As it was, in the beginning

Lady of Lourdes
Grotto in the church







As you enter
St. Michael the
Archangel Church












St. Michael the
Archangel Church

Convent, Louisiana
















My mother shared something with me years ago that I have never forgotten. She had written down her thoughts about how she used to suffer during the winter months from mild depression. She talked about how it was difficult for her to experience hope and joy with all the gray weather during these months. It made it very difficult to fend off her depression. But she finally found a way to hold on, most especially in the months of February and March. She would watch for the Forsythia bush to begin to bud. Once the bush had buds on it, her hope would be renewed and she would start to feel better. She lives in Michigan and the Forsythia blooms a little later than here in Atlanta. So, each year I call her as soon as I see the buds on MY Forsythia bush, to help her get a head start! I too feel a rush of joyfulness when I see those buds. And so it was that I called her this past week to share this news with her.

As we talked, we got onto the subject of my hoping that we will be able to get Paul to Lourdes, France in this 150th year anniversary of that apparition. She then remembered an occasion before Paul’s birth. I had been told that something was possibly wrong with Paul in my 5th month of pregnancy with him. I remember leaving that doctor appointment with a tremendous amount of concern. I drove straight to my mom’s house and as I cried, told her what the doctor had said. They were worried about how small Paul appeared after doing a sonogram. They were going to wait a month and would measure the growth of Paul’s bones to determine if the placenta had separated, which would keep the necessary nutrition from getting to Paul. They really were not sure what the problem was, but had concern about his size.

My mother immediately remembered there was a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Convent, Louisiana. We lived in Baton Rouge at the time, so it would be about a 45 minute drive for us. We made plans to drive down the next day. My sister, Beverly and her children, my mother, my son Jon and I all went down to St. Michael’s on this day. As we entered the old church, built in the 1800’s, I felt at peace. We wrote our petitions on slips of paper and we put them into the slot that was in the grotto wall. I prayed that Our Lady of Lourdes would heal my unborn baby of any problem and to please surround him with Her love and protection. I left it in Her hands, as there was nothing I could do for Paul, other than continue to eat well and fight off the tendency to worry…………….a very difficult thing for me to do. As my husband once said, “Rebecca, the day you don’t worry about something will be the day you have died.”

At my next appointment, the sonogram showed that his leg and arm bones had grown a sufficient amount, which meant he was getting the nutrition he needed. It was funny that during the sonogram, the midwife told us it was definitely a girl and that might explain the small size. We were disappointed she told us the sex of the baby, as we wanted to be surprised. We got our wish………it was a boy and we were totally unprepared for a boy. We didn’t have a name ready, instead we had the name Mary Catherine ready for our little ’girl’. We had a dress with us to take her home too! We were not the only ones surprised that day. The doctor could not believe the size of our baby……………..8 lbs and 9 oz, and 21 ½ inches long. Jonny had been 9 lbs 9 ozs and 80% of second babies are larger, hence the doctor’s concern. But after delivering Paul, she looked at me and said, “I don’t know where you hid all of this baby!”

As mom and I talked about this, my mom said that if we can’t get Paul to Lourdes, France, maybe a trip to Convent, Louisiana would be the next best thing. After all, that is where Our Lady of Lourdes’ protection first began! It may be those prayers said 23 years ago that helped save Paul’s life on 11/11/05.

As we entered Holy Week, I had so many prayers of thanksgiving to Our Lady. I prayed at the beginning of Lent that we would be home for Easter this year. The last 2 years, we spent Easter in the hospitals with Paul. A couple of weeks ago, Paul had a flare up in the pain in his head and we were ready to rush back up to Charlotte. I kept praying that we would not need to have a shunt revision and that Paul would be healed without surgery. Prayers were once again answered. His pain level came back down after 2 straight days of high level pain and it has remained low ever since. We have prayed a rosary together each night of this week and this morning, we were surprised by a phone call from Paul. He called at 5:00 AM and asked if we wanted to say a rosary this morning instead of tonight. There is the service of Tenebrae tonight, so saying the rosary early in the morning was best. We sat this morning in darkness, with only the candles lit on our family ’altar’. The light illuminated the statue of Mary, and Jesus on the crucifix above her. We prayed the Glorious Mysteries, where we pray for the fruits of Faith, Hope and Love of God. The anticipation of the Easter Tridium is at hand. Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday will be spent with our parish family at St. Stephen’s - not in a hospital. My joy is overflowing.

Easter morning, there will be Forsythia branches in a vase in front of Our Blessed Mother, Mary! She continues to lead us to Her Son, Jesus.

God bless all of you in this season of great hope and great joy.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca