Thank you for the nice letter I received from Gayle, so filled with kindness and
her faithful words of wisdom. I cannot thank you and Gayle enough for this
beautiful and thoughtful letter. I will cherish it for the rest of my life.
30
< Phyllis - USA >
Dear Mother,
I do not know you other than your name, nor do you know
me. However, in a recent correspondence, Patti asked me if
I would like to write something to you regarding your son
and the many years of prayers. I decided to give this my
best effort with reliance on the Holy Spirit for guidance
as I have no special credentials or wisdom, just FAITH.
As a mother, I think, if one has a strong Catholic Faith, our ultimate desire for the children
God blessed us with, is to see them returned to their Creator at the end of their lives. Otherw
ise, we see ourselves as a failure in the job that God gave us to do in this life.
Our Lord blessed me with three children and, although I would like to have had more, it wasn’t
to be. I gave birth to two daughters with a son in between them. I loved my daughters but
my only son was beyond special to me. None of the kids remained in the Catholic Church
and, recently, my youngest daughter told me that she doesn’t even believe in God at all.
This was painful to hear for sure and all this in spite of my prayers.
In September of 2015, I visited my son and his family in the State of Washington. It had
been 8 years since we had seen each other although we talked by phone. I had not met his
two little boys born during this time and only met his wife once. It was a fairly good visit
with the exception of one problem, other than they not practicing the Faith. While there,
my son made arrangements for all of us to attend Mass together and inquired what he needed
to do to become a practicing Catholic again. Then, as usual, nothing was done. When I left
to return to Louisiana, I was very sad. So upon returning home, I decided to write to my son
regarding his drinking which was something he started in Junior High. I wrote with love in
my heart, concern in my words and kindness, and as I suspected what he would do, because
I knew him well, he shut me out of his life completely as did his wife. I struggled, but didn’t
regret speaking up about what he was doing to himself and even more so to his famil y.
Somewhere during the painful first year of estrangement, I had a talk with God and said
that I would sacrifice a relationship with my son for the salvation of his soul. After a couple
of years had passed, I was contacted by his wife asking for Baptism Certificate among other
things to assist them in getting their marriage blessed in the Catholic Church. I was overjoyed
to hear that my son and his wife were returning to the Catholic Church and I
did receive pictures of the church ceremony from my daughter-in-law. My son was still not
speaking to me but I was very happy.
On December 27, 2018, my phone rang and I could see that it was my daughter-in-law
calling. I answered and heard these words, “Jim has died.” I was and still am devastated.
I made my way to Washington and, on January 4, 2019, commended my son’s body to the
earth. I write you this because, while in Washington, I learned how he and his wife and children
said a nightly Rosary, attended Mass on Sunday and Holydays as is our Catholic duty and