Hannah's Prayer

Glorify the Lord in your sufferings!

Prayer For Asking Graces Through The Intercession of the Servant of GOD Pope John Paul II:

O Blessed Trinity we thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him.  Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you.  Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.

Continue to follow the novena for readings of the day:

John Paul II Novena - Day 1

John Paul II Novena - Day 2

• John Paul II Novena - Day 3
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• John Paul II Novena - Day 4
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• John Paul II Novena - Day 5
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• John Paul II Novena - Day 6
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• John Paul II Novena - Day 7
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• John Paul II Novena - Day 8
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• John Paul II Novena - Day 9
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Act of Consecration to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

O Virgin Mother of God,

Mary Immaculate,

we dedicate and consecrate ourselves to you

under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

May this Medal be for each one of us

a sure sign of your affection for us

and a constant reminder of our duties towards you.

Ever while wearing it,

may we be blessed by your loving protection

and preserved in the grace of your Son.

O most powerful Virgin,

Mother of our Saviour,

keep us close to you every moment of our lives.

Obtain for us,

your children,

the grace of a happy death;

so that, in union with you,

we may enjoy the bliss of heaven forever.

Amen. 

+ 

   O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have 

   recourse to you. (3 times)

"God has a plan...

I don't know what it is but I will take one step at a time"

You reach a certain point in your life when you need to begin again.

The challenges have been so great that you feel that you have

missed out on something, everything and nothing.  Where did the 

time go you ask yourself?  Does it matter now?  

The answer is not to look back and think that you can obtain 

what was. That time has passed, it is no more.   Now is the time

to accept what is and to acknowledge what was.

Have peace, hope, and faith; these 3 things will keep you 

going, keep moving on the journey. There is a path that has been

made just for me, I don't know what to expect, but I know I  must

move one step at a time. Trusting in God's plan and not my own.  

I say to myself, "Jesus I trust in YOU", as I journey through the 

day, this is what keeps me going.  If I take my eyes off of my Lord 

my journey will have no peace.  I will rely on HIM and Him alone!

meditation and thought for the day

Perfection

A few days before Thomas was born, I visited the needlework shop. I wanted something to keep me busy during a prolonged stay in hospital. Well, I hoped I was going to have a prolonged stay. If Thomas’ diaphragmatic hernia wasn’t healed miraculously then I hoped the doctors would be able to save him through their expertise. And I knew they would need time, time when I would sit in the hospital praying and waiting for him to get well enough to come home.

I chose a Noah’s Ark cross stitch and at once started work on it while I waited to go into labour. Just before we rushed out the door to go to the hospital, I shoved the kit into my bag.

But I didn’t think of the cross stitch again until we’d returned home after the birth and death of our baby. The kit remained in my bag forgotten as we spent hours keeping vigil by Thomas’ side as he struggled to live. I didn’t end up having a prolonged stay in the hospital. Thomas died at 3 pm on the second day of my stay and we were home again that evening.

The first day after Thomas’ death, Andy and I were so busy. We had phone calls to make, the priest to visit, a funeral to arrange… The next few days were equally busy. A constant stream of friends visited, we had to shop for funeral clothes… Finally we had the funeral itself to attend.

And then we stopped. There was nothing left to do but grieve. I started a journal and began writing about Thomas, the pregnancy, his birth and his death. And as I was writing I came to the decision that I wanted to do something for Thomas. I wanted to make him something that would be a visible reminder of his presence here on earth.

I remembered the Noah’s ark cross stitch. That seemed to belong to a different world, a time when I’d had hope. I no longer wanted to finish it. I rolled it up and put it away. But it gave me a new idea. I decided to cross stitch a picture with Thomas’ name and birth and death dates. I returned to the needlework shop and chose a piece of beige linen and a pattern of an old fashioned house flanked by fruit bearing trees. There was room in the centre for a verse, a name and a date. I drew a pattern for the words:

To You O Lord we humbly entrust

Thomas Augustine Elvis

So precious in Your sight

And then I got to work. For weeks I sat on my bed and stitched and thought of Thomas and his death. I pondered such questions as: Why didn’t God heal Thomas? Why do we suffer? What does it all mean? My fingers worked while I had an unending conversation with God.

Gradually I began to take interest in other things but each day I still found some time to work on Thomas’ embroidery. I had a reputation for starting a creative project but never finishing. This time it was going to be different. I had to finish because this was for our son. And, despite the pattern having some complicated stitches needing a high level of skill, I was determined the piece of needlework would be perfect.

