Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Lovely Quotes for Moms
"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
REST IN PEACE MOTHER
In Memory of Esther, The Mother of Fr. Edwin Hunja, the Archdiocese of Nairobi Youth Chaplain
All the Gifts You've Given to Me
A Mother's Love
The Mother
By Gwendolyn Brooks
All the Gifts You've Given to Me
You gave me love when I first drew breath...
You nourished my body and soul.
You gave me the gift to believe in myself,
helping me become the unique person I am.
You gave me an understanding of the value of life...
a desire to share my special talents with others
and to love others with the love you
so generously bestowed on me...
and I will leave this world a better place
for having made a difference.
-Marie Lawrence
A Mother's Love
She holds a mirror to what we can be and helps to cultivate
what others may not see... helping her children to succeed.
As she binds wounds wiping the tears as they fall...
with her words she nurtures our souls as deftly as she mends torn clothes.
She gives us a sense of the magic about life and that the secret of happiness
is to follow our hearts... and have faith in our dreams.
She gives us the freedom to find our own path but guidance when we go astray,
and with the insight of new wisdom to know we are going the right way.
We learn the importance of honor and the virtues of loyalty and truth
as she reminds us never to abandon our values in a meaningless chase of material pursuit.
She teaches us how to build character as we learn from our mistakes,
and from the midst of our sorrow to have hope for a brighter tomorrow.
We learn from her example how to handle strife...
and the importance of forgiveness as we go along in our life.
When tested to our endurance, she reminds us of a larger purpose
as we learn from her example that we have sufficient strength.
She inspires us with her words, empowers with her faith in us,
and gives us the capacity to love others with the love she's given us.
I see her face through tears when I was first a child
learning to face my fears, and an illuminating light for all these years...
She will remain my truest friend until the very end
and even beyond...when we meet again
-Marie Lawrence
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
INCREDIBLE
Priest conceived in rape recounts journey to forgive father
A priest who was conceived in rape when his mother was only 13 years old is sharing the story of how he met, forgave and heard the confession of his father, who is now living a life of faith.
“I could have ended up in a trash can, but I was allowed to live,” said Father Luis Alfredo Leon Armijos of Loja, Ecuador.
In a Feb. 6 telephone interview with CNA, Fr. Leon, who is pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Loja, said his mother, Maria Eugenia Armijos Romero, was working as a maid to help her parents support their eight children.
“The owner of the home took advantage of her working alone, raped her and left her pregnant,” he said.
His mother always defended his life, even though she was young and alone, without the support of her family members, who tried to cause an abortion by giving her concoctions to drink and punching her stomach.
“She prayed and felt that the Lord was saying to her in her heart: defend that child that is in you,” Fr. Leon recalled.
The young girl ran away to the city of Cuenca, where she managed to survive on her own. On Oct. 10, 1961, she gave birth to Luis Alfredo.
A short time later, with the help of the baby’s father, she returned to Loja to begin a life as a single mother.
“She ended up under the care of her rapist - my father - who acknowledged I was his and said he would take care of me,” Fr. Leon said, “but that doesn’t mean that things between them were healthy.”
He went on to recount how his father “always visited our home and fulfilled his duty to us. They had three more children, and my relationship with him was distant but pleasant. I respected him a lot, he instilled a sense of authority in me, he was tough with me and he took me to work.”
Fr. Leon encountered Christ through an invitation to the Charismatic Renewal at age 16 and began preaching and teaching catechism “wherever God put me,” whether on the bus or with young people in juvenile detention.
At 18, he felt a call to the priesthood and entered the seminary despite the opposition of his father. He was ordained at the age of 23 with special permission from the bishop.
Two years later, he joined the Neocatechumenal Way, and his mother revealed to him how his birth came about. She had ended her relationship with his father, and this marked the beginning of a journey of reconciliation for them both. Fr. Leon helped his mother understand that she could not hate his father and dealt with his own need to forgive as well.
“God allowed me to be a priest not to judge but to forgive, to be an instrument of his mercy, and I had judged my father a lot,” he said.
Years later, he received a call from his father, who was about to undergo surgery and was afraid. He asked his son to hear his confession and returned to his faith after 30 years of being away from the Eucharist.
“I told him: Dad, you deserve heaven, eternal life,” Fr. Leon said, and “at that moment my father broke down in tears.”
When Fr. Leon preaches to pregnant women undergoing difficulties, he reminds them that just like Jeremiah, God formed their children in the womb as well.
He encourages children to learn how “to see things from the perspective of God’s love” as they come to know their own life story.
“If you are a child or a single mother, you should see how God our Father has cared for you in your life,” he added.
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