Just a quick blog, I am sitting here at home all by my onesies, and was thinking about my blog. I have had so many conversations over the last two years about documenting this journey. What I get now more than ever is just how much people are enjoying the witness of my journey and that of my family. Its causing my family to re-live certain events that were tramatic in that day and I guess this journey,of hearing it and reading about it in this manner will bring more closure and healing to us all.
My intent for this blog is very simple, I want to help even just one person. We are all the same to God precious. This blog is his victory story. To everything there is a purpose.
The byrds
When it comes down to it, by the grace of God all that we have in the life really is eachother, and that is really the most important thing anyway. Material stuff is really so unimportant. We need to celebrate and support oneanother. Amen.
My Mom was at Spaulding Rehab Cambridge, in the Ventilator unit for quite some time and it was decided that they needed to try and withdraw the vent and the likelihood of her coming off it was not good because when you are on a ventilator for an extended period of time your body becomes use to the machine doing the work and sometimes will not pick up the function of breathing on its own, once again. My mom was awake and alert and the weining process began, slowly seeing if her body would in fact support her, The weing was a slow process, took several days of reducing the ammount of support that the ventilator was doing and thenshe was off the ventilator, breathing on her own. Praise God! Dr.S and all of us in our family were just so happy! God is faithful to those who love him. Amen !
The next obstacle that she tackled was that she could not speak. Her doctor explained that when the ventilator is in place you cannot talk and it was in her throat for so long that damage could have been done to the vocal chords etc. Doctor S. removed the plug in her neck, I guess you call it? She began to speak immediately words from of her mouth. The doctor was so impressed and we were so happy hearing moms voice once again. It had been months! The Holy Spirit of God took care of that need immediately. Like I said, it was and is the time of Miracles for all of us. 🙂 This whole health crisis/ event that occurred started at around April in her home and it was now the Fall of 2011, She had been in Mt. Auburn, and at Spaulding this whole time with a very low expectation of survival. But, she had the peace of Christ and did not think that way. She saw Hope and had such Faith, She saw Victory. She was very ill, but still saw Victory through Christ/ God. Her Rosary was always in hand and her friends St. Michael and St. Raphael were right there with her .
I will continue shortly with my blog entry…. Mom, Mary, Michelle, Dotty, Elizabeth and Georgie what a beautiful story to share, God is just amazing in all that he is doing.
I wanted to continue with my writing for my mom today. Part two was on Sept 4ths blog. The Saint Agnes Band was a large part of our lives growing up. We had attended the school as well. Some of us went on to Arlington Catholic too . It was a great life.
One of the best parts was that my mom and dad were present in our lives. My dad managed the equipment truck and trained other fathers to get their bus liscences, so that the band members and color guard could get back and forth from parades and competitions. Like I said, my dad was everyone’s dad in the band and they loved him. He loved all the kids too. I would like to remember also in this moment my fathers assistant in the equipment van Mr. Callahan. My dad loved this man as did all of the kids in the band. He was awesome:) He went to the Lord some time ago, God Bless Him too.
My mom was always in the stands with all kinds of food, extra sandwiches etc. When we came off the field of competition, we would change out of our uniforms and get our street clothes on and off we would go into the stands to find her. Each one of us ( her) kids had extra kids( friends) with us.lol We were all hungry and my mother was accustomed to that fact 🙂 and had sandwiches and stuff for them too. She also had jugs of homemade pink leomonade too.If my mom ran out Mrs. H was there with her food and was good for potato chips and chips ahoy cookies too.:)
In the band we would wear uniforms on the parade route and in competition. The uniforms had wool pants, Satin tops and a cumberbund wrapped around the middle.. It was topped off by a band drum style hat with a neck strap.We all wore white bucks (shoes) as well.