I started to get excited when I began work on the outside border. I was on the home stretch. I picked up the pace as I imagined taking my piece of needlework down to the shop to be framed. And then I discovered a mistake. It wasn’t a major mistake. Probably no one would have spotted it. But I had decided that only perfection was acceptable. I undid a large amount of work and patiently redid it correctly.

Finally the embroidery was ready for framing. I flew down to the shop with it to choose a frame. Two weeks later we were hanging Thomas’ cross stitch on the wall where it could be seen by everyone who came to visit. I thought, “Now everyone will know Thomas existed. There on the wall is his story.” I imagined someone seeing my cross stitch in many years to come. They would know that a baby called Thomas was born who lived for one day and his mother loved him so very much she embroidered a beautiful cross stitch for him.

The year after Thomas died my friend Amanda’s baby was stillborn. Remembering how much comfort my cross stitch had brought to me, I decided to embroider one for her baby. The baby was called Faith and I used a verse about faith from the Bible as the central words. By this time I was pregnant with Sophie and I spent long periods of time resting and stitching and thinking and praying about babies.

Amanda lived a couple of hours’ drive away. My husband, Andy offered to deliver the finished cross stitch to her.

When Andy returned home he was carrying a large frame. For a moment I thought it was Faith’s cross stitch. But it wasn’t. It was a large picture of our Lady of Guadalupe. Amanda had given it to Andy saying, “This picture was on my wall but I had a feeling that it wasn’t mine. God intended it for someone else. Only I didn’t know who was supposed to have it. I thought at first it was meant for Joan. I invited her to afternoon tea but Joan didn’t pay any attention to the picture at all. She didn’t even notice it hanging on the wall. I decided it wasn’t meant for her after all. And then today when you arrived with the cross stitch from Sue, I was absolutely sure Our Lady of Guadalupe is for her.”

Amanda’s story and her gift touched my heart so deeply. I felt we were bonded together by our exchange, just as we are bonded together by the deaths of our children. I can imagine Thomas and Faith together in Heaven and Amanda and I are united here on earth by our grief.

I haven’t seen Amanda for some years now. But I will never forget her. Every time I look at Our Lady of Guadalupe I think of her and am grateful for her gift which I feel has helped me to heal.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is hanging on the lounge room wall right next to Thomas’ cross stitch, Thomas’ perfect cross stitch. Or is it perfect? One day, I was standing looking at the embroidery and I noticed the bottom line of words is slightly out of line. One word looks like it is sagging. My first thought was, “The framer didn’t do a very good job. He didn’t stretch the linen tight enough.” And then I realised I had no one to blame for the imperfection except myself. Despite my efforts to be very careful, I had sewn the middle letters of one word slightly lower than I should have done.

I smile now when I look at the mistake. It is a reminder to me that I am not perfect. I strove for perfection, thought I’d achieved it but in reality I had failed. It’s funny isn’t it, how we often don’t see our own flaws? We think we are pretty good. But then one day God opens our eyes a little wider…

Thomas, together with all our lost babies, is perfect. He is so very perfect in Heaven. And here I am on earth, still striving away, still working towards that goal. One day with the help of Thomas’ prayers and those of Our Lady of Guadalupe I will get there. One day…

Please share my stories at Sue Elvis Writes

"God's Will or My Will, That is the Question"

Have  any of you gone through the struggle of wanting and desiring your own will over God's will..   :-)   .... me too.  

I don't think any of us can say that we haven't gone through such a struggle. Somehow I think it's just about acceptance of the present moment as life is ever changing and never remains the same for long.  Well, some of you may say 5 years is a long time and things are still the same.  Ah, but are they truly the same?

God bless you, me and all those seeking to truly walk in the Divine Will of Our Lord.

The Divine Will of God

Saint Francis de Sales

Our Greatest Fault is that we wish to serve God in our Way, not in His Way -- according to our Will, not according to His Will. When He wishes us to be Sick, we wish to be Well; when He desires us to serve Him by Sufferings, we desire to serve Him by Works; when He wishes us to exercise Charity, we wish to exercise Humility; when He seeks from us Resignation, we wish for Devotion, a Spirit of Prayer or some other Virtue. And this is not because the things we Desire may be more Pleasing to Him, but because they are more to our Taste. This is certainly the Greatest Obstacle we can raise to our own Perfection, for it is beyond doubt that if we were to wish to be Saints according to our own Will, we shall never be so at all. To be Truly a Saint, it is necessary to be One, according to the Will of God.

