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Monday, August 13, 2012

Paradise By the Catholic Dashboard Light

Someday I would like to sit down and write about the loneliness I feel after my reversion. My husband and I are the only practicing Catholics in our immediate families.

Sometimes I search for my Faith Family in the most unlikely of places... like in parking lots and on the highway. This may sound desperate, but as I have mentioned before, I spend a lot of time on the road and it is where I spend most of my time praying and listening to Catholic media.

I always get a big goofy smile on my face when I drive by another Catholic. Whether it is a rosary hanging around the rear view mirror, a pro-life bumper sticker, a vanity plate with a Catholic message, or even a mini-van with a more-than-usual-number of those crazy family stickers, I feel an instant connection with you as we pass each other on the way about our daily business. I actually thank God for all of you people. And the coolest thing is, every day, I see more and more of you. It is as if we are multiplying. I like to think of all of us as one big army and we are rallying the troops.

The other day I pulled in at a random rest stop off a major Interstate highway and the car who pulled in next to me happened to be a family of 8. They just kept coming and coming... I smiled as I saw all those kids, and YES, rosary around the mirror. Hello, fellow Catholics! I told my kids to look at that awesome Catholic family. When they left, another car pulled in their place, and I noticed a scapular and a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe around their mirror. Hello, Friends! And to top this off, as I was pulling out, and exiting the parking lot, there was a nun in full habit getting out of her car! We honked and waved, even though I am not sure that this little old sister knew why we were so excited...

Just a week before this as I was driving down I-75 to work, and I noticed a businessman driving on my right had a simple picture of a rosary silhouette in his rear window. Yeah! Good Morning, Catholic! And it even gets better, just as we were in line with each other, ANOTHER car passed me on the left, and it was a huge white truck with a bumper sticker that said, very boldly, My Favorite Weapon, and had a picture of a rosary. We were all 3 in line at the exact same time on the road. Coincidence? Or God's way of reminding me that I have plenty of like-minded family members, and they are everywhere.

10 comments:

  1. Great post. Thanx.

    You also get to meet many Catholics as you drive through Blogland. That's why it is important to keep Blogging. We need more Catholics on the World Wide Wilderness.

    God bless.

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    1. Dear Victor,
      Thank you for stopping by! Yes, I agree. Catholic bloggers are wonderful, as well. Have a blessed evening...

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  2. I have been unable to blog much recently, but I, too, really "dig" the Catholic blogs. :) And my husband and I really want to get some of those stick-figure family stickers for our car!

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    1. With a family of 7, the back of your van is going to be looking good :-) Hope your new position is going well...

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  3. Those scenarios are purely God's reminder that you are not alone and that you should never feel lonely for being the only Catholic in your family. I, myself is a Catholic, ready to follow your interesting posts. Keep us inspired.

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  4. Hi Athena, Thank you for your kind comment and for visiting my blog!

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  5. Inspiring post....Which brings me to a scenario that maybe you might have some info on, or anyone else visiting your blog. My Grandmother passed away more than a year ago from cancer. She kept several rosary beads by her bed. I took a blue one, and hung this in my dashboard. In the past week, both myself and my cousin have had very vivid dreams of her. The beads of my Rosary are blue, however, yesterday, I noticed that the first five have changed color to a vivid purple. Have the bottom crystals changed to purple due to the sunlight? Is there a significance to the color purple? Instances like this leave me asking if there is a logical explanation or is this a sign?

