He Said Yes

 

I was praying the rosary for a local priest whom I was asked to pray for when I noticed that the rosary I was holding in my hands had a picture of Mary on it. She wore a crown and behind her beautifully crowned image was blue sky, with calm blue waters beneath it.  On the back of that picture were the words: “Our Lady of Lepanto, pray for us.”  Lepanto is the place where badly outnumbered European naval forces had fought to save Europe and the Catholic faith on October 7, 1571.  Prior to the battle, the European forces had prayed to Mary to plead with her Son for their safety.  The European forces, against all odds, surprisingly won, and the title of Our Lady of Lepanto was created and remembered (although often she is often called Our Lady of Victory).

As I prayed the rosary, I recalled the time Our Lady had intervened in my life also, and like Lepanto things beyond all odds happened. What came to my mind was my strange call to go to Medjugorje in 1987.  It definitely was beyond all odds that I should go to that place that no travel agent had ever heard of, nor knew how to get to.  Yet I was called to go there.  A number of people tried to talk me out of “my silly idea”, but I had to go to that place halfway around the world.

I think a big part of my going, however, was aided by my sister.  When I told her of my strange compulsion, she also said I was silly, and no way would her husband let her go to such a strange place in a communist country.  Yet, two days later my sister called me all excited: “He said yes!”

She was going with me.  And my life, and hers, radically changed.  Up until right now, my focus had always been on my strange compulsion to go there.  I don’t know what would have happened if my sister had not agreed to go with me.  But, although I never spoke to him about it, I think her husband must have also had a strange compulsion to let her go with me.  He said yes.

At Lepanto, the world changed because of Mary’s intercession.  On a much smaller scale, because of her intercession my world, and that of the people I would meet over the rest of my life, changed. Many big things in our lives happen when we follow what I call the Spirit’s little nudges, but at this one my life radically changed course.  Lepanto was much bigger than my change, of course, but there was one major intervention of Mary which was even more world-changing than the battle at Lepanto.

There once was a young virgin named Mary, who said yes to an angel, and …

 

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And as I type these words, I recall that today is a feast day in the Catholic Church.  It is the feast day of the Queenship of Mary.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Am I Alive?

 

Why am I alive.  I think that is not an uncommon question, especially among those undergoing some trials, and perhaps some elderly who don’t see a future.  And many of the “wise and good” people of our society are saying: “Let’s help them die in peace.  Euthanasia is good thing to do.”  They might even say it’s a loving thing to do, but whether they’d admit it or not, I believe such actions would only display how much these “good people” are caring for themselves --- “getting these people out of their way.”  Getting back to the original question, the answer is NOT that we were born to die when things get rough.  Pain and suffering, and death, are a part of life, but there is a reason each of us is alive, a reason for the moment we are living in, NOW, even if it is a moment of suffering.

None of us created our life; all life is a gift of God.  After we are given life, that is when we take control, to use this gift as we believe He would have us do, so when this human life ends and as our eternal life continues, we will meet Him face-to-face, and we will ask Him: “How did I do?  Did I do what you wanted me to?”

In recent days, things I am doing have opened up my past to me, and what this gift of my life is about, and in particular, some of the things which impacted other people.  The culture would have us believe our life is totally ours, and we should focus on ourselves.  But I’ve been shown, clearly, how my life didn’t even have to happen, and shown through another’s example that perhaps it was even probable that my life shouldn’t have happened.  It truly is a gift of God.  And recently I ran across some old correspondence, in which some people described to me how in utter desolation they were; they had no hope.  They wrote as if this letter were their last words.  Then God put me in their lives, and through me He gave them hope.  Events that happened weren’t things I controlled or planned, but God knew what they needed, and when I showed up they felt just a little bit of love.  When all hope is lost, the love of The Father is still there, and I was His instrument.

My life didn’t have to happen, but if I were not alive, I don’t know what would have happened to those people, and what they might have done in their despair.  We are not in this world alone, to make ourselves happy.  That is what Adam and Eve chose to do.  We are in this world, among other people, now, for a reason.  Some of us have a vocation, which sets us in contact with others to love.  Love them.  God didn’t create us as robots with a pre-destination, nor for random reasons.  A loving Father gave us the gift of life, so we could choose to do what He created us for, and then come home to Him.

(I just heard Fr. John Riccardo’s latest podcast; he spoke basically the same thing ---- in much better words than mine.)