The sweetest reflection

Gonzaga truly was one of the sweetest reflections of the kindness and joy of the Lord that one seldom encounters. I didn't know Gonzaga well, but what I did know was enough to know his deep love for God and his friends. He never forgot the things we consider "tiny" - to speak congratulations or acknowledgment to others for things large and small. To take note of the things people don't often see or speak of, but that those who look with the heart see and understand. It is a rare gift and one reflective of a heart truly submitted and kind.

I am grieved for you Paul and Scottie and Gonzaga's family and how you are coping with this loss. Please know my heart and prayers are with you, and I hope you are finding the comfort of the many that love you and Gonzaga in the midst of this as something to keep you going.

Thank you Gonzaga for being a man of strength, integrity and great love. I hope you are laughing on streets of gold among many, many friends and lives you have touched.

E'en for the dead I will not bind my soul to grief;

Death cannot long divide.

For is it not as though the rose that climbed my garden wall

Has blossomed on the other side?

Death does hide,

But not divide;

You are but on Christ's other side!

You are with Christ, and Christ with me;

In Christ united still are we.

Lara Long

San Francisco, CA