Sacrifice of Praise

Today is my 38th spiritual birthday.  On October 24, 1972 I put my trust in Jesus as my Savior and Lord while attending a Bible study in my local Catholic church.  Recently, God gave me a spiritual birthday gift that I'd like to share with you.

When I was 12, and my mother was 35, she suffered a brain hemorrhage.  For the two years she was paralyzed and hospitalized before her death, I watched closely as my father and mother coped with that horrific and painful season.  Mom had been a happy, vivacious, and friendly person.  She was the glue that held our family together, as are most moms.  Her absence from our home created a huge vacuum for my 3 siblings and me.  I won't go into the details of those years in this article, since I'm including it in my book, but I did want to share something I discovered about my parents and their trust in God through this tragedy.

While visiting Carolyn in Florida recently, I was excited to find an album I had given her which had some clippings of my father's over 400 published short-stories. Some were fictional articles and others non-fiction.  There were stories about mountain climbing (which made me laugh since he was an indoor kind of guy), and nostalgic articles about his homecoming after the war.  Some were researched topics, such as the Shroud of Turin and others written from his experiences in an Irish-immigrant family.

As I was flipping through the articles I found one describing an organization called Catholic Union of Sick in America (CUSA).  I remembered that my parents had joined it during Mom's illness.  It was a kind of FaceBook for the sick.  Except back then, ill members would use snail mail to write to one another for emotional and spiritual encouragement.  Whenever a letter would arrive from another ill member of the organization, Dad would sit on the edge of Mom's hospital bed, hold her hand, and read it to her. They would then pray together for their ill companion.  Although she couldn't speak, I was told Mom prayed along in her heart, often with tears trickling from the corners of her eyes.

What touched me in reading the article, was a deeper realization of my parents'  growing faith during those horrendous years of suffering.  The article spoke of their sense of abandonment by friends and family and the temptation to feel that God had abandoned them, too. 

He wrote regarding CUSA members, "...once disconsolate and despairing sufferers have learned to give meaning to their agonies...they have been reborn to an understanding of the why of their pain; they have heard the words of the apostle Peter, 'Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal you are suffering ....'"  The sick come out of themselves and find a chance for tranquility and resignation to the will of Almighty God.  They come to realize that their pain is linked with the agony of Christ on the cross, and that by suffering patiently they are indeed not abandoned by Him, but very close to Him..."  He went on to proclaim, "We suffer for a purpose." 

Dad then shared the prayer that he and my mother and other CUSA members prayed daily: "Dear Lord, here is a new day You have given me in which to love You and help others to love You as well.  So that my love for You may be ever stronger, help me to spend the hours of this day in Your Presence.  To offer as small sacrifices, some of my own little likes and dislikes; help me not to waste my time in idle pursuits but instead to busy myself to the greatest possible extent in works which are pleasing to You.  And above all things, help me to love and accept Your holy will.  Lord Jesus, in giving me this cross of my illness, it was Your desire to bring me nearer to Your divine heart and especially to offer my cross...help me today not to waste a single of the trials, both large and small, which are the lot of the invalid, and which if borne with patience, can obtain so many graces.  I offer them to You with all my heart ... bearing courageously and even joyously the cross which is ours." 

In reading my father's words, I discovered that they were strengthened through their association with other ill members who also turned to God for peace and joy.  It is clear to me that my Mom's suffering physically and emotionally, her inability to speak, to hold her children, to laugh, or to kiss her husband, was offered as a sacrifice of praise to God.  Likewise, my father's loss of normal family life with his beautiful wife and the mother of his four children was submitted to Jesus as his sacrifice of praise in submission to His will. 

I cried when I finished the article because it gave me insight into the hearts of my parents which I had not fully realized until now.  As I remember my struggles of the past, I am more aware that what Dad and Mom taught my sister, brothers and me was strength to endure trials through submission to a loving God.  I know that their prayers and faithfulness are what led me to my own personal relationship with Jesus Christ 38 years ago today.  Happy spiritual birthday to me!

Read
Hebrews 13:15
I Peter 4:12-13
James 1:2-5
Isaiah 40:27-31
Romans 5:3-5
Reflect

1. Do feel abandoned by God?
2. Are you ready to submit your unhappiness and pain to God as a sacrifice of praise?
3. If you are minimally reading the Bible and get little out of going to church, it may be time to let go of your self absorption and turn to the One who can fill your heart with joy. 

Respond

Father God, The pain I am enduring is excruciating.  I don't feel you are near or that you even care.  Show me how to turn from my constant dwelling on my sorrows and put them into your hands.  If Sandy's parents, Tom and Barbara Dowling could do it during their terrible ordeal, then I know that with your help I can do it too.  I submit________________ to you, for you to work in it according to your will.  I pray this by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of my Savior, Jesus. Amen.