Prayer of St. Augustine

Last week, my friend's husband died in a car accident in Vail, CO.  I have known my friend since Kindergarten.  In one of those funny ways that life has of twisting and turning, we remained friendly through high school.  She was in band and so sweet and kind and pretty (all things I definitely did not feel I was - well I was assuredly not in band.  Or sweet.), but our paths did not really cross socially.  However, the fact that she was Catholic and that we had been friends in elementary school always made me feel a connection with her.   There was a small group of such girls I felt that connection with, and the friendships persist to this day.  Ironically, all are Catholic.

In any case, my friend, TABO, and I reconnected again when I saw her at church after I had had my first baby.  That's when I found out that she had married someone else from our high school and taught elementary school.  She was as sweet as ever.

Fast forward another few years and we became friends on FB (God bless FB - it has its place in the world). It was through FB that she got in contact with me to ask me about homeschooling, and it was through homeschooling that we became the friends we are today.  Well, it was actually probably more through our faith, but that faith finds its fulfillment in homeschooling.

So my friend has lost her husband.  She has three young children. Mary-Catherine has been bereft for TABO's oldest, who is her age.  She can't comprehend what she is going through.  Meanwhile, TABO is conducting herself with grace and serenity far, far beyond what anyone could expect of someone going through what she is going through.  She is an inspiration.

So what does St. Augustine have to do with any of this? His prayer is the one I have been saying for TABO since I first found out that her husband had been hurt:

Watch, O Lord, with those who wake,
or watch, or weep tonight,
and give your angels and saints
charge over those who sleep.

Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ,
rest your weary ones,
bless your dying ones,
soothe your suffering ones,
pity your afflicted ones
shield your joyous ones.

And all for your love's sake.
Amen.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of A, TABO's husband.