The following comes from an April 13 AP story which ran in the New York Daily News.
A 33-year-old West Hollywood man who felt sickened by bacterial meningitis earlier this week has been declared brain dead amid warnings to sexually active gay men about the deadly strain of illness, officials said.
Brett Shaad was declared brain dead but remained on life support Friday afternoon, said Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Shaad’s family. She declined to release further details.
That corrected a statement made earlier in the day by West Hollywood Councilman John Duran who said Shaad had died and had been removed from life support.
Duran said later that friends who were in Shaad’s hospital room since told him that he was declared brain dead.
Duran, who saw Shaad last weekend, described the openly gay man as being “robust and healthy” prior to Monday, when he began to feel sick.
On Wednesday, he went into the emergency room. By Thursday, he was in a coma.
Earlier Friday, officials warned sexually active gay men to beware of the potentially deadly health threat because Shaad’s case was detected in Los Angeles County.
Tests were being done to see if the strain of illness is similar to the meningococcal infections that circulated among gay men in New York City and infected 22 people, resulting in seven fatalities, since 2010.
“We don’t want to panic people,” Duran said. “But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS.”
The illness could be spread by sex and kissing but not by casual contact.
Shaad attended a major party for the gay community in Palm Springs the weekend of March 30, Duran said. The White Party attracts thousands of partygoers from all over the country for dancing and revelry….
Read more here.
How can this be stopped when so many regard it as the uninfected to watch out for themselves. They feel no responsibility to reveal if they’re HIV+. See daleoleary.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/how-not-to-prevent-aids/
It might be helpful to review what the Centers for Disease Control say about bacterial meningitis:
Causes
Common causes of bacterial meningitis vary by age group:
Age Group Causes
Newborns Group B Streptococcus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes
Infants and Children Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae type b
Adolescents and Young Adults Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae
Older Adults Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Listeria monocytogenes
Risk Factors
Factors that can increase your risk of bacterial meningitis include:
Age
Infants are at higher risk for bacterial meningitis than people in other age groups. However, people of any age are at risk. See the table above for which pathogens more commonly affect which age groups.
Community setting
Infectious diseases tend to spread more quickly where larger groups of people gather together. College students living in dormitories and military personnel are at increased risk for meningococcal meningitis.
Certain medical conditions
There are certain diseases, medications, and surgical procedures that may weaken the immune system or increase risk of meningitis in other ways.
Working with meningitis-causing pathogens
Microbiologists who are routinely exposed to meningitis-causing pathogens are at increased risk.
Travel
Travelers to the meningitis belt in sub-Saharan Africa may be at risk for meningococcal meningitis, particularly during the dry season. Also at risk for meningococcal meningitis are travelers to Mecca during the annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage.
Transmission
The germs that cause bacterial meningitis can be contagious. Some bacteria can spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions (e.g., kissing). Fortunately, most of the bacteria that cause meningitis are not as contagious as diseases like the common cold or the flu. Also, the bacteria are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air where a person with meningitis has been. Other meningitis-causing bacteria are not spread person-to-person, but can cause disease because the person has certain risk factors (such as a weak immune system or head trauma). Unlike other bacterial causes of meningitis, you can get Listeria monocytogenes by eating contaminated food.
Sometimes the bacteria that cause meningitis spread to other people. This usually happens when there is close or long contact with a sick person in the same household or daycare center, or if they had direct contact with a patient’s oral secretions (such as a boyfriend or girlfriend). People who qualify as close contacts of a person with meningococcal or Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) meningitis are at higher risk of getting disease and may need antibiotics (see Prevention). Close contacts of a person with meningitis caused by other bacteria, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, do not need antibiotics. Tell your doctor if you think you have been exposed to someone with meningitis.
Healthy people can carry the bacteria in their nose or throat without getting sick. Rarely, these bacteria can invade the body and cause disease. Most people who ‘carry’ the bacteria never become sick.
“It *might* be helpful to review what the Centers for Disease Control say about bacterial meningitis:”
Might? A man loses his life and 1,000 sexually active homosexuals in West Hollywood scramble and race for vaccinations and your only solution is a “might” be helpful? …..Not one single solitary mention of God who is “always helpful” as the Redeemer of all men but plenty of inferences between each hollow lines.
