Ave Maria Graduation Day Pictures

Paul was playing his guitar and
was very absorbed in it. He is
playing just about as well as he
used to. He enjoys his electric guitars
a lot more than his classical -
he will play for long periods of
time without even knowing someone
is in the room. I thank God he still
has his talent. It is a wonderful gift.

Jon and his son, Jon

There was lots of laughter and joking
around as we all got ready to go
to the graduation. James and Paul
were in high gear, just like so many
times before. It was a very
memorable time for me, so
I had to grab the camera to capture
another one.






Marie, Jon and James
I know I am correct when I
say that Marie played a very
important role in helping James
graduate from Ave Maria. She is
his friend, a big sister and a great
counselor. She has been and continues
to be there for him. She is a blessing
to our family!





Not too anxious to leave....................
James is entering Officer Candidate
School (Marines) this Thursday, 5/29
at 3:00 PM. That will be the Divine
Mercy Hour - Icould not have planned
it better myself!












How I love my sons!














Jon and his 4 sons
He could not have been
any more proud of them
than he was that day!




















Jon, Paul and Dr. Dauphinais,
AssociateProfessor of Theology
and Dean of Faculty. He told us that a couple of his
relatives read the blog (surprised me!)
We sat with him at lunch - we were filled with far greater
knowledge, along with delicious food!
It was an immensely enjoyable
time.




Marie, baby Jon, Jon, Fr. Fessio
and Paul. We will always consider
it an honor to have met Fr. Fessio.
He is a wonderful and holy priest-
a true blessing to the students at
Ave Maria.









All of us after the graduation
It was one of the warmest days
ever! I know the graduates were
roasting in their cap and gowns!

These bricks were purchased by Jon and Marie
(ours was a gift!) and are about 20 feet outside
the front doors of the church, not very far from
each other. It brought great jot to see these.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

On May 9th, we witnessed an event that could be termed 'Full Circle'.

This story began on 11/11/05, as you all know. Word got out very quickly that we needed prayers. Lots of prayers -for strength to endure, for great trust in God, for understanding, for hope, and for Paul's life. What amazed us immediately was the response to our calls for prayers.
God blessed our family with a connection to Ave Maria University through our sons, Jon and James. The students and faculty immediately began praying and Masses were said for our intentions. We heard that friends of James made posters that were put up in doorways around the campus that said "Got 5 minutes? Pray for Paul Fidero's life" and "Pray for John Paul's intercession for a miracle. It will take a miracle to save Paul Fidero's life." There was a prayer that was written by some students and it was a prayer to Pope John Paul II, asking for his prayerful intercession. It was placed in the Adoration Chapel so that anyone who was there would be praying for Paul. These students also had a sign up sheet for anyone who could spend an hour in the Adoration Chapel, in prayer for Paul and we heard that it was filled up with names immediately. We had 24 hour prayers being said for Paul and our family. It was the knowledge of this outpouring of love through prayer, that held up our faith and trust in God. No matter what happened, we knew God would be there.

Fast forward to May 9th, 2008. Jon, Paul and I were sitting in the new church on the new campus of Ave Maria University. We were waiting for the Baccalaureate Mass to begin. We had arrived on campus about an hour early so we could see this beautiful town of Ave Maria. We made our way to the church and sat down to wait. (A real miracle was that we actually got there with so much time to spare. Anyone who knows us can vouch that we are always 10 minutes late to everything!) I was glad we got there early so that I could spend some quiet time in prayer. After about 15 minutes, a woman came up and asked us if we could help her put out the programs in the first section of pews, which were reserved for the students and faculty. She said she was running very late and really needed some help. After we were finished, she asked us our names and when we told her, she stepped back and looked up at Paul. She told him she knew who he was and that she knew his brothers, James and Jon. She said she was happy to meet him and glad to see he was doing so well.

We took our seats and continued to wait for the Mass to begin. About a half hour later, my son Jon, his wife Marie and our beautiful grandson came and sat by us. I had not seen them since Jon Augustine's Baptism in January, so of course, this was a joyous moment for me. I was so overwhelmed with the knowledge that all my family was around me and we were so blessed to be celebrating so many things in that weekend. It was my son Jon's birthday, James was graduating and it was also Mother's Day on Sunday. To say I was joyous would be an understatement! The graduating class processed in and Mass began. It was after I received the Body of Christ and I was praising God for all the gifts I was receiving, that the next thought came into my head. It was THIS graduating class, these friends of James, who put up all the posters for Paul, who got the message out to people all over the country and other countries through family and friends, who organized 24 hour prayers for our family! And on this day, Paul had been asked to place their programs on their pews - he was able to take a tiny part in helping to celebrate a very special day in their lives! Coincidence that we got to the church an hour early? Coincidence that Mercedes asked Paul, Jon and I to help? Coincidence that Paul touched the programs they would hold in their hands? As my daughter in law, Marie, said so long ago - "Coincidence? I think not. It is GODINCIDENCE!"

