My Grandmother...

[jasJis]

You, and your entire family are in my prayers.

[Paladin D]

She'll be in my prayers.

I'm so sorry to hear about that. My grandfather died a couple years back.

[Donna]

eileen goes on the list to be given to the priest this weekend...he'll place all the lists on the altar the entire month of november.

nathan, you're a good son and grandson.

may she remain at the foot of your cross.

[sisterly kiss on your forehead]...

[Anna]

I've tried to post here a couple of times.

Words fail me, Nathan.

I know it's been a long journey for your grandmother. May her joy be complete. And may the peace of Christ, that surpasses all understanding, be a comfort to you, and to your family.

You are very much in my thoughts and prayers.

Pax Christi. <><

[hyperdulia again]

Nathan, I'm so sorry, I too lost a grandparent this year, so if you wanna taalk you may email me.

I'm praying for her.

[jasJis]

Nathan,

I particularly remembered your Grandmother and your family at All Saints mass tonight. What a gift of prayers your Grandmother has been given through your Catholic phamily here. What a gift that she managed to live despite what the doctors said and to die near this Holy Day that made it easy and natural to ask us and recieve from us, prayers for her in a special way. I was also struck by what a gift you gave me to think about God's love, even after death, in the opportunity to pray for your Grandmother and you. No matter what our human pride may tell us, God loves us even after death. His Gift is Hope for eternal love, with Him, through Him, and through each other, in Him.

He Lives! We Live in Him. That is why in the 1st century, the Roman catacombs where Christians and pagans were buried side by side could be easily identified. The pagans would write "good bye" or "it is finished" in the wet cement that covered the niche. The early Christians would write write "He Lives!" or "She Lives!". It is through the Chruch that the lesson of Hope is passed on to today.

[PedroX]

Nathan,

your grandmother and your family were in my intentions today. May His peace and grace comfort you, and may your grandmother rest after a life of faithfulness.

[Good Friday]

Thank you all so much. My grandmother's funeral was today, and it was very difficult for all of us. My grandfather is doing better, but he continues to need as many prayers as he can get. As always, prayers for the rest of my family are always appreciated. And please, do pray for my grandmother's soul, even though I believe she is in Heaven now.

[Donna]

Oh, Nathan!

Gosh, I'm sorry.

But to have the funeral on all souls day...

Eternal Rest grant unto Grandma Eileen, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.

From the gates of hell, deliver her soul, O Lord.

May she rest in peace.

Amen.

Lord, Hear my prayer.

And let my cry come unto Thee.

All ye holy souls in purgatory, please pray for Eileen's husband and their whole family.

[Good Friday]

I'm confused. I thought Nov. 2 was All Souls' Day? And we had her funeral on Nov. 3...

[IcePrincessKRS]

It is.... Donna probably just mis-read the date of your post.

Your family has been in my prayers.

[Good Friday]

It is.... Donna probably just mis-read the date of your post.

Oh okay. I was just wondering.

Thanks for the prayers, I appreciate them!

[Good Friday]

From my weblog, The Tower:

I've decided to make this entry about two very personal things: my personal faith and my family. Even though it's personal and hard for me to talk about, I feel that there is an important message in what I've learned that should be shared with the world.

As many people who know me are aware, just a few weeks ago I had abandoned the Catholic Faith once again. Those days, of course, are over permanently. I can say that with full certainty now. But I need to share the reason I can say that. It's because of my grandmother, a truly amesome woman who has affected my life in profound ways. She left this world on October 30th, and she was buried on November 3rd. I won't see her again unless I go to Heaven and she is there. I truly believe that she either is there now or will be there (in the event that she's in Purgatory).

You may be wondering how she brought about my conversion a few weeks ago. Many of you know that she stopped speaking quite some time before her death, so there was no way she could have talked to me about it. Well, she didn't have to talk, at least not to me. I think she brought about my conversion because she's been doing a lot of talking with Jesus. I think she prayed for my conversion even in her vegetative state, and I think that the suffering she went through helped strengthen those prayers. Finally, one night, I was prompted to go into the chapel at the Catholic hospital she was at and talk to Jesus in the Tabernacle. And it was then, without much thought about why or what effect it would have, that I decided to go back to Jesus and His Church. Just like that. There was no rhyme or reason. I just did it. And I know that it's because she prayed for me unceasingly.

My grandmother was a Protestant, not a Catholic. My mom tells me that at one point early in my mom's life, my grandmother went to a Catholic church, but that eventually problems within the family (including marital problems) prevented her from going anymore. She eventually joined the Protestant church of Christ so that she could have some church and some relationship with Jesus, but my mom tells me that she was always partial to the Catholic Church. In fact, when I told my grandmother that I was becoming Catholic before my Confirmation in April, she gave me her blessing. It has long been my belief that she desired to be Catholic, and that Jesus recognized that desire in her. She lived a Protestant, but I believe that in some mysterious way, she died a Catholic. I am almost certain that she is a saint now, though I acknowledge the possibility that she may be in Purgatory and I pray for her soul daily.

