I've known Lucille for over twenty years. She is the "memory" of the parish where I reside, having gone to grammar and high school here (when the parish still had both). She remembers previous pastors, Francis Spellman, Richard Cushing, up to the present. She attends daily Mass, sometimes in the company of children or grandchildren. But this morning I learned something new from the storehouse of her memories.I had prayed at the Mass for Father Thomas Mulvanerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, and a contemporary of mine, who died recently.After Mass Lucille enriched me with her memory and prayer. Her mother's sister, Lucille, had married a sailor by the name of Mulvanerty, and they had a daughter, Eileen. In 1930 the young family was lost at sea. Some months later, a baby was born and given the name Lucille Eileen to remember her never-known aunt and cousin. So while I prayed for my priest friend, Lucille remembered her relatives whose names she bears.In Christ's body we are one, for our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. A blessed Triduum.

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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