Yesterday was a marvelous day. What a wonderful thing it is to have your 'bucket' filled. Why should kind words about a soul only be told at a funeral? I think it is wonderful to point out our qualities, because these are after all gifts from God to be used for the world's benefit. In our group, these gifts of every individual have enriched us all!
One thing that one of our members said really stuck with me and triggered a memory. She said in speaking about a hurtful situation with her daughter "I'm her mother and my concern is for her soul!"
Amen to this!!!
Often I think about the fine line between being a supportive friend especially as my children have become adults and being their MOTHER. Our adult children have many friends from school, work, extra-curricular activities, but they have only one mother. Who else will pray for our children to God Almighty-no matter how old our children are- for the benefit of their soul? Only if they have holy friends as all of you are will they have someone who truly prays for their eternal soul.
Last year when the St. Joseph hospital incident occurred which ultimately caused that hospital and others to no longer be part of Catholic West, I was at a friend's house discussing this situation with a group of people some Catholic and some not. The husband of the home works at St. Joseph and had his point of view regarding the incident. I was the only person who defended our Bishop. Everyone pounced immediately, but I held out and talked about the encyclical 'humane vitae' and spoke about the absolute rightness of the church's teaching.
A Catholic grandmother approached me and said "What would you have said if it was your daughter in that situation?" I immediately answered "I would tell her to guard her soul. It is the only thing that she can not afford to lose." She looked at me and said. "No you wouldn't. You would tell her to have the abortion and save herself." I looked at my youngest daughter who was across the table from me and completely attentive to the conversation and I spoke directly to her. "I would tell you that if you lost your life, that I would do all I could to take care of your children. I would tell you that you were doing the right thing, the only thing you could do. And I would tell you that your immortal soul is the only part of you that will not turn to dust. I would tell you to have faith and trust in the Lord in the face of all medical advice to the contrary and I would tell you that I love you more than I could possibly ever say."
The room got very quiet after that and it took a few minutes for conversation to return. The subject was of course dropped. Where is faith the size of a mustard seed today? Where is faith that says to the mountain 'MOVE' and it moves? We are a lukewarm society. We go to our churches on Sunday by rote, without realizing the importance of what we are doing. We forget that millions have died as witnesses to our faith. How can we teach our children to have courage when all of society is telling them to take the path of least resistance?
I stand with YOU sister in faith. You care for your child's soul and you have risked the condemnation of your family to stand your ground. You are a warrior for God and sometimes that can seem like a lonely position to have, but I salute you and will pray for you. Someday, whether here or in heaven the absolute LOVE it took to stand your ground will be made obvious to all as scales fall from the eyes of those we love.
Stay strong sister and much peace to you!
What a witness to God's Glory! What a witness of a Mother's love for her daughter. So steeped in TRUTH - God's TRUTH. This is the stuff Saints are made of!!!
ReplyDelete"I confess to almight God and to you my brother's and sisters that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, Through my fault, through my fault through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-virgin, all the angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God."
Our Chruch knows what she is doing when we say this prayer at the start of each Mass. We should think and ponder how our luke-warmness separates ourself from God. And, if we come to Mass to be-seen or to see our Lord.
Thank you for sharing your stories. What courage. I am in the company of Saints on our ENDOW days. Thank yo ufor the blessings!
What beautiful testimonials of Motherhood& the gift of Life! We are in such a great battle today to preserve Life, from conception until the end of Life! You, ladies of our Endow group, are the mothers that give Hope to sustaining our society, the" New Spring" that JP11 spoke of. Thank You for preserving the family with your sacrificial Love & defending Life, when our secular world is on a Mission to try & Destroy both Life & The Family
ReplyDeleteHow beautifully written, This reminds me of a passage I read from Maccabees 2 18:23
ReplyDeleteEleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of noble appearance, was being forced to eat pork. But preferring a glorius death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat, and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture as men ought to do who have the courage to reject the food which it is unlawful to taste even for the love of life. Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately, because of their long acquaintance with him, and urged him to bring meat of his own providing,such as he can legitimately eat, and to pretend to be eating some of the meat of the sacrrifice prescribed by the king; in this way he would escape the death penalty and be treated kindly because of their old friendship with him. But he made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he lived from childhood; and so he declared to be loyal to the holy laws given by God.
This is trusting in the Lord and living our faith, doing the right thing for our eternal life.
I was at Mass Saturday and there is a couple that likes to talk with us, my daughter, grandchildren and husband, I was looking at the right to life table and he asked me why I look so far away, the man of the couple wanted to know about my far away look, I told him I do not do enough for the right to life cause, he proceeded to say that a woman has a right to do what she wants with her body. I looked at him in disbelief as we just got out of Church and said to him that he isn't living according to the Catholic beliefs, I started to expand a little further then his wife came over.
This is a big problem in the Church and why things are the way they are nowadays. We prayed today for this couple and all that have these same opinions.
God be with us and help us!