As a child, my father was no kind of father at all. It was his own choice. I had three major parental influences: my mother, my grandmother, and my grandfather. They were the ones who raised me, the reason I am who I am today. I spent more time with my grandmother than I did with my own father. I remember a lot of that time. I remember iced coffee on the porch during the long, hot summers. I remember watching re-runs of All In the Family at night before going to bed. I remember the delicious food she used to cook, I remember the way she used to love me and take care of me. I remember that she was a woman. She wasn't a career girl, she wasn't a female priest, she wasn't an activist. She was what she was: beloved wife, beloved mother, beloved grandmother. But she was a woman. The real kind of woman, the kind that is so hard to find today. The kind of woman who loved: loved Jesus, loved her husband, loved her children, loved me. She loved her husband when he was rich and when he was poor, when he was better and when he was worse, when he was healthy and when he was sick, until death separated them. She loved her children unconditionally, when all three of them made it hard for her to love. And she loved me as much as she loved any of them.

She taught me to be the kind of man who would spend his nights lifting his grandmother on and off the portable toilet instead of laughing and drinking in college. She taught me to be the kind of man who would sing old hymns to his grandmother to make sure Jesus' love for her was always on her mind in her dying moments, rather than cranking out rap songs that degrade women. She taught me to be the kind of man who stood strong during the funeral, who rarely cried, who stood faithfully at the side of his mother and grandfather as they grieved for the person they had loved most in the world. If I am anything special, anything good, anything worthy of being called a Christian, I am that person because she opened herself to Jesus' love and wisdom and allowed that love and wisdom to pour forth from her and into her family. I am the person I am because she was the right kind of woman, the kind of woman who loved, the kind of woman so frowned upon by today's society. If I am a sign of contradiction, I am only that way because she was a sign of contradiction before me.

I think what amazes me about her is that, even in dying and even after death, she has affected all of our lives for the better. By her prayers, she obtained my conversion. By her suffering and death, she drew my family together even though it had been so separated for so long. Lying in the coffin, she compelled an atheist to ask me to go to the coffin and pray with her. By her prayers, even now, my family is strong for my grandfather in his time of need. She has not stopped being the right kind of woman, the kind of woman who loves. Even as an invalid, in the hour of her most severe weakness, she was strong.

If I am strong now, if I have even a fraction of her strength, it's because she taught me to have it. It's because she prays for me to have it.

What does this mean for the rest of the world? I don't know. But I'm convinced that it means something. I'm convinced that there is something profound here, something in the life, suffering, and death of this little-known and never-to-be-canonized saint that has been and can be a light to the world and salt of the earth. I'm convinced that there's something in my recollections of her, however tiny, that may inspire someone to be a better kind of woman or man, the right kind of woman or man, the kind of woman or man who loves.

If I am the right kind of man, the kind of man who loves, it's because she was that kind of woman before me. And somehow, I don't know how, it is all related to the Paschal Mystery. And it's such a beautiful mystery, so tied to the Catholic Church and Christ on the Cross, that I don't even dare to try and define it. But it has something to do with the love of the Paschal Mystery, something to do with the love of Jesus that's in all those who choose to follow Him.

If there is anything my grandmother says to us from the grave, I think it's that we are all still involved in the Paschal Mystery today. It is not just something that happened 2,000 years ago. The love from that event happens to us all, and it's up to us whether or not to accept it. She accepted it. And I am better because she agreed to be a conduit for it, in life and in death.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her.

[littleflower+JMJ]

wow. how amazing. thank you very much speech for sharing that with us!

yes. you are right. she was and is a very special daughter of God.

she and all your family are in my prayers nathan. thank for sharing with us.

:wub: you are very blest to know your grandmother, i was never able to meet mine since they both died before i was even born. i only knew my one grandfather i had and he too taught me alot, but i lost him when i was a young girl. we must never forget what these very special ppl in our lives have taught us. we must hold fast to what we have learned and learn to implement what they showed us in our day to day lives. and somehow make them proud of what they tried so hard to show us. so when we do meet them, we can have grown into what they wished and dreamed the best for us. God bless you nathan! +JMJ

[BLAZEr]

Nathan, I'm in tears . . . and I do not cry. This is such a moment of Grace that all I can say is

Miserere nobis Domine, Guadate in Excelsis!

I'm sure that with your prayers the Purgation of your grandmother with be the most sweet and precious moments of her eternal life! She is going to delight in your prayers for her like you won't believe!