Friends, relatives make God’s love present in our lives

Thanks be to God.

This is a common phrase people use, but one cannot help but think that on many occasions it is said out of habit and without really thinking about how much we really have to be thankful for to God. 

From my perspective they are words of great meaning; especially this Christmas season. My wife Genie and I experienced in a very personal way God’s love and mercy. You see, on Dec. 2, Genie fell and broke her femur in five places. How is that an expression of God’s love and mercy, you are most likely asking yourself. But there is more to the story.

That evening Genie was baking cookies and had the house ready for a houseful of guests that we were expecting. They were coming from El Paso, Lubbock and Austin to share our joy with our nephew Eric Chapa who was scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood the following day. I reminded Genie that the light on the carport was out and we needed to replace it before our guests arrived. I grabbed the step ladder and she followed me with a box of light bulbs. As she stepped out of the house she fell and immediately knew she had broken something. 

I called our children, three of them were already entering the city limits and the other two were in San Antonio enroute. I told them to meet us at Spohn Shoreline. At that time we thought she had suffered a dislocated knee that doctors would be able to reset and we would be back home before bedtime. To our surprise that was not to be. Instead she underwent a three-hour surgery the following day. 

We missed Eric’s ordination, which we had been looking forward to for years. We spent our 40th wedding anniversary and our oldest daughter’s birthday in a rehab hospital. Because of publication deadlines this is being written before Christmas so we hope that Genie may be able to go home in time for our Saviour’s birth, but as of now the rehab staff says it will be Dec. 28. So where is God’s love and mercy, you may still be wondering.

Well it is all in one’s frame of mind. You see, we have felt God’s love and mercy ever since we have been married. Actually, all our lives. The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful family, with good health, with good and consistent employment, with more than adequate financial means, with ample housing, etc. We feel his love and mercy every day of our lives.

Despite the inconveniences resulting from this incident, we still consider it a blessing. 

It reaffirmed what we already knew; that we are surrounded by people who care about us. The morning of Genie’s operation I asked Bishop Michael Mulvey to pray for her and he promptly informed me that he would. The day after his first Mass, Father Eric came to his aunt’s room and brought her the Eucharist and  anointed and blessed her. 

Sister Maria Vega of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Sister Mary Immaculate of the Eucharist, SOLT also visited Genie while at Spohn Shoreline. Meanwhile, Genie was added to prayer lists of the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (the Pink Sisters), St. Elizabeth in Alice and St. Martin de Porres in Dripping Springs. Many friends and relatives also visited, called and texted to let her know they had her in prayer. 

On the holy day of the Immaculate Conception, Deacon Amando Leal, recently ordained and assigned to Corpus Christi Cathedral, brought Genie the Body of Christ to her room at the Holmgreen Center. On the day of our anniversary, Father Hanh Van Pham, rector at the Cathedral, celebrated Mass at Trinity Towers where Genie’s rehab center is located. After Mass he blessed us both. The following day, an 84-year-old Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion named Mary brought the Eucharist to Catholic residents at Trinity Towers and we again were able to partake of the Body of Christ. On the last Sunday of Advent we were able to watch the Cathedral Mass on the internet thanks to the Catholic Communications Network, and Betty Limon brought us the Eucharist. 

The staff at Spohn Shoreline and at Holmgreen Center were all caring professionals. At Holmgreen they set up a table in an empty room for us to have a private anniversary meal. If we will have to spend our Christmas at Holmgreen, while it is not home, we know Christ will be there—for he is always by our side.

For all these reasons we feel God’s love and mercy. Beyond these reasons, we believe that the accident was a call for both of us to renew and revitalize our love for each other and the wedding vows we consented to at our sacrament of matrimony to take each other “…for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” After 40 years together, marriage can become a little too accustomed. It can cause couples to take each other for granted. We come to “expect” things without appreciating them. It sometimes takes a traumatic event to shake us from our familiarity and begin again to love and to care for each other, and to be patient, to be gentle, to be present for each other.

So yes, indeed:

Thanks be to God!