You might as well have written, “Hey guys, don’t panic! It’s business and pleasure as usual. Go ahead and have your deadly fun…..After all, we really aren’t sure how this happened or where it happened. ….Oh, and while I’m at it, quoting the CDC while distracting others from over-reacting about those vaccinations, how about some reading material on playing the game of Russian Roulette with your life and with your soul?”
Your CDC post is nothing more than another type of bookstore front that masks the pornographic lifestyle behind the scenes. When we die, we will not face the CDC as our final judge.
“This is one of the most powerful articles we’ve seen on this subject. At the very least, every state legislator should read this.”
Google: MASS RESISTANCE – THE BOOKS WERE A FRONT FOR THE PORN
The Truth About the Homosexual Rights Movement
By Ronald G. Lee
New Oxford Review
(New Oxford Review is a Catholic monthly magazine. Visit their website here.)
February 2006, Volume LXXIII, Number 2.
© 2006 New Oxford Review. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Yes, Mark F, was right when he still charitably reminded those who are caught up and held captive in the slavery of committing homosexual sin that if even Moses or the prophets and the dead were given the opportunity to come back to warn you of the extremely dangerous precipice that you are traversing, you would still prefer to ignore their warnings and then hand them some CDC information in order to protect the lie instead of listening to their words.
Catherine. If you had actually read the original post and my “might be helpful” response, you would see that CCD says that bacterial meningitis is a sexually transmitted disease. It is not. You are jump on the bandwagon of being critical of anyone gay, and to issue condemnatory comments of this man whom you have never met, facts be damned.
I’m not even sure why CCD chose to run this piece in the first place. What does this story have anything at all to do with Catholicism is beyond me. Unfortunately people die of communicable diseases every day. CCD jumps on this story because it just so happens to involve a gay man. What do you suppose their motivation could be for running this story?
The gay community serves disease as an incubator.
Skai sometime bacterial meningitis is spread in nurseries and child care setting. Sometimes in college dorms, sometimes in military barracks. No need to insult gay people.
Good post Catherine. Thank you.
Thank you Sandra and God bless you too!
Catherine great post.
YFC,
What you don’t want to admit is what He taught us: “the wages of sin are death”!
May God have mercy on your compromised soul,
Kenneth M. Fisher
May Almighty God have mercy on the soul of Brett Shaad.
Taken from LA Weekly Blog
Brett Shaad Aftermath: John Duran Apologizes to Family as Meningitis Vaccinations Uptick in West Hollywood
By Patrick Range McDonald Tue., Apr. 16 2013 at 6:00 AM
West Hollywood Councilman John Duran offered an apology on Monday to the family of Brett Shaad, who died from meningitis over the weekend. Duran held a press conference on Friday about the Shaad tragedy, which sparked national media coverage.
“Please offer my deep condolences to the Shaad family,” Duran wrote in a press statement. “Please communicate my apology for intruding into the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
Earlier on Monday, Brian Shaad, Brett’s older brother, released a statement on Brett’s Facebook page condemning Duran’s and the media’s handling of the death. Also on Monday, more than 1,000 meningitis vaccinations were given at AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s West Hollywood pharmacy.
The Shaad family remains outraged with Duran’s and the media’s handling of Brett Shaad’s death.
Duran held a press conference on Friday in which he said Shaad had been taken off life support and died, which was reported by the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times.
But while the West Hollywood attorney had been declared “brain dead” by Cedars-Sinai doctors on Friday, he had not been taken off life support. The Shaad family made that difficult decision on Saturday evening, and Shaad’s heart stopped beating at 6:42 p.m.
On Monday, Brian Shaad wrote on his brother’s Facebook page, “The irresponsibility of Councilman Duran, the L.A. Times and the Associated Press in announcing the death of my brother before we even had the chance to tell family members and his friends outside of Los Angeles is outrageous.”
Shaad was not obviously the only carrier of this strain of meningitus … one might wonder about the concept of “epidemic” and the possible adjective here, say, “cover up”.
The LA TImes sees fit to report on something that isn’t even true and they didn’t report anything on the Gosnell trial. All those 70 press seats were empty. What I’d like to know is, why does anyone bother reading these lying, erroneous, deceiving, amoral, and utterly corrupt news sources anymore? Like the NYTimes, they’re only suitable for advertising and weather reports. If only people would stop reading them entirely! They’re no different than Pravda, and have become a detriment to a truly free press. There was a time I actually subscibed to the NYT…it’s been many years since I have stopped even reading even the ads or weather reports or even the book reviews as they’re so biased and shallow. These papers are the yellow journalism of the past! No, not even that. They’ve become
black journalism…unreadable, unbelievable and unreliable.
