I know this Sunday is supposed to be one of rejoicing. But for some among us, it is a day for remembering. And reckoning. The Anchoress has just posted this eloquent tribute to a life many might not have noticed — including the sad person who lived it, her brother:

John never demanded notice. Likely he never believed he was worth anyone’s noticing. When you are rejected by your parents at a young age, never quite included in “the family,” that can happen.

It has never been my habit to decide the spiritual fate of someone else; in fact I loathe nothing more than folks who presumptuously declare they know the state of someone else’s soul, because of this scripture verse or that. These people, to me, seem unloving, empty and oddly disconnected from the scripture they quote…as though their intellect has cut off from their heart. Other people mean well, but…I know tomorrow my email will contain a few missives from people who will quote scripture at me and enumerate to me all the reasons my brother is not now in the peace of Christ.

I say to hell with that. He was loved into being; he was baptized and sealed. The people who were supposed to teach him the way in which to go spun him madly, incessantly – then allowed him to get dizzy and lost. He lived a sad, tortured life the best way he knew how – quite imperfectly, but then his tools were also very insufficient and his trust was non-existent. I cannot claim to know anything, but I do not believe that a loving God would look upon this much-sinned against man and reject him once again, as he was rejected all his life.

For one thing, none of us know what happens in those infinitesimal moments between life and death, if mercy is offered one more time, and accepted.

For another, the Good Shepherd knows when a sheep has been left behind and gotten lost, has fallen helplessly into a crevice, and has died alone – abandoned to the cold and his own fear.

And so tonight – and for many nights – I will pray for John, for the repose of his soul. For his consolation and peace, in the mercy of God.

Read the rest. It is a lesson in love, and compassion, and grace. At the end, she’s also appended a podcast of the Office of the Dead.