The Faith of a Muslim Turned Catholic

Recently I became acquainted with a young man who was living in the U.S., studying at a university in the western United States. This man is from Saudi Arabia and grew up in a Muslim family. However, in the past few years, through various circumstances, he felt drawn to Christianity and realized that the Holy Spirit was iniviting him into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The pull was so strong that he began to investigate Christianity through several means. He not only began to talk with protestant friends and chat in internet chat rooms, but, he began to attend various church functions and, most importantly, to read many, many books on his own.

When several of the protestant people he spoke with tried to turn him away from Catholicism, he decided to investigate Catholicism himself and see what was so terribly wrong with this faith that had so many million members all across the globe. He immersed himself in reading the Scriptures, the writings of the early Church Fathers and witnesses of modern converts such as Scott Hahn.

He decided that if he was going to become a Christian he wanted to join the real church begun by Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago and after spending many hundreds of hours reading, he knew that this was the Catholic Church. In the fall of 2011, he began the RCIA process at the parish where he was already receiving instruction from the priest. He was so excited to be on the journey to be baptized into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in 2012.

When his parents came to the U.S. to visit him, he told them of his decision to convert. Their immediate reaction was to tell him that he would no longer be their son in such a case. However, after two days they relented and told him that they disagreed with his decision, but, he would still be their son as long as when he would come home to Saudi Arabia, he would tell no one that he was a Christian. Of course in Saudi Arabia, an infidel such as this would be subject to death. He agreed.

In December, a family situation occurred that caused him to be called back to Saudi Arabia. He was so disappointed to have to leave during the week before Christmas. He asked to be baptized before he went home since there are few if any churches in Saudi. The priest thought it would not be possible. However, the matter was brought before the Archbishop and the priest who had been catechizing him all along was certain that he was ready for baptism because of all his reading on his own and his knowledge of the faith. So he was given permissin by the Archbishop to be baptized, confirmed and to receive his first communion two days before he left back to his homeland. He rejoiced in this miracle. He was now a Catholic and one with Christ Jesus.

Please keep this man, whom I shall call Michael for his confirmation name, in your prayers. I will write more about him later.

Use Me, Lord

Lord Jesus, if ever I can be of use to You, even in the slightest way, then please use me. If my eyes can be of use to see someone who needs help, needs a friend, or just needs a smile, then use my eyes to see that someone. If my ears can be of use to hear the plea of a poor person begging for food, to hear the cry of a lonely elderly person, or to just listen to someone who needs a compassionate ear, then by all means call upon me to use my ears to hear for You. If my hands can hold a love-starved child, or if they can wrap a warm blanket around a shivering homeless person, then direct me to this opportunity, Jesus. If I can but fix a simple meal and serve it in a soup kitchen, or if I can fold my hands in prayer offered for someone struggling with emotional pain, then by all means call me to this, Lord. If my lips can whisper a prayer for someone who so badly needs my intercession, or if they can say comforting, kind words to another one who has only heard harsh criticism and hateful words, then let my mouth proclaim Your love O Lord. Use me, Lord. I desire nothing more than to be Your simple disciple. For You said, "Whatever you do to these least brethren of mine, that you do unto me." I desire to treat each of my human brothers and sisters as I would treat You. I want to love them, Lord. Give me Your complete and holy love for all men. Amen.

Mary's Pain for Jesus Her Son

Recently two of my daughters have suffered tremendous pains in their lives. I do not wish to share what they each went through, but, as a mother, I cried right along with them, and even by myself, spent time in tears, crying because the pain they suffered emotionally, was so great for them to bear. One night last week, my husband and I drove up north on our way to vacation, and spent the night in one of my daughter's apartment. She had recently suffered a very painful situation in her life. My husband slept on the couch and I slept in the bed with my daughter. She came home after we had gone to bed. When she came home it was very late and I pretended to be asleep so she wouldn't feel she had to talk to me that late at night. She cried herself to sleep. I felt her body wracked with emotional pain shake and shudder with crying for a good half hour before she finally fell asleep. I put my arm around her to comfort her and just held her. Tears ran down my cheeks as I silently held my 28-year-old baby and wept for her. She felt so small and helpless in my arms. I knew I could do nothing to ease her pain. It was such a helpless feeling. I could only silently offer prayers to God to ease her pain.