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    1. Hi Steph, I am glad you stumbled upon my blog and thank you for your comment. I am sorry about the loss of your Grandmother. It sounds like she had a devotion to the Rosary and Our Blessed Mother. Did you know that August 15th was the Feast of the Assumption (celebrating the day when The Virgin Mary ascended bodily into heaven following her death?) Blue is often a color associated with Our Lady, the color of the sky, and symbolizes heaven. You mentioned that your Rosary is blue. Why your beads turned purple, I cannot say. Purple is typically associated liturgically with penance, and used during Advent and Lent. I haven't ever heard of 5 single crystal beads changing color because of sunlight. There is probably a logical explanation that someone can offer for this, however, I personally believe in signs. St. Padre Pio has said, "There are No Coincidences!" ... someone upstairs has to be arranging these series of events for some reason, even if there is a reasonable scientific explanation, there is probably a spritiual one also. Two possibilities that crossed my mind are a) that your Grandmother is praying for you in heaven and has sent you a message ... She wants you to explore the Rosary or pray the Rosary? or b) Your Grandmother is in purgatory and about to enter heaven. Perhaps this will be facilitated through praying a rosary for her, and you are the one to do it. (Forgive me if that sounds presumptuous, but it is honestly just what crossed my mind.)
      In any event, if it were me, I would be praying that Rosary twice, once for myself, to understand what it is that you were meant to know with this "sign" and another for the repose of your Grandmother's soul, just to be on the safe side. (Perhaps your cousin can join you?) I bet you will receive the answers to your questions.

      Here is also an interesting website that you can read to understand more "Rosary Graces" that I have found extra inspiring: http://www.holysouls.com/rosarystories.htm

      I will say a prayer for you and your grandmother this weekend. Please let me know how everything works out.

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    2. Thanks so much for responding. You've made some really interesting points...definitely things to think about. Thank you for recommending the website, I will definitely go on there today! Also, thank you for the prayers....I am going to stop looking for a logical explanation for this and truly take it as a sign....
      Thanks again,
      Steph

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    3. Your story reminds me of something very personal that happened to me, I will try to not be too long winded. When I was around 6 or 7 years old I was spending the night at my grandmother's house and late in the night when everybody was sleeping I tiptoed downstairs into the kitchen in the dark of night to get a drink of water. There was a wooden crucifix above the entry into the kitchen. As I looked up, the figure of Jesus on the cross, seemed to get brighter and brighter in the dark, he actually started glowing! It was like a dimmer switch was being turned "on"... I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I didn't know what to make of it, I was so frightened, I ran upstairs to my bed, and put the covers over my head and grabbed on tight to my stuffed animal. I never told anyone!!! I had to convince myself that whatever was going on with that cross, well, not to be afraid, because it was Jesus, and he couldn't hurt me. I have thought about this for 30 years of my life, often wondering how to explain this luminescent Jesus growing bright in the dark. Was it a miracle? Was it a dream? (No, it was very very real.) Anyway, my grandmother has passed on, and before she died, I asked her if I could have the cross on her kitchen wall. Of course she said yes. I have kept that cross for years, and it is now hanging above my bedroom door. I still never even told my husband or anybody about "what happened" when I was a little girl, he would have thought I was silly to talk about a glowing Jesus. But a few years ago, right before I was going to pull this out of storage, dust it off, and hang it up, I set it down on the counter, under bright lights. I turned the light off to leave the room, and I looked back and noticed, ever so faintly, the figure on the cross had a slight very very faded glow to it. That is when I realized that the Jesus on this cross was made out of a glow in the dark material, and the glow that I saw as a little child, was not a miraculous sign, but an actual glow-in-the-dark-Jesus, that nobody knew actually glowed in the dark. I laughed out loud, and couldn't believe I actually had an answer to this great mystery after 30 years! (This was a logical explanation handed to me when I wasn't even looking for one.) So, I hung up the cross and didn't think too much of it... but a year or two ago, my dad was visiting me after my 2nd daughter was born, and I showed him, "Hey, I got that cross from Grandma... I am so glad..." and he said, "Yeah, I bought that for her when I was a little boy, with money that I had saved from my paper-boy route." He told me how excited he was to give that cross to his mom. This was around 50 years ago at this point! I asked him if he knew that it glowed in the dark, which he didn't know. I was just floored that my dad gave that to my grandmother and I never knew that. All I knew was that she had had it blessed. Anyway, not quite sure there is even a point here, other than, I really love this crucifix, and I am so glad I have it now. I have often wondered about the "sign" vs. "logical explanation" of it all - and, well, it doesn't even matter anymore. I'm just glad it is hanging on my wall, especially when I remember my Grandmother and miss her and the old days when she was here. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the rosary website, my grandmother always had a huge devotion to the rosary. God bless yours and mine, both!

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