Dear Friends and Family,
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Br. Justin Young, OSB. He died suddenly on Wednesday, April 4, from a brain hemorrhage. Also please keep in your prayers his family members, brother monks of Mount Saviour Monastery (Elmira), and all the Oblates and many friends of Br. Justin and the Monastery.
Brother Justin was a dear friend of mine and of many others who sought his deep prayerfulness, winning smile, outrageous laugh, and constant thoughtfulness. He was the Porter at Mount Saviour, greeting guests and preparing their morning meals for them. He also did a hundred other things of which I'm not even sure. He was a creative and a mystic at heart, and that's how our bond developed. He often sought me out after Mass and gave me some little encouragement, prayer, or intuition that had come to him regarding my own spiritual journey. I will treasure always a copy of St. Francis de Sales' Introduction to the Devout Life that Br. Justin gave me last year. I have been and am deeply blessed that he was (and is) a part of that journey.
Br. Justin was just 69, and had just recently had his Final Profession (spring of 2016, I believe). Before entering Mount Saviour Monastery, he had been a Missionary of Charity Brother (Saint/Mother Teresa of Calcutta's order). He had met her and was devoted to her memory and status as a saint of the Catholic Church.
I'm positive he's on his way to heaven, and that his prayers are now storming the gates of heaven for all of us. I miss him terribly and am still in shock at his sudden absence, although I am rejoicing for his sake.
Thank you for reading and for your prayers. May God reward you.
In Easter Joy,
Elena
2 comments:
Dear Elena,
May God grant you His loving peace during this sadness of the death of Brother Justin. I will remember both of you in my prayers. Even in our sorrow, we need to rejoice and thank God for how Brother Justin has helped to form you and guided you in your discernment. And just think...he went to heaven during the Octave of Easter....Alleluia.
United in prayer,
Sister Anne Marie
Thanks for sharing about Br Justin. I never had the opportunity to meet him personally. I will ask our Lord to hasten any purification needed by Br Justin that he may quickly behold the Face of Christ. Following St Benedict's admonition to keep the thought of my own death before me, I often pray this little prayer for mercy at death recorded by St Faustina (n. 813):
0 merciful Jesus, stretched on the cross,
be mindful of the hour of our death.
O most merciful Heart of Jesus,
opened with a lance,
shelter me at the last moment of my life.
O Blood and Water,
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus
as a fount of unfathomable mercy for me at the hour of my death,
O dying Jesus, Hostage of mercy,
avert the Divine wrath
at the hour of my death.
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