It could be 100 degrees in a parade or competition and we survived wearing those uniforms. The bottom line is this, we would roll in on the buses sometimes at 11:00 at night at the parking lot from a competition and needed to be back the next morning ready, uniformed and ready to go back out in competition once again or on a parade route somewhere. The uniforms needed to be laundered and ironed. The judges took points off of our score if things were not perfect. A lot of parents were not engaged with their kids or were unable to be there to support their kids. So, the kids were upset because they’re uniforms would not be ready for the next morning. It was a big deal. So My mom, Mrs. R said don’t worry honey, give them to me I will have them ready in the morning. Remember, my mom had 5 kids and worked full time. But you see, she saw a need and offered it up and got the job done. She made those kids feel special, and they were. She was a brick in their foundation as was my dad. I can remember her standing in the kitchen in front of that ironing board ironing one satin shirt after another. They were ready for the judges 🙂 She even carried Kiwi white shoe polish in her bag and was touching kids shoes up, nice and white.
My mom’s ilness, She was a Miracle and also showed the Doctors , staff of several institutions that, God is for real.
As I wrote in the past blog about my mom, C.O.P.D. progressed to emphysema and the ability of my mom to go out ,to walk stairs etc was very much diminished. She lived with a constant sense that she could not get breathe into her lungs. She very rarely complained but we understood her daily struggle. She was not going to bring her family down. She was partnered with Christ in his suffering. Like my mother would always say.
4 or so years ago in around June 2010 I think it was ? My mom went into the hospital at Mt Auburn in Cambridge her breathing was reduced even further and she was found to have a 4 to 5 inch tumor attached to her lung, behind her heart and it was obtructing the airway out from the lung. It was found to be inoperable, plus given her very poor respritory system she could not have anesthesia. Because of her strong resolve, faith and fight for life her Dr. R who was her primary for 30 plus years advocated that she should be allowed to try a plan to attack this tumor, my mom was well aware of its dangers and we all supported her and my dads decision in this matter.
She was treated by a wonderful Cancer and respritory Dr. S from Mt Auburn Hosp. He is a brain cancer survivor too. She under went chemo and very targeted radiation treatment for the cancer, for the tumor etc and when they were done the tumor still remained. She came home and was home a few days and radiation pneumonitis set in she was rushed into the hospital and ended up in Mt Auburns ER after she found to be non- responsive at her home. That particular morning, My neice, dad,brother and sister were watching her, and saw a difference in her that they never witnessed before. An ambulance was called, right away.
At the ER, things looked very grimm. we were all there. She was being given a lot of support she was filled with carbon dioxide , it is called I think, black death. It is when you breathe in and cannot expell the carbon diaoxide out of the lungs and body, so you will get sleepy, your brain and other vital organs can de deprived of oxygen and eventually you will pass away without intevention. Even with help, it is very dicey. The staff ushered the whole family into a room and brought us food and gave us some gentle words of support. Very beautiful.
My mom was moved up to the Intensive care unit and she was put onto a ventilator, by her choice, she was not done yet with her Earthly journey . She was there for a good seems like 1 and a half to 2 months if my memory serves me. My father was there everyday before 5 a.m. and stood by here because she would open her eyes and look at him at that time, he was not going to dissappoint her .Asside from that, she just slept a whole lot. He would take her hand and say, Its okay bobby, I am here just keep it in neutral.( Don’t Worry), You are going to get better. He stood there and prayed with her. All day long. All of the family would stream in and out of her ICU bed space and tell my dad to go sit down, food was being brought in by my sister, brother etc for him. We would make a prayer chain around her bed. Dr’s and nurses walked by and just watched the family through the glass windows and witnessed God in action. Eventually my mom was moved to a regular room at Mt Auburn to get her ready to transition her to Spaulding Cambrige Street Cambridge because her Dr. R ran the Vent department there. Again, God was handling everything.
At this time , It was about 6 months before I suddenly became ill with my Gleo, so I was able to be there a whole lot. Which I am so grateful for. It is what live is all about. Love, support and being there. Very Simple 🙂
I will continue with this account shortly.
God Bless You All,
Danny
My mom loved this song I am sure she was thinking of my dad when she listened to it and sang it 🙂 xoxo
Hi All, I used these songs to end my day on Monday. I was lead to them after prayer and decided that they would be nice to share in this moment. Enjoy this beautiful Day. 🙂
Beautiful songs just enjoy. God is so good.