This is a great post Dana. All of us need to flood these papers with our discust.
Thanks, Sandra. Unfortunately those floods of letters are as water off a duck’s back, don’t you think? As likely to be effective as beating tom toms or sending smoke signals. The only thing that would possibly motivate the black press would be financial ruin, public ridicule on a MASSIVE scale and/or loss of advertisers. They are impervious to everything else.
Dana, I no longer read them and refuse to buy them, including most magazines because they only push the envelope more and more on immorality. My husband buys the local newspaper for the sports section and the television guide, but one can limit that to just weekends if one wishes or buy one paper from the stands. Evidently most people have since our local paper is a shadow of what it once was. The irony of it all is that the owners and writers do not have the sense to figure out why many, many people do not buy them any more. They blame it all on the computer which is not all the cause of failing newspapers but because they no longer contain family values.
Anne, you’re so right! You would think that newspaper publishers would be more concerned about dwindling subscribers and advertisers…could they be receiving supplementary income from certain billionaires who want to undermine our country? I think one reason we’re seeing such rapid changes and unprecedented attacks on our whole value system is the distortion of the division of wealth. We’re being ruled not by people we’ve elected but by a tiny cadre of malignant and amoral international billionaires who like Hearst in the 20th cent( and rockefellers etc) still determine where and when we go to war…I think the current and past two presidents were /are just puppets.
Its sad…I pray that before he died, that perhaps he had an opportunity to confess and speak to a priest.
Truly a sad story….
With or without a priest present at his deathbed, the believer has the chance to reach out for God’s help, mercy and power — which is of course very good news for those countries where the priest only comes to the village every two or three years.
We all need to turn to God, especially when death draws near, because even those who appear to be quite pristine and holy have sins that only God knows of, even if the rest of the world things we are quite saintly.
And even if we ourselves think of ourselves as quite saintly.
Interesting Michael….I wonder what made you want to write that…..I don’t know if this man that died was saintly or not but I do feel saddened by this news and one would always pray that a good priest would be around and I for sure pray that when God calls me, that He provides me a good priest. Where you self analyzing? I don’t get your comments.
You just don’t know even those whom you judge as being self righteous and wanna be saintly,…..they could just be. Even those whom some persecute here when defending the faith. Just think….there are saints and angels amongst us…somewhere around the world…..I pray that some may cross my path and I hope to learn from them….. : )
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it”
Hebrews 13:2
Abeca,
That was such a brilliant and insightful response. You saw right through the switching of tactics. Your guardian angel has certainly felt your love, your appreciation and your hospitality. God bless you Abeca, sweet sister in Christ. : )
THE SAINT MICHAEL PRAYER
Can a prayer be inspired by a battle?
Pope Leo XIII wrote the Saint Michael prayer, printed below,
in 1884, after supposedly seeing a frightening vision: evil spirits, trying to fulfill Satan’s boast to destroy our Lord’s Church within a century, were engaging in fierce attacks against it.
“Although the Pontiff also saw St. Michael casting Satan (also known as the devil) and his demons back into Hell in his vision, he was so horrified by what he had seen he felt compelled to help defend our faith in this struggle.
In the Saint Michael prayer he throws down the gauntlet to “the father of lies” as Jesus calls the devil in John’s Gospel (8:44), by enlisting the help of a very special Archangel:
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the Divine Power of God,
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
St. Michael makes a great general in this fight between Christ and Satan for our souls! After all, we read in Revelation (12:7-9) that “there was a great battle in heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon…and that great dragon…who is called the devil and Satan, who seduces the whole world…was cast unto the earth, and his angels [the demons] were thrown down with him.”
St. Michael’s very name (in Hebrew, Micha’el meaning “Who is like to God?”) denotes the war cry uttered in that battle. Note that when we talk about Satan or the devil here we are also referring to his “army” of fallen angels, the evil spirits referred to in the Saint Michael prayer.
