So, yeah, I've been exposing some things to the world that I've rarely talked to anyone about...
Nobody has commented, so methinks perhaps you're all thinking, 'She's loonie!'. I can't blame you for that. If you told me this stuff, I'd probably not believe it. The only reason I believe is because I had a one -on -one encounter with it!
After I had written about John's fasting, I promised to write more details.
John was not raised Catholic. In fact, he wasn't raised to believe much of anything. His parents were mismatched (I don't know why they ended up together, frankly) and didn't stay married too long. His mom attended a Methodist Church once in awhile and migrated to services at the Salvation Army later in her life. His dad was very anti-Catholic. If he had lived long enough to see John and I get married, I'm sure he would have pitched a fit.
I never wanted to push John into being brought into the Church. I believe that is a decision that only he could have made. I did make certain things clear to him when we were dating.
The first thing was that if we were to get married, there would be no use of artificial birth control, which is sinful. (To those Catholics who don't know that, yes, it has never been permissible to use. I realize that, sadly, many Catholics don't know that.) Number two, I hoped to have a large family. Number three, our children would be raised Catholic.
John is easy to get along with and he had no problem with any of these things. In fact, his heart was in the same place that mine was. He told me he wanted a large family, too, and he would not impede me in how the kids were raised.
We had a Catholic wedding, complete with a Mass, but he could not receive the Eucharist with me. One must be Catholic to do so. I remember hoping that some day we would be unified in faith.
Ten years into our marriage, he approached me one day and informed me that he was about to enter into the RCIA program at St. Bart's. (Rite of Christian Initiation.) I was really glad he had come to the Church because I felt that it could only draw us closer to each other. We have always had an extraordinary closeness, but I had prayed for this day to come, and was very thankful.
The following Easter, he was brought into the Church and I was his sponsor. When Ian, our eldest son, received his First Communion about a month later, John was able to receive, too.
The unusual mystical happenings had begun the previous Christmas eve at bedtime...1994.
Being that we were parents of a newborn, as well as a toddler, a four year old and an 8 year old, that day was very exhausting. I had promised myself that I would pray a rosary on Christmas day, but after the kids were all put to bed that night, I fell into bed like a lump of clay. It was only 9:00 but it felt like midnight. I had been up most of the night before, helping 'Santa Claus'. I hadn't had a full night's sleep in months anyway because I nursed my babies, and Maria woke up often several times most nights.
As I drifted off to sleep, I remembered the rosary. I turned my head to look at John, who was in the same shape that I was. His eyes were closed and I could tell by his breathing that he was falling asleep. "John, I forgot to pray my rosary."
One eye popped open. His drowsy voice answered me. "I'll pray with you if you would like." His hand fumbled on the nightstand, trying to locate the rosary beads I had given him on our last anniversary. At this point in time, John had been in the RCIA program for about three months.
The rosaries were made of pale blue crystal beads, on a silver chain. I propped myself up and placed our small creche on the bed with us. Half-heartedly, we began to recite the prayers, and I tried to meditate on the infant in the manger...keeping myself from dozing off was almost painful.
After a couple of minutes, John, who was slumped up against the headboard, leapt up. He flipped on the lamp next to him and thrust the rosaries under the light.
"Annie! What are these rosaries made of?!" (I thought he had lost it.) "Austrian crystal and some kind of silver metal." I replied.
He motioned for me to come over and look at them. He showed me the links on the chain. "Not silver anymore. LOOK!" I examined the chain. As we were looking at it, it was turning gold colored.
I grabbed them and said, 'Let me see!" The next thing we knew, we were both kneeling next to our bed and praying with great emotion.
The next day when my parents were at our house, we explained what had happened. My mom has a deep faith, but isn't one to look for signs. I wouldn't say that she scoffed at our story, but she seemed to think maybe there was a logical explanation.
She was looking at the beads up close and said, 'You know what would be even more spectacular?! If these beads turned gold! That would convince me." As we continued to examine the beads, we saw something curious. One bead, the 3rd bead on the 3rd decade, glimmered under the light. We turned it and realized that the blue had been replaced by gold--not the entire bead, though. Just three connected facets of it, which were all golden. They formed a heart shape.
The 3rd decade in the joyful mysteries of the rosary is the Nativity of Christ, Christmas! (This all happened at Christmastime.) Later that day I called some local jewelry shops to ask if they knew of anything that could explain what had happened. NO ONE could explain.
John and I talked at great length about this and the other occurrences. We came to the conclusion that God had a purpose for these things. As a married couple, we had felt all along that we were being called to holiness.
We felt (and still do) that God wanted us to strive towards this goal and be the best spouses and parents that we could be. We have always taken this to heart. The wonderful mystical happenings seemed to come at times when we must have needed a small boost to encourage us.
The times that John and I were touched (by the Holy Spirit?) (in my earlier blog entries) we felt united beyond our wildest imaginations. There truly are no words to describe this because there is nothing worldly that compares. This left an indelible memory on our souls. It was like God said, "I am sealing you with my love." We were joined to each other and to Him in these episodes.
More to come later...time to start dinner...
HUGSxxxAnnie
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