Yesterday: by , Mary / Mary
Laren Hill and Tanya Blount
This song reminds me of a lovely women that went to the Lord . God Bless you . C
There is a question that seems to go from Age to Age and generation to generation. It Is … this,
Doesn’t every generation think that the world is losing moral and societal footing. My grand parents did, my parents did, and I am now of the age that I too would have to agree with some aspects of their obversations. They saw it in their day’s and I am seeing it personally in our lives today. To me years ago my nana and papa were awesome but at that time I was young and when they expressed their concerns seeing what they were seeing in society I figured they were squares and old fashioned. I then watched my mom and dad go through the process of saying that this world was just getting so terrible as they watched their world changing. Well, now it is my turn and I am Watching the direction that society is taking. Guess what? I see it going in the same direction down hill.
It seems like society is on a voyage to the bottom of the sea! Pretty scary.
Flash forward 30 plus years at I now look at elements in this world and say OMG, what is going on? I understand why my grand parents said what they said, why my parents said what they said too. I believe that once I began to have children, I began to notice things that were happening with more accuracy.
I understand that times change and “time marches on”, as they say. New technologies have come about to advance and inhance our lives, Heck, I benefitted from these things during my treatment for cancer, I also am benefitting from technology through this blog to spread God’s good news for all of us, but the flip side is the amount of crap that is prevading our culture, country and world. The kids are being exposed to so much graphic sexual stuff images and language in this culture etc. Foul, foul language, the dumbing down of society as I see it. Their is domestic violence, broken families,shootings, robberies and murders. We have one scandal after another in government from the top right down to local government, who is telling the truth, who do we trust with our lives? You know, my feeling is that we will reep what we all sew as a people. As far as the motto that ” time marches on” goes, Its my opinion, looking at what is going in in the weather, globally, disease, wars, all the starving people in this world that we have walked away from God and stopped caring for our brothers in need. I guess that time is marching us off a cliff. Back to tecnology for a second. Not all technology is good either, when do you unplug? Sometimes I wish that cell phones and email would end for a least a day or so to allow people to un plug and get reacquainted with oneanother. It is a sad day when neighbors do not know eachother and you cannot eat dinner or take time away without the world barging in. There is always a text coming and every tv has urgent breaking news! Where is the time for prayer in our lives to listen to God ? We are in a prayer dessert as a country. With music constantly pounding in the background. I don’t get it, thats for sure!
God created us all with free will and desires our relationship with him.The Holy Spirit is working as the Guide for our personal good and for the good of society. Yet so many people aredead to the Spirit of God.
Meanwhile, I have written and said to many people that I know personally that I believe that If your not in God trying to grow towards perfection with him that you are open to fall for the liar ( devil ) and fall for all that he offers (nothing but pain suffering and your loss of your eternal soul.) and accept that everything that we do is okay. There are no boundaries and when struggle or adversity comes to us , and it will, that you do not have the faith and strenght through God to get ya through.We cannot save ourselves. When darkness comes God brings the light and joy through Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the life. We are then healed.
So, I now really feel that my grandparents were not square nor that my parents were incorrect in saying what they said back in their day. They were sick and worried about their children and grandchildren. I see it and feel it now myself. I do worry for my kids and their kids that they too will hold up and stand in the storm of life with a society who is less supportive of Godly values.
Finally today, I would like to touch on a topic. The topic is Suicide. Hopelessness that reaches a point that causes some poor souls to a tragic action. I do not care where a person comes from, money, poverty etc. I am by no way a professional on this topic but have heard and seen so much tradgedy in my life. Suicide knows no age, it can be caused by depression,drug, alcohol and chemical imbalances of their bodies. People lose hope. It is again my personal feeling that, no loved one or friend is to blame when this tradgedy occurs to their loved one. It is often seems to comes from out of the blue.
Every life is very precious, we need to watch the people in our lives, familiy, friends, co workers etc and get them a lifeline of hope and to get the help they need if they are in trouble. God did not intend for us to be defeated. He conquers all. Another thing that I grappled with when I was younger was, the idea that if someone committed such an act of suicide that they were destined for hell. Some faiths teach/taught that.
