No parent should have to lose their child. What I have learned from what my grandparents experienced when we lost my mother is that the grief that they felt cannot possibly be put to words. Having children of my own, I pray that I may never have to experience such a thing myself, as they are simply far, far too precious to me.

This is why my sincerest thoughts and prayers have been with Christian ‘Targuman’ Brady and his family for the past few days, in the aftermath of losing their 8 year old son, Mack, just a day shy of the new year and about two weeks short of his birthday.

Chris is one of my “heroes” in the world of Aramaic Studies, and this came as a profound shock to everyone who knows him.

The funeral will be held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 208 W. Foster Ave. and Fraser Street, State College, PA, at 10 a.m..

There is also a scholarship at Penn State that has been put up in Mack’s name:

The Bradys ask that memorial gifts be directed to a scholarship being established in Mack’s honor to benefit a member of Penn State’s men’s soccer team. In announcing the scholarship, Dean Brady said that through such an annual award to a player his son “will, in some sense, ‘be on the field’ that he had hoped to play on someday.”

Memorial gifts may be made online at http://givenow.psu.edu or by sending a check, payable to Penn State with “In memory of Mack Brady” in the memo line, to: Penn State University, One Old Main, University Park, PA 16802.

I invite all of my fellow Bibliobloggers and readers who — like myself — are not able to attend to take a moment and hold Chris and his family in your thoughts. If you have a blog of your own, I invite you to share a memorial so that Mack’s memory may live on.

Peace,
-Steve