Monday, May 12, 2008

My Mother's Day and a Special Memento

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27)

This past Sunday was Mother's Day as well as the day after my sister-in-law got married. So we were in Bardstown for the entire weekend. Sunday morning as we were packing up to leave the hotel I went to pick up the Mother's Day card for his mother that I had left on a table and I noticed two cards. The top one had my name on it! But I wasn't surprised, because I know I have a wonderful and sweet husband.

The card was so nice. The message of the card (with an annotation from Chris) was: To my wife ... you fill our home (and heaven) with love. I wanted to cry, well, I did get a little weepy, but that's not a surprise to anyone who knows me. I'll cherish this card forever.

After breakfast at my in-laws house we headed off to church. During the Prayers of the Faithful, there were prayers for all mothers, for all children, and for all those mothers who have lost children. I felt especially blessed by the last prayer. Following the prayers the priest then asked all mothers to kneel, that's when I hesitated. I just wasn't comfortable kneeling for that last blessing.

This morning during my Adoration hour I thought a lot about Mary. I once again asked for her intercessory prayers and prayed that my little Casey and all those who have passed on were safe in heaven with our Lord and her, His Mother. As I have said in recent posts, I know my baby Casey Marie is with our Heavenly Mother. As the passage from John above illustrates, Mary was given to all of humanity as our mother and I take comfort in knowing that the best mother in all of God's Creation is watching after my child.

To top off my Mother's Day I received a special item in the mail today. I ordered a special memento to remember my baby, and I was surprised at how quickly it was made and arrived. Shortly after the miscarriage I was looking everywhere on the Internet for help and support. I happened to run across a website for bereaved mothers and on the site was a link for Memory Bracelets. You can check out the site here: http://www.geocities.com/bmskeepsakes/. Chris and I talked about it, and decided to order a bracelet for me. It didn't occur to me at the time that Mother's Day was right around the corner. The bracelet came today. I was so excited!! Here is a picture of it:


This was the end of my first Mother's Day. It was a sad day, but it was a happy day too. It's hard to be too sad when the promise of heaven is so amazing! The bracelet I now have is a wonderful memento to the baby that I never got to hold. My baby will be remembered publicly in July. If you're around, we'll be having a Mass said at our church for Casey at 8am on Saturday July 12. I'm looking forward to having the public acknowledgement and be able to celebrate our child's short life with our community.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers!!

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