I personally could not accept this so I did seek the knowledge of a dear friend of my faith who was a bible scholar. I loved this man he was in his late 70’s at this time and I was maybe 35 ish. My friend L was posed this question during my bible study with my group. He was always thoughtful, prayerful and measured in his response. My friend B called him sensi. lol He said to me as he ran his fingers along the edge of his bible No, only God can judge such a thing and said that He knows the heart of the person and where they were psychologically at the moment that they acted. I felt the truth of that resonnate with me. As always, God knows all and is the just judge. I just realize how tender we all are and how fragile we all are. We are all broken so we need encouragement along our journey. God is my capitan and I am a passenger on his bus of life. Just seeing where he is taking me next. Amen.
God bless you all !
Danny
Rascal Flats Why
Hillsong Age to Age
There is nothing so dire in life that cannot be figured out you are all very loved. !
My mom as I began to tell you was very engaged in life and very committed to God. Growing in the generation that she did it was a very common practice to smoke. It had a social component too, so many people did. I too confess that being brought up in a family and culture that touted its use, that I too smoked for a while. But, fortunately for me the non smoking message was getting out to my generation. I also had gotten married and my wife did not want to have children and have them exposed to it. So, I gratefully was able to stop the smoking. I was not a heavy smoker , but then again as the years unfolded I came to realize that one cigarette was really one too many.Here’s why,
About I guess 15 years ago, while my wife and children were vacationing on the beach in N.H, my mom and dad took a day trip up to see us. We thought that we would take a walk with our kids and stroller up to the boardwalk for ice cream.
My dad came up the stairs to our unit on the second floor and said Hi, we are downstairs when you are ready. I said wheres mom? He said she could not do the stairs she is not feeling well. I remember running down to see her, she was standing there smiling and said hi, I could see her breathing was labored. I said, mom whats wrong? She said nothing and took out her inhaler that she supposedly had for allergies. Well, I do not think that we got ice cream with her that night because she could not walk 10 feet without being winded. My family was devestated. She told us it was allergies for the longest time and my father respected her wishes and did not tell myself or my siblings a thing. Finally, we all got together and told her we need to know. She said that she had C.O.P.D. from the smoking. My mother did not want to burden us, typical mom. You see, both my mom and dad smoked probably 40 years of their lives, they had both quit 8-10 years prior to the onset of her COPD. It came from no where. When you smoke the lungs become clogged and you go from breathing okay and suddenly you cannot breathe. As she would say, the damage was done. She would often say darn cigarettes.
My mom showed so much courage through out her battle that it was just so amazing to witness but it was heart breaking to us all. My mom eventually was on oxygen at her home. She had portable tanks that she in the beginning would get into her car and go to the store for short stints. She used to pull up at my work in her car and she would call me from her cell phone and say, Hi honey, are the other boys in the office too? She was referring to two of my brothers that worked with me. She said come out to the car, they had sales at the store so I picked up stuff for all your families with my coupons, hurry because your father is probably getting worried he’s going to kill me .LOL My mom as she would say, just kept on trucking along. So loving, so generous. As she was ready to leave the parking lot she would blow me a kiss and to tell the boy’s the same, I know that there was no way that she could carry those bags and place them in her car, there must have been an angel loading them at the store for her. I would alway’s start to say mom, this is too much and she would flail her hand at me and smile. She then took her index finger put it straight up over her lips and gently shushed me. She then would do a 10 point turn in my driveway before she left. She did it her way 🙂 My brothers would walk into the office and say whats this, meaning all th bags? And, I said mom was here and sends her love eachone of us has bags here and theres chicken packages and stuff in the refrigerator too. My brothers would look at me and would fill up with emotion then each one would call my mom to thank her. She was Christ in motion. The progression of COPD to full blown emphysema was slow and steady. In about 2008 she was now pretty much in the house, she started to attend St. Eulalia Parish for church because it was easier for her to park and get in to the sanctuary. Plus outside of the church is a large statue of the Blessed Mother so when she was too tired to walk etc, my sister would take her up and sit in front of our Blessed Mother and do the Rosary. It brought here so much confort and joy .