As a special patron and protector of the Church, St. Michael has been assigned to fight against Satan; to protect faithful souls from him, especially at their death; to champion God’s people; and, further along this line, to escort them to their judgment.
Pope Leo XIII saw to it that the Saint Michael prayer was recited after every low Mass throughout the world. (The low Mass, discontinued in 1970 after Vatican II, was said by a priest alone, with no music.) This prayer is not said at Mass today, but in 1994 Pope John Paul II urged the faithful keep to reciting it.”
Catherine I love your post! So beautiful to remind all their obligation to pray especially to seek help from St. Michael the Archangel. Catherine I was told that this prayer should be prayed after every mass and not many churches are doing that, so my husband and I try to remember and lead our family to silently pray it after mass.
Thank you Catherine for your kind compliments….you lift me up in Christ…..I consider your posts to be saintly because they always contain church teachings, faith and love….always the truth.
Catherine also I am glad you posted what Pope Leo XIII asked the faithful to do. Like I said I was told that too but I forgot who instructed the faithful to do so and you as usual beautifully added that important information for me without me even asking here but I had in my heart to try to recall.
Wow Catherine, see all we have to do is ask Christ and He gives us the answer…sooner or later in His time.
I do ponder and pray for a miracle….I keep asking Jesus to help me discern when a saint crosses my path….because I don’t want to romanticize it but I want to have hope that in today’s modern times, that God still throws us a bone, as wicked we continue on becoming, to still have more saints amongst us.
The Lord sent angels too to deliver His message….have we grown so wicked that He no longer does this or sends us more saints? I don’t know…..but I want to still have hope, faith and especially more love. If Jesus love can just penetrate in us more(that we allow it because many resist due to them perhaps not wanting to change or give up their flesh)…but our sins are too great….I think that we have become so desensitized and so politically correct in thinking….I bet you that many of us truly do not see us as God see’s us……can we possibly be that honest….but perhaps we are protected too…maybe if we saw what God see’s…in some of us, it may cause more harm than good due to bad will. due to not being able to handle it…..
God help us.
The Leonine prayers after Low Mass are 3 Hail Mary’s; Hail Holy Queen; “O God, our refuge and our strength, look down with mercy on the people who cry to Thee, and through the intercession of the glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of St. Joseph, her spouse, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in thy Mercy and Goodness hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners and the liberty and exaltation of the Holy Mother the Church. Through the same Christ our Lord.”; the prayer to Saint Michael and 3 times the prayer: “Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.” These prayers were suppressed in 1965 so they are not supposed to be prayed by the congregation after Mass anymore. (One can pray them as a private devotion.) They were sometimes called the prayers for the conversion of Russia but they were instituted before the communist takeover of Russia. It was Leo XIII who ordered them prayed throughout the world in response to problems in Italy in 1884. The problem resolved in 1929 with the creation of Vatican City. In 1930, Pope Pius X ordered the prayers to be said for the people of Russia.
abeca, you don’t recognize those He sends.
Anonymous you are correct, I don’t think many of us do. We are imperfect. I am imperfect. I do love truth and all that is good and holy, I love God’s holy understanding, from what He has shown to me throughout the years…so with that love I hope to see. I pray for our Lord to perfect what I perceive to be love and to make it His. For With God nothing is impossible. I pray for God’s will to be done, not the will of men, not my will.
Abeca,
Thank you for truly recognizing the critical importance of the St. Michael prayer. The St. Michael prayer is certainly powerful. Look how just the very mention of saying this prayer after Mass compelled k to cleverly attempt to suppress the important value of this extremely powerful prayer being recited after Mass.
k wrote: ” These prayers were suppressed in 1965 *so they are not supposed to be prayed* by the congregation after Mass anymore. (One can pray them as a private devotion.)” = Reaction of Dracula to a Crucifix
That was a falsehood for k to state that this prayer is NOT supposed to be prayed. Faithful bishops such as Bishop Paprocki do recognize the extremely powerful aid in reciting this prayer with the faithful after Mass. St. Michael the Archangel protect us in battle from those who attempt to deliberately suppress the importance of this prayer.
Bishop of Springfield IL Brings Back St. Michael Prayer After Mass
by Brian Kelly April 21, 2011
Servant and Steward: His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, has authorized the public recitation of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel – originally composed by the Holy Father Pope Leo XIII in 1886 – following the dismissal at the end of Mass and before the recession.
