A precious visit and Our Lady was in the midst of it! A referral came in from the 8th floor at Upstate. A nurse indicated the Catholic woman was distraught! When I showed up in the early evening (about 5 pm), I discovered the middle-aged woman was supposedly Catholic, but Spanish-speaking only. Well, about the only Spanish I know is: muy poco!But praise God for modern technology! I set up the internet translator- someone fluent in English, and in my situation, Spanish. Ended up she had two sons in their 20s; she had come in for exploratory surgery, a cancerous mass was found and hopefully removed. But were they able to get it all? The results were due back soon. When the conversation turned to belief, she shared that she had been baptised, confirmed, and received First Holy Communion. There was no mention of an on-going faith life. She suddenly paused, reached over and grabbed her purse; a small, golden set of rosary beads appeared, all tangled up! They were a birthday gift this past September. If only Our Lady of Garabandal, the untangler of beads, would appear! But the Mom promised she could handle it (or so she thought). She paused to pull a tiny statue of her guardian angel out of the purse and asked that the "two sacramentals" be blessed with Holy Water! I had to return to the Office for that. While there, my supervisor went online and printed out translations of the necessary prayers in Spanish for me to take back. Upon my return, a nurse had appeared who promised she had the gift of detanglement along with wonderful news! And yes, it wasn't but a couple of minutes later that the golden Rosary beads were in working order, the guardian angel also bathed in Holy Water, and best of all: the CT scans had shown no residual cancer remaining. I then showed the printed out prayers of the Rosary to this rejoicing Mom. For a marvelous moment in time, all was well on Planet Earth, and three people with beaming smiles were covered by the Mantle of Our Heavenly Mother! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing your happy story! I had a less exciting but still happy occurrence today: My 11 year old niece (and godchild) was here on a very rare visit from a couple states away. She is being raised by her young dad and stepmom, because her mother (my little sister) was on drugs for many years (not now, praise God). Anyway, my family is Catholic but her dad is not, and they haven't raised her in much of any faith at all. So for her Christmas present today, I gave her a little purse with a few pretty things and a beautiful blessed rosary. She didn't know what it was, so I took her aside later and quietly began explaining what it was...until I heard my name called. I turned and it was the stepmom, who shyly told me she was raised Catholic and she and her Catholic mom could help my niece learn how to pray it. I was absolutely delighted to hear this! I will be praying for all of them, that perhaps this rosary will help bring them to Mary and back to a practiced faith.
The beauty is, you are in close contact with brother deacons as well as priests. SHARE the information! It is truly hopeful.
Wow. Two awesome stories. I loved both of them. I wish I had a similar story to tell, but my life is boring.
What a sweet and special story. The gift of that blessed rosary was the spark to encourage the stepmom to take an active role in your niece's faith formation .
How wonderful for the stepmom to gently step forward; a new catechist in the Church! Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
Come the Last Judgment, Christy Beth, the work the Lord accomplished in and through you will be on full display for all to see, a beautiful tapestry! Remember, your hidden works bring glory only unto Him. And the words He will address to you: Come good and faithful sister, share in your Master's joy!
Thanks Mario. Sometimes I forget that our daily struggles mean as much to him as any great story does. Sometimes he, or Mary, intervenes in our lives, sometimes we just bungle along and make mistakes, and learn the hard way. But in the end, all glory goes to a great God, our Lord and Savior.
Thanks Mario for bringing hope, I have been acting too much lately on despair, we need more stories of Triumph. Praise God.
It is so easy Indy to fall into that "slough of despond" as Pilgrim's Progress describes it. I find it helps if i rehearse in my mind all the blessing Our Lord has given me and how He has led me step by step over the years (sometimes kicking and screaming on my part) but He has never let me down. Remebering this helps to put out the firey darts of the enemy. "That you may know that I am Yahweh and no one who ever hoped in me was disappointed" (Isaiah 49) one of my favorite scriptures. And true!
Well, Indy, not all my hospital visits have a happy ending. A number of patients I visit are ex-Catholics who are either mad at the Church or have "found Jesus" among the Protestant churches. There are times when I can promote a return route, but most times these individuals are dealing with serious illness and/or are emotionally distraught; and, I must accompany them, not debate with them. Chaplaincy is definitely not "one size fits all". Lord, give me your wisdom! And yes, there are times I walk away with a sense of failure. I can say that no matter the day or shift, I walk away drained. Praise God I have a 35-minute ride home to unwind and pray! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
