Chatting about: Spiritual Afflictions

Ruth (Guest): I had a friend, now deceased, Jeannine , who radiated joy. One of her favorite sayings was, “To God be the glory.“ and often this was said in the context of someone experiencing healing –– often through her praying for that person with laying on of hands, usually with other believers praying with her. Another “favorite” expression was just a delighted outburst of “Wheeeee.“

Ruth (Guest): I’ll get back to my answer to the question. Glad you are here Dawn and Brian. Sister told us she’d be late tonight because after the 5:30 Mass there will be a tree lighting ceremony.

Ruth (Guest): That “Wheeee!“ was a little like a “signature” for Jeannine –– kind of like your saying, Brian, “Keep shining for Jesus!“ (BTW I put that on the opening page of one of my journals, with the attribution to you, Brian.)

Ruth (Guest): Yes, a blessed Advent to all of you and each of you. Mine started out beautifully. I got my car on the road again last night, got a new battery for it, and bought fresh groceries it seem for the first time in months! And today, we had a

Ruth (Guest): Ohh, I’ll get back to that. Ha Ha, LOL, my dyslexia kicked in in a different sort of way when I read the line above, Dawn, with the music from “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” as “cars on top of trees!“ And I “pictured” standing trees with cars, somehow on top of them –– perhaps washed there by flood waters. . . Then, of course, I realized you meant trees that people had purchased and put on top of their cars to transport them home. But I had to laugh out loud over my mis-reading.

Ruth (Guest): Oh, Brian, that is wonderful! A transplanted kidney –– his second –– working properly? Praise the Lord. And thanks and praise to the donor, especially if it was a live donor . . .

Ruth (Guest): Yes, and because I had to go to the ER Friday –– more problems with my hernia repair that was at last giving me so much relief –– and because the hospital has a new “service” to make sure people who are being discharged have everything they need to live safely in their homes, and the new “service person was the daughter of a couple whose 65th wedding anniversary I attended earlier this year –– somehow I think she “colluded” with a robust Sister of St. Joseph who was raised on a farm and claims she LIKES to

Ruth (Guest): shovel snow –– to get me to learn a little more INTERdependence –– that is, to accept help that I really needed.

Ruth (Guest): In spite of all the dangers and troubles in your area of California, Carol Ann, you seem to be more hopeful than last week.

Ruth (Guest): No, Dawn, but getting the snow shoveled for me, indirectly, was in the “discharge orders.“

Ruth (Guest): Welcome, Sister! Without you and without Judy to keep us on task we’ve been sharing, chatting, but I’ve failed to finish my too long “story” in answer to the question.

Ruth (Guest): Yes, you can only scroll back so far . . . Yes, you are right. It is wonderful how we’ve all become friends.

Ruth (Guest): I wanted to say a little more about Jeannine. She is for me the “picture” of trust in God, joy, in the face of incredible hardships, suffering and pain.

Ruth (Guest): I knew from others that Jeannine was a survivor of a concentration camp. She was French. Married an American man, came to the US but could not use her nursing degree here. When I saw her for the first time at a “healing Mass” (she had special permission to do the teaching) one of her adult sons had accidentally shot and killed his brother in a hunting accident. But police were trying to prosecute the young man as if it were manslaughter or murder. What a trial for a mother!

Ruth (Guest): Carol Ann! Wonderful! The perfect response! You’ve truly put yourself at the disposal of the Holy Spirit!

Ruth (Guest): I don’t remember HER saying MUCH about that at the time; I learned of it, first, from the man, Leo, who took me to the Mass –– about 50 miles from where I live.

Ruth (Guest): Later, when I got to know her personally –– because I volunteer to be her driver when she had an eye doctor’s appointment; then she insisted on having me come into her home and make lunch for me –– wonderful French cooking!

Ruth (Guest): We became good friends. She said I was her “sister” –– and explained, in part “both of us rebels.“

Ruth (Guest): I’d imagined that she must have had a wonderful childhood because through her many trials she was always soooo “upbeat.“ She had two kinds of cancer simultaneously, a lot of pain, and yet smiling, able to be available to others even when she was hurting.

Ruth (Guest): God bless YOU Carol Ann, and Dawn, and Brian, and of course, Sr. Susan. Let us continue to pray for one another. And prayers for the Kairos men.

Ruth (Guest): I met a priest the other day visiting here from Buffalo; of course I thought of Kairso, and your work with the men, Brian, and we chatted about the movement of the Holy Spirit through that movement Kairos.

Ruth (Guest): Jeannine, over time, I learned had had a good many very, very harsh experiences in her childhood. She was thrown in a cold water-filled animal trough and not allowed in her house because she had muddied her Sunday dress by slipping and falling on a mountain pass. But she had had an experience of the presence of God. She longed to receive her First Holy Communion, but was not allowed to until she was nine years old. But the experience of God’s loving presence changed her permanently.

Ruth (Guest): Yes, Dawn and Carol Ann. Sorry I’ve been less PRESENT in this chat than I’

Ruth (Guest): ‘d be, I think, if it were in person. Because I simply am not capable of multitasking –– but sometimes I do a pretty good job of “weaving” –– back and forth when there are multiple “threads” going on at once.

Ruth (Guest): I hope that some day –– maybe –– a canonization process start for Jeannine. I can think of a few people who might be in favor of that. And I just remembered; I now know where her former pastor –– that is, in the later years, when she had cancer, and a while before that now is in a retirement home. I should seek him out and talk with him about it; maybe go WITH one or two others who might have a similar idea.

Ruth (Guest): I wrote a poem about Jeannine –– about one healing service which took place at my local church here; I’ll try to MAKE myself find it and send it to Sr. Susan to post. Always way, way more than I can accomplish in a day.

Ruth (Guest): She was in life instrumental in many healings. It would not surprise me if it did not take long to document some miraculous healings after her death.

Ruth (Guest): The son who was accused of deliberately killing his brother (NO WAY!) was eventually exonerated. I can only barely imagine the young man’s pain while grieving for his brother being imprisoned as a suspect in his “murder.“

Ruth (Guest): That surviving son was at his mother’s wake and funeral. I remember his greeting me; when I went to him to offer my condolences over the death of his mother, he, instead, offered ME condolences over the death of my friend! Such kindness!

Ruth (Guest): Here in NY it is just past 9 PM Sunday. Is it 9 AM Monday where you are?

Ruth (Guest): We must not forget her when we pray for one another.

Ruth (Guest): Yes, Carol Ann. Transfiguration Monastery. I think they are still there. And as far as I know the “community” has not grown, although they had an excellent new retreat house when I was there. I think it must’ve been around 2014.

Ruth (Guest): And the larger community, that is, the local parish, had a charismatic prayer group that offered personal prayer after Mass on Sunday.

Ruth (Guest): CA California?

Ruth (Guest): How sad, Carol Ann.