The Final Epistle

[thesmellypocket 1839]

Fr. Pius of Sutica was blessed by God with a serene death. At length, the knowledge came to him that he must die. His eyes were strewn with tears as he had just received the visit and heard the Confession of his dearest brother, Father Griffith. And now, he smiled, an angelic smile as he could only say profoundly: "God has been too good to me." 

 

"My good friends,

 

I wanted to say how much I love you. I do not wish my love for you to cease upon the earth. I have spent these decades serving you as best I can, by consoling, teaching and admonishing where necessary. All this I have done through faith in God - yes, that, and nothing else. It's all been He who has deigned to enlighten my intellect. But in my last Epistle, for, as the Angelic Doctor, St. Jude, says, a man ought to leave his last mark in a positive way, I want to tell you now that I believe my service for you has just begun. Yes, you have all showered tenderness and love upon me, even when I have been as hard as stone. Even my heart of bedrock could only melt at that sustained assault of concentrated charity. You have received my rather imperfect works and ministry with kindness. But this is the least of the services you have given me: above all, you have given me your most availing prayers, for now I see that more is wrought by prayer than the world realises.

 

For most of my Canonist life, I never experienced a single feeling of consolation during prayer or any good deed. I felt entirely dry. I prayed all of the Saints to help me, and, through their intercessions, tried to do my work with the firm and sole resolution of pleasing God out of love for Him, rather than getting any nice feelings out of what I do. Now, a feeling of angelic peace comes over me. I now see that all that time, though I felt it not, I was surrounded and protected by all the heavenly army. When you ask a Saint to pray for you, you might not feel they are there. But they are. And now I realise that, since the day of my Baptism, God has kept the heavenly army encamped all around me. And not just my Baptism. Through a special grace, it has been revealed to me that the Saints took an interest in me before ere I took an interest in they. No, it is not I that have a devotion to the Saints, but they that have a devotion to me. (St. Jude took a fatherly interest in me long before I became a Judite.)

 

So that is where my new service to you comes in. I always suspected that I could never repay you all for you good turns you have done me this side of heaven. And now I realise it is true. For as the Saints have done for me, their little brother, I shall do for you. Yes, I am your brother and your friend. I won't cease watching over you. I'll pray for you, I'll do good for you. Yes, I'll spend my heaven doing good on earth! Yes, let any man who wills find refuge in my prayers; that will be my hymn of thanks to God. Now I fly to Him, carried on the wings of confidence and love. I go to join the Holy Father, James II, whose obituary I have just read, and Blessed Seraphim too; oh, and I wonder what details I got wrong in Ven. Olivier's life? I supposed I had best ask him, that will be amusing. But better than all this, will be the sight of the Good God Himself, oh, He alone will be my heaven! If only sinners knew how awesome His mercy is. For I declare and profess ex animo that, even if I had committed every sin it were possible for me to commit, I would still fling myself into His merciful arms. Your prayers for me would soon break me into contrition, and then I would flee unto my God, even the God of Horen, and of Owyn, and yes, of Malin too...

 

I am your brother and your friend. I won't ever cease watching over you.

 

Fr. Pius of Sutica, FSSCT."

 

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by thesmellypocket

[JoanOfArc 4586]

Father Dima Carrion, FSSCT was the bedside of his dear friend when the priest passed in accompany with their brother, Cardinal St. Publius. For a moment, he did not believe it to be true. How could Father Pius be taken so soon from him? In Dima’s head, the elf-priest was to outlive all the priests and thensome, but the consumption took too much of a toll on Pius’ body. As he sat there, holding Pius’ hand, he, after so many years, let himself cry on elf’s arm. His tears and sobbing poured on until they were immediately interrupted as he began to smell the body. It was the sweetest smell the Carrion had ever smelt before. Myrrh he thought to himself, he’s streaming myrrh… does that mean..? As he raised his head to look up, he saw the specter of his friend smiling upon him over the body. 

 

“Do not be afraid, Father Dima and Cardinal St. Publius. I have not left you. Verily, in the heavens I am always with you now, more so than I ever was down below.”

 

The tears from Dima’s face began to pour again, but this time they were of happiness. Both Cardinal St. Publius and he watched as the specter ascended above. All he could do was sit there until he thought of what to do next. He needed to relay the message that his friend passed into the Seven Skies without a doubt. He ran over the desk to wrote down what had transpired from his own perspective and the Cardinal's. He recounted the events word for word in his head until a sudden coughing fit overwhelmed him. He covered his hands over his mouth, but after he lifted his hands off his mouth, that’s when he noticed a droplet of blood on them.

Edited January 7, 2021 by JoanOfArc

[Lojo613 1420]

Goren's eyes pour over the letter again and again. His hand quaking, he goes to pen a letter, but stops himself. Tears flow freely from his eyes, and he shakes his head at his foolishness. There would be no more letters to Pius. No more arguments, and no more... anything. Blinking away tears forming, he instead kneels. With quaking voice, through a quiet sob, he instead prays. "Oh Pius, I know you must now reside amongst the Fifth Sky, surely. Yes, what I say is heretical since it is not yet confirmed by the Church, but, as you said in your letter, it is your intent to watch over all of us and if GOD is infinitely just and merciful, you shall be there." Goren pauses, wiping his eyes "Although I shall never see you again, I know you can hear me. Thank you for being who you were Pius. Every word I have ever written, even in disagreement, has been inspired by you. Please, find His Holiness, let him explain everything about me to you. It was so long ago, but I wish for you to know, that I never abandoned the FSSCT. This world is worse without you in it. I loved you like a brother, you and Griffith who played such a big role in my youth. I shall see you again at the end of days, Pius. For now, I must find Griffith." Signing the Lorraine, Goren rises with the aid of his cane, emotionally drained from the loss of not one, but two of the most influential people in his life. 

Edited January 7, 2021 by Lojo613

[Axelu 3691]

"These are times of Mourning," The Secretariat of the Holy Mother Church had rasped to some bystanding acolyte, rapping the cane which habitually bolstered her towering, thin figure against the ground. For once, she untensed in the pew overlooking the gardens of the Cathedral and cast her gaze, weathered and wretched by life and its mysteries, toward the cerulean heavens. 

 

"Do what you must in the pursuit of TRUTH and of devotion, like these humble men," she voiced airily, her voice bereft of fervor. It had grown quiet, the wind's melodies carrying the vestiges of her sentiments. 

[VIROS 2709]

James II awaits Fr. Pius at the gates to the Seven Skies. He lingers for a moment, enjoying reunion with his friend; perhaps, in that timeless eternity, he would watch the venerable priest ascend to higher beatitudes, beyond his sight.

[Drumoldth 207]

Father Otho, upon reading the epistle, signed the Lorraine "May God rest his soul. How many more servants of God, must the Holy Mother Church lose, on this mortal earth?" asked himself.