A hug from God

This morning I awoke thinking I would go to a special Mass being held in my parish, a Mass for the sick. I am was excited to go but had this feeling I should go to the 9 am Mass anyways. Why? What is the purpose of going to the same Mass I always go to? Well I wasn't able to shake the feeling and so off I went. I thought perhaps the homily had something for me the Lord wanted to say... or ... I dunno. so there was a visiting priest, Fr. Joe and I was listening to every word as if my life depended on it. As a result I really was very present for Mass which was awesome, but I didn't feel like I had any insights that would change my heart or something.

So I went to the little side chapel to pray and do my office after Mass. there was a man there I had never seen before and I was glad to have someone to pray with, even if we were both silently placing ourselves into the Lord's hands and praying together in the sense of being both united in His most Sacred Heart. He was radiating with the joy of the Lord and as he knelt, I felt that I could see his love for Him! I thought, perhaps this is why I came here to this Mass this morning.

After a few hours of praying together in that little chapel, he was on his way, I thanked him for loving God and begged his prayers for me! Oh Praise God for the strength he sent me through this servant of His, Timothy. He encouraged me in my search for an order and was actually returning from time in the wilderness. he wants to pursue the eremetical life! How amazing that he was just passing through town and the Lord sent him to me to be my companion in prayer and encourage me as I go to visit another Carmelite Monastery on Monday!

God is Good!!! He sent this angel to me to show me His love and embrace me!! Thank you!

A humbling day

The day began as any other. Ride over to the Church for Mass, pray, walk the dog, go to the trolley stop. OK pause. Here is my first uplifting humility for the day:

I sat awaiting the arrival of the trolley. Talking with a young man who was going to school downtown, we greeted an elderly woman. She was sharing with us her relief that the trolley drivers were not on strike. Strike? I did not even know there was talk of strike, let alone it could be going on today! I voiced my ignorance simply and asked about the situation. Turning for comfort to this other guy, did you know there was a possible strike? Of course, he replied! Well, living in my own little world, I was glad to be informed of this breaking news (well, breaking to me at least) so as to keep my eyes more closely on the situation which may affect my daily commute.

life resumed as normal, simple trolley ride, walk to Catholic Charities, start paperwork for the refugee services. Then i was asked to escort two men, my age, to the bank to open a checking account. I got directions and was handed a check for another client who had forgotten to take it with him.

Walking along I asked, "So, how long have you been in the US?" seemed like a typical question to me... "I was born here!" Woops! One of them was born here and one was a refugee! I should have known this was only a start. So we reach the bank. "Umm excuse me where do I go to sign up for a checking account?" You see my bank is completely online and so I have never done face-to-face banking! They call us to meet with one of the employees and I still have not found the owner of this check that I have in my hand! All questions are directed towards me, yet I have zero of the answers! I am just there to accompany! The gentleman born here asked the lady helping us, "Are there any other PNC banks in the area?" Then upon finding out there was another within a half-block suggested that perhaps they were there! Silly me! Well, off I charge, leaving them to create their own checking account as they obviously can do this better than I. Tra la la... hmm I found the bank. Nobody there! Ok, I guess I return to the first one and perhaps they were on a different side of the building... I am completely lost now. I return to find the two men I was with are gone!!! Now I have not only NOT found the man I am looking for, but I have also lost the TWO I was with!!! Ahh! I try calling back to the office. nobody there! Oh dear Lord, what do I do now?? So I decide to go back to the other bank in hopes that the two men decided to go there.

They meet me as I re-exit the bank. "We found the man you are looking for, but you still have the check!" "What! Where?" "At the other bank, they are sitting out front!" So they took me down to find them. And there they were, at the other entrance to the bank, patiently waiting for me! How silly. I was there to be the guide and to help, but rather they helped me and guided me! Well, teaching me humility!

Thus proving once again that when you think you can help someone, most likely, they can help you more!

Miracles!

My dear friends, I must share with you a story of the power of prayer and ask that you continue to pray for the woman involved. In order to keep all things private I will refer to her as Sue, although this is not her real name. Sue has been dealing with some very rough issues while also trying to run a household of two young children with a husband who is addicted to sports and struggles to tear himself away from the TV and sports games.

