I would like to join my voice to those of the Catholic blogosphere, in praying for Amy Wellborn and her family. This last week her husband, Michael Dubruiel, collapsed and died while working out. He leaves behind a grieving family as well as devastated friends and colleagues and many, many grateful readers of his books. I am one of the latter. I have used his books in the religious formation of my children and have enjoyed his blog entries on Amazon for a long time. Michael was a young man; although, I must say it is amusing to me how the definition of “young” with respect to untimely passing is rapidly changing as I age.

With uncharacteristic brevity, Karl Marx had this to say for his last words. “Go on, get out - last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.” Having read hundred of pages of his writing when I studied communist political thought in college, I couldn’t agree more. He’d already said enough. But sometimes, last words are a gift that God allows as last blessing and Michaels Dubruiel’s last column most certainly falls into that category. In his last column, Michael weaves together an unlikely combination of the wisdom of Father Groeschel, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and an antidote to “The Big Lie.” He concludes:

What is the opposite of the “big lie”? Trust.

When questioned by an English journalist about the future of the Religious Order that he co-founded, Father Benedict gave a simple reply, “We have no plans, except to be led by God.”

None of us knows what the future holds, but hopefully we can embrace what is inscribed in our coinage, “In God we Trust.”

May perpetual light shine upon him. His voice will be sorely missed. Please read the rest of his last column here. And buy his books and not just because the royalites will help his children go to college. They’re good.