Remembering a friend…Michael Dubruiel.
In this new age that we are living in, the age of the Internet, we all have friends whom we have never met in person. Over 15 years ago I “met” a group of Catholic friends in an AOL chat room discussing Pope John Paul II’s “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”. I have kept in touch with these “Threshold” friends even though most of us are no longer on AOL. We pray for and with each other. I have gotten to meet 4 of them in person, but many others I have not.
Michael Dubruiel is another of my Internet friends, whom I have never met in person. Michael stumbled across this blog about 18 months ago, and posted a comment. I don’t even remember which posting he was commenting on. We then exchanged some emails, and he sent me some of his books. Our friendship was beginning. Michael was a Catholic author and catechist; married to Amy Welborn, a much more famous Catholic Blogger than I. He and Amy had a book on the Rosary, which for my private use I recorded my first “podcast” of me reciting the Rosary using the meditations from their book. I sent Michael a copy of my recording (just 2 sets of mysteries, I have not finished the rest), so that like me, he could listen and pray with them while at the gym.
Last year at this time I drew a bit closer to Michael. Months earlier he had sent me a copy of his book, The Power of the Cross, and I had decided to read it for my Lenten meditation. Just before Lent began I received word from my sister that my then 16-year old niece had been taken by three men and sexually assaulted. I was in shock and filled with anger. I picked up Michael’s book, and in its pages I found a better way of dealing with my anger and hurt. The way of uniting it to the Cross of Christ Jesus. Of course the only way you are going to do that is if you have confidence in the power of Christ’s Cross to conquer evil. I share my appreciation of his book with Michael and in a series of emails he told me that he began re-reading his own book because he was struggling with some emotions over a serious illness his father was facing.
I had not chatted with Michael, well emailed him, in several months. The other day I was making my rounds of some of my favorite Catholic sites and blogs and came across some shocking and very sad news. Michael had died suddenly. Apparently he was at the gym when he collapsed and died. He was only 51. Of course Amy, his wife, and their children are grieving … pray for them. Especially in this difficult economic times there is anxiety about their future. If you can, support them by buying one (or more) of Michael’s books. If you are looking for something to read this Lent, I cannot recommend highly enough his book The Power of the Cross (it is even organized for the weeks of Lent). If you want to learn more about the Mass, his How to Book of the Mass is great. You can get them from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or your favorite religious books shop.
And remember my friend … whom I never met face to face, but I will remember in my heart.