Sue is battling a very severe case of depression due to some unfortunate, inappropriate contacts with a mentor whom she went to for advise. After reporting these incidents, she was even more distraught at having possibly ruined this person's reputation or career and the Devil worked on her trying to get her to believe that she had made all this up. She became bulimic and was headed downhill, yet remained close to the Lord and was attending a prayer group.

This past Sunday her husband woke up to find her missing, a suicide note in her place. Her mother called for prayers and the prayers reached out to parishes and individuals in the Pittsburgh area, but also to other states, into convents and cloisters, just about everywhere! The speed at which the message was spread was incredible and how many people took her into their hearts to intercede to the Lord for her life! Amazingly, the police in her area were having a training day/weekend for all the rescue dog teams in Pittsburgh. They used Sue for this exercise and so not just one team, but all the rescue teams were on her scent. They found her unconscious, having consumed two bottles of anti-depressants and a water bottle full of whiskey or scotch. She had consumed them all! They rushed her to the hospital where she slowly regained consciousness and they determined.. NO BRAIN DAMAGE! NO LIVER DAMAGE! NO HEART DAMAGE! NO MAJOR ORGANS WERE DAMAGED! Truly a miracle of God's mercy to spare her life.

She is currently under supervision in the psychiatric wing of the hospital, but through prayer and love she will win! The Lord shall conquer! AMEN!!!

Volunteering

The past week I have spent living at my neighbor's house taking care of the dog. It has been a great chance for some extra exercise and silence. My days are quite regulated now in comparison to the past month of waking up not having any plans or agenda. Waking early, I bike to Mass, a bit of extra prayer time and return for breakfast. Then I walk the dog and it is off to the trolley. Taking "The T", as we refer to it here it Pittsburgh, I have begun a volunteer position with the refugee services of Catholic Charities. My time has been quite interesting, learning that we even have refugees coming into Pittsburgh and then seeing that we currently have 3 or 4 families arriving each day! The constant influx of people, trying to provide them with some permanent housing, and also their basic needs has been a challenge. I mostly am involved behind the scenes filling out paperwork and sorting through donations, but the refugees are in the office every day and just a simple smile is all I have to offer, yet they appreciate it immensely. How good it is to just show love. This is all we can do, be Love for the world.

A Wedding, A Hurricane, and a bombing

It all began with a call on thursday evening. "Umm hello, Diana? This is Dad (my grandfather). We just wanted to warn you that the fleas are back and the dog was just treated for them yesterday! We haven't gotten bit much, but I am vacuuming every day to try and control them."

Well, seeing as these fleas have been around for at least 2 or 3 months now, my mother and I decided to do something about it. We headed east and picked up flea bombs and yard spray. Now, we had to be undercover for fear they would not want us doing so much and so we arrived (after renting a car since our wasn't starting very well) and stripped all the beds, covered every piece of furniture, moved the dog and cat outdoors, and set up 5 flea bombs. In a relay-race of bombs, we successively set off the bombs on each floor. running out of the house and driving away to my other grandparent's house for dinner.

We had a lovely dinner and picked up my dad at the airport, then returned to the bombed house to let it air out and begin to wash the sheet and floors and tables and dishes and carpets...etc. Let me say it was a very long nihgt, interrupted with a small trip the the train station to pick up Andrew. At around 2 or 2:30 am we finally had enough sheets clean for us to sleep and it was aired out enough that we felt comfortable we woudl not be inhaling insecticide.

Finishing the wash in the mornign, we readied for the wedding (my cousin Joey). Locking dog and cat indoors, we departed just in time to catch the winds and rain of Hannah (the hurricane). Thankfully my father was driving and is a very good driver, weathering the storm quite well and getting us to the church on time. The wedding seems a bit unrehearsed and included a bit of comic relief. The highlights included my Uncle Jimmy (who is hard of hearing) standing up during the reading of the Gospel to yell, "I am goign to the bathroom!", the siser of the groom praying for "N. and N." (should have been Joe and Kim), and a few other interesting spectacles. The reception though was wuite nice and very elegant including gourmet appetizers, dinner, and even a flaming dessert!