Going back two years... we had just returned from John's final step in his healing- his stem cell transplant! We are just 2 days away from his second birthday - January 27th when after some grueling chemo to drop the bomb on his body and wipe out his white cells and all - his own stem cells which had been harvested in one sitting - amazing once again to see his health and youth come to the forefront on the battle - David facing Goliath... were put back into his body - the seeds to take root and grow renewed and bring him to total healing with NO cancer ever to return! Two years ago on this day we were in the hospital having a chemo that was so toxic that he had to shower every 4 hours day and night to protect his body from that which would come out on his skin! He sailed through it all! How we felt the hand of God on us... today being the feastday of the Conversion of St Paul... Through the cancer journey and the support of so many prayers - it was quite evident to John and his family that he had been touched by God and his prayer for finding his faith had been answered! No longer can he say that he doesn't know what he believes because his faith has not been tested! In many ways John cannot be likened to St Paul or Saul as he was actively out to destroy the early followers of Christ, and Christ himself put a stop to it, and brought this proactive individual to the side of Truth! He was blinded by the Truth... and I love to think of the transformed conversion of St Paul as being so much like all the rest of us in this day and age, who never walked with Jesus the man while he walked on earth! Life and our Christian walk would be pretty dull without St Paul and his story which he shares in his own words today in Acts 22: 3-16 As he was prayed over to regain his sight - "The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard. Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name."
I heard again from Maria yesterday, as she with much hope and joy starts her journey with child #5! She has already gotten ahold of a doctor to get her the progesterone she needs and the monitoring that she had with her first two pregnancies! She is so happy and hopeful, and I thank God for making the way so quickly for her to find this support in Texas as they are now so far away from their support in the Cities - life care center! Thank you, Lord! How I have prayed for this to happen for her, and it all fell into place! Jesus, we trust in you!
The thing that we love so much about St Paul and all his many books in the New Testament is that "Paul no longer seemed to be living and speaking,but Christ himself seemed to be living in him." It is truly like we are continuing to have the Wisdom of Truth coming from his inspired letters to this community or that! "Do you not seek a proof of the Christ who speaks in me?" 2 Corinthians 13:3
"I know the one in whom I have believed and I am sure that he, the just judge, the mighty, will keep what is my due until that day." I Tim "Paul literally saw the light on the road to Damascus. The love of the risen Christ tranformed him and impelled him to illumine the whole world by the light of the Gospel." See http://www.magnificat.com/ Just as St Paul was forever changed and transformed...John also has been touched by the Light of prayer and healing from brain cancer! Shortly after he was home and healed - he worked as a spiritual director with one of his best friends at a retreat... he shared his light with all those there and we were told about how he touched many - for one thing to see him healthy and alive is so powerful for many including his family! We had heard the diagnosis of lymphoma of the brain and for a brief time we thought the worst! We were reminded within the first day of the journey that this was the storm and that Jesus was in control! We knew that He held us in the palm of His hand! And when the cancer came roaring back through the chemo and we once again were drowning in the crashing storm - our Bishop LeVoir reminded us once again... repeat "Jesus, I trust in you." and remember that He is in control! How that became our Truth and our Light! John has come back to his life a changed and altered person! We were talking on the phone last night about his taking a class - broom ball- this his last semester of college. He had played with his fraternity brothers broom ball in the winters of college, and done quite well and enjoyed it... it is a form of tamed down hockey with boots rather than skates and a hard paddle type stick... I made sure to know that he is wearing a helmet out there to protect his head and he assured me that he does! Because he is so much less stable with his left side and I am overjoyed that he is challanging himself in this way as long as he has his important places protected! He said that it really reveals to him how he is not the same person he was physically as before the cancer... I think that he would not hesitate to say that is true of him spiritually also! 
Jesus, we thank you today for all the ways that your Light fills our world with the Truth in stark brightness! We cannot help but "see" all in life, and our domestic Church, which is real and important - to follow you always, to be open to life always, to share your truth with those in our families always, to know that possessions and stuff can never hold a candle to siblings and your people, to come to you in prayer every day, to take advantage of your sacraments of LIFE and LOVE, to always love and serve you without thought of ourselves! Jesus, we love you and Know you through YOU,Jesus Christ, found in your Word and your Body and Blood! "O God, you taught the whole world through the preaching of the Blessed Apostle Paul, draw us, we pray nearer to you through the example of him whose conversion we celebrate today, and so make us witnesses to your truth in the world." (the collect at the beginning of mass today) Jesus, we are on our knees remembering that we were taking the last step of John's forever healing from cancer at this time 2 years ago, and just as St Paul, he is now sharing your Light with all those he meets! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb"The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2
"Last of all, as to one born abnormally, Christ appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace for me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them: not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me." I Cor 15: 8-10
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