God In Most Unusual Ways

Today we celebrated the life of a unique man, Thomas Robert Trilling. Mr Trilling died on Wednesday afternoon, pushing his lawn mower on an unusually hot, humid Fall afternoon. He and wife Pat, were married in our church some 63 years ago. Before than event, Bob was baptized here 86 years ago as were his children some years later. From all that I learned from his wife and two daughters, Bob was a most extraordinary man. Unfortunately for us, Bob and Pat move into a part of Bethesda that is part of Little Flower parish. He is one of those kind of people that I wish I could have met.

The unusal way God acts is this: Bob's dad was very much involved with Fr. Yingling, the priest sent in 1906 by the then Archbishop of Baltimore to establish a mission in the Palisades. Bob's Dad was present with Fr. Yingling as he celebrated the very first Mass for the Mission of Our Lady of Victory. Even more noteworthy is the fact that tomorrow, October 7th, we mark the 100th anniversary of that event.

We will mark this event on Sunday at the 10:30 am Mass. Tomorrow evening, yours truly will be attending a special event sponsored at Little Flower Parish marking the event of 100 years ago as it relates to the eventual founding of Little Flower Parish. More information and hopefully a picture or two will be posted tomorrow evening.

But returning to memorial Mass of this morning, please remember Bob's family: his wife, Pat, and his daughters Sandy and Linda and their families. For all of them, our parish has a special place in their hearts. As one said to me, "OLV is our spiritual home. We will always think of OLV as the place where we had our spiritual birth."