Catherine especially in these modern testing times….the St. Michael Prayers is most needed.
I’m glad Bishop Paprocki did that. I wish they all would. There is a long form from which that short prayer is taken. Also, the long form of St. Patrick’s breastplate.
Catherine, I have promoted the sayings of these prayers often on CCD. I pray them after Mass myself. Sorry you misunderstood my support for these prayers. My ultimate point was to inform readers that there are additional prayers that can be said and give some history. I am glad that a Bishop has authorized the recitation of these prayers. Maybe Pope Francis will make it universal. If it be God’s will, I will welcome it. And don’t forget the Prayer before a Crucifix with prayers for the intentions of the Pope. I have been adding an additional Our Father and Creed for the intentions and well-being of the Pope Emeritus. God bless you. Love, k
Yes, we should and can pray that this poor misguided soul repented before he stood before God. I am told that even a dead priest, such as St. Padre Pio, can minister to the dying!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy for the sick and the dying. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II extended a Special Apostolic Blessing on all who, during Adoration of the Most Merciful Savior in the Most Blessed Sacrament pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for the sick and for those throughout the world who will be dying during that hour.
Yes, deathbed repentance is possible.
However, deathbed repentance is unlikely by those who lead lives of sin as part of their normal accepted lifestyle.
CCC: ” 1490 The movement of return to God, called conversion and repentance, entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed,
and the firm purpose of sinning no more in the future.
Conversion touches the past and the future and is nourished by hope in God’s mercy.”
“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” – JESUS – Mt 7:13-14
Pray for God’s MERCY. “Jesus I Trust in You.”
Those who do their own Will contrary to GOD’s WILL – are in danger of losing their eternal Soul.
Anne and Mr. Fisher excellent comments! I agree with you both. God bless you.
Anne, Why would you write such a thing about a man who is not yet even buried : “However, deathbed repentance is unlikely by those who lead lives of sin as part of their normal accepted lifestyle.”
Who are you to judge this man? By what criteria? You have absolutely no right to judge the state of grace of this man, or any other.
YFC I don’t think she was judging this man personally, she was just stating the importance of repentance and church teachings. YFC no need to fret, I understand your shock of this news. I am saddened by this news too. To give you consolation… we are all sinners and what Anne posted pertains to all of us….I just pray that when God calls…I will have embraced His sanctifying grace. We should pray that for all and not be prideful about even mentioning it. Don’t let pride infect you by taking her comments personally….it’s all good…good for the soul. It’s good to help us who are still alive, to reflect and seek the will of God instead. Lets pray for this soul too.
It is not, as you claim, “judgment”, YFC, but fact. You keep trying to slither your abominable false religious notions into conversations. So far, none, zero, of your posts reflects Catholicism. You put forth two streams, one being lists of things from Catholic documents, and the other being advocacy of doctrines that oppose Catholicism.
Skai please see my reply to Catherine at April 22, 2013 at 7:08 am, as I offer it to you as well.
Hundreds of innocent kids die regularly by warfare, YFC, and you’re worried about some gay who brought it on himself.
YFC – your jumping to conclusions (again) was not for this man.
Sounds like I have helped to open your eyes to the possibility of eternal HELL, since you got so upset.
My statement was for EVERYONE including you and me – – –
Those who do their own Will contrary to GOD’s WILL – are in danger of losing their eternal Soul.
Unrepentant MORTAL Sin will send our Souls to HELL for eternity.
Thank you ANNE for repeating what I have been saying for many years.
“Those who do their own Will contrary to GOD’s WILL – are in danger of losing their eternal Soul.”
CCC: ” 2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.”
“Who are you to judge this man? By what criteria? You have absolutely no right to judge the state of grace of this man, or any other.”
How dare YOU question Anne! Who are YOU to mock God with twisted lies that distort the meaning of God’s Laws? You have absolutely NO right to treat Almighty God with such hatred but you DO because you have the free will to show such disregard.
Anne’s post never ONCE judged the state of grace of anyone’s soul but Anne’s truthful post, as Abeca sweetly states, applies to everyone and especially to obstinate people who are so blinded by their sinful lifestyles that they never even reflect on the need for repentance. They have already for years convinced themselves that there is no need to repent. Talk is cheap when you think, live and act as if you are never going to have to give an account for how you loved, served and obeyed God while alive on this earth. Not everyone has the opportunity, the privilege and the honor to have a blessed provided death. They are often caught off guard and death comes swiftly.
