CANCER

All my concerns-collapsed into oblivion -when I saw my friend today at 8a.m. mass. There she stood-her pretty bald head dressed in a sporty cap. Tears filled my eyes as I watched her praying...trusting in God. You see-my beautiful friend has cancer. A few months ago, in this very same church, she shared the news...and her unwavering belief-that she would be healed.

Today, as our eyes met across the aisles she whispered, "I have something big to tell you!"
"The tumor is gone." Later she told me her doctor says it is nothing short of miraculous...a miracle made in heaven but prayed for here on earth. God's way of letting us know-that he is listening.

She beamed when she showed me that she was wearing the flower stick pin I had given her a few weeks before. I saw the retro daisy pin in an antique shop and felt drawn to buy it. Something told me to give it to her at Mass one morning...and when I did, I told her God wanted her to know that after every winter-there is spring...and her spring was coming. I'm so happy hers has arrived!

17 years ago this month, my own mother died-of cancer. I can still hear my father's trembling voice over the telephone. "Your mother has breast cancer. She's going into the hospital Monday for a mastectomy." I was stunned, shocked and numbed by the words. How could this happen to this strong, stoic German woman?! There was no family history of cancer and most of her relatives lived well into their eighties or nineties. She was still in her sixties...with so much of life to be lived...My father had retired, and they had plans-to finally enjoy themselves. The kids were grown, college tuition's paid-no more scrimping and saving and worrying--it was supposed to be her time, their time together.

My mother's illness came just a few weeks after my miracle conversion in Medjugorje...on the heels of my spiritual renewal...my renewal of hope in God and goodness and all that heaven has to offer. Then WHAM! I had the wind knocked out of me. Cancer. What a deadly, ugly word. This killer disease-had somehow attacked my mom.

The chemo, the radiation-the hair loss, the pain and the suffering...the emotional roller coaster wound its way through our lives as my mom struggled to stay alive...and we prayed-even begged God -for her physical healing. Following a long, difficult illness, she died anyway-crossing over to that painless place of peace that I believe to be heaven. But even as I watched her precious life ebb away, I also witnessed the unexpected fruits of her illness. I saw my father care for her with a gentleness and a loving compassion which I had never seen him demonstrate in my youth...My parents bonded together as one-for the first time in their tumultuous marriage. It was a surprising, yet beautiful vision- of unconditional Love.

I watched my little sister, Patricia, the surprise Love child--stand by them when my siblings and I could not-because we lived far away in other states. My mother gave birth to Patricia at 41 years of age...long before it became vogue for older women to have babies. I remember her crying...scared to death...that she was too old to have a fourth child...But her burden, became her greatest blessing-during a difficult, life altering illness.

You see-God doesn't make mistakes...he knows exactly what he's doing and how it's all going to turn out. It's up to us to get with his program and follow his lead. Not everyone is physically healed-but most people are spiritually elevated. By surrendering their lives to the healing power of our Loving God, they are given exactly what they need-exactly when they need it the most.

My friend Kay has always believed deeply in the power of prayer and the miracles it produces...and now that her tumor is gone, her faith is stronger than ever. Watching her- watching my mother...and watching others who are clinging to dear life...has taught me that our greatest challenges often become our most cherished gifts. Because God truly never gives us more than we can handle...but he always gives us just enough to make us stronger, wiser and more intimately connected to the source and the power-of his unconditional Love.