Bravest kin embody holy day
FILLED WITH grief yet unwavering in their faith, the family of fallen firefighter Michael Davidson embodied the spirit of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, Timothy Cardinal Dolan said Sunday at Easter Mass.
Speaking to a packed house at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dolan said he was inspired by the strength of Davidson’s wife, Eileen, their four children, and other firefighters.
Davidson, 37, died last month fighting a fire in Harlem.
“It was such a piercing example of the power of the resurrection,” Dolan said. “I saw it in those firefighters. I saw it in Eileen and his kids. Boy, their sorrow was profound, the missing him was deep. And yet, they didn’t give up, they kept going and I thought, ‘This is what Easter is about.’
Dolan described his moving encounters with the Davidson family to an audience of around 2,500 people in the same church where the firefighter’s funeral was held last week.
“That’s what Easter is,” Dolan told worshipers. “Life over death. Good over evil. Love over hatred. And they exemplified it for me.”
The cardinal said he’d spoken with Eileen and her children since the funeral and urged worshipers to continue supporting the family.
He noted that Eileen was a breast cancer survivor.
“They can’t think we’re just with them at the moment of tragedy,” Dolan said. “We gotta be loyal to them.”
Dolan described the “almost oppressive loss” and sadness he felt at the funeral.
“There were tears galore and