My cousin who died of aids repented and was baptized two months before he faced God. He no longer wanted to play word games like you or gamble with his eternity or be selfish enough to gamble with the eternity of others. You will be accountable for that too! He was very aware that he was sick and going to be facing God soon. Many years of rosaries were prayed for his conversion and as he was dying he looked up and his very last words were “Who is the Beautiful Lady?”
It is so very wrong and extremely selfish of you to admonish others for not wanting anyone to go to hell.
YFC Catherine is correct. Why do people assume ill of another just for charitably praying that such and such a person sought a good priest etc….I don’t get that? I always thought it was a given to care for one’s soul and to take care of self and care for others especially right before they die. I would love it if someone cared that much about me.
Is sin so big in many that we can’t see charity when it is right in front of us? Get off your high horse and stop assuming ill of others for caring about souls. Remember folks that this young man is someone’s brother, son etc….anyone with a big heart would want to see him make right with God. Unfortunately some wait till their death to finally seek God but it is what it is, better that than never…maybe fear of the unknown makes them do it but that is not for us to judge, if you are in this person’s life…then in good conscience we should care enough to bring them a priest and help them leave this world right. For it is also in suffering that can at times bring a person to reflect and seek God. If that is what it takes, then so be it. It is so important that we have a contrite heart and choose Christ. He is love, mercy, compassion, healing etc all that is good and right, truth etc!
No one is judging….please don’t take it that way. This young man is someone’s son…his family is grieving right now….and we pray for the conversion and repentance of all sinners….especially when they are alive….that is when it needs to happen.
So with love…please do not judge the charitable words one must say in truth….but receive them as food for your soul….we can all learn from this. Especially those who are tempted to live in lifestyles that make them vulnerable to such things.
Catherine, will you please tell me when you are done with this cheek, so that I may offer you the other?
What’s the issue YFC, you can’t stand the fact you got your head handed to you…
Canisius you are a good soul. : )
The CDC says that the biggest cause of the spread of HIV is man on man sex and dirty neadles.The shamestream media says nothing.
Is this a beginning of another epidemic due to the shamestream media
cover up?????????
Dear Lord, I beg you, as a poor sinner, to show the Father the flashing wounds in your hands and feet and side and then point lovingly to the young man, now only a soul, come to You at last for his judgment. He is afraid, naked and alone, and standing so shy, confused, beside and a little behind You. Dear Lord, you know what I ask: for Your mercy and not Your justice. You have told us to trust You and trust that Your mercy is to be had for the asking. I am not this soul’s adversary at this very moment, I am not that creature who fell screaming in rage and pride from heaven eons ago. I am only his small advocate and I beg You — You who do not make us beg. You who are too kind and sweet. You who a bruised reed, this Brett, You shall not break. Our souls come to You marred by a lifetime’s worth of sin. Our bodies we have destroyed, or they have simply been destroyed for us by time. Your Body was destroyed on the Cross. You know how it is. The world, the flesh and the demon have led us astray and we have believed all the lies, except at rare moments, frankly. We have made nearly unrecognizable the beauty that is a creature made in the image and likeness of God. The Brett who bounced on his mother’s knee and went off to his first day of pre-school. But You, O Lord, Lion of Judah, can do all things and we know that to save us is not only Your will but Your delight. You leapt from heaven to the womb of the Blessed Virgin, and then leapt upon the Cross, and then back to heaven with your spoils of war: the souls You save from beyond all hope and beyond all naysaying. We “behold Your Heart, which so loves man that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself.”
O Lord! One more thing I ask of You. Replace our stony hearts with human hearts.
Jesus, I trust in You. With Brett and for Brett I say, Jesus, I trust in You. There is no one but You. Here we are, naked and alone before Thee.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
My condolences to Brett’s family and friends. My sympathy for your loss. My heart breaks for you that your grief has been added to by the local authorities, the media and insensitive internet users. Thank you for trying to get the message out that this a disease that has killed heterosexual and homosexual people. The media is now saying that there were two others, one in LA and one in San Diego who have died from it. I hope you are consoled in your loss by the Holy Spirit.
Amen.