May the Angels lead you into paradise, may the martyrs receive you in your coming and may they guide you into the holy city, Jerusalem. May the choirs of angels receive you and with Lazarus once poor may you have eternal rest.
He was like St. Joseph
You have probably never heard of Michael Manak. This 48-year-old Catholic husband and father led a relatively quiet life, which came to a sudden end this past week, when his heart failed while he was taking a swim in the Pacific Ocean.
He and his wife Kathy had been visiting his son Jason's family in San Francisco. Before they left for the airport, they took a walk on the beach. After playing with his baby grandson Christopher, Mike decided to go for a swim, since the day was unusually warm. His other family members decided not to join him, so Mike plunged into the water alone. He was in great shape, and was enjoying the water, posing for pictures and waving to his family on the beach as he dove through the waves. His daughter-in-law Christen saw him dive through a huge wave - and he never came up. Quickly Jason jumped into the water and grabbed his father - only a dozen feet from the shore. But by the time Jason reached his dad, Mike, who had been under the water for less than a minute, had already died.
I can only imagine the distress of his wife and family. The mystery of how a healthy and vigorous man, almost too young to be a grandfather, could die abruptly in the prime of life, is not something I can understand.
As I said, you have probably never heard of Michael Manak. I myself only met him a few times, mostly when I was at his house to pick up Jason, who is a friend of our family. Jason, like myself, has a desire to glorify God through the arts, and he has been working at getting his masters' in computer animation. He hopes to work in the burgeoning video game industry and make a difference, as a Catholic.
You may not have heard of Mike Manak, but you might have heard of theapostolate that his wife, Kathy Manak, works for as chief financial officer of FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Kathy is an energetic, delightful woman with a genius for finances who has used her talents to serve this and other Catholic ministries for years.
And though you might not have heard of Mike Manak, if you have teenagers, you might have heard of his niece, Marie Miller, who's been making surprising inroads as a Christian singer, being listed as "one of the top ten independent artists to watch" by Christianity Today.com. Her new single"Cold" just made #21 on Air 1 radio.
So although Mike Manak may never have made a name for himself in the"Catholic world," he was part of a family whose members, for better or worse, are in the trenches, working to change the culture for Christ. When I think of Mike, and the stable, smiling, background presence that he was, I am reminded of St. Joseph.
From a human point of view, St. Joseph left the scene too soon in the life of Christ. He was there in the beginning, rising to the job of marrying a teen aged girl who was pregnant through mysterious circumstances. He was a good provider: he defended his wife's honor, he worked to provide for her, he raised her Son, providing wisdom, guidance, and home, sustenance and shelter under trying circumstances. But then, before Christ's baptism in the Jordan, before the wedding feast at Cana, before His revelation to Israel as the Messiah, Joseph was gone.
Sure, God provided a St. Peter, a St. Matthew, a St. John, and so many others to publicly carry on the work. But St. Joseph was there, working silently and peacefully in his place, years before anyone else knew or cared about Christ.
His loss must have been so painful for his wife, Mary, and for his adopted Son. We never think of that: how it must have been for Christ to lose His earthly father, before anyone else beyond the family circle knew who He was.
How Mary must have missed him, especially during that mostly-forgotten but probably very painful episode in the wider family, when Jesus' other family members "set out to take charge of Him, saying He was out of His mind."Where was Joseph to defend His adopted son, to put the unruly uncles and cousins in their places? How Mary must have suffered in the midst of that family battle, taking a stand alone against their relatives.
And she must have wondered: if Joseph had still been with us, would it have made any difference? Would he have charged into the fray to reason with their fellow villagers when her Son was nearly stoned? Would Joseph have been able to protect his adopted son from the murmurings of the Pharisees? From the Sanhedrin, or the Roman authorities? From a human point of view, from the family's point of view, God took St. Joseph away far too soon.
But as we know, God allowed this as part of His divine plan.
And as a Catholic, I am trusting that God has allowed this sorrow to come to the Manak and Miller families because He has a plan. He has a provision. Though the emptiness of Mike's place will remain with them and with us for years to come.
Mike's daughter-in-law Christen tells me that this past year, Mike had quit his job when they refused to give him time off to attend the birth of his first grandchild, Christopher. Since Kathy was still working for FOCUS,Mike decided to look for a job that would allow him to serve the Church in some way. But no job came his way, so he spent this past year searching,spending time with his family, and deepening his prayer life. Christen relates that he had just completed the Divine Mercy Novena two weeks ago and finished the requirements for plenary indulgence. But the last year of his life was not a special change: all his life, Mike took his spiritual responsibilities as seriously as his temporal responsibilities.
How many men are working among us today, like St. Joseph, the unnoticed ones, who are the good daddies and the good husbands, who provide a paycheck and pay the mortgage, who make things happen by their very presence and persistence? I don't think I am sufficiently appreciative of them. Mothers are praised by society, at least by their children, but how many times do we remember our fathers?
And how swiftly they can leave us. Though God singularly and sometimes spectacularly provides for the widow and the orphans, we will always miss St. Joseph, when he is taken from us.
If you know a man who is a St. Joseph to your family or to others, take the time - soon -- to let him know you appreciate him. So often, we just don't realize how much they do.
And please pray for the soul and for the family of Michael Manak. He was a wonderful man who never sought the spotlight for himself. He will be greatly missed. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
by Regina Doman
Although our family is hurting very much right now, there are so many comforts God has given us even when we look at the last few minutes of Dad's life.
When Dad went to enter the water for his swim he turned back to us and said, "See you in a bit." Those were his last words on this earth...so although we didn't get to say "Goodbye" to Dad...those words have consoled us that we didn't have too...because we will see him in a bit.
The last picture we have of Dad is a picture Jason took of him swimming just minutes before he left us. Dad had noticed Jason on the beach snapping photos of him. After everything happened and we got home from the hospital we looked at those pictures and zoomed in on Dad's face. It looked like he was having the time of his life...then...in the last picture, he was still smiling, but he was also pointing with his index finger up to the sky! It was as if he was reminding us what is really important in this life.
There have been many consolations and comforts in the past two weeks, however I want to share one more. On May 14th, the day before Dad's funeral, we found out that I am expecting our second child and am about 6 weeks along. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." Please continue to pray for our whole family, especially Mom, Jason, Jessica and David. Dad was such a blessing to our lives and will greatly be missed, but I have faith that we will "see him in a bit" for a Christian never says Goodbye...but only Farewell for a time.
Farewell Dad, I love you.
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