Articles By: Kathleen Flood, OP

Shortly after I turned ten years old, my father died from cancer. He told my mother that he wanted to tell me about his impending death himself. On a sunny, fall day he went outside with me. He directed me to use my little shovel and dig up a small area of ground by the fence. I dug up the earth, broke up clots of dirt and raked it smooth. Then my father took some tulip bulbs out of his pocket. He showed me how to dig the holes where the bulbs would go and I planted them making sure they faced the right direction. Soon they were all planted. After we returned to the house, he said to me, “Kathleen, soon I will be planted in the earth just like the bulbs you planted. Do you know what will happen to them in the spring?” I said, “They will bloom.” My father told me, “This will happen to me. You will not see it right away, but like the bulbs, God will give me a new life and I will bloom in God’s time. It is called the resurrection.” Looking back with adult eyes, I realize that this was my first lesson in transformation. It was revealed to me through my dad’s life. He was rooted in God, lived in harmony with his own self and with his family and friends.