In the spirit of Mother’s Day I would like to share three women who
have inspired and encouraged my faith walk.
After all a saint cannot become a saint alone and God created us to live
in community - in relationship with one another so that together we would
become invincible in Christ. My family
is my strength, but also my weakness. We
are very close, when I am down they all come to my rescue and when they hurt I
ache with them. That’s the thing about
love that if you’re open to it you’re also exposed to some of the most excruciating
pain. In the end, with God love is able to endure all (smile)...
First, my
mother. I am definitely a momma’s girl. Growing up, I was more than seven years apart
from my siblings which meant that my mother became my playmate. I have so many fond memories of us pretending
to play house, of her nursing me when I was ill, of her making me pretty
dresses and of her being a lioness when someone tried to hurt her cub. She’s also the one responsible for passing
down our Catholic faith. When I received
my first communion she did everything possible to make my day memorable and to
this day receiving my Eucharistic Sacrament is one of the best days of my
life. She came from a really poor
family, when she received her First Communion she borrowed a dress from a Good Samaritan
and her sister stole some fuchsia shoes so that mom would have dress shoes on
her big day. Together the two sisters
painted the shoes white and during the celebration pieces of the white paint came
off revealing the hot pink shoes. She
told me this story laughing while she dressed me in a fine communion ensemble. Years later when I left the church and became
agnostic (even with my rude, insulting comments about religion) she continued
to press the importance of faith and of having God in my life. Patiently, she prayed for me and patiently
she accepted me lost, confused and with baggage of hurt. While I experimented with all types of
religions she encouraged me to continue seeking God. When I returned to the
Catholic faith she rejoiced like the father of the prodigal son. Today, I see her retrieve to her room daily
to pray the rosary and spend time with God.
When she travels the first thing she does is find a parish to thank God
for the good trip. At night she prays
for all of us, including many people that have asked her to pray for them. And every Sunday the two of us head together
to Mass, sometimes I have to attend English services to accommodate my schedule
and though she doesn’t understand much she leaves that church glowing. Her motto is, “God place in my path those you
want me to help today.”
Second, my paternal
grandma. She’s the only grandmother I
have known since my maternal one died when I was very young. I have come to love and appreciate her more
as an adult, because to be honest growing up I didn’t have much of a
relationship with her because I thought she was too old and we didn’t have
anything in common. When I was in
elementary and sometimes kids would get pulled out of class by their
grandparents for a day of fun- I would be so jealous because my grandparents
never did anything that cool. Since, we
usually took care of my grandparents when they visited from Mexico I grew up
thinking that they were quite useless. I
had come to accept the mentality that old people deserved to be in old people’s
homes- they were disposable. But as I
returned to my faith, God clearly asked me to tend my garden and that included
my old grandparents. The only one
remaining was my grandmother. So, I
began having a relationship with her. I
spoke with her on the phone now and when she came to visit I began to spend
time with her and get to know her. She
loves going to Mass and church functions with me- so God has really brought us
together. As I got to know her, I truly
enjoyed our time together. She’s a great
conversationalist and really knows her theology! Sometimes I am astounded by her spiritual
knowledge. It’s exciting to see her get
so animated about all matters of faith- she loves staying with us when she is
in the U.S. because she gets to join us for Mass every Sunday. And don’t think of leaving mass before the
blessing because she will give you a very thorough sermon about why one needs
to stay until the end of the Eucharistic Service. On Saturday, I took her to the Trinity
Broadcasting Center and she was like a kid in Disneyland, she loved the
Christian artwork and she knew many stories behind each piece. She really inspires me to live life excited
about God, to see Him daily in ordinary things and to seek Him daily for nourishment.
Finally, Mother
Mary. Coming from a protestant
point-of-view it was tough to change my anti-Mary views when I returned
to the Catholic Church. I was afraid
that if I paid too much attention to the mother of Jesus, he would get mad
because I was idolizing her. Gradually,
God showed me that loving His mother was like loving Him. He chose her for a very special mission and
loves her in a very special way. Slowly,
I came to understand that ignoring her or belittling her, hurt God because I
was mistreating His mother. I realized
that if someone claimed to love me, but would ignore and belittle my mom I
would have a hard time believing his sentiments. Slowly, change in me towards the Mother of
our Church happened and now she’s my momma.
I turn to her when I am in a jam and I love praying the rosary with
her. My favorite novena is “Mary Undoer
of Knots,” I pray it often. I love Marian
songs too. Most importantly, I love
having Mary as a model to follow. I want
to one day be able to say with complete trust and sincerity, “I am the servant
of the Lord, let it be according to your word.”
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