Only the good die young. But their better halves live on.
Witness last Friday, as Detective First Grade Jason Rivera’s life was celebrated at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Witness as his childhood sweetheart and wife of four months, Dominique Luzuriaga, celebrated his life through her eulogy (see page 5) at the cathedral.
“Live through me,” Luzuriaga told her late husband during the powerful tribute, echoing the Gospel of John (6:51-58) when Jesus speaks to a crowd drawn to his teachings, beginning with the words, “I AM the Living Bread, the (bread) having come down from heaven.”
In this literal translation gospel, he also tells his followers, “I live through the Father, the (person) gnawing on MY flesh will also live through me.”
Luzuriaga was being a witness to her faith just as thousands of others paid their respects through their own faith.
Witness the blocks upon blocks of officers that lined Fifth Avenue, standing at attention, also paying their respects to their fallen brother.
These are all testaments to how New York City can come back.
This horrific event can unify a city or divide it.
When a doubting widow can speak from the altar of the cathedral and tell politicians like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that her deceased husband feared for his life as he set out to do his job, because of soft-on-crime policies, you have begun to affect real change.
“The system continues to fail us,” she told us. “We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service. I know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new DA, I hope he’s watching you speak through me right now.”
Remember the name Dominique Luzuriaga.
She is strong and defiant in her stance and unafraid to profess her faith in public space.
She is a witness to how new policies can tear apart New York society — and cost lives.
Can the deaths of Rivera and fellow officer Wilbert Mora galvanize a city? It’s possible, given the words spoken by the widow.
Her voice should reach Albany and Washington D.C.
She loved her husband dearly and lost him, in part, because some think being soft on crime is a progressive idea.
Rest in peace Detective Rivera.
You left a devoted, dedicated wife behind, but through her faith and drive, she can do great things in your name.