Our Lady of Hope Novena

Our Lady Of  Pontmain 1871

Our Lady of Hope

    

Prayer: I am the mother of fair love, and of fear,  and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth; in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come to me all that desire me  and be filled with my fruits (Sirach 24:24-26). O Blessed Virgin Mary,  Mother of Grace, Hope of the world. Hear us, your children, who cry to you   Let Us Pray O God, who by the marvelous protection  of the Blessed Virgin Mary  has strengthened us firmly in hope,  grant we beseech You, that by persevering in prayer at her admonition, we may obtain the favors we devoutly implore. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.   Prayer to Our Lady of Hope O Mary, my Mother, I kneel before you with heavy heart. The burden of my sins oppresses me. The knowledge of my weakness discourages me.  I am beset by fears and temptations of every sort. Yet I am so attached to the things of this world that instead of longing for Heaven  I am filled with dread at the thought of death. O Mother of Mercy, have pity on me in my distress. You are all-powerful with your Divine Son. He can refuse no request of your Immaculate Heart. Show yourself a true Mother to me  by being my advocate before His throne. O Refuge of Sinners and Hope of the Hopeless, to whom shall I turn if not you? Obtain for me, then, O Mother of Hope, the grace of true sorrow for my sins, the gift of perfect resignation to God's Holy Will, and the courage to take up my cross and follow Jesus. Beg of His Sacred Heart the special favor  that I ask in this novena. (Make your request.)   But above all I pray, O dearest Mother, that through your most powerful intercession  my heart may be filled with Holy Hope, so that in life's darkest hour  I may never fail to trust in God my Savior, but by walking in the way of His commandments  I may merit to be united with Him, and with you in the eternal joys of Heaven. Amen. Mary, our Hope, Have pity on us. Hope of the Hopeless,  pray for us. 3 Hail Marys

Don't Miss the March for LIFE!!!

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Birth Control - In Vitro - Answers

"PROTECTING the CATHOLIC FAMILY"

   WHAT DOES THE CHURCH TEACH ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL?

It is the belief of Catholics that Jesus came to redeem us and to teach us the truth about love--God's love for each one of us and how we are to love each other. Jesus showed us how fully love commits God to each one of us throughout our lives, how God loves and even pursues the sinner in order to embrace him again in the life of grace. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life" John 3:16).

In Vitro Fertilization and Catholic Teaching

'read the full report above'

"The Catholic Church, as even her enemies will tell you, condemns procured abortion, artificial insemination, In Vitro Fertilization, surrogate motherhood, cloning, research on embryos, fetal harvesting, eugenic screening, prenatal selection, ‘designer’ babies and a whole host of other abominations with “grave consequences for humanity."

“The child” continues Donum Vitae, “is not an object to which one has a right, nor can he be considered as an object of ownership: rather, a child is a gift, ‘the supreme gift’ and the most gratuitous gift of marriage, and is a living testimony of the mutual giving of his parents”..

alternative: http://www.fertilitycare.org/

John Paul II ~ Prayer for Families

I wish to invoke the protection of the Holy Family of Nazareth.  


Through God's mysterious design, it was in that family that the Son of God spent long years of a hidden life.


It is therefore the prototype and example for all Christian families.
It was unique in the world.


Its life was passed in anonymity and silence in a little town in Palestine.


It underwent trials of poverty, persecution and exile.


It glorified God in an incomparably exalted and pure way.


And it will not fail to help Christian families -- indeed, all the families in the world --

to be faithful to their day-to-day duties,
to bear the cares and tribulations of life,
to be open and generous to the needs of others,
and to fulfill with joy the plan of God in their regard.

Saint Joseph was "a just man", a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families.


May the Virgin Mary, who is the Mother of the Church, also be the Mother of "the Church of the home".


Thanks to her mortherly aid, may each family really become a "little Church" in which the mystery of the Church of Christ is mirrored and given new life.


May she, the Handmaid of the Lord, be an example of humble and generous acceptance of the will of God.


May she, the Sorrowful Mother at the foot of the Cross, comfort the sufferings and dry the tears of those in distress because of the difficulties in their families.


May Christ the Lord, the Universal King, the King of Families, be present in every Christian home as He was at Cana, bestowing light, joy, serenity and strength.


On the solemn day dedicated to His Kingship I beg of Him that every family may generously make its own contribution to the coming of His Kingdom in the world --

"a kingdom of truth and life;
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love and peace,
towards which history is journeying."

I entrust each family to Him, to Mary, and to Joseph.
To their hands and their hearts I offer this Exhortation:

May it be they who present it to you,
venerable Brothers and beloved sons and daughters,
and may it be they who open your hears to the light
that the Gospel sheds on every family.

