A Surprise Reminder

Merridith Frediani found comfort in a reminder that even when Jesus feels far away, He is merciful and active in our lives.

It was a rough one, this week. In addition to the unexpected death of a good friend’s father and the death of a friend, there was news of a co-worker leaving for a new job on top of some close friends moving out of town. I’m beginning to think that years ending in “3” are not good. 2013 was entered into my personal archives as the worst-on-record and while 2023 has been pretty darn good, there’s still time for things to go sideways.

Sigh. Life is hard and sometimes Jesus feels far away. This is one of those times.

This week also brought my monthly submission deadline for Catholic Mom and a wicked case of writer’s block. As I prayed about it, and admittedly worried about it, I began to wonder if this is even something I should continue doing. Like life, writing is hard and I’ve been on a dry streak. Again, sigh.

I picked up my phone to email my woes to Barb, the amazing editor here at Catholic Mom, when I received the email below:

I have been praying for my husband, hoping for remission from his rare acute myeloma leukemia. Today after reading your passage about the Flying Novena, I prayed the Memorare 9 times and one more in thanksgiving. This afternoon we were notified that my husband has gone into remission!

All I could think was “wow!” as tears came to my eye. It seems that my sorry self was in need of yet another reminder of how big and good our Lord is, because not only did He make it so clear that Hhe is present, He did it through His Mother Mary. Saint John Paul II said there are no coincidences, only God-incidences. I renewed my Marian consecration recently, so it is fitting and special that this reminder came via a prayer for Mary’s intercession.

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I have been wondering about the deaths of people and how God can bring good from them. I have been wondering why people we care about have to move on. I wonder often about what God is up to and sometimes, when the mystery of it piles up, the only thing I can do in my sadness is dump it all in a sack and drag it over to Jesus, hoping He will relieve me.

And He does. Every time. And I realize I should stop hoping and instead just trust that He will. It seems that no matter how much I learn to trust, there’s always more learning to do.

Click to tweet:
It seems that no matter how much I learn to trust, there’s always more learning to do. #CatholicMom

So, soon starts a new week. I have to go to a funeral on Tuesday and in a few weeks I’ll say goodbye to people I love, but the sack of sadness feels lighter because I’m not carrying it alone. Jesus reminded me this morning that He loves us and I’m thankful for that reminder. He loves us and He is so good. Amen.

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