Isn’t she lovely?

Malta Independent Sunday, 17 November 2013, 08:45 Last update: about 12 years ago

I have attended the funerals of several young people who have died tragically. Yet in none of them have I seen what I saw at the funeral of Kirsty Vassallo – namely a dear and close friend, accompanied by a small group of musicians, courageously singing a heartfelt song by the door of the church as her friend’s coffin made its way out of God’s temple.

The song that this devoted friend was singing: Isn’t she lovely?, composed by the famous Stevie Wonder, beautifully encapsulated the lively spirit that made this vivacious young woman special. I cannot refrain from quoting the following moving lyrics:

“Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she wonderful? Isn’t she precious?... Isn’t she pretty? Truly the angel’s best. Boy, I’m so happy. We have been heaven blessed. I can’t believe what God has done… He’s given life to one. But isn’t she lovely, made from love. Isn’t she lovely? Life and love are the same”.

Isn’t she lovely? The first reading during the funeral mass explained Kirsty’s passage from this world of sickness and pain to heavenly bliss. In the words of the author of the Canticle of Canticles, the Lord Jesus put Kirsty into his heavenly Kingdom while gently addressing to her humble spirit the subsequent comforting words:

“Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter of your suffering is past, the rain of your heartbreaking tears is over and gone. The flowers of your good deeds appear on the earth, the time of your painful groaning has come, and the voice of your pure heart, much like that of the turtledove, is heard in my Eternal Land, the land of the living. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away! The fig tree of your faithful commitment to me puts forth the figs of your virtues, and the vines of your faith are blossoming in my Kingdom. They give forth the fragrance of holiness.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, in the clefts of this rocky world of toil and hardship, in the covert of your troubled heart, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is comely. The foxes of evil are finally caught lest the vineyards of your hope are spoiled. Since your vineyards are mine they are destined to blossom eternally. Kirsty, my beloved, you are mine and I am yours! As I pasture my earthly flock I am comforted by your lovely presence, a lily of my heavenly land” (see Cant 2: 10-16).

Spiritually, this has been Kirsty’s life – especially during the last 13 months of her harshest ordeal. She never wavered from her constant inspiring will to live. Kirsty’s steely fortitude and spiritual stamina kept her hoping up to the very end. At some point, her frail state of health started registering impressive progress. She must have certainly focused on Jesus’ life-giving words: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Nevertheless, when her health began to decline seriously, Kirsty let Psalm 63 animate her eventual journey to the Father’s House. “O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.” (Psalm 63: 1).

Her last step was to let Jesus take her by the hand and lead her to the eternal pastures by his resurrecting words: “Tal’itha cu’mi; which means: “Little girl, I say to you, arise”. (Mark 5: 41).

Kristy’s beauty strongly emerges in her loyalty to God, Fernando, her family, her friends and to all those who needed her reassuring help.

From heaven she intercedes for us to live Jesus Christ’s invitation to you and me, as expressed by Saint Bernard of Clairveaux: “Become beautiful and then touch me; live by faith and you are beautiful. In your beauty you will touch my beauty all the more worthily, with greater felicity. You will touch me with the hand of faith, the finger of desire, the embrace of love; you will touch me with the mind's eye”.