Jane Brockman- Devout Christian, Devoted Spouse, Mother,\nGrandmother, Seamstress, Master Chef, Woodworker, Children\u2019s Story Writer\nArtist, and so much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane and I were married just shy of 48 years. She was so many things to me- my soulmate, my\njoy, my lover, my partner, but also my conscience and my constant source of\ngrowth. And sometimes she was even a\ndrill sergeant! We both shared the\nsame politics and religion; and that was a true blessing, because in other\nareas, we were opposites. I was\nattracted to her flightiness, her artistic flare, her carefree nature; she was\nfascinated with my logical and organized approach to everything and was amazed\nthat I didn\u2019t always have to have lots of people around! Sometimes the opposites in us clashed, and we\nhad words for each other, but through it all, we were always open and honest\nwith each other, and maintained our love and respect for each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We shared so many wonderful experiences with each other; 5\nwonderful children; 13 grandchildren; trips to Italy and Ireland, a couple of\ncruises; and many, many family vacations across this country almost always with\nour children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we supported each other in severe trials, like the loss\nof our third son; the challenges of an Alzheimer\u2019s parent; job problems, and\nthe deaths of our parents. It seemed\nthat whenever there was a challenge, that\u2019s when we were there the most for each\nother. But isn\u2019t that what Christian\nmarriage is all about? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, having a good marriage was something that we were both\nhungry for. When we lived in California,\nwe were always involved in a Christian married couples small discussion group. These groups helped us to understand what it\nwas like- the real world after the honeymoon. \nWe were just about to have our first child in 1971. But we were listening to older couples talk\nabout the challenges of teenagers, kids on drugs, finances, you name it. We heard about vastly different disciplinary\nstyles. And it all helped us with what\nwas happening in our own marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We learned, as Paul says in Corinthians, to walk by Faith. God had chosen us for each other, and it was\nour challenge to live God\u2019s plan together, no matter what time and circumstances\nthrew our way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, after we moved to\nOrlando in 1984, we wanted to continue with such marriage enrichment groups. We did Foccus for years, and then we homed in\non Renew 2000 here at Holy Family. With\nthe help of now Bishop Parkes, when he was here as an Associate, we put a\nmarriage preparation program together for the parish as part of Diaconate\nFormation. Jane was integrally involved\nin my formation as a Deacon. There were\nsome 60 couples who experienced that marriage program, Building Households of\nFaith. Jane worked besides me to put\nthat program together, and to run the weekend over the four years we did it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, Jane and I were a team. \nEven after I was ordained, she played an integral role in the things I\ndid. For example, she critiqued all my homilies\nand she participated in the Bible Studies I facilitated. I was privileged to have her as my partner;\nshe was a great part of my inspiration. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A big part of our relationship, especially during difficult\ntimes, was prayer, especially the Rosary. \nJane just always seemed to know how to bring prayer into our real-life\ndilemmas. She was an incredible role\nmodel in deep faith in the Lord. And\nwhen we prayed consistently, our prayers were always answered. About 10 days ago, we started a rosary novena\nfor a special intention. Just minutes\nbefore Jane went to bed Saturday night, we finished the Rosary together. It was the very last thing we ever did\ntogether as a couple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To understand just how deep Jane\u2019s Faith was, I need to get\nto the roots of it. And the roots have\nto do with the fact that Jane and I had different views on death. In 2001, Jane had a near death experience\nthat included a vision of things beyond this life. She experienced Jesus and her parents and a\nnew creation in that vision. But she was\ntold she had to come back! So, from\n2001 on, Jane had absolutely no fear of death, that\u2019s how strong her Faith in\neverlasting life in heaven was. She was\nready to go on at any time. And that\nboth troubled her, and yet pleased her. She\ntold me she had seen what it was like in heaven and so, she really looked\nforward to it. Like our first reading,\nJane had seen the great feast prepared for us and so vividly described by\nIsaiah. And like our second reading, Jane\nlived her life after 2001 desiring to live in that new creation but recognizing\nthat there was still a lot to be done here. \nAnd so, she accepted the fact that it was not yet her time. And she relished becoming a Grandmother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could not quite grasp her description of the beyond. I think I\u2019m like a lot of people in that\nregard. I believe; but what comes after\ndeath is so unknown, so different,that I still hold on to an element of fear of\ndeath. Like a lot of logical engineer\ntypes, I am uncomfortable with lack of knowing the details. And so, I came to envy Jane\u2019s peace with the\nidea of death. Jane definitely believed;\nand Jane had cast out all fear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane believed in the Lord deeply and loved the Lord\naccordingly. The Lord\u2019s will was her\npriority for what she did. That\u2019s what\nmakes the Gospel today so appropriate. Jane\nwas like one of the virgins who had plenty of oil for her lamp. She was always ready. Spontaneously ready to help; anxious to be of\nservice; willing to listen; able to comfort those around her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had just returned from a two week trip up to our\nTennessee getaway with a side trip to North Carolina to celebrate our\nGranddaughter Maribelle\u2019s graduation from pre-school. We relaxed and worked together on everything\nthose two weeks. As I drove, we\nlistened to soft piano jazz. When she took\nover the driving, we listened to Classic Country Western. I would kid her constantly about some of the\nwords. Particularly the song with the lyrics\n\u201cWill you love me tonight if I come back today.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I just wonder if Jane\nasked that question of the Lord often. \u201cWill\nyou love me tonight if I come back today?\u201d \nAnd at 4 AM Sunday the 10th<\/sup> of June, Jesus said to her \u201cYes\u201d. \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jane Brockman Funeral Is 25:6a, 7-9; 2 Cor 5: 1, 6-10; Mt 25:1-13 Dc. Larry Brockman Jane Brockman- Devout Christian, Devoted Spouse, Mother, Grandmother, Seamstress, Master Chef, Woodworker, Children\u2019s Story Writer Artist, and so much more. Jane and I were married just shy of 48 years. She was so many things to me- my soulmate, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[514],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}