This
week I sat in the surgical waiting room at M. D. Anderson in Houston. I met a
family of a young man undergoing colon surgery. The doctors in his home town said
there was no hope; but, the doctors at M. D. Anderson said they could help.
The
young man’s wife was there as a source of strength for her family, her husband’s
family, and for their family, two small boys. The surgery was to remove 1/2 of
her husband’s colon to fight the cancer. He was only 32 years old.
She
was so strong, so positive, smiling and loving.
After
9 hours of surgery the young man was moved to recovery and most of the family
left.The young wife was left alone except for a single close friend, a young
woman of the same age she had known since they were small in school.
They
talked. They laughed. Then, they cried.
I
overheard the young wife confide to her friend these words about her husband. “He
is who I am. He is who my children are. He is all I have known for the past 12
years.”
Some
would say, those were the words of a weak and dependent woman.
All
I saw was strength. The strength to say the one she loved made her who she was
and that is who she wants to be. In tears, she rejoiced in the relationship
with her husband.
Some
of us are lucky that we have someone who makes us who we are. It could be a
spouse, family, a child, or even friends. We rejoice in that relationship.
Yet,
all of us have one relationship in which we can rejoice. It is a relationship with
God the Father through our LORD Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the LORD.
Some
rejoice in the relationship. Some are looking for that relationship. Sadly,
some deny any want or need or possible relationship with God.
We should all rejoice in The LORD, our God.
God is in our midst, a
mighty savior. Our LORD and savior rejoices over us with gladness. Christ renews us in his
love.
This is the truth the blessed virgin Mary
knew; the truth in which she became the mother of God. It is the truth of her
strength. The strength to say the one she loved made her who she was and who
she wanted to be.
This is the truth John the Baptist preached.
He called for a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.
He promised that one greater than he would
come. One that baptizing in the strength of the Holy Spirit and fire. The Holy
Spirit that gives the strength to say this is who I am and this is who I want
to be.
Through baptism we are called to the joyous
relationship with our Lord and Savior. If we are true to that relationship, he
is all that we are. He is all that we want to be.
And those who don’t know that joyous
relationship will look at us and say we are a weak and dependent people.
They do not recognize strength.
I saw strength when I went to mass Sunday morning
at the hospital chapel. I saw people well and sick who came to celebrate that
joyous relationship with the LORD. Some were doctors. Some were nurses. Some
were patients. Some were family of patients. The one strength in each and every person at that mass was a relationship that defines who they are, a relationship with Christ.
A relationship with Jesus Christ is all that I am and all that I want to be.
Even though our church community is small at
Our Lady of Fatima Parish, St. Lawrence Catholic Church, and Christ the King -
Catholic Campus ministries I ran into several members of our family at that Hospital. Each and every one of them has a story of strength.
Each has a story of strength in their relationship
with Christ even as they fight cancer. I pray that Jesus Christ the Divine Physician
is with them and heals them. May God's miracles found in the skills, knowledge, and wisdom of those who treat them be released to all those in
need.
Friends, pray for those who are sick and
crisis and all those who need our prayers. May the Holy Spirit give them
continued strength.
St. Peregrine, pray for us. St. Anthony Mary
Claret, pray for us. Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, pray for us. Holy Mother of
God, pray for us.
Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by
the way you live and love one another. Amen.
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