We had our first-ever funeral in the monastery today, for Oblate Jill Gendel, may she rest in peace. Jill's life was full of difficulties yet I never saw her upset. As her sister put it, she always thought the best of everyone. She led a whole crew of scholars at Catholic Theological Union in daily prayers for me before my ordination (badly needed!). Much of Jill's suffering was quite literally for Christ. She was Jewish and entered the Catholic Church about 25 years ago. She remained devoted to her people, though her decision to follow Christ made some relationships very hard.

Many from her family were present at the funeral. Today, I was very aware of the connections between Catholic liturgy and the temple and synagogue. We made sure to pray two Jewish prayers, closing the homily with the Kaddish, the prayer prescribed for the family of the deceased, and of course saying the Lord's Prayer together (I have heard that Cardinal George has referred to this as a Jewish prayer: taught by a Jew and containing no reference to the Holy Trinity!).

Would you please say a prayer for Jill and for her family? And please remember in your prayers the ongoing Jewish-Catholic dialogue, which I believe is so important for the future of the Church and the Jews. What a wealth we have to learn from our 'older brothers' in Faith.