The other daughter is expecting her first baby and found out some unfortunate news about future pregnancies for her husband and her. She called me on the way home from the specialist today. She, too, was in tears. I offered her words of comfort the best I could, but, when I hung up the phone, I also wept for the hurt I felt for my child. Again, I knew I was helpless in this situation and only God can help them.

It gave me the chance to reflect on Mary, only one day after the Feast of her Assumption into Heaven. I thought of how miniscule these hurts of my own children must seem to Mary, who wept at the foot of the cross after witnessing the near-death beating of her only son at the hands of cruel and savage Roman soldiers. I recalled how she had witnessed the hideous crucifixion of her "baby," who was guilty only of proclaiming the truth to the world. I thought of how she must have ached so while watching Him hang on the cross for three grueling hours while people laughed and ridiculed Him. She, too, could do nothing to take away His pain. How helpless she must have felt. She must have felt an ache to her innermost being. How dreadful this must have been.

Mary certainly knows my pain when I hurt for my own children. She is the one true mother of us all. I will offer my prayers for my children to her and ask her to ask Her son to lighten the burden of my children even just a little bit. I know she will answer this prayer because she has the heart of a mother who has suffered for her child. I thank her for being my beautiful and holy mother. And I thank Jesus for giving her to me on the cross.

Bring Comfort to Others

Many times in our lives we suffer from emotional hurts. These hurts can be worse than any of the physical hurts that we suffer from time to time. They can be devastating. When Jesus said to love one another, I believe that He intended us to come to the comfort of others in their times of need when they are hurting emotionally. One cannot pinpoint an emotional hurt. One cannot say, "Touch here and the pain will go away," or "Just say this and the emotional hurt will vanish." Emotional hurts can be so deep that they can scar us for a lifetime. Sometimes time will heal, or new situations will help to heal. God only knows why He allows these hurts to enter our lives. He must have a reason. When we go through these times, we can be assured that Jesus is right there with us, bearing our pain with us, agonizing with us. He is never absent as it so often feels.

We must lean on Him. We must put our trust and faith in the true fact that God knows what is best for us and He will heal the wound and lead us to what is best for us. We have to trust and to keep heading in God's direction for us. It is difficult, but, so was Jesus' agony and death. If we follow Him in all things, our reward will be great. This was His promise. My suggestion if you know someone suffering, is to be there, listen, offer your love and most importantly, pray for that person. God knows they are suffering. And God loves them all the more in their weakness. He came not for the stong, but for the weak.

The Most Holy Trinity

We celebrated the feast of the Most Holy Trinity yesterday at Mass. I contemplated this again today while I was praying after receiving the Eucharist. What a marvelous God we have; to present Himself to us as One God in Three Persons, such a mystery to behold. We have a Father, mighty and loving, always ready to embrace us with His fatherly love; ready to listen and forgive; waiting for us to approach Him and tell Him all our thoughts, concerns, troubles, cares, and just to talk to Him, our dad. He loves us immensely as any Father would. He loves us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son so that we might live.

We have the Son, given to us out of the Father's love; the one who took upon Himself the transgressions of all of us; the one who willingly and on His own gave His life in a most painful and hideous manner, so that we would gain eternal life. He went in our place. He took the punishment in our place. He sacrificed everything out of His total and unparalelled love for us. I scarcely can imagine this without shedding a tear of gratefulness.