My Father, prayed with my mother everday and she was suffering you could see it but she would say I am fine and smile. She would say offer up the stuff. She did her St. Raphael oil from the healing ministry at church and the prayers etc. We did it with her all as a family when we were together. You see, Prayer to us is not an embarassing thing. It was not ackward. It was no accident that God selected my dad for her and gave her the 5 children that she was told that she would never have. We were there to comfort, honor her, and love her in the time of her need as God was preparing her for her salvation and glory that awaited her, God himself. She had her Christian music on and watched a little tv, EWTN etc. She was more of a reader always looking to read something. A very bright women. The last movie that I remember her seeing in the theatre was I belive Jaws. LOL More importantly she had all of her family surrounding her as she so richly deserved.
When I see people regardless of their age smoking, I always think, God I wish those things were outlawed. Especially seeing what it does to beautiful people. My mom did not deserve it thats for sure, I will continue this shortly .
God Bless You !
Dr. Cohen presents “Smoking Stinks”
A song for my mom. We need to remember and celebrate those that we love. Amen 🙂
Another Miracle from God happened this evening that I will share shortly. As I have said before God is closing the circle in so many of our lives right know. bringing people back together it is breath taking to watch and experience.
God loves us all so much, and wants the best for us.
In my life, I was Blessed by God with my mom. I spoke of my Dad a week or so ago on this blog and in this very moment I felt that I would begin to share about my mom.
My mom to the world was known as Roberta. My mother was a very unusual women, very beautiful too. She was extremely strong, bright and family oriented, Faith was very much a part of her foundation and her parents my nana and papa were the reason for that as was her grand parents Nana and Nonno. She was an advocate for the under dog. She was double promoted in highschool and met my dad when she was 16 years old at a back yard barbeque. My mother had a list of sayings that she used and lived by. She and my dad wed when she was I believe 18.
She had a very high standard for my sister and her 4 boy’s to meet. My sister is the spitting diecast of my mom. A force of nature ! Oh by the way, My mother was told that she would never have children. She went from Church to church with her grandmother doing novenas asking God for children and after 5 years of marriage she became pregnant and had 5 children within 7 years.Thats, God for you. The last pregnancy nearly took her life and my brothers. The doctors actually told my dad that he needed to decide which one would survive thanks be to God they both rebounded and recovered. Again, that was God and another Miracle.
My mom lived first and foremost for her family. Like I wrote in my blog about my dad, my mom was part of her mom and dads adult care, taking care of their needs daily. She witnessed to us everyday with an amazing strong and positive attitude and influenced our lives in so many ways. She always Sacraficed, and was so energenic. She commanded respect from everyone. You just loved her. The Holy Spirit was shining. My mom worked in concert with my dad to keep the reighns on her 5 children. She was very aware and knew if something was not quite right with one of her children and took that issue on right away. She would not allow things to festor as she would call it. She definately had a special gift of the Spirit to know stuff. She sensed things and acted on them. She was so devoted to God, Jesus , Her Blessed Mother, St. Anthony, St.Theresa, St.Rachael, St. Michael, St. Faustina, Saint Pio the list went on and on.
She alway’s said I have 5 children and each one is as different as the fingers on my hand. And I know you well, and she did. She was switching gears all the time to manage eachone of us in the way that we needed to be. Whether we were 3 or 52 that never changed. Not one of us ever felt that we were not loved or treated the same or equally. And if they did I never heard about it, and would not agree with that assertion anyway. 🙂
My father was her true and only love for 58 years of marriage and they knew eachother before marriage for a couple of years.
My mom was extremely loyal to all that she knew and loved. The cord of the phone back in the day was clearing all of the counter tops in her kitchen as she paced back and forth and counseled everyone giving them hope . 🙂
No adversity was ever too big for her, not one of her children could ever be unlovable to her. But she did not put up with nonsence either. She would hunt you down ! lol.
