Catholic and Enjoying It!
A reader writes:
Pamela is a 37 year old wife and stay at home mom to 3 boys ( Elliot 6, Finn 4, Ethan 19 months) She is currently pregnant (25 weeks) with her 4th baby. She and her husband Erik live in NYC.
About 2 months ago, Pamela began experiencing migraines which were first beloved to be pregnancy related. They finally did an MRI and discovered a massive tumor on her brain. She had surgery and they were able to remove 90% of the tumor. The pathology report came back with heart breaking news. Pamela has aggressive stage 4 brain cancer. She was given a bleak prognosis of living an average of 13 months. It is also complicated by her pregnancy and balancing the needs of her unborn child with the treatment she needs.
In short, Pamela needs a miracle. Both her and Erik are people of deep faith. Erik actually just came into the Catholic Church less than 3 weeks ago at the Easter Vigil. They are desperate for Christ’s healing touch and are seeking the wisdom of God in all of the difficult decisions they are faced with.
I am committed to asking as many people as possible to pray for Pamela and her family. I feel called to do a novena to St. Gianna ( an Italian wife and mother of 3 who discovered a tumor on her uterus during pregnancy with her 4th baby, and died soon after delivering her) St. Gianna’s feast day is April 28th, so I will be praying the April 20-28 specifically for Pamela’s healing.
I have set up an email notification so that you can receive the novena prayer for the 9 days. ( I promise there will be no emails past this point) In addition to the prayer there will be a short story either about St. Gianna or about Pamela so those of you who don’t know this lovely woman can have a sense of who you’re praying for.
If you’d like to sign up here is the link:
Father, hear our prayer for Pamela’s safe delivery and complete healing in body, soul, and spirit. Give grace, wisdom, skill, compassion, and knowledge to her caregivers and grace, peace, faith, hope, and strength to all who love her. Mother Mary, St. Gianna, St. Luke, and St. Peregrine, pray for her. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Another reader writes:
Could you please pray for an atheist for whom I care very deeply? He is one of the most stubbornly anti-religious people I know, frequently mocking Catholicism and religion in general, but I think I’m called to pray for his conversion.
My prayers for him have previously resulted in two bizarre coincidences–too ordinary for me to comfortably call them “miracles,” but so impeccably, perfectly-timed that I can’t help but think there was a point to them. Twice now he has lost his glasses in my presence, twice now people have begun looking for them to no avail, and twice now I have been the one to find them immediately after finishing a ‘Hail Mary.’ (Quite literally; I raise my eyes after saying the prayer and the first thing I see are his glasses. This is how it happened both times.) It may not be much as far as signs go, but I see no harm in making mountains out of molehills. As Chesterton wrote, “Molehills are mountains; one has only to become a pygmy…to see that.”
Please pray for him, and if you think it reasonable, ask your readers to do the same.
Father, open his eyes to you through Christ our Lord! Mother Mary and St. Lucy, pray for him! Amen!
Finally, I would like to ask you guys to pray for a special intention. I could really use it and so can folks I love dearly. Thanks troops!
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