One thing I have discovered in reading the Magnificat for morning and evening prayer and also for the mass readings each day... is that each Saturday is a special day devoted to the Mother of God and our spiritual Mother - Mary most Holy! How I love to be reminded how important she is to me... I think that especially to the women of the world and mothers of the world...she is so important and special to us. We all hurt for our children and are caring and concerned for every little aspect of their lives from the minute we know that they are growing in our wombs and every day forward! There is so much support and love to help us help them to know that Our Lady is there with us every moment. I turn to her daily in my rosary and the "Hail Marys" that are constantly on my lips, heart, mind in the face of any difficulty! On my travels I rejoice to have the quiet and the rosary in my hand and the beads traveling through my fingers! I am filled with such a feeling of peace and joy and all the worry disappears into the air as I meditate on Our Lady always there supporting her Son with prayer and encouragement and holding all of it in her heart. Don't we as mothers do that too? Always our children and the hand of the Lord on their lives is kept deeply in our hearts!
I would like to share one of those wonderful experiences that is locked deeply in my heart and is so critical in my daughter, Maria's walk of faith! I could sense that Maria was not convinced of her Catholic faith as she had an Efree boyfriend in HS that influenced her greatly. In the car on the way to her confirmation... I said to her;"You know that when you take the step today to become a full member of the Catholic Church... You are promising to never leave it. Please if you have any doubts wait to take this step until you are sure." She mumbled a responce and went ahead. A year later as she headed off to college... she admits that she had every intention of leaving the Church at the first chance and find an E free Church. She had decided to go to a private Protestant college over St Thomas, but we put our foot down and insisted that... if we are paying for a private education... it would be Catholic... there is a difference!
About 3 months after she left for college... I was working a TEC retreat and openned a letter from Maria that I have taped inside of my TEC Bible... I wept for Joy! It was 8 years ago...I was working as my youngest daughter, Susan/Little Sister Hallel, was making her retreat for the first time... It was very powerful as her sister, Ruth, gave the first talk... How powerful for a mother to sit and listen to her oldest child share the pain of her being unaccepted and left out and at the same time sharing how some new and genuine friendships she had made at college had healed her, and allowed her to see that she had gained much deepness in all that suffering and how wonderful it was to find true friendship! Also she shared with us her vow to be chaste until she married! So amazing and her song... "If you want me to" by Ginny Owen will forever be the song to bring it all back...
After hearing Ruth give that talk and weep along with her little sister Susan through the whole thing... I openned the letter from Maria... I will share it as her words are forever saved in my Bible... such an amazing turning point for her where she made her faith her own after a young seminarian for the priesthood asked her how she was doing and she asked him where she could find a E free church - "We have to talk." Were his words to her and that they did... I forever have a special heartfelt thanks to Jordon Bower! Here is her letter:
"I love you! I am sorry if I have been stubborn lately about this statement, but it is true. You have always loved me, even when I totally turned against you and all that you believe in. Well, now you know that prayers are definitely answered, because I know that my faith filled a lot of your prayer time in the last 2 years. My relationships at college have really helped me. I have definitely renewed my love for the Catholic Church and everything in it, but I am still in need of prayers for me to continue to grow in this faith.
"I don't think I've ever told you this, but you and dad are amazing. You raised all of us in His Church and built a faith foundation on which we can now grow on. Thank you! Maria Theresa"
No more needs to be said... the tears were rivers and I still can weep at the total answer to prayer and the hand of God that touched Maria at this point in her life! She pursued Catholic Studies - even getting her masters in it - and studied in Rome for a year the following year - returned and entered the Monastery for 5 months discerning a vocation to religious life. Then she met and married wonderful Joseph - the most amazing Catholic man, who reminds us that we are all called to be saintS! Life is calling me to leave this for now...
Jesus with your wonderful Mother at your side... we thank you for the personal love and direction that you have for each one of us. As mothers we continually lift up our children to you! Jesus we trust in You! Bless-bless, BArb
I scanned some old "birthday pictures" to share some of the tradition down the years... Mary and I will head out to the pasture today to work on hers... At 9yo Nancy had her first "strawberry picture" starting the silly tradition...
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