Another St. John Coming Your Way, Lord

Easter came a little early for John Castelli, 89, artist emeritus of St. John's Episcopal Church, who died peacefully in a room at his home that brimmed with his artworks, in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, just before 1 p.m. on Holy Saturday. The seminary-trained son of an Episcopal priest in Brooklyn, New York, John was an art teacher, painter, sculptor, and woodcarver. His Christus Rex hangs above the transept chapel in our church. Yesterday, Good Friday, as he lay in great weakness, patiently cared for by his beloved wife, Dorothy, we walked the 14 Stations of the Cross that he had carved, in faith that Christ had borne John and Dorothy's every burden.

Give rest, O Christ, to your servant with your saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.