Mary Katharine and Jake, Love Never Ends

I can’t get Mary Katharine Ham off my mind this morning. As you’ve likely heard by now, her husband, Jake Brewer, died on Saturday. Hearts ache for her loss and join her in prayer. 

Mary Katharine has been ever-present over the course of my years at National Review. In the early years, I always enjoyed catching up with her and how she never took herself too seriously. She worked her way up, experimenting online like the rest of us, always with good humor. And she’s become one of the most pleasant and distinguished pundits out there. But that’s not the power of Mary Katharine. Her power is in her joy. What has long struck me about her is her transparency in that. She loves and she is loved and that’s what she speaks out of, that’s the gift she gives others.

You see it, too, in her grieving, as she writes:

This will change us, but with prayer and love and the strength that is their companion, we can hope our heartache is not in vain– that it will change us and the world in beautiful ways, just as he did. If that sounds too optimistic at this time, it’s because it is. But there was no thought too optimistic for Jake, so take it and run with it. I will strive and pray not to feel I was cheated of many years with him, but cherish the gift of the years I had. 

And yesterday, on Twitter, she shared:

Never seen this before today, and I love it. https://t.co/YtLY3oDjdF

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) September 21, 2015

Married! 2011 https://t.co/vWrJBE29lu

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) September 20, 2015

Those eyes tho. https://t.co/jwpXtdTMR2

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) September 20, 2015

See the love. May its abiding endurance bring her peace in her pain. May her faith be a rock and shield these days and forever.

God be with Mary Katharine and her family. And may hearts know the love she has, still. It is the gift of a loving God who consoles. 

There’s a fund for the education of her two young children (one of them not yet born) here. For all she’s given, it’s the least we can do. And do pray for her, her children, and the repose of the soul of her precious husband.