"Go ahead! Courage! In the spiritual life he who does not go forward goes backward. It is the same with a boat which must always go forward. If it stands still, the wind will blow it back." ST. PADRE PIO
My husband and I had a talk tonight. One of many talks we have late at night when the kids are tucked away. We sip on beer or wine together, he smokes a cigar and I listen to him or ramble on, whichever comes first. Tonight we had one of those talks that had us both examining where we were in our spiritual lives and where we were headed. The great Padre Pio came up ( marvelous saint of our time) and prompted us both to take a look at how we have been called to love at this season in our lives. But before I go there, I should go back to the beginning... John and I met when we were teenagers. I was 17 and he was 19. Getting ready for the summer of 2001 was our top priority when we met and instantly hit it off. We spent the summer getting to know each other and by summers end we were hooked and head over heels for each other. We were inseperable and couldn't be more passionate about one another but boy were we way outside of God's original plan. The next couple of years we lived indifferently to God, our parents, or anyone else who told us we were wrong. We cohabitated for 2 years before we had our first son, Niko, which ultimately pulled us up out of the blindness that concealed our sight from anything that would have prompted us to change. We were on a journey from then on out that would ultimately lead us to a life of salvation, forgiveness, and freedom. Fast forward to the Fall of 2005 where we had a life changing experience that would forever alter the way we saw ourselves, one another, and God's plan for our lives. God is good and his mercy and love cannot be bridled once he has lavished it upon his chosen ones. God convicted us of the cohabitation and crooked way of life we had been living for so many years. He showered his mercy and forgiveness upon us and spoke deeply to our hearts in a way neither of us had ever experienced. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass became heaven on earth to us and the taste of the Holy Eucharist which we had not had in several years was such a sweet relief after being parched of the body and blood of Jesus Christ for too long. We came back that blessed Sunday ( did I mention we were at a weekend retreat?) brand new again. We were truely a new creation, fearfully and wonderfully made, and wonderful were the works of the Lord that we knew full well. We went to our parish priest excited and filled with joy to this new calling to which we had been called and our priest was only to happy to have helped pave the path which had gotten us to that moment. We were married exactly 8 days later ,from the time of the retreat, in the chapel of our parish where I had gone as a young girl but was now coming home with a new sense of who I really was... a princess of the King. The journey did not stop there. It has been almost 4 years since we said our wedding vows and promised to love one another through sickness and health, til death do us part. This call to love challenges us everyday as we strive to offer ourselves first to our Lord to allow him to do with us as he wills, as well as love one another properly while raising 3 small children to heaven all the while being sanctified in the process. Through prayer, study, sacrifice and perseverance we are able to sense God's order in our lives and the ways in which he wills to govern us day by day. Psalm 37 rings so true when the psalmist proclaims, "Delight in the ways of the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." God calls us to love unselfishly and without reserve, to shine his light in a confused and hurting world. We are called to give ourselves to each other, and this is our "Call to Love". This is alot to take in in one sitting, I know, and I have left out almost the entire journey. But we will get there. One small blog at a time...
Mary Sena <><
No comments:
Post a Comment