I assure you all of my constant prayers and I cordially impart the apostolic blessing to each and every one of you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Joannes Paulus PP. II , November 22, 1981- from Familiaris Consortio, Apostolic Exhortation on the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World

Saint Agnes

We have been given such beautiful saints in the church, to rely on as friends.  One of them being St. Agnes, virgin and martyr.  Her name means "lamb", may we all learn to be spotless in our journey as Saint Agnes was on hers.  Our lives are so very short, may we learn to ever rely on Our Lord and His Truth which are the teachings of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.  Don't let the lies of the world lead you away from the goodness that God will give you when you rely totally on Him.

God bless  and keep the peace!

Prayer to St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr

O Little St. Agnes, so young and yet made so strong and wise by the power of God, protect by your prayers all the young people of every place whose goodness and purity are threatened by the evils and impurities of this world. Give them strength in temptation and a true repentance when they fail. Help them to find true Christian friends to accompany them in following the Lamb of God and finding safe pastures in His Church and in her holy sacraments. May you lead us to the wedding banquet of heaven to rejoice with you and all the holy virgin martyrs in Christ who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

Reflection - Her innocence endeared Saint Agnes to Christ, as it has endeared her to His Church ever since. Even as penitents we may imitate this innocence of hers in our own degree. Let us strictly guard our eyes, and Christ, when He sees that we keep our hearts pure for love of Him, will renew our youth, and give us back the years which the canker-worm has wasted.

St. Agnes is among the most widely venerated martyrs of the Church in East and West.  She was a martyr to chastity, which her persecutors at Rome tried to destroy by sentencing her to live in a house of prostitution.  God miraculously protected her virtue, and gave her victory over sin and death, even at the tender age of twelve. St. Ambrose of Milan composed hymns and homilies in her honor. Her name, symbolic of her innocence, means “lamb.”  Her feast in the Roman rite is January 21st.

100 Polish Scientists Condemn In Vitro Fertilization | LifeSiteNews.com

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

WARSAW, January 11, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of Polish scientists have issued a document demanding that the government legislate a statutory ban on artificial (in vitro) fertilization procedures. The 100 signatories also call for full government funding of NaProTechnology, an ethically acceptable and highly successful method of evaluating and treating infertility.  read more here

Hope for infertility: ‘Infertile’ couple gives birth thanks to cutting edge natural treatment | LifeSiteNews.com

BY PATRICK B. CRAINE

Heidi Desrochers with her "miracle baby," Daniel, conceived with the help of NaPro technology.

OTTAWA, Ontario, January 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Infertility has approached epidemic levels in Western countries.  In 2002, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 7.3 million women suffered from infertility in the country, about 12% of the reproductive-age population. Many of these millions are sped along to IVF doctors; robbed of the joys of natural procreation, they are often slated to endure years of heartache as they strive unsuccessfully for a child.  read more here

Suffering with Love

I wanted to give my life to God but I didn’t want to suffer. No, I knew what suffering felt like and it was painful and I was too afraid to ask for more.

But God sent* me suffering despite my fears. He sent suffering like nothing I’d ever experienced before. A new depth of suffering that I thought I’d never survive.

My life was turned upside down when our baby Thomas was diagnosed with a life threatening abnormality during his 18 week ultrasound. I left the ultrasound crying and the tears continued for months as I contemplated the future death of our child.

Thomas was born. He was placed on life support equipment while his condition was stabilised and assessed. I watched his little body hooked up to tubes and wires and I cried and I prayed and I hoped. His condition changed from stable to unstable and back again, a dozen times an hour, and I felt I was riding an emotional roller coaster. One moment there was hope, the next moment there was despair. One moment I thought it would be easier to let him die, but the next minute I wanted to suffer any anguish if only he lived.

Thomas died. I looked at his tiny body marked by needles and thought, “Your suffering is over Thomas, but mine is just beginning.” Yes, the suffering that was to come was of a totally different degree to that I had already experienced.

I came home from the hospital with this huge pain within my chest. Something inside me had knotted up tight and was throbbing away, throbbing away constantly, never letting me forget my grief.

I was in anguish. I was in mental pain. I couldn’t forget. I couldn’t stop thinking. I couldn’t prevent the constant questioning. Why? Why had God let Thomas die? Why was I in so much pain? Was there any value in suffering and what did it all mean? Would the sorrow ever disappear?

God felt so very far away in those early grief-filled months. At first I was angry with God. I felt He’d abandoned me. I felt unworthy of God’s attention. I had begged Him to come to my aid but all was silent. How could I continue to trust Him?

