The Transistor Radio of First Love
Updated: Sep 8
“Love never ends.”1 Corinthians 13:8
Albert and Eileen spent fifty shillings on a portable radio when they were young and newly engaged. It became the sound of their life together. After Eileen died, the radio was silent for years.
When it was restored and the old songs rose from it again, Albert could hardly speak. The room filled with memory: a young woman who was no longer there, and the man who still loved her.
The radio could not bring Eileen back. It could play the music they had shared. For a little while Albert could stand inside that happiness again. Death had taken her. It had not taken all that their life together had been.
In the Catholic Church, marriage is a sacrament. That means God himself blesses the promise a man and a woman make. The marriage bond lasts until death. After one of them dies, the surviving spouse is no longer married in that earthly way. The love is not therefore finished. It is entrusted to God. We pray for the one who has died. We hope to meet again in heaven, where God will wipe away every tear.
At Mass we remember the dead. We do not hide the pain of a quiet house. We say that love is not wasted, and that Christ has already gone through death for those we miss.
The repaired radio gave Albert his songs again. That was a real mercy. The greater hope is still ahead. Love never ends, because God does not end. One day Albert and Eileen will not need a radio to be near each other. They will be alive in God.