Firepower

Yesterday morning, our beloved #4 received Her Lord in the Eucharist for the first time.  She was beautiful and resolute as she approached the altar.  At last the day she had waited for had arrived.  She walked up the aisle with only a small limp, so vastly improved from the awkward lurch of a month ago.  God had heard her prayer that she not have to do it “with my cane or a wheelchair.  I want to be able to walk it.” And she did.

Walking it by herself

This morning as she made her Second Holy Communion, I laughed to see her face contort with distaste as she took the cup.
“It tastes bad, doesn’t it?” Her brother asked.  
“I never expected blood to taste good.” She replied.

She is delighted to get to go to Communion with us.  I am ecstatic because it means she can now receive Anointing of the Sick.  My heart grieved earlier this year that the Graces of this Sacrament were denied her because she had not yet made her First Communion.

She may not need it today, but she will in the future.  It’s just a fact of Juvenile Arthritis; it comes back.  The next time it flares up, she will have in her arsenal the Eucharist and the Sacrament of the Sick.  We need all the firepower we can get, and yesterday she added some heavy artillery.

If you’re like me, you’re wanting to see what that headpiece looks like up close.  Here it is!  Isn’t it grand?