She did not care what people thought, because she lived the way that God was guiding her. And raised us the same way. She never said it, but I will, She lived the road less traveled because she was walking towards Calvary and her God. She raised our family with my Dad the same way. None of us is perfect including my mom ,she would tell you that too, only Christ is. If we the kids made a mistake in judgement, She would say if you think for one minute that I think this is right, then by golly I will tell you otherwise. But having said that, None of us stirred the pot to cause trouble with other people because if my parents were to think that we were not respectful of others they would correct that situation immediately. My parents would say, remember who you are and where you come from. I know my personal fear as a young man and is to this day that I might ever disappoint my Dad or my mom’s memory. I will not allow that to happen, they have been the best parents that one could ever ask for. They were God’s gift to my myself and my siblings.
My mom would say all the time.
Say, what you mean, Mean, What You Say, But, don’t be mean when you say it. ! When we were little, my mom was painting ceilings and walls while my dad worked two jobs. Hanging laundry outside on the lines at 2 am in the morning. My brother S and I were talking recently and he recounted this story to me, his window faced the back yard and he would hear the back door slam and he would silently watch my mom hang laundry and to make sure that she was safe. She made sauce and cooked nonstop at night, as she ironed everything. Pillow cases and all there were no dryers then. She was listening to talk radio and David Brodnoy 🙂 etc.
My mom went to work Full time when my youngest brother hit 1st grade. She worked day’s and my dad worked nights the ring of security was around the family her kids had 24 hour surveillance. LOL
My mom topped the Civil Service Exam and kept turning down job offers if they would be invasive in her life and would detract from her family including her mom and dad.She adored them.
My mom worked in the State highway department as a clerical employee/ manager. She turned down countless promotions to Boston, it was too far from home and kids at that stage of her life. As she got older she did not need to financially do that so she was very happy staying at the district office she worked 30 years before retirement.
What she did do though was to become a union President for AFSCME and a member of the AFLCIO during her younger years.
She found herself toe to toe in courts with attorney’s fighting greivances for other union members. She did not get paid for this. She felt called to do this and she mopped up alot of the lawyers in court. You See, they looked at her and did not realize who she was and her resolve to help the little guy. She would spend hours in the middle of the night typing summaries and notes for court and was prepared to go to battle for the person who needed their case resolved. Her life was one big ministry of love. She never missed a beat.
My mother never really slept. She just did and got the job done. My mother would throw the sunshine yellow colored toaster cover over her hair and run out of the house in the rain to drop us off at St. Agnes school in the morning.
One day, She ran out during the winter in the morning to drop us off at school, with her nightgown on,raincoat, slippers,wool socks and sunshine yellow toaster cover protecting her hair doo. LOl She dropped all us kiddies off at school and as she looped through the center to go home. The car ran out of gas . So, she had to go into the store and get help, her pocket book and money were at home. She always laughed about this incident and someone obviously helped her out. 🙂 I do not think that ever happened again:)
My mother was generous with everyone that she knew whether family or not. But was also a very frugul money manager. She added water to the soap containers like my wife does .:) So cute :). As she would say ,We work too hard to throw the money away. Stuff was not important, she had peace and when someone else needed something, she would say, I have a little put asside.
Her parents lived in the depression and she was born in that era, so her parents instilled the value of money in her as well.
She loved the Cursillo movement. It rejuenated her again. She would cry when she spoke about its beauty.
She was an inspiration. and Miracle to my family and everyone that she met.
Some other saying that she instilled in us are…
Knowing what you stand for, limits what you fall for.
Emulated by some, surpassed by none 🙂 about herself, and she would laugh.
You cannot do another persons inventory.
We have no right to judge.
I should give you a crack ! lol
What Would Jesus Do.
As God As My Witness.
Offer It Up.
Laugh at the good times, because the sorrows can be many.
That’s life.
The squeeky Hindge gets the oil.
Let it go.
Let go, Let God.
Do not give away your emotions.
Do not give them head space.
, She was brilliant. She was not a pushover either.
She was God strong.
Of My Dad,she would say, He is a class act !, He’s one in a million, She Adored him. He was her darlin.
She would say the man never stops! He is alwaying moving and doing for his family.
