MEMORY ETERNAL

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Panikhida Troparia of St. Isaac the Syrian in Tone 8 – Fr. Apostolos Hill

Among the Saints, O Christ, give rest to the soul of Your servant, Scott, where there is no pain, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting. You alone are immortal, who didst make and mould man. But we mortals were formed from earth, and to the earth we return, as You who created me did command and say to me, “You are earth, and to the earth shall you return,” where all we mortals are going, and for a funeral dirge we make the song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!”

“With the spirits of the righteous give rest, O Savior, to the soul of Your departed servant, Scott, and keep him in the blessed life with You, O Lover of mankind. In the place of Your rest, O Lord, where all Your Saints repose give rest also to the soul of Your servant for You alone are the Lover of mankind.”

Yesterday morning, my beloved uncle, Scott Lee Beecham, passed into life eternal.

His death was due in part to an aggressive lung infection and was unexpected to say the least. He was 51 years young. Scott is my dad’s only brother and 1 of 3 siblings. Scott’s life was not always an easy one and he certainly had his battles to fight as do we all. He became a born again Christian while in High School, but soon after college at Murray State, he married and moved to L.A. with dreams of becoming an actor. In the milieu of this, sadly he left behind his walk with the Lord, as is so easy for us all to do when the world entices. I have many fond memories of going with my grandmother to visit him and my aunt when I was younger. 🙂 I think I’ll always have a special place in my heart for California, for many reasons, and visiting him was definitely one. He was a fun grown-up to a 10 year old, and always very kind and loving. He seemed like a big kid most of the time. I always felt that at heart Scott was still seeking God, and many years later, during a time of great turmoil he called on God once again. After an unfortunate and unexpected divorce from his wife he moved back to Peoria, Illinois. This is the area where he was originally from and he wanted to be near family during the difficult days ahead. It was in those troubling and soul searching days that he gave his life back to God. While his path still was not an easy one to tread, he continued to learn afresh to give his life daily to God and walk in His ways; albeit with some major shortfalls here and there. However, I know from talking to him that he was doing well and truly happy once again. And he was learning to trust God for help and mercy in the current phase of his life, even through great loneliness, overwhelming depression, and crushing disappointment at times.

He left us on a Sunday morning, and this I think is important to note and ultimately Divine Mercy. My uncle fell asleep in this mortal coil during the hours that Christ was risen from the dead and at the time that the myrrh-bearing women were making their way to anoint the Lord’s body and instead found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. It is my belief that the path ahead for my uncle may have been more evil and difficult than his spirit could bear, and that God in His mercy granted him rest and took him to Paradise to be with Himself,

“…lest evil change his understanding or guile deceive his soul. For the fascination of wickedness obscures what is good, and roving desire perverts the innocent mind. Being perfected in a short time, he fulfilled long years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord, therefore he took him quickly from the midst of wickedness.” (Wisdom of Solomon 4:11-14)

I believe he fell asleep in the Lord, and like the myrrh-bearing women, the Lord found him watching and waiting for Him.

I will miss him very much. I miss him already. He is a good uncle. He loved all of his family very much. He is a very intelligent man, full of compassion and love, always trying to be at peace and help others be so as well – sometimes even to a fault – but his motive was always love. He loved fishing, baseball, and being outdoors, but most of all he loved acting. He is a good actor, and a good singer of 70’s rock ballads, and loved going out to sing at Karaoke places. He made me laugh and I often felt that we thought on the same wavelength, which is a weird one, but it is comforting to know that someone else in your family is just as odd as you are. I’ll miss that most of all, but I look forward to the day when we will laugh together again in Paradise.

Rest well Uncle Scott; rejoice in the Lord and pray for us here. I’ll see you soon.

Thank you all for your prayers this last week. Please pray for my dad (Fr. Joshua) especially, as well as his sister and our family that the Lord would help us in our grieving. Lord Have Mercy! Memory Eternal!

CHRIST IS RISEN!