Loving Family Surrounds Afghan War Casualty

By Linda Busetti
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 3/14/02)

MOUNT VERNON — Before Army Pfc. Matthew A. Commons left for war in Afghanistan, his grandmother gave him a cross to wear. He was not allowed to wear the cross in a war zone, so the Army Ranger had one tattooed on his back.

The flag-draped coffin of 21-year-old Commons, who died along with six other Americans in a firefight in Afghanistan last week, was met by Father Joe Annefe of Boulder City, Nev., at the entrance to Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria. Father Annefe and Father Ronald Escalante, parochial vicar at Good Shepherd, concelebrated a Mass of Christian Burial for Commons on March 11.

"Just as Christ was raised from the dead, if we have died with Christ in baptism, we believe that we will also live with Him," Father Annefe told the congregation that filled the church. Commons’ mother Patricia A. Marek consoled her surviving son Aaron. Students and fellow teachers had come to support Commons’ father, Gregory J. Commons, a Good Shepherd parishioner and seventh-grade teacher at Carl Sandburg Middle School in Alexandria. Vince Povinelli, Marek’s cousin, and two vanloads of relatives had driven non-stop from Indianapolis to attend the funeral. Other family members arrived from the Chicago area.

"There are no human words that will chase our sorrow, no song, no poetry," Father Annefe said. Referring to the First Reading from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, he said, "There is a time for everything, a time to be born and a time to die … a time for war and a time for peace."

Father Annefe said he knew Commons, who had lived in Boulder City with his mother, for 11 years. After Commons graduated from a Boulder City high school in 1999, he had attended the University of Nevada at Reno before pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a Ranger.

Father Annefe recalled the many loving testimonies about Commons’ brief, but very full life at a wake the previous evening. According to Father Escalante, the "close-knit family" recalled that Commons "enjoyed having fun, but went out of his way to help people. He was looked up to by his cousins as an older brother." Commons’ two young half-brothers, Thomas and Patrick, as well as a six-year-old cousin testified at the wake.

In the lobby of the church, a photo display paid tribute to this young man’s warm family life — at the beach, enjoying family gatherings, standing proudly in his Ranger uniform or with his arm around his mother or brother.

Father Annefe spoke of symbols — the flag that covered the coffin before it entered the church is a symbol of country, of freedom to worship. But, the white pall placed over the coffin at the church entrance is "an even more powerful symbol. It symbolizes Matthew’s baptism," Father Annefe said.

"Matthew, you shall live forever," Father Annefe said with his hands resting on the coffin. "To live forever — that’s the only message that can bring consolation. … He is in a place where he is loved. That was promised to him. ‘I am the Resurrection. I am the Life.’ Anyone who dies in this life lives forever — that’s what we celebrate."

Commons’ cousins read the prayers of the faithful. Aaron Commons held Thomas’ and Patrick’s hands as they walked to the back of the church to bring the gifts to the altar. Nine of 10 Eucharistic ministers were family members. An aunt played the flute along with the Good Shepherd choir.

"And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand," the choir sang during Communion.
Father Escalante said it was the largest funeral mass he has ever concelebrated.

The funeral procession, 70 cars long, drove north on George Washington Parkway to Arlington National Cemetery. A crisp, new American flag trailing a black ribbon hung from a stone overpass.

Commons was buried at Arlington on the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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