Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm. We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.







Let's be more aware of all the choices, situations, twists and turns that brought us to this place right here and now. They May Be Miracles.



Sunday, May 3, 2009

Little Miracles (part 1)

So my sister and I were cleaning my parents' house and getting it ready to sell. My parents are ready to downsize from the big farm house they have lived in for 30+ years. It's one thing to prepare a house to sell; it's an entirely different thing to prepare a house that has been lived in for 30+ years by people who don't throw away very many things. I must say that it was sort of fun to go through old school papers and newspaper articles from my childhood, and even more fun to read all the old notes that friends used to pass to me in the halls in high school. Couldn't believe they were still there (even after the fire) but fun to read through nonetheless. Some people are pitchers, others are keepers. My parents are keepers. Make no mistake it was a very stressful time for them to let us help them pitch things that were cluttering their place and had to go. To say those things had no value would be an arbitrary statement...value is in the eye of the beholder. Assuming I continue to blog I may refer back to this experience periodically.

While going through some clothes in one of the closets, deciding what would go to the Salvation Army and what mom wanted to keep, I came across a stunning, gown-looking, very small like baby-sized, light blue satin with pearls outfit hanging inside a clear cleaners bag. I wondered only for a second what it was and then I told my mom, "this looks like an outfit that the blessed infant would wear at the Carey Basilica." Mom said that it was indeed an outfit that the blessed infant had actually warn in Carey and that she has three of them, although this one was the nicest one. She wanted me to have it...but only if I would share it with people who were in need of a miracle or some sort of healing, whether physical or spiritual, who would be willing to pray the rosary with it in their presence. I immediately thought of a friend and contacted her when I got home.

My friend responded quickly that she would love to have the opportunity to pray with the blessed garment. However, it took a couple of weeks before we connected again. On a Monday morning she called me and asked if she could have the garment that day because she wanted to pray with a friend of hers that is dying of cancer. Certainly, I had no problem bringing that straight to her, afterall, I was just heading out of the driveway with 2 of my children to enjoy the nice day with no particular plans anyway.

When I arrived at her home with the blessed garment I wanted to share a story with her before I left the garment with her. Although not for her sake because her faith is strong, I wanted her to be able to share this thought with whomever else she may ask to pray with her using the garment. My parents had a very big fire in their house in 1992. They were not there, they were actually out of town because unfortunately the very same week my mom's mom had passed away and they had taken my older sister back to college after the funeral when they received the call about their house.

That following week we all went back home from college to see the damage. Going through the house where we could, anytime we found a religious item we could see where the fire burned right around it but never touched the item. Crosses, pictures of the sacred heart, statues of Mary, sacramental gifts, bibles, all were spared. There would be black and burn marks all around a blessed item, but the item was never touched. Now, the way I look at it, if God chooses to protect THINGS that have been blessed, then how much more do you think he wants to protect us, His people, His loved ones...we who were made in His own image. We may not seem to get the miracle we ask for sometimes, but God is always loving His people and protecting them and gracing us with amazing miracles day to day. Nothing is a coincidence...you know you believe that too.

Well, later that Monday my friend had to call me to tell me a story of her own. She went out to take the garment and pray with her friend. Before calling her friend she wanted to stop at church and go into church and pray by herself. She had not yet contacted the friend she wanted to pray with. When she drove into the church parking lot her friend was there sitting in her car. My friend told her she was just getting ready to call her and ask if she would want to pray with her and this garment. The woman was at the church to meet a couple of other friends to go in and pray at that same moment in time. So all of them went into the church, with the garment, to pray.

There are no coincidences.

This is just the most recent - I have many other little miracles to share.
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