He lost so much. But what touched so many of us was the serenity, the freedom. What I was going to say at the beginning, but couldn t get out, was that his parent knew what they were doing when they brought him to the waters of baptism. They placed him not only in that font to be baptized, but they placed him in that tradition of faith. They placed him in the grace of God.
Grace is a wonderful word.
It happens to be my mother s name. She was born on Thanksgiving, so they named her, Gracia. Something we can be open to and receive gratefully. We will come to this altar and give thanks, eucharist . My father was open to the grace of God.