I don’t really know
where to even begin with this blog. Well, as many of you know, I went home last
week to be with my Grandma during her last days of life. I’m back in Honduras
again after a whirl-wind week of sadness, joy, traveling, family, Easter
celebrations…It felt like a month!
During Holy Week,
our whole community went to a beach in the north of Honduras for a mission. Honduras
is a Catholic country, but during Holy Week, the most important week of the
whole year in our Church, many people get off from work and head to the beach.
Instead of attending the beautiful processions, celebrations, and Masses that
Latin America is famous for during Holy Week, many participate in activities
less – holy”, we’ll say – on the beach. So
the bishop of this particular area asked our community if we would come to do a
mission, talking to people about God, doing skits, talks, music, and activities
on the beach, and inviting people to the various Holy Week celebrations. This
is super unheard of in Honduras (well, I guess it is pretty much anywhere), but
one priest put it this way: “Is Satan going to be at the beach? Well then, why
not bring Jesus?!”
So, miracle number
one – on Tuesday of Holy Week, a horrible storm came through, and the torrential
rain meant that nobody went to the beach. So we were stuck with nothing to do.
Luckily, a man we were working with used to work at a home for children that
had been abandoned to live on the streets, so we went there to visit with the
kids. Normally we would have stayed out on the beach until 8 or 9 at night, but
this day we returned to our house at 4. I figured I would check my email to see
if I had any news from my parents about my Grandma. Sure enough, my mom had
sent an email saying that if I wanted to be with her before she passed away, I
should come home the next day.
Miracle number, two
– So, I ran to the closest ticket office to buy a bus ticket for the airport
for the next day. Closed. All week. So I tried to find a ticket that I could
buy online. The websites of 3 companies – crashed. Finally I found one that let
me buy a ticket, after this website also failed four times!
Miracle three – The
other missionaries were so amazingly supportive, praying for my Grandma and my
family during Mass and with me before I left. I headed out the next morning at
4am, and a priest drove me to the bus stop, which was now an abandoned building
with no one there. With only 15 minutes until my bus was supposed to leave, we
frantically asked all the policemen that would could find (they stand out on
the streets all night with massive guns) where the bus stop was! Finally we
found it, and I took a three hour trip to the airport.
Miracle number four
– I’m usually good at traveling. I’ve done it enough to have my routine and to
know exactly what I’m doing. This time, I was a bit frazzled. So as I went to
enter security, I realized I no longer had my passport or wallet with me – I had
left them in the bathroom! I sprinted back to the bathroom, and there was a man
leaving the bathroom with my things in his hand! So I politely thanked him and
yanked them from his grip, and sprinted back to security. After that, my trip
home was smooth sailing.
I made it back home
that Wednesday night. My dad picked me up, and we went straight to the
hospital. It was the first time I had seen my Grandma since her stroke, and it
definitely was not easy. But it was beautiful to be there, and another miracle
that I made it there to be with her before she passed!! Thanks be to God.
Miracle number
five: the greatest of all – My mom and I spent the night with my Grandma,
sleeping a bit, but mostly talking together and with her, and praying. I found
out later that the nurses were worried about this “kid from Honduras bringing
weird diseases in to the hospital.” Oops! The next day, all of my Aunts and
Uncles came to the hospital, and we spent the day talking and praying more.
Holy Thursday. As Jesus was preparing for His death on the cross, my Grandma
was also preparing for her death. How beautiful. It made living Holy Week so
much more real.
At one point, I
really just felt I should pray the rosary, so we all began to pray around the
bed of my Grandma. I was leading the first mystery, when the miracle happened:
My Grandma had not opened her eyes in more than two days. But almost the moment
that we started to pray the rosary together around her, she opened her eyes
wide, and just stared at us. I know that she was praying with us, saying
goodbye, and telling us that Mary was coming to bring her to Jesus in Heaven.
After a minute, she began to look past us, as if she saw something. And then, she
died, so peacefully and beautifully. Obviously we were all crying, but mostly
out of thanksgiving and utter joy – what a beautiful entrance in to heaven!
Surrounded by family, praying to God. We were all just so filled with joy that
she was Home, with God and with my Grandpap again. We had been telling her
constantly: “Just go Grandma! What are you waiting for!” There was a
marker-board in her room that said who her nurses were, her medicines, etc, and
one place that said “patient goals.” My Aunt had written: “Meet Jesus.” We kept
telling Grandma, “Grandma, we’re not leaving until you meet your goals!” Well,
she met them. I’m pretty sure the nurses and the people in the hospital thought
we were absolutely crazy when we left. We were visibly filled with joy,
talking, smiling, recounting this incredible event. Maybe we are crazy; but
that’s the beauty of faith in a God of Love.
The following days
were filled with ups and downs, but mostly ups. A full week at home with the
entire family – what a huge blessing! Around Christmas, we had played an epic
game of Uno together with my Grandma, that had lasted 7 hours. So in honor of
this, we played another game, and set up Grandma’s chair. It was just a joyous
and laughter-filled – she was there with us.
And now I’m back in
Honduras. From 20 degrees and snow to 95 degrees and sun, all in one day. I don’t
think the human body was made for that! It’s weird now, because everything is “normal”
again. It’s hard to go back to normal after something like this happens! It’s
in the normal events of everyday life that we come to realize more fully the
absence of our loved ones. But it’s also in the everyday things of life that we
can remember, if we have faith, that they are there with us, closer than we can
imagine. They are there smiling, praying, and coaxing us to remember: “Only one
thing matters. Love. Love God, love others, love yourself.” If we do that, we
can be confident that, through the Mercy of God, we will again be with our
loved ones in an embrace of ecstatic love that will never end. As tomorrow we
celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, let us remember the Mercy of God, His infinite
Love for us. The image of Jesus on the cross speaks two words to all humanity: “Behold
God.” A God whose Body and Heart were broken for His great Love for us. Let us
entrust our loved ones and ourselves to this Mercy, forgetting everything else,
and listening to that still, small voice that says: “Come.”
"The righteous will shine like
the sun in the kingdom of their Father." -- Matthew 13:43. Rest
with Jesus Grandma!
Happy Easter to all of you! Alleluia!
In His Risen JOY,
Eric
