, and just too much to remember.  We were and are family.

And as I think of Danny and my reunion, I have regrets.  College life is a challenge with many facets.  And life at the Naval Academy, it's crazy - totally new, tiring, always too much to think about and do, and to keep up with.  I became good at two things - time management and sleeping whenever possible.  

After graduation, when I was a 2nd Lieutenant and a Battalion Supply Officer, one day I looked at my Marines, and I unexpectedly realized how much I loved and valued them, that I even liked the quirks each one had.  Each of them was a unique person made in the image of God.  

Thinking back to 2nd Company, I regret that back then I didn't have that understanding or love for people.  I regret that I was sometimes too busy to sit and listen, or to go out to lunch and just relax and share.  

When Jesus was on earth, people were attracted to Him; some loved Him, some hated Him, but all were intrigued by Him, by what He said and by how He treated them.

Jesus saw and knew what was in man's heart, yet He still loved the people.  And that love is what drove Him to the cross, to die for the sins of the world.  

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  1 John 4:9-10

Likewise, we are called to love people, to spend ourselves on them.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  1 John 4:11

And it's not easy.  It's not easy to serve, love, help, encourage, listen, and care - to selflessly spend ourselves.  And it's something I fail at a lot.  But I know that, after my faith, it's the only thing that matters.  

Danny, you are and will be missed by us.  Until we meet again, Fair winds and following seas.