A Brief Reflection about a Dear Friend

            The death of Reverend Peter Gomes, as a colleague told me today, is Harvard's loss and heaven's gain. Over three and a half decades, Peter became the embodiment of spirituality at the University, imparting to generations of students that their purpose was not to make a living but a life.             To Peter, the meaning of Easter is not about life after death but about the life you lead before death – that Jesus called upon his followers to live life "abundantly".  And that Peter did every day, inviting others to join him not only in serious talk but in hearty laughter. "The ultimate weapon," he wrote, "in the face of evil or sorrow, sadness or death, is not stoic virtue and the stiff upper lip but laughter, for where laughter is, God cannot be far away."            There is no laughter at Harvard today: sadness is everywhere.  We have lost a national treasure.  But in years to come, we will tell our grandchildren stories about Peter, his deep friendship and his twinkle, and we will smile again, knowing he cannot be far away.


           If you would like to listen to sermons of the late Rev Professor Peter J. Gomes visithttp://ow.ly/45Bv6/