Mario Cuomo served three terms as New York governor from 1982 to 1994. He and his wife Matilda had three daughters, two sons, 13 granddaughters, and a grandson named Mario who was born just before Christmas.
Here are screenshots from the service.
Father Witt and Governor Cuomo spoke of Mario Cuomo's admiration for Teilhard de Chardin (also one of my heroes). Father Witt ended the service with this prayer by Chardin.
Prayer for the Grace to Age Well
When the signs of age begin to mark my body
(and still more when they touch my mind);
when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me off
strikes from without or is born within me;
when the painful moment comes
in which I suddenly awaken
to the fact that I am ill or growing old;
and above all at that last moment
when I feel I am losing hold of myself
and am absolutely passive within the hands
of the great unknown forces that have formed me;
in all those dark moments, O God,
grant that I may understand that it is you
(provided only my faith is strong enough)
who are painfully parting the fibres of my being
in order to penetrate to the very marrow
of my substance and bear me away within yourself.