As this realization came to mind, the tears literally poured down my cheeks. I had brought some tissues, but it became clearly evident I did not bring enough! The boys were giving me funny looks, wondering what was wrong with me! I have tears in my eyes just remembering that day, as I sit here and write. I remember looking out at those bright young faces, at the parents who raised these incredible young men and women and the holy priests who had helped prepare my sons for this world and I wanted to shout out "I love you and I thank you." I know James and my family are greatly relieved that I did not do that..............smile.

BUT FOR EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS BLOG -

I LOVE YOU AND I THANK YOU!!

We reached that milestone on the pathway of your prayers and through the Grace of God.

While we were at Ave Maria, I got to meet the parents of Racheal Dunleavy, who have written so many uplifting comments on the blog and Anne Shea. I was also very blessed to meet the Kilian Family. Their daughter Shannon and another young lady (I am sorry I don't know her name) drove up from Florida a few days after the accident, to pick up James and take him back to school so he could take his exams. It is a 9-10 hour drive and they drove up, then turned around and drove back. It was a great act of kindness and sacrifice. This also was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between James and Shannon. While they continue to discern God's will in their lives, they are pursuing their careers with the FBI (Shannon was accepted into an internship) and U.S. Marines (James begins Officer Candidate School 5/29).

We also got to speak with Fr. Fessio, who was a spiritual advisor to us through our son Jon. When we were being advised by the medical team to let Paul die peacefully and not put in the trach-tube, Jon had asked Fr. Fessio for his advice and he told us that it was way too soon to be making those kinds of decisions and to proceed with all the life supporting helps Paul needed. We were standing outside of the church, recounting how the doctor told us there was less than 1% chance of hope and how I had blessed and prayed for the doctor behind his back as I followed him into the room, asking Jesus to open his heart. I told Fr. Fessio that this was the very doctor who found Paul awake the day after Thanksgiving. It was exactly 2 weeks after his accident. The nurses told us the doctor was so surprised and he had had tears in his eyes when he realized Paul had come out of his coma. Fr. Fessio listened and as he looked at Paul, he too had to wipe tears away. We thanked him for his trust in God and his holy counsel to our family.

Interestingly, the gospel on the day of the Baccalaureate Mass was from the Gospel of John 21:15-19. I have remembered this scripture passage many times over after hearing Fr. Sudac (from Croatia) speak about it. It is where Jesus asks Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Yes, Lord, You know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs." Jesus asks Peter 3 times if he loves him and 3 times, Peter answers, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus does not reprimand Peter for denying Him 3 times before His Crucifixion. Instead, Jesus asks him 3 times if Peter loves Him.
In our of our failings and sinfulness, Jesus really wants to know, "Do you love me?" If we say yes, it means we understand we belong to Jesus and He in turn will say again, "Follow me". We are being asked to stay close to Him, to learn from Him. We cannot be perfect as He is perfect. But we can work hard to love Him, the Trust in Him, to FOLLOW HIM.
The Way of Jesus will take us to Calvary. It is through prayer that we have our hope that we will persevere and not deny Him. It is through prayer that when we fall, we will continue to get back up and Follow Him.

It is through the shared prayers we have for each other that we have the hope of seeing each other in heaven some day. It is through the shared prayers for each other that there is truly no mountain high enough, to keep us from Loving HIM.

God's great peace and blessing to all of you.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca

(It was taking too long to get the pictures downloaded for this posting - I have to get to work! I will get them on tonight. Thanks for your patience!)

On The Border

I will preface this by saying I may have shared this story before, but I feel it is even more relevant today.

When I was 23 years old, I was living in Houston, TX. I was not attending Mass very much and not surprisingly, felt very aimless and undecided about what I wanted to do with my life. Some friends had moved to LaJolla, California and told me how beautiful it was there. I had always wanted to move back out West after living in Utah during my teenage years. I missed the mountains and climate so much. While I didn’t know much about California, it was in the direction I always wanted to go. Houston was just too flat and hot for me. I had nothing to tie me down to Houston, so I finished out my lease at my apartment, and packed my belongings into my Toyota and started driving.

I remember the empty feeling I had inside of me as I started. I knew something was missing. I knew what it was, but facing the truth was really hard. It was during that first day of driving that I started a long talk with God. Texas is a very big state, and it took me 14 hours to get to El Paso. It was in Texas I had my ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting. I talked out loud almost all day long, with intermittent crying and laughing. I had a lot on my mind and I was desperate for answers. I wondered how I had lost my relationship with God. I had had 12 years of Catholic schools. I dwelled on it in those hours and realized I had allowed that formation to be whittled away very slowly. By the end of that blessed day, I was praying very hard that I would be able to find my way back. As I fell asleep that night, I was emotionally and physically drained, but so excited with the anticipation of reaching my journey’s end the next day.

