Hard news

Recently I responded at 4AM to help some police officers talk to the parents concerning a death notification. The parents did not speak English so I was able to talk to them in Spanish and there are items that we need to go over with them as far as informational things and the basic notification.

The parents were devastated as I would be if I were to get that same news.

I asked them to tell me about their son and they showed me a video of him singing and playing guitar online and the mother showed me some art the son did for her just a couple of days prior. For me this brought him to life and I was able to get a glimpse of their son.

I opened my Irosary app so they could pray the rosary and this bought a small measure of comfort to them. The sorrowful rosary does talk of resurrection and life after death.

The officers were appreciative and I expressed my appreciation to them for what they do. We want them to show up when there are problems. One of the officers said that people like Chaplains but most people don’t want interaction with a police officer unless they need help. For the most part his is true and sad.

This notification was to tell them that their son had died of an accidental drug overdose. Now so many things people try are mixed with other drugs and many are so powerful that getting the wrong dose happens all to often like it did this week. The police administered NARCAN and saved one person and not the other one. The parents said that their son did not do those drugs and it is sad because all it takes is one time and for those that do not use drugs often they try it once and die.

My heart goes out to the parents, to the friends and I pray for them and I pray for those that had their lives cut short and I pray to God that we can do something to reduce these horrible deaths.