Wednesday, April 30, 2008

For Love of a Friend


This is the first of my Mother's Day Tribute posts, in response to the contest I offered at Behold Your Mother. This one was not a formal submission ... and yet the story touched me so deeply I felt compelled to share it. As I promised in the contest rules, Marie is receiving a free copy of Behold Your Mother.

This evening I received an e-mail from a man (I don't know how he got my name) asking me for a Mother's Day gift suggestion for a childhood friend of his. It seems this woman -- we'll call her Marie -- taught him everything he ever knew about the faith. In a real sense, she was an extraordinary mom to him. This on top of raising a small army of her own, including one sweet daughter (we'll call her Carol).

A short time ago, Carol was brutally murdered by her own husband, who turned the gun on himself. The couple left behind three girls -- the eldest a teenager, the youngest only seven. Somehow Marie found the strength to bury her daughter and take the three girls to raise, putting each of them through college.

My correspondent writes: "Through it all, and above all, for all of them, was this incomprehensible faith in our Lord and our Blessed Mother, and the belief that Both suffered every moment with them."

This Mother's Day, please remember Marie and her husband, for courage and strength -- and say a prayer for the repose of the soul of her daughter, that by the Mercy of God she and her husband will rest in peace.

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