Maria is my daughter, who considered cloistered religious life for 5 months with the Poor Clares, after she had studied in Rome for a school year and read Story of a Soul by St Therese of Lisieux. She discerned that she was not called to this life, and returned to get her masters in Catholic Studies and meet her spouse, Joseph. Both had considered a call and attending daily mass was huge for them, and continues to this day. Maria attends mass with her 3 little ones on the base in El Paso each day! I love this picture taken of Maria with her young daughter, Therese, as we stayed with them during John's cancer journey, and went faithfully to pray at mass for his healing. Nativity Church with its' perpetual adoration chapel was a haven for me as I wept loudly, at times, for the Lord to heal my 20 year old son from brain cancer! The Lord answered my tears with conversion and a new John. This morning as we prayed together... we have an intention today for yet another job interview in this humbling hard summer of rejection time after time. He hears often that they are hiring those with experience, but I just have a nagging doubt that part of it could be the obvious piece of his battle with brain cancer. Yes, in our eyes, he has won the battle, but from someone looking on with his hair gone and somewhat staggering gate - it looks as though he is still in the midst. We are aware of others, who have had this cancer recur and as John said this morning - "That scares me." We must not give way to fear, but trust that the Lord will continue to heal him and hold him in the palm of his hand. How John yearns to find that open door to the future the Lord has in mind for him and walk through it joyfully and with great excitement!
This was taken in a Church near Rochester... the tears of a Mother - The Mother of Heaven and Earth, Mary Most Holy, who brought LIFE into the world with her "Yes." Then she stood at the foot of the Cross and watched God/Jesus die the most horrible of deaths. Do you not think that this perfect mother cried a river of tears? Yes! I, who cry very easily, for both happiness and sadness... Tears are the job of motherhood from my perspective. There are times in my life when I am weary and feel that I can not have any more tears - I remember sitting in the barn for the year my sister, Mary, was dying of cancer and crying. I felt that my baby in my womb, Susan/Hallel, would be somehow affected by the constant crying I did while she was growing there and then until she was 8 months old when Mary died! It surely had some influence on her life and that of the other girls, who watched me in a constant state of tears. Those tears did not keep my sister here... the Lord needed her with HIM. But with her struggles with Faith she probably was saved by her leaving the world of darkness and confusion for the eternal LIGHT at that point. It is a mystery that we will only know on the day of our arrival in Heaven. Just as I will be united with my 7 losses for the first time... so I will see my sister there - for this I pray daily on my chaplet of mercy.
Jesus meets His Mother on the way of the Cross. From the beautiful chapel at St Mary's Chapel in Rochester - how we knelt in this Church and laid all our fears at the feet of Jesus when John went for his biopsy!
Jesus, tears seem to be cleansing and wash the fears away as we attempt to fully trust in YOU and Fear not! We are so blessed to have St Monica showing us the way to follow our hearts and to pray with tears. It is with this full heart - filled with LOVE that overflows and brings with it the rivers of tears to in a very real way show those around us how deep goes our care and concern. Yes, they grow tired of our emotions, but they have been placed there so deeply by YOU, O Lord. We know that your Mother kept all she witnessed in her heart and pondered it there. So that when it came time to stand before you in the way of Your Cross - she could trust and LOVE and give you all her strength at a time when you needed her LOVE to take that next step! We do that for our children - we go to their sides when they need us, and shed those prayerful tears at the hard times on our knees for their needs. Just a year ago I was getting my ticket to go to El Paso and help Maria with the arrival of her 3rd child - there for her as her husband was in Afghanistan. It all went terribly wrong with the tearing of her uterus and the placenta coming loose... yet, my tears of great agony were answered as he was brought back from death and found newness of LIFE and healing! My prayers were groans of great fear and a river of tears! John knew that this was a miracle in the making and called me to say that he wanted desperately to pay forward his hundreds of prayer warriors for Patrick! Lord, we are so filled with awe at the way YOU are at work in this world. You know that John is on his knees - asking that you show him the path you want for him... with the burning desire to share the miracle and answer to prayer that he received from YOU. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barb"Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you." Isaiah 49:15
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
― St. Thérèse de Lisieux
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5npOxjWOhUI Danielle Rose singing A Mother's Song - get Kleenex all you moms!
Ruth loves LIFE and Trusts in HIM!
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