Looking at my 3 married daughters... Knowing that they have taken the sacrament of marriage as a lifelong joining to their husbands through the ups and the downs...It is a joy to me and fills me with peace to know that they being open to life and love... were all 3 blessed with the gift of a new life the first cycle of their married lives! It really is too wonderful for words... which are coming more slowly than usual today.
I try to keep Little Sister Hallel in France up on what is happening in our family... I write her every few weeks... The few letters we have gotten over her time away are very precious and I pour over them! Of course today the letter she wrote to Nancy on the event of her engagement last year is coming to mind!
Here is Hallel's letter: "I am writing to tell you now extremely excited I am about your engagement to Bill. I have to admit, when I got the news I wasn't really shocked but that night as it sunk in during adoration and the next day during mass I was so happy. My heart overflowed with joy for you. How beautiful to know that you have found your... most cherished cross. While I have never had the experience of being married, from what I hear is that he will truly be your cross. But not your cross as human eyes look at it, as a thing to run away from, as a thing of torture but rather as that which is truly the tree of life. It is only when clinging to the cross that one can truly live, it is the source of all life and of all love. Your marriage to Bill will be this, not something to run away from when it gets hard and when it hurts, but something to hold tight to, especially when it hurts because it is in this that you will find life and love. Know that it is through your marriage that Jesus wants to show you his great love for you and also that the best example that you can give to the world of Christ's love is a marriage lived in truth. So, in other words, know that I am so happy for you and that I love you a whole lot. Know that you are in my prayers during this crazy time of wedding planning; that you may not go crazy but rather learn to love each other better and that you may both have great joy and great peace. Remember to pray for me too! God Bless, Your little Sister Hallel"
John with his sisters... I think you can see how things have been for John growing up with 4 very attentive sisters older than him... How they have come to be with him over the last year and a half! At his side when he faced all the hard times along the way, and then praying for him and caring for him from their homes and jobs all the in between time! The love and caring was a living breathing thing! Such a testament to LOVE!
That one is worth another look! Back to marriage and being a good and faithful spouse through the hard times and the good times... Hallel says it so well that when we "cling to the cross" that this is the only way you can truly live..."it is the source of all life and all love." All of us have those "crosses" in our marriages, and they truly do bring life and love after the death! The sacrifice as I was reminded of the other day... Yes, it is very hard to admit that we are wrong and to sacrifice ourselves and our feelings to our spouces. I always found it much easier to do with my children, but much harder to give up my wants and selfish needs with Pat. I think that I am a much better mother than I am a wife!
It was a bit hard to not have our daughter, Hallel with us for the wedding. She is accepting and we see that if they opened the door for them to attend famiy affairs...there would be an avalanche of coming and going! We see clearly that it is very important for their lives for them to live within their community and have their prayers and time with their lover and spouse in Adoration of Him in the Blessed Sacrament every day! When Hallel would be home and there was a Saturday that she couldn't find Mass and Adoration... she truly suffered without it! Then to realize that numerous times throughout the day they also gather for prayer and song and "mendication" of the Gospel... her whole life of filling herself with Christ is robbed of her when she comes home! It is much better if we can go and be with her and join with them in their amazing lives! We are forever touched and changed by the experience! Thank you Jesus!
How we have hoped and prayed for Nancy over the years... as she waited many years more than her sisters to find a spouse! There were tears and frustration and wondering what God had in mind for her...she tried living here in Marshall and working in the high school she graduated from, but then she decided that to meet someone she needed to move to the Cities... How I had prayed that she would meet someone here, but it was not to be! It is wonderful to see her and Bill so happy, and now with their heartfelt wish answered... they are to have a family right away!
John had Nancy for a teacher while she lived here and taught English as well as being John's speech coach! After Susan graduated and left John alone in high school for a year... she had had a temendous influence on John and they have been so close their entire lives! The first paper he wrote for a class that year was entitled; Mama Bluey and was about the old blue minivan that Susan would drive him to school in, and how they would "head butt" to Christian music as they rode down the road. He spoke of how he would watch Susan, as she joyfully reached out to people no matter who as she walked down the halls. He looked up to her and saw in her the true living out of faith! How he missed her when she left, and from her spiritual journal that I have been reading lately... I see that her concern and prayers for her "Johnny" has always been very close to her heart in this very deep love that she has had for him from day 1! Let's just say that they are very close! It was at this point last year that she came and drove him to radiation every day for a week and we all celebrated Thanksgiving together at Maria's and Nancy's home!
Yes, Nancy being his teacher and coach as well as his brother in law, Paul, coming to teach the same year and being his Ag teacher and FFA advisor... John went from a year of being alone at the high school to having two siblings as teachers and coaches! Kind of fun and crazy at the same time! I think that he drove Nancy a bit nuts, but I also know that the love and respect for her as an older sister that had been gone to college and missed some years with her brother... they got to know each other once again! They have a new and more improved closeness after sharing for those 2 years!
John called yesterday thrilled with delight at the last picture I had with my sharing yesterday morning... Nancy was laughing at her dad as he had his crappy glasses on in her wedding pictures... It was so fun for John to "see" in the photo the good natured fun the kids have at the benefit of their dad and how he acts put upon but the smile on his face... reveals the true feelings he has of being shown love by them in this unique kidding sort of way! "It is how we show him that we love him." was John's comment about the picture. So with all that said... I decided to add the pictures on either side to give John more joy today! I expect to get a joyful call shortly after publishing this look at "my most cherished cross!"
"That's better dad! Those glasses are ugly and would have been bad in my wedding pictures! You are goofy sometimes dad, but...................."
"I love you so much dad! You showed me how to embrace my most cherished cross now in Bill... I was looking for a man like you and now I found him! Thank you Lord!" Nancy's thoughts
"There he is... who my heart has been yearning for... my most cherished cross!" - Nancy's joy - her wonderful husband, William!Dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Mother Mary, all the angels and saints around your throne... we fall down and worship you and all your love for us and help as we follow you in our lives! Yes, we follow you to the cross and sacrifice ourselves there so that we may truly have life and love in our marriages and homes and lives of service. We long to see your face in all that we meet this day, but most of all in those closest to us in our families! How we wish to come to a place of peace and joy and happiness with those that we are called to live the closest with from day to day... Our spouse and famliy! Heal and bless us now and forever! May we come to love you more and more through them - our most cherished cross! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb- I love to sit at your feet my loving and forgiving Lord!"Jesus was saying to them, 'My house shall be a house of prayer...' And every day he was teaching in the temple area. " Luke 19: 45-48
"Paper" little sister Hallel with standin cousin Sarah for Simon, and where is Davey #1... our family of sorts?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment