I Want To Hold Your Hand

Last weekend, Paul and Jerry went to the 5 PM Mass along with Jerry's parents. Aunt Bev and Uncle Joe were also there. They got a real surprise when Fr. Kevin Peek was the celebrant of the Mass, as Fr. Paddy has been in Ireland to care for his sister. Paul got to visit with Fr. Peek and was told to pray for a young man who was on the bus that had a tragic accident here in Atlanta a month or so ago. Paul came home and told us to pray for Tim Burton, who was seriously injured and his parents are still in town with him at the hospital. It put our stay in Charlotte those 3 weeks into perspective. Thanks be to God for our very light load.

Jon and I went to the 8:30 AM Mass like usual. We didn't have our cell phones with us, so we weren't going to stay after Mass to have coffee. As we were walking out, I told Jon I was going to just dash back to the kitchen and grab a cup of coffee, as I really like the coffee they serve. When we got back there, we saw our friend Rick and we stopped to just say hello and then leave. As I was talking to Rick, I noticed that a woman who was sitting at the table with her husband looked familiar to me. I kept trying to remember and then it hit me. She was the wonderful person who came up to me after a morning mass and had handed me a bottle of Lourdes Holy Water. I went to her and said that I remembered this very kind deed and introduced myself. She said her name was Marie (easy name for me to remember!!) and that she had been at a healing Mass and my face came to her mind. She then asked for an extra bottle of the Lourdes water and waited until she next saw me and gave it to me. As we were talking, I learned that she is the mother of one of the students I had in the youth group when I was Youth Group Minister at St. Stephen's! In fact, she was the mother of a very dear friend of Paul's named Danny. Danny had been to our house hundreds of times over the years and I was just now meeting his mother! She told me that had a child who died at only 9 months old and that she understood our suffering. I told her that we probably had not suffered as much as she had, since our son was still here with us. I held her hands and thanked her so much for her prayers and thoughtfulness in bringing us the Holy Water. She told me that she learned how to be joyful in her suffering through someone she knew who had accepted with great joy a life filled with suffering. Marie told me that anytime she felt such sorrow, she would think of this woman who was such a huge inspiration for her and she would turn her sorrow into joy and would thank God for the suffering He had allowed. I told her that that was exactly what I had been spending time contemplating these past few weeks. I was trying to remember to thank God with a joyful heart for the gift of suffering and to truly view it as a gift from God. I went home and was so excited when I told Paul who I had met.

Paul had a great Friday - he went on a mile walk with Jerry and their dogs, he went out to eat with the Hufford family and also Jerry's aunt and uncle. He stayed up until midnight with us as we all enjoyed a "night out at the movies" at Jerry's and he had an active Saturday. He started to go downhill around 1 PM on Sunday and had really bad headaches. They were ranging around the 6.5 mark. He was taking Advil every 4 hours. I stayed home with him on Monday too, as he was in a lot of pain again. He woke up around 3:48 AM today and I was already awake (I guess God wanted me to pray the Divine Mercy, because I woke at 3:15 and was wide awake and immediately thought of that prayer). Paul wanted to get some pain medicine. I told him to wait in his room and I would go get it. He said he wanted to walk downstairs to see if being up would help him at all (as it had a couple of times before). So we went downstairs and we were standing in the dark in the kitchen. I didn't turn on lights as I know it hurts his head.
He stood there and was very upset his head was hurting and he said that maybe with the next surgery, they could just 'remove' his brain so that he would be done with the pain. I thought of Marie's advice about how she tried to deal with her emotional pain and I told Paul that we should stop and thank God for the opportunity to serve Him and for the gift of this pain and suffering. I reminded him that God knows how bad Paul hurts, but we should try to be thankful in all things. He said that was a good idea, and he took my hand and asked me to pray with him. I came up with the idea that while we prayed, we should imagine we were also holding the hands of Jesus and to place ourselves in his presence. I told Paul to picture how Jesus's face would look when Paul went home to heaven and he was able to hear the words, "Well done my faithful servant." Paul then started to pray out loud to Jesus. He had prayed for only about 45 seconds and then he stopped and got very choked up. He was crying and he looked at me and said, "I just felt the hand of Jesus. He was touching my hand and he squeezed my hand like this" and he showed me how it felt. I started to cry also, because there was so much joy in Paul's voice when he told me this. I said, "See! Jesus is letting you know that that is exactly what he wants from you. Always thank Him for everything, no matter what the circumstance and find joy in it.
Paul hugged me so tightly and then said he wanted to go back upstairs to try to get some sleep. As we walked back up the stairs, I laughingly asked him if he was going to wash that hand ever again? He said, "Maybe in 6 months!". I blessed him and prayed that God would allow him to at the very least get a very restful night's sleep.

Last Sunday, I had my Magnificat with me, only it was the one for May. I placed the ribbons to mark the first day. Tuesday, May 1st. I read all the introductory parts before Mass. I thought to myself that I was going to make a very conscientious effort to make Mass every day that I could in May, since it was the month of Mary. So, this morning, I got up and hurried out the door. I didn't have time to see Jon to tell him of the occurrence during the night. I got to church and sat down next to him. I opened my prayer book to the marked page that I had done on Sunday. I skipped the HYMN part and went straight to the first reading on the page.

"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. (Jn 10:28)

I was so surprised and it made me smile so big!! I told Jon that I sure had an incredible story to tell him after Mass! He was amazed as I told him what had happened and that this was the page I had marked on Sunday. I truly believe it was a 'Godincidence' as my daughter -in- law Marie calls them.

Well, you may be a doubter and think it is just me being a 'cockeyed optimist' again, but I came into work to tell my sister. I was on the phone putting my daily voice message on and she was standing right behind me. I didn't realize she was there. I turned around and she was holding a souvenir that her boss had brought back from Italy. It was a hand holding a very large and ornate church. It was depicting the hand of God holding His church in His palm!!! I said, "Oh My God Beverly, do I have a story to tell you. I am going to take this as confirmation of what has happened!" She was amazed as I told her about the events as they unfolded and the signs that I felt were sent to validate what happened to Paul.

"Christ, our Good Shepherd, hears our voices far more keenly than we sometimes hear His."
Amen, Alleluia.

I will keep your intentions in my heart as I fold my hands in prayer for all of you.
Thank you for your intercessory prayers. They keep us walking on this pathway.

Love,
Jon and Rebecca

P.S. A last reminder to any of you who might be sending a quick note to Michael for his Senior year breakfast (they don't have to be long - just a few lines to congratulate him and wish him well!) - please email them to me no later than tomorrow night, Wednesday, at rafidero@bellsouth.net
Thanks to everyone !