But soon the anger dissipated and I began to accept that God knew what was best for me. I accepted the fact that He didn’t save Thomas’ life and then I expected the pain to lift. I thought God would rush in and save me as soon as I’d embraced my situation. But He didn’t. He still seemed so very far away and the pain persisted.

One day I discovered the book, Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence by Fr de Caussade. As I read and prayed, I slowly began to understand the value of accepting what God sends me at any moment, regardless of my feelings and my desires. I learnt to say, “God, if You want me to feel this pain, I will accept it. I trust that You know what is best for me. I would like to be happy but You have chosen to send me sorrow instead. In some way that must be good because You love me so very much…”

And so life continued although it was entirely devoid of joy. I no longer belonged to the normal world. I felt so alone.

Every day I’d drag myself from my bed. I’d check: yes, the pain was still intense. Accept it. God has allowed it. Keep going…one foot in front of the other…just get through this one day…don’t think of tomorrow or the next day…

I prayed constantly. Sometimes I was unaware I was doing this because to me, I was just thinking about Thomas. But in reality, I was pondering everything in my heart, trying to make sense of it all and talking to God all the time. Sometimes I deliberately prayed certain prayers: the prayer to St Michael the Archangel and “Jesus I trust in Thee”. I imagined Satan trying to pull me down into that pit of despair and I tried to fight back, “No, I trust! I am not going to despair!” Perhaps by saying I trusted, I could actually make trust a reality.

But there were times when it all seemed too much. I just wanted to give in. I wanted to lie down and never get up again. I was tired of everyone saying, “Sue, you have so much courage.” I didn’t want to be strong. I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to surrender to self pity.

I wondered if God had sent this great suffering to me as a lesson. Was I so worthless and such a great sinner that I needed to be taught in such a painful manner? And then I thought about St Teresa of Avila who’d said, “God, if this is how You treat Your friends, it’s no wonder You have so few.” What if suffering could be looked upon as a gift from God? Could it be that God gives suffering to those He loves? What if suffering has great value and does God use our sufferings? I thought about how closely we must be united to Jesus through our suffering. Could He use my suffering and could I actually be happy to suffer for Him?

Not many people would ask for suffering. I didn’t. It came to me unbidden. But could I still accept this cross and offer it back to God? Once I started thinking about suffering in this way, my sorrow didn’t seem so pointless. There was a reason to keep struggling along. My long painful days could be used. They were difficult to endure but some good was coming out of them. It helped enormously.

After understanding the value of suffering, I wondered, “If suffering is so good won’t God keep sending me more?” And although I was prepared to keep suffering, I also longed to feel joy again and to see my children smile and for us to be happy. I talked to a priest about this and he replied that God does want us to taste heaven while still on earth. There would be joy ahead again. I just had to keep plodding along.

I kept moving one step at a time, one day at a time, praying and hoping and offering up my sorrow. Gradually things got better. I’d look back and think, “Today was a good day…I haven’t had a bad day this week…this fortnight…this month.” Eventually I realised I’d come through the other side. I’d survived.

Some years later, a priest referred to those black months of my life as a dark night of the soul. I knew all about such nights from reading the works of St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross. But I had never applied the term to my own experience. Weren’t dark nights for saints? And I am far from saintly.

I am sure God was there beside me every step of the way through the suffering of that dark time. No, I couldn’t feel His presence. But I know He didn’t abandon me. Didn’t I learn to accept, to keep going despite the sorrow? And every time I tumbled down into that deep pit of despair, didn’t He send someone along to help drag me out and set me on my feet again? When I fell to the floor and wanted to give in, didn’t I always eventually struggle up again? Didn’t He bring me to the point where I could give myself completely to Him, accepting everything and trusting Him regardless of the pain? I could never have got there without God. Of course He hadn’t abandoned me.

I have had other sufferings since Thomas’ death and there will be more ahead. I still do not want to suffer. I am still afraid of the pain. But God helped me through the darkest experience of my life. Why should He abandon me in the future? I need to keep praying that I will always trust God whatever happens.

I still want to give my life to God. I still want to love Him above everything. I know now that this cannot be achieved without suffering. Today I can say, “I love you God!” It is easy. But will I still be able to utter these words in my darkest hour, when suffering has descended once again? If I can…  then, I will know that I truly love Him with all my heart.


* Whether God actually sends suffering or whether He just permits suffering, I do not really understand. The end result however is the same.

Please share my stories at Sue Elvis Writes