My mom loved music especially Christian music. But would listen to most everything. She liked to dance too. 🙂
My mom loved these songs, I can remember her telling me when I was very little.
She loved Irish music:)
St. Patricks Breastplate. Angelina EWTN
The Irish Tenors.
Danny Boy, My mom would call all the time to check in and from time to time if I did not answer she would sing Danny Boy to my message service. She did that all my life right up to her last day’s on Earth.
My mom and her dad use to sing this all the time. I can picture them now in Heaven doing the same 🙂
Back some years ago I was working in a home of a lovely couple in their late 70’s. He was a barber his entire life after getting out of the service, and she was a wonderful homemaker who raised her beautiful family. She at the time was worried that her home would not be completed before Easter. I assured her there was no problem. During that time, there were no cell phones so I needed to answer a page that I received. They had one phone in their house located in the kitchen to use. So, I asked to use her phone she said of course. So, I called my wife and I must have answered a question about birthday plans, she heard the conversation. I hung up and just said thank you for the use of her phone she was in another room. She apparently pulled my brother B asside when he walked by the room and Bob told her yes my bithday was tomorrow. The next day as we were working , they called me into the kitchen and had a italian rum cake from a bakery with candles lit and sang Happy Birthday to me with my brother joining in.. Now, is that a God moment or what ?
God bless the Maraglia’s they were angels on Earth. Salt of the Earth.
For them , in their memory.
Etta James
I know they are dancing to this right now in Heaven
In The Beginning of true Spiritual awakening of all of us is a long time in the making. We experience different levels of awareness in God, his existence and supreme gift to us all and I m not talking about life 🙂 That is a Miracle in itself. I am referring to the gift of The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit as far as I am concerned is our bridge to the Almighty, he facilitates all that is good, he inspires us, he warns us,he allows God to fill us with joy and allows our conscience to feel guilt for a wrong doing.The Holy Spirit will help to bring us to our knees for repentence before our Lord. The Holy Spirit that dwells within every one of us is God given and works in concert with our desires, needs and to allow us to fulfill our destiny for God and his people. We need to allow The Holy Spirit to work with us. We need to pray for his assistance in a meaningful way. I mentioned this in one of my recent blog writing that I began praying and commiting myself to God and the holy Spirit with my daily shower and telling all of Heaven that the water was my rededication and reminder of my baptismal water. I say daily to God that I surrender myself to whatever he wants from me and tell the Holy Spirit to please use me to the best of my ability. Lastly, I call on all of Heaven through my prayers for all of the Angels and Saints to please bestow on me any gifts of the Spirit that I may need in the future. Heaven is for real.:) This is a very special time that we are living in, a time like no other. It is a time of Miracles, it is a time of God’s pouring out of The Holy Spirit and Spiritural gifts for eachone of us. We all have our very own special gifts. Some we are born with some we acquire from God in the moment of his choosing. Our gifts can bend and change over a period of time based on what God wants and needs us to accomplish. The one prerequsite that God has for each of us to open our hearts and desire to be an agent of good to be the light to oneanother. It is simple. Through my childhood, adolescence and even into my 30’s I was always searching for my true God and his existence. I could feel him to a certain degree but the picture was still far from focus. During that time for me the 90’s. Life had a lot of moments of hurts from people you know, daily nonsence. Its hard to see God when you are surrounded by others who are not necessarily in Christ or God based. You are wandering around in a crowd of lost sheep many of which have no idea that they are even lost. I am not judging but it is indeed a fact. Well in the latter part of my 30’s I managed to bring my picture into a little more clarity with prayer and the assistance of others through a beautiful retreat know as Cursillo in a retreat house know as St. Basil’s in Methuen, Ma. that was I believe in Oct 1999. My wife went in November of the same year. It was life changing, the focus and picture was now crystal clear! It was an intersection where God made himself and his presence known. It is a Miracle, just as St. Basils is. You should call and look into this retreat house. It will be the best gift that you can give yourself ! So, I came back from that retreat and one of my friends called me the next day and said, hey Dan, I saw you walking on the water of the lake today 🙂 It was so funny,he knew that I was on Fire .lol Each day that we live sets the stage for the next day and action. So all of the many little or big moments of my daily journey that come out onto this blog journal are always building for a bigger God moment. They are all God moments because he is there with us getting us through. All of our Spiritual Gifts are to be shared. It is not about us. This blog tells my journey through God. It his victory over death (my) and yours. God wants my life psalm #139 shared so that all will see him, and draw closer to our Heavenly Father. 