Insight
Insight:
The capacity to discern the true nature of a situation; penetration.
The act or outcome of grasping the inward or hidden nature of things or of perceiving in an intuitive manner.
Good evening Catie followers,
As time continues to march onward, I sometimes wonder what more there is to say. Catie has been in heaven now for as long as she lived in Christine’s womb. More anniversaries of events which defined last year have come and gone and the end result has shown the agony over which we approached those decisions to have been for naught. Insight in this case provides us with the knowledge that worrying about and agonizing over decisions, even life and death decisions probably won’t matter in the end. Sort of a fatalistic approach, but at least deserving of discussion.
Christine and I were blessed to be able to attend a Parish retreat at St. Theresa’s church last night and are planning to bring the kids for the second installment this evening. The retreat master, a priest from St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmittsburg explored many interesting and salient points that hit home. When good things are happening in your life, God is about the business of your salvation. When bad things are happening in your life, God is about the business of your salvation. God is the constant, He is always working for our good and for our eternity regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Father also shared 2 small prayers and I offer them to you. “I can’t, You can, and You promised.” And “oh well, I still have Jesus.” Faced with life’s challenges and difficulties, accepting and acknowledging our own inability to correct the situation and calling on God who is infinite and almighty sounds like a good idea.
The most interesting and insightful discussion point for me was when Father told a “hypothetical” story. A mother had a child diagnosed with cancer and turned to God to save her daughter. The child became sicker. The mother prayed more fervently, attended mass, made novenas, asked others to join her in prayer. The child became sicker. The mother took her child on a pilgrimage and begged God to save her daughter. The child became sicker. Eventually, the child died of her cancer. The mother felt the anguish of the loss and even felt as if God had forsaken her. Eventually, the mother died and was met in heaven by Jesus and her daughter. In the joy and rapture of heaven, the mother saw her child’s life as God had always seen it. Had the daughter survived her cancer, she would have one day turned her back on her faith and lost her way choosing an eternity apart from God and apart from her mother. The mother, looked at Jesus in her new understanding and He gently said to her, “you asked me to save you daughter and that is exactly what I did.”
It is hard to imagine that sweet, innocent, prayerful Catie was brought home to heaven to save her from an eternity in hell, but how do we know what the future held for her if she had survived. Even with a full recovery from the cancer, the radiation and chemotherapy had potentially robbed her of cognitive ability, reproductive function, hearing, eyesight, mobility. Who can say what the eternal effects of her continued earthly existence may have had upon her own relationship with God and the relationship of her family and friends who witnessed her struggles. Catie’s life and death have to this point provided encouragement, faithfulness, and a wellspring of sacramental grace. Many have been Baptized or have returned to a faith they had abandoned because of Catie’s story. People have changed their relationships with spouses, children, parents, and friends. The positive benefits of Catie’s life, suffering, and death are manifold. Perhaps in a year, ten years, or even twenty this would not have been. Only God knows.
And so we continue on, with fresh insight and new ideas. God has once again taken the difficulties we face and allowed us to see the wisdom and grace to be gained. The crosses we bear are the keys to open the gates of heaven. How we carry them or help others carry theirs offers the world a glimpse of heaven and a measure of our true nature and character as children of God. I pray that the burdens you face are not taken away because those burdens may indeed be your ticket home, but that you are open to the grace and assistance that God stands ready to offer you if you but ask.
May God bless you and the work of your hands,
Christine, Kevin, Maggie, Max, Mia, Molly, M.E. and always Catie and Gianna
PS – the Octoberfest event at PJ Whelihan’s will be amazing. Please send the invite to all you know so that we can all celebrate together and honor Catie’s Wish.
PSS – please continue to pray for those who have asked for our prayers, the children at St. Jude, those who have returned home and are on hospice care, those who have returned home after their treatment regimens have ended, that they may enjoy full and rich lives. For Kevin’s sister Kathy who has been diagnosed with bone cancer and for all those intentions which we hold in the silence of our hearts.
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