Now Athos will see beauty all around him, and join his tenor voice and his violin to the music of the stars and the communion of saints in everlasting praise of our Holy and Triune God.
Thanks be to God for the life of Jeffry Leonard Morris Hendrix, born December 14, 1954, died June 28, 2011.
Posted by God's Weaver, his wife Mochel Morris.
8 comments:
I had really hoped to meet Jeff in real life someday and hang out with him.
Jeff showed me an early draft of Little Guide and I remember getting mad at him. "What do you mean 'last days'? That's not about you, right? OK, you had a scare, but you're going to be alright, right?"
My prayers with his great soul, and his great family.
Thank you Mochel for these beautiful words. As Porthos has commented, Athos inspired us, the Masske'teers to always see beauty, to breathe in truth and walk in goodness.
Jeff always helped to bring us around to "know" these things, not in some sense of speaking empty words, but by living out of this real faith and knowledge of love that brings forth beauty, truth and goodness.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your wonderful family.
I never met Jeff but he seems to be both deeply courageous and loving: a radiant spirit. God bless and keep him and his family and friends and reunite them all in the Beatific Vision.
I feel compelled to comment on the post I made below (Shenandoah), because there are so many odd coincidences about it that I have to wonder where that post came from. Please make of it what you will, and I apologize if this seems weird.
From about June 25, after Jeff went into the hospital, Aramis emailed me, writing in effect, "Quick, let's get some music up for Jeff! Words just don't say it." So that's what was running through my head June 28, except it was 6:30 pm on my side of the world and I was in my office. I was thinking, "We need another music post. What shall I do?" We knew Jeff wouldn't hear them, but we just wanted to honor him that way in his time of suffering.
But, generally speaking, the 'Teers, who all have excellent taste in music, generally have very different taste in music. I was going through all my favorite Youtube clips and eliminating them for consideration. More Mahler? No. Nostalgic retro 70s funk fusion. Definitely not. Eric Dolphy on flute? No, too jazz geeky. Then for some reason I remembered a highly unusual Keith Jarrett clip of him playing Shenandoah that had struck me a few years back. I did a re-listen without paying too much attention, and did a quick assessment. Hmm, let's see. Simple--which is highly unusual for Keith Jarrett. Dignified. Tasteful. Traditional but creative. A little sad and wistful, but hopeful. It's not Jeff's favorite song, probably, but it expresses something about Jeff to me right now. OK, this'll do. Then I posted it, with some slightly complicated pasting to try to get the embed code right.
I saw that it got up and thought, "Man, finally got the embed thing. At least I can do something right."
Mochel's post about Jeff's passing came up soon after. Later, she sent a kind email to us giving more details. Jeff had passed at 5:50 am June 28th.
Later, I was rewatching the Shenandoah clip and thinking about Jeff. I noticed that the clip had gone up at 5:56 US Eastern time. The exact time Jeff was passing was when I was messing with the embed code. But, in addition, there are several odd things about the images in the Keith Jarrett clip.
By way of preface, I really had little idea what or where "Shenandoah" was. To me it was some vague Civil War or Southern or Midwestern thing, and associated vaguely with some kind of Western movie or something.
The image on the clip showed the Eastern seaboard. And I thought, wait a minute . . . Isn't that Virginia?
I compared with Google map, did a search for Shenandoah, etc. etc. The end result is that Jeff's home is more or less in the center of the satellite photo. There's a circle of clear sky in surrounding Virginia and environs, except for one lone cloud right around where Jeff was.
The next images show men in arms, the Union army, reminding me that Jeff was a spiritual warrior in a just cause. There are other images--trains (I know Jeff liked retro machinery) train tracks going off into the distance, a lone canoe, journeying, flowers (Jeff loved gardening). Of course, from here it gets highly subjective, and I don't know what it means.
The long and short, there seems to have been a lot more going on with that clip than me fumbling through my favorite Youtubes and struggling with embed codes.
If you feel like it, watch the Shenandoah clip below and think of our dear Jeff.
Thank you Porthos for these reflections and memories. What a gift you have passed on to us. Thank you.
Porthos,
Athos' beloved Holy Cross Monastery in Berryville, VA, dwells right alongside the beautiful Shendanoah River. To get there one must drive within feet of the river, and when there a walk can take one to its side.
Good choice!
Mochel
Thanks.
I didn't even know there was a Shenandoah River until reading your comment. This is so weird.
Ath, RIP, bro.
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