April 26

A blessed 83rd birthday, Dad!  The world misses you a ton!  No matter what I am doing, I keep you on my mind.  When I was at Mass today, I prayed for your soul.  You worked very hard during your lifetime.  It was short time in our eyes and hearts, but God knew it was time for you to rest.  From your first bout with Hodgkins' Disease in the early 1970s and the chemotherapy that you endured to go into remission, you battled this world so that a disordered society would not be mired in sadness.  That is what your smile and attitude toward life meant for those of us who even had the chance to meet you just one time.

You started coaching Little League in 1975 for Ed's team - The Marauders - a team that would become iconic over the next 30 years in our hometown.  There was a healthy fear for any team that would be our opponents for the day.  If anyone were to beat the Marauders on a given day, it was the highlight of their season because it happened so rarely.  BTW, it's interesting that this comes up today because of the gospel at church this weekend.  It's from John's gospel regarding the Good Shepherd.  A former translation would have read "are thieves and marauders."  Whoever changed it to "thieves and robbers" should be excommunicated!  Kidding!

Anyhow, dad, now you and the three brothers above you in age are together in heaven.  It's crazy to think you went first of the four of you.  I know uncle Jerry, aunt Marge, and aunt Judy miss you, as does mom, Ed, his children, and me, and any other relatives on both sides of our family.  Of course that means all of the DiGuido family.  Uncles John, Tom, Denny, and Roy DiGuido who have all joined you in heaven too, let alone your parents and mom's parents.

You touched so many lives.  I love telling the story of the night of your wake on January 8, 2009, and how people stood outside in line of Hickey's Funeral Home (some for over an hour) to just get in to pay their respects - IN FREEZING TEMPERATURES.  There will always be several people I remember being at the wake.  Probably the two most prominent for me were Gina R. and Angela Dio.  But there were literally hundreds of people that night, and then a packed church in the morning for your Mass.  I still remember someone telling me that it was proper to ask Bishops Lyne and Perry to pray the commendation prayers.  I remember asking Rob to pray the commital prayers at the cemetery.  One conversation exchange at the luncheon came from your brothers George and Jerry.  George stated "Mike, that was impressive.  14 priests and 2 bishops in attendance."  Jerry responded without hesitation "Yeah, but Ed was still thinking 'where are the rest of them?'"  I think our table simply didn't stop laughing about it for 10-15 minutes.  I hope uncle Jerry remembers that story.  *Marge, you'll be sure to send it Jerry.*  

We all miss you, dad.  Even those who never met you because they don't know what they missed.  BTW, thanks for praying for the pope.  He's a gem.

I don't know what it was about today at Mass versus other weeks down here in San Diego.  Maybe I had you on my mind and heart, dad.  Something felt different.  I truly felt like I had not in months about life and about ministry.  To the people of St. Cletus, happy feast day.  Maybe the priest's homily from last night had more effect on my than I thought.  Not so much the homily itself, but he told his vocation story and it made me think again about my own.  Then the priest this morning said that we are all to have a personal encounter with Christ.  I agree with his thought that many people say that's not possible, but in all reality, Christ is always present.  Jesus once told us "where two or three are gathered, there am I in their midst."  But you know, even in our times when we are alone, He is present.  That is supposed to be our comfort.  It's too bad more people don't recognize that.  It's too bad I don't remember that at all times either.  I believe there would be less despair in the world.  Then again, there would likely be much less evil in the world too (especially in 2026)😡.  What is our mental malfunction as the human race?

Anyhow, dad, I know I have asked you for a lot over these last 17 years since God called you home.  Like Pope Leo asks us all to do, pray for peace and an end to violence.  (Maybe gas prices could go down too.)

Love Michael