A GIFT

FROM THE BRIDE AND THE BRIDEGROOM

Today, August 27, is the feast day of Saint Monica – who prayed herself and her son into becoming great saints. Her son, Augustine, who was brought to God by the tearful prayers of his mother, is one of the two most brilliant authors ever to write about our holy faith. This is why Saint Monica is the patron saint of mothers.

But today is also the birthday of a young woman born in 1975. Her name was Katherine Mary but she was always called Katie. Her parents, though raised by faithful Catholic parents and given wonderful Catholic educations, had fallen away from the practice of the faith. The girl was baptized a few weeks after birth but didn’t receive any religious education or her other sacraments.

When Katie was 11, God took matters into His own hands and through a number of direct interventions in the lives of her parents, they returned to the faith. A year later she received her First Communion. Her parents, as stupid as they had been, realized they had been blessed by God with a 2^nd chance so were fervent and devout in their faith. They have remained so till this day some twenty years later.

Katie’s parents knew that her grandmother (Dad’s Mom) had been praying hard for years for their return. They thanked her many times for her prayers. But she shared a little secret that they didn’t know about. She had secretly taught Katie to pray and told her to pray everyday for her parents to return to the faith. The prayers of a little child were heard and effective.

That little Katie, after receiving First Communion at 12, was confirmed at 15 and about that time started to hear Christ’s call to a life of total dedication to Him in religious life. She answered that call and today is a professed Carmelite sister.

Yes, Our Lord heard the prayers of that little girl. He knew she would be His bride someday and so showered the gifts of renewed faith and dedication to Him on her parents. This new faith was a gift….. a gift from both the bride and the bridegroom.

So today as my wife Mary and I meditate on this feast day of St Monica and the birthday of our daughter, we give tearful thanks to Jesus who gave us back the gift of faith and He did it by our little Saint Monica in reverse, our Katie who prayed her parents back into the church.

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If you want to read more about Gifts from the Bridegroom see my previous post at:

http://www.fightingirishthomas.org/2007/07/gifts-from-bridegroom.html

I want to thank the George Kubeck, the operator of this blog, for the opportunity to post these past two weeks. If there were 1,000 pro life warriors like George in the USA, abortion would have been blown away years ago.