I got up at 6:00 AM and was ready to go 30 minutes later. It was a beautiful, albeit, hot August morning. I got to Tucson by noon and the desert lay ahead of me. I was suddenly very worried about making it all the way through the desert. I asked the gas station attendant about any suggestions he had regarding a successful trip across the desert at ‘high noon’. He said my timing was not great, but he gave me a couple of gallons of water to keep in the car and told me to run my heater on low all the way across. He also suggested that I get a few drinks for myself. I bought 2 very tall glasses of lemonade and an extra glass filled with ice. I opened the windows and began the trip, traveling no more than 50-55 mph to keep the engine from overheating.

My conversation with God continued, alternating between thanking Him for the grace of this new beginning with Him and begging for protection as I drove down the freeway that had very little traffic. Surely, He would not let me perish, now that I had found Him again! Late in the afternoon, I saw dark clouds on the horizon. I was a bit worried about how dark they were, but at the same time, relieved that rain would come and cool both me and my car. Another hour passed and the darkness had grown taller on the horizon and I was straining very hard to see what that darkness was. It really didn’t look like clouds anymore. After awhile, I shouted out loud, “those are mountains!” I had California in sight. At this point, I told God that if I didn’t make it all the way, I had to thank Him for this last view of the mountains in the distance.

We are at the border, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul’s results of his neuro-pyche test were given to us late yesterday afternoon and at 23 years of age, he is at the border of our ‘Trip to California’. The doctor asked Paul how well he thought he did. Paul said that he felt he did fairly well. The doctor told him he was right. The therapists had all seen the results and were very happy and surprised with some of the outcomes. Since they saw him last, which was in October, he had made even more recovery. The neuropsychologist went over all the categories and told us that Paul’s IQ was intact, his effort ability was intact, his moods were not affected, and his problem solving / reasoning skills were also intact. There were about 20 categories she discussed, which she listed as either strengths or weaknesses. Those that were lined up on the ‘strengths’ side were the ones we would want to see there. They would serve Paul very well. Those listed as weaknesses (which are actually ‘impairments’) could be helped by Paul’s strengths. He is impaired in the area of reading - he reads more slowly now. He understands what he reads, but is below average in speed. He has a mild impairment in his ability to pay attention to fine detail. He was not able to remember a complex pattern in as great a detail as others in his age group. His memory is not as good with abstract items. They gave him 10 random words to remember and he did not do as well. But when he was given a story with a lot of little details, he did very well remembering the facts/details of the story. He was also able to give the overall concept of the story. So, when dealing with facts or figures, he will need to learn to put it in a kind of structure to help him retain it in memory. He has enough strengths to do ‘work arounds’. His executive thinking skills are intact. His visual and auditory skills are intact. There are a lot of medical terms for these categories, which I don’t remember right now, but overall the sentence that stuck out for all of us was, “ Paul should be very successful at his attempt to finish college.” He will work through the disabilities office, which will provide him the extra help to be successful in his school work. He will be allowed to have things like a recorder in the classroom, or a note-taker, be given a bit more time to take tests (due to his reading slower) and things of that nature. He will be protected by the Disabilities Act. I remember when that came about, and it didn't pertain to me, so I didn't have much interest in it. Amazing how God moves us along.

The next part made Paul even more happy. The neurophysiologist told him she was signing off on her portion and was giving approval for driver training to begin. He will be allowed to start the driver training program at the downtown Shepherd Center . There are 3 portions which have to be approved - first the neurophysiologist (check…..smile), then Paul’s opthamologist and then Dr. Kaelin, the doctor who worked with Paul at the beginning when Paul was admitted to Shepherd Center. He has been overseeing Paul’s care through Shepherd Pathways. While it is not a done deal, Paul may be driving in the next 6 months. It is a fine goal, to be sure. As you can imagine, I am not as interested in the driving part….smile. But it was so wonderful seeing Paul’s face as the doctor was going over all his results. He was so nervous throughout the meeting. He kept picking at his fingernails, yet seemed oblivious to that action. At one point, when the doctor turned around to face the chalk board, Paul looked at me, face beaming, and gave a ‘thumbs up’ sign. How appropriate that action was. He had begun this whole journey, having learned to use that sign to communicate with us and yesterday, it spoke volumes.

After Mass this morning, someone came up to me to let me know that in the Magnificat prayer book they had read that Saint Avertinus was the patron saint for those who suffer from headaches and dizziness. His feast day is on Monday, May 5th. A fine day indeed!

“I am the beginning and the end of all things. I have met death, but I am alive, and I shall live for eternity, alleluia.” (Rev 1:17-18)

“Make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart.” (Ps 90:12)

We are going to see James graduate from Ave Maria University this weekend. Paul will be able to meet so many of the young people who were praying 24 hours a day in the months following his accident. I pray that each one of these young people do not lose sight of God, as I did all those years ago. May their devotion to prayerfulness remain ‘intact’, to carry them To the Border.

“You are precious in my eyes.” (Is 43:4)

Love,
Jon and Rebecca