Passion Week

My Holy Week or Passion Week was one that I will not soon forget. Our Lord, in His goodness, presented to me many opportunities to suffer with Him. It was a week of love, a week of suffering, and a week of faith.

On Sunday I received a call at work from one of my catechists (I am a DRE at a large parish in Columbus, OH) concerning his wife who has cancer. I had been staying in fairly close contact with them since she was first diagnosed in the fall. He told me that the outlook was not good. The doctors said that there was no more that they could do. This type of cancer was so aggressive there was no way to really treat it and it had taken over by the time the symptoms began to appear. He said that she was hanging on by a thread. I wept for him, for her, and for their three children 12, 10, and 8.

I began arranging for priest visits and food to be brought to their house. I sent out urgent requests for prayer - for a miracle and for grace. I helped him start the process of choosing a funeral home, preparing the liturgy, and everything else that goes along with this tragic situation.

On Tuesday my wife went to the doctor for a check up on our baby who is due in May. She called me from the office in tears. The baby had an enlarged stomach and was smaller than she should be. The doctor was sending her to a specialist for further testing.

I met her at the specialist's office in the hospital and we watched as the technician spent over an hour snapping pictures with the ultrasound. In the end we were told that the baby has a condition called - Duodenal Atresia. Simply put, this is where the tube between the stomach and the intestine is not formed correctly. However, it is also sometimes associated with Down's Syndrome - 1 out of 3 children who have this also have Down's Syndrome. Everything else looks normal though and we are thankful for that.

So, we are facing some trying times in the next couple of months with the birth, surgery, etc. We would surely appreciate your prayers for Nicole, myself, and baby Catherine Therese (I knew you'd be excited Sarah!!). Please pray for the intercession of Saint Catherine of Sweden who is the patron against abortions and miscarriages and who is said, according to Butler's, to have had a stomach problem that kept her from receiving the Eucharist. Please also pray for the help of Saint Therese of Lisieux that she might drop roses on our little Therese.

Later that night, Tuesday, after PSR, I spent some time with my catechist friend and his kids. The next day he called me to tell me that his wife had passed away that previous night shortly after he and the children had been to the hospice house to visit. Please keep them in your prayers as well.

With all of this I feel the need to take a break from this blogging thing for a while. I want to keep posting but I am not sure how often I will be able to. So, I will be making the blog private on March 31st. If you would like to keep reading please let me know via email and I'll put you on the list. I am doing this mainly because of Internet safety issues and I don't know how much time I will have once the baby is born. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and for reading! God Bless, Jim