As a American, it saddens me to lose such a great man and patriot from the Supreme Court.
On a personal level, it saddens me because my husband and I are very close to Justice Scalia's son, Fr. Paul Scalia. Fr. Scalia celebrated our son's funeral Mass after he took his own life back in June. When we met with him to plan our sweet boy's funeral, Fr. Scalia immediately picked up on the crisis of faith that my husband was experiencing...in my husband's words, "I don't think I can worship a God whose plan involves a 19 year old being so despondent that he puts a bullet in his head". Fr. Scalia was kind and gentle, and took all the time he needed to explain to my husband that this wasn't God's plan for our Michael, but that with free will, we don't always follow God's plan. He went on to say that God makes a new plan for all of us who remain.
Justice Scalia and his wife raised an exemplary son who grew to be an exemplary priest. To say that he saved us after our son died would be an understatement.
My heart aches for the whole Scalia family.