I will never forget Fr. Joe’s homily about faith, hope and trust in the Lord. On Friday, July 27, 2001, I miscarried our third child. On Sunday, July 29, during Fr. Joe’s homily, he spoke of a family who had lost a child, due just before Christmas. They waited 13 years before they were blessed with another baby. They then gave that child the Christmas gifts they had bought for their first child and had saved all that time. They had stayed away from church during that time, yet they still had enough faith and hope to keep the gifts for another baby. After 13 years God blessed their family with a healthy baby. His plan for them was to have a child, even though His timeframe was 13 years.
With our loss and our own heartache, with the hurt so fresh and new, I could only begin to imagine the fear, the questioning, the heartache, the longing they experienced over those years. Yet, they kept the gifts, hoping they would have another child to give them to. And their faith was rewarded, for God had a plan for them. After our miscarriage, my husband was ready to try again immediately. His faith was strong that God would bless us with another child. I was not so sure. I did not know what He was telling us with the miscarriage; was the answer “no” or “no, not now” or “no, not ever again.” We had gotten married a bit later in life and did not know how many children we could have. But, I tried to accept that whatever His answer was, it was all part of His plan for us and our family. After hearing that homily, I began to realize that we could deal with whatever happened and I tried to fully put my faith in Him and accept His will would be done, whatever that was. I did get pregnant again and with the exception of having gestational diabetes, I had a healthy pregnancy. Our second son, a healthy and strong little boy, was born in January, 2003.
I’ll never forget Fr. Joe’s homily that Sunday because I believe that was God’s providence at work. He spoke to us and comforted us and encouraged us to have faith, hope and trust through Fr. Joe and I am so grateful we heard.