Holy Saturday Reflection - So how, then, shall we live?

I cannot believe I am starting my Holy Saturday reflection with zombies.

Specifically, with "The Walking Dead."

My older boys and I started watching this show when it premiered -
We called it "mother-son zombie bonding night."

Now Luke is at college most Sunday nights it is on and my teen daughter is watching it as well.

And my mom and 2 of my sisters follow as well.

My one sister's husband came into the room during a bloody gory scene (which really only happens about 5% of the whole show and which I usually close my eyes for), and asked "Why do you watch this???"

I had the answer.

And it corresponds to the reality of Holy Saturday.

Bear with me a little longer :-)

Sure you can cite the excellent cinematic values and stellar acting and yes, the "zombie awesomeness" factor...

But at its core, "The Walking Dead" is a morality play in the best tradition of Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, and the Star Wars saga.

The world has gone mad. Everything you relied upon has vanished. You have witnessed the unspeakable and live with pain and horror and stress on a daily... no, "minute by minute" basis...

How will YOU react???

What choice do YOU make???

To become the BEST version of yourself?
Or the WORST version of yourself?

That's what happened during the Holocaust. Eli Wiesel saw starving people giving their pathetic rations to children. And he saw starving people turning their neighbors into the SS for an extra crust of bread.

We think we will never have to live through such trauma or make such decisions... That such is the stuff or fiction or history...

But then we do.

Our child dies.

We face financial ruin.

Our spouse deserts us.

And when it comes down to it... We have to decide how we will live in the interim...

On Holy Saturday...

When the worst has happened...

And the best has not yet come.

Truly we live this earthly life BETWEEN Good Friday (pain) and Easter Sunday (joy)....

HOW will we live with the reality of BOTH??

That is the question....

"So do not allow yourself to be troubled or distressed, but believe in the joy of the Resurrection. In all of our lives, as in the life of Jesus, the Resurrection has to come, the joy of Easter has to dawn."
Mother Teresa

Good Friday Reflection - The Cross

Jesus on the Cross on Good Friday.

Henry on the Cross One Year Ago, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Good Friday 2012.

A sedated CAT scan/MRI at 9am that was going to get us back to the Ronald McDonald house in Philly to head back home for Chicago by 3pm....

turned into a 9 day PICU stay.

It was not until we were preparing for Henry's dental surgery the next August that I saw the records from that "Good Friday Sedated MRI gone bad."

He almost died.

They told me things were bad that morning, but not the extent...

His airway slammed shut...his left lung collapsed...his oxygen saturation levels were dangerously low...

But by the grace of God Henry made it through that crisis that Good Friday night....

Just as I am so grateful for what Jesus went through for me so many years ago...

Today I am grateful that God gave us 7 more amazing months with Henry after that brutal Good Friday just one year ago today.

Holy Thursday Reflection - Leaving

Today in the Church we celebrate "The Last Supper" where Jesus, knowing that he would soon be departing from His earthly life, "earnestly desired" to celebrate Passover with His friends, His apostles...

My son left our home last September to attend his freshman year of college.

Henry left our home for heaven last November.

I have been reflecting on how these "leavings" are similar...

We had a big "going away" dinner feast for my college son with our other children where we celebrated his achievement of college acceptance and moving on to the next phase of his life...

Henry's funeral Maas was truly a beautiful celebration of his new life with Jesus where he achieved the ultimate goal every mother wishes for her children...

I cannot hug or hold my older son while he is at college. But I text him or send him funny memes when I see something that makes me think of him... Sometimes he responds. Mostly he doesn't. But that is OK. I know I am thinking about him and loving him and that is what counts.

I cannot hold and hug Henry anymore. But I talk to him all the time. I think of him all the time. It's OK that he does not respond. I am loving him anyway and that's all that matters.

Having my older son in college is a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy that he is achieving his goals and becoming a man. Sadness that the little blond boy who used to sleep under my armpit is gone, and that a 6ft 4in 220+ pound artistic and sarcastic young man is now in his place :-)

Having Henry in heaven is a mixture of joy and sadness. Sadness that the little boy with the adorable "Ukranian poof" of hair is no longer sleeping under my armpit. Joy that he is no longer in pain and never has to undergo another surgery and that Jesus and Mary are loving on his healed and whole little body in my place...

It will be a while before I see my older son. He will be with us over the summer and then he will leave again. And this will happen over and over and over during his college years and once he is working and has a family.

It will be a while (50 years, God willing) before I see Henry again. But when that happens, we will never have to leave each other. Ever.

Forever.

Just this today...

And the Winner...

Of the Sharrin' Darren giveaway...

Is from MY blog...

Catholic Grammie!!!

Congrats and please email me your name and address at Dobspc@aol.com and we will send your Amazon Gift Card!

And please keep praying for Darren everyone... No one has inquired about him yet.... He has 4 months to find a family before transfer!!