As I drove to Albury from a funeral out of town last week for a man you probably don’t know by the name of Paul Price (“Pricey”), I was thinking about Pricey and his family – a family I’ve always found so loving, incredibly humourous and infectiously informal. I pondered that question so easily asked, yet so difficult to answer: why do bad things happen to good people?
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To “eulogise” means to do something we all could do more of: “speak well of someone”.
Pricey’s little sister Lisa certainly did that with great love and even gave us a few laughs, which was so reflective of the man and the Price Clan.
Lisa, you spoke so well on such a hard day mate. Again, well done!
I should also thank Lisa for letting me write here, with her approval, that I’m not so sure about this idea of wanting to die doing what we loved.
Maybe I’m strange, but I don’t want to die doing what I love.
I don’t want to die playing footy and then when I get to heaven (hopefully) St Peter says “Padre I know you loved footy of all codes, so you’d be pleased to know there’s a great game of footy going on up here at the moment between the Saints and the Demons. So choose a jersey, run straight on and start playing!”
I think I’d reply sternly “Are you joking? I don’t want to play footy! The last time I played a game of footy I died! How insensitive are you? Are you trying to traumatise me?” If I died doing something I loved I’d probably never want to do it again for as long as I live!”
Hmm…that would be quite a long time actually.
Yes, I think I’d rather die doing something I hated; like vacuuming.
And not when I’m almost finished vacuuming either, but right at the beginning when it’s still fun hearing the dirt pieces going up the tube.
This way, if I get asked in heaven to do some vacuuming I can say “The last time I tried vacuuming I died! Are you trying to traumatise me all over again? The last thing you need up here is a crazy priest! And for all eternity!”
I doubt we’ll need to vacuum in heaven or play footy, but hey, who knows?
I do not know how we will live after death, but I believe we will live after death.
It is impossible to desire what does not exist. We would not hunger if there was no such thing as food; we would not thirst if there was no such thing as drink; we would not grow tired if there was no such thing as sleep, and we would not grieve for our deceased loved ones unless there is life after death.
Seven of the Ten Commandments in the Bible are about how we treat other people. Being a committed husband to his wife Chelly for over 31 years and making sure he was present in the lives of his sons Dean and Kane to the very end, Pricey understood the ancient wisdom in “charity begins in the home”.
The only true friends we have are the friends that have our back when things fall apart or become unjust and Pricey’s intolerance of bullying the little guy and his desire to send in the media when people were bullied showed he was willing to share his friendship with people he didn’t even know.
If you could buy a friend like this in a shop it would cost you millions. No wonder we called him “Pricey”.
FATHER BRENDAN LEE
Twitter: @frbrendanelee