Auguri di buon anniversario, Santo Padre! Happy Anniversary, Holy Father!

We pledge our steadfast love, fidelity and prayers.
Thanks be to Almighty God.

Ad multos annos.

Requiescat in Pace Reverend William G. Finch: "You have taken away my companions and loved ones; the darkness is my closest friend."

Gone home to God: a priest and pastor of God's holy people in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

"O LORD, the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.

² May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

³ For my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave. ^c]">[c]

⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like a man without strength.

⁵ I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.

⁷ Your wrath lies heavily upon me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah

⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;

⁹ my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, O LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.

¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?
Selah

¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction ^d]">[d] ?

¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³ But I cry to you for help, O LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.

¹⁴ Why, O LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death;
I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.

¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.

¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.

¹⁸ You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend."

-- Psalm 88

Father Finch suffered a fatal heart attack following the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Church of Saint Raphael in Rockville, Maryland, on 9 April 2009. His last words were to let those around him know that he was dying and to ask for the last rites of the Church. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

More about Fr Finch's death as reported by the Charleston Daily Mail from a Washington Post story.

Funeral rites:

Monday April 13th at St. Raphael Catholic Church
Vigil: 3:00PM to 9:00 PM
Vigil Mass: 7:30 PM

Tuesday April 14th at St. Raphael Catholic Church
Funeral Mass: 11:00 AM

Prayers, please.