And we have the gift given from the Son, the Holy Spirit; our consolor, the other Advocate, the Paraclete, our helper. He gives us the prayers; He speaks for us; He nudges us and awakens in us the Spirit of Life. He is the one that directs us, leads us, guides us, whispers to us, calls us forth to action in our faith life.

Three in one. One in three. The Holy Trinity. Praised be Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Tony

My father-in-law's name is Tony. He is 88 years old. All his life he has been known for being the life of the party. He always had a joke to tell. Some of his jokes we heard every year for thirty years, yet they always seemed funny because Tony told them. He was always loud and very talkative, even if he didn't have anything important to say. Sometimes it was annoying, but, we just put up with him because that was his personality. Most people thought he was great fun. He was pleasant and everyone remembered Tony for his outgoing and fun personality.

Tony was recently moved from the assisted living part of his retirement home to the nursing home part because he can no longer take care of himself and is suffering from dimentia. He no longer answers his phone, so we cannot talk to him on the telephone. This past weekend many of us traveled to Iowa to attend our nephew's wedding. My brother-in-law and his wife brought Tony along for the opportunity to visit with family members with whom he doesn't often get to visit, including our family.

I was very saddened to see Tony in his current state. I haven't seen him for more than a year. He looks very frail and skinny. He continually stares blankly into space and does not converse with others unless spoken to first. His dimentia causes him to think that everything that someone says to him they just said previously, so he gets angry when someone speaks to him because he questions why they say what they say when they just said the same thing. It's best not to argue, but, just to agree.

He doesn't watch tv anymore either, because he thinks that what is on tv was just on. He gets very frustrated with that. It is difficult to speak with him. I asked him if I could take his picture and he was irritated because he told me I just took his picture.

Old age is a sad time in life. The body breaks down. The mind breaks down. People go back to a babylike state where they require care like a child. They are confused. They are dependent on others. I am certain that a part of our purgatory is lived on earth at this time in life. I also believe it is purgatory for those who observe their loved ones in this stage of life, for it is a form of suffering.

We must remember always to keep the elderly in our prayers. We must also remember to keep them in our care.

The Gift of Healing

God is nourishing my gift of healing. I have been learning from several people blessed with this same holy gift. I listen, I pray, I give myself over to God, and I wait for Him to send those to me whom He wishes me to lay hands on. Recently, two new people have been brought to my attention. I was called by a good Catholic friend who knows of my gift, to pray over a young woman in need of spiritual healing because of a situation in her life. I truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit when I prayed with her. I do not know the outcome of the prayer, but, I know God heard the prayer, and that whatever the outcome, she knows that God loves her and she is in good hands. I made it perfectly clear to her that He is the divine healer, not me. I told her I am only the vessel through which He chooses to work. I never deserve nor want recognition or praise. God is the one to whom all glory is to be directed.

The second person I was asked to pray over is a young woman who suffered from an accident in Italy that left her unable to walk and in very much pain. I have not gone to pray with her yet, but, if God chooses to use me in this case, then may His holy will be done.

Already one woman was healed of cancer by God, through the prayer and laying on of my hands, and a priest was healed of a nasty illness. Either one would attest to this. But, I do not ask them to shout it out. Only to thank God for His healing. I was only a conduit through which He chose to send healing power. Another woman was healed of very upsetting anxiety she had been suffering for months due to a personal situation in her life. We prayed over the telephone and she immediately felt the burden leave. When she was thanking me, I again reminded her that it was only God who needed the thanks, not me.

Each time I attend Holy Mass I continue to lift in prayer Fr. Antonio, Karim, Charbel, my new friend from Lebanon and a few others who need healing from God. These are the ones whom I desire most to receive God's mercy and love through His spiritual and physical healing. Every time the sacramental gifts are changed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I offer the healing prayers for them at that very moment. This is a powerful time. Christ enters in and becomes one with us, once again, as He did at the Last Supper. He reminds us of His promise to be with us always, until the end of time. This is when I ask Him to heal those who are close to my heart.