Softening sorrow that gnaws at the soul
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Sharing a "few personal memories," Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke Saturday afternoon of some of his loved ones who have departed this life.
He remembered his father, Joseph L. Wirthlin, from whom he learned the "values of hard work and compassion" and who served for 23 years in the Church's Presiding Bishopric, nine of them as the Presiding Bishop. He spoke of his mother, Madeline Bitner Wirthlin, who "had great expectations for her children and expected the best from them." He remembered his sister, Judith, an author, composer and educator.
And Elder Wirthlin remembered his wife, Elisa Young Rogers Wirthlin, who died Aug. 16. "She was my strength and my joy," he said. "Because of her, I am a better man, husband, and father. We married, had eight children and walked together through 65 years of life."
The apostle related that during the funeral, President Gordon B. Hinckley said that it is "a devastating, consuming thing to lose someone you love. It gnaws at your soul." Elder Wirthlin said, "He was right.
"As Elisa was my greatest joy, now her passing is my greatest sorrow."
Speaking of the many sermons he has heard on the resurrection, Elder Wirthlin said: "We know what the resurrection is — the reuniting of the spirit and body in its perfect form.... Can you imagine that? Life at our prime? Never sick, never in pain, never burdened by the ills that so often beset us in mortality?"
Continuing, Elder Wirthlin explained: "When Christ rose from the grave, becoming the first fruits of the resurrection, He made that gift available to all. And with that sublime act, He softened the devastating, consuming sorrow that gnaws at the souls of those who have lost their precious loved ones.
"I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross. On that terrible Friday the earth shook and grew dark. Frightful storms lashed at the earth.... It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God."
But the doom and despair did not linger, Elder Wirthlin said. "Because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind.
"And, in an instant, the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise. For Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, stood before them as the first fruits of the resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence."
Each will have Fridays, Elder Wirthlin said. However, "in the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation. No matter our grief. Sunday will come. In this life or the next. Sunday will come."