4- 5 years ago, I am not sure of the date, I was called out of the blue into some of the most intense Spiritual experiences that I could ever have imagined. I was blown out of the water, I will just refer to them as writing for my church. The details of those writings were not for us , they are for the church. I will say this anyone with a sense of Spiritural awareness just needs to look at the news or turn on the television to see what is going on. The world is out of balance. This process was stretching myself and family to the max. The Holy Spirit is just so awesome. My spiritual adviser said to me , Dan, lets just see where it goes, and we did. I will explain about this experience at a later date. My first vision, vivid dream, about 4-5 years ago during the time I was doing the church writings. I was asleep and had the most vivid dream. God uses our own lifes experiences and will make them part of his message in my case it was based in my lifes work and I have been for over 30 years through the gift of the Holy Spirit an interior Designer. I have done projects that when I had completed them looked at them and said, God, I did that! I did through God and love alone complete my projects .More on that later too!:) So, I was sleeping and my vision which seemed like forever started. I am giving my account to you exactly as It happened and was told to my priest, my adviser and friend long ago… This remember was more that 3 years before my cancer diagnosis. I walked up to the door of this house and rang the bell. I had decorating samples in my hand. A women came to the door and opened it, I just remember how pleasant she was, I could hear children laughing and she said, excuse me for a moment and walked away off to the left in the direction of the children. I did not see them but heard them laughing. So, I stood there and it seemed like a while, I being the type A personality and loving what I did. I said to myself, I will just walk in to the right here and see what she needs. So the interior was very itherial everything was a very soothing white color. It was extremely peaceful. I just kept walking and ahead of me was a hallway with a very bright light people were coming out of the light and passing me again all faces were non descript, everything was very etherial and white. I noticed that there was something on the wall that everyone that came out of the hall seemed to be stopping to look at so, I wandered over to it and looked and was a very pale colored picture I recognized it immediately. It was the shroud of Turin. I have to say this too, I had never given 1 seconds thought to the shroud in my life yet here it was . Well any way I could hear voices from down the end of the long extremely bright hallway and hear a booming voice and laughter it was pure joy. When I got to the entrance I realized, I shouldn’t be here, I had wondered from where I was left to wait. I would never wander around my clients home. So, I returned to where I was waiting by the door. I was getting annoyed and it was like 4 hours. Well, the really pleasant women was back and said she was sorry for the delay and she opened the door to the left of me. The children were quiet now and she guided me into the room. I stood there and there was a very large white table in front of me. As I stood there the women was standing to the left side of the table looking at me and there was another figure to the right side of the table looking at me as well. The women looked at me and, I felt love like I had never felt before. She said again sorry for the wait, I remember having been so angry to had to wait 4 hours for her to return and , I just responded its okay and she said to me you are an angel. Of course, I told Father I am certainly not, I am a sinner like everyone. I remember feeling intense love. I knew that it was my Blessed Mother. She without a word uttered pointed down to the table and moved her hand over the surface as if she wiped the table and the white milky color left and it now had a clear glass. It was a case. I could see all kinds of relics, bottles of oils, and religous statues related to my faith and she spoke these words to me, We want you to have many Spiritual gifts. And that was it. I woke up and is as alive today and vivid as the time that it occured. I have had years to think of why The Blessed Mother would call me an angel, because I am not. So I have a couple of thoughts on that. 1.) She knowing that I was upset with waiting for her which my Blessed Mother would know and yet I told her no problem thought that I was kind? 2.) Everything that I have done in writing including this blog through the Holy Spirit is never about me or any one of us . We are all loved the same. And what mother does not look upon her child at least as an angel in training? 🙂 Thats the best I can do on that thought last but not least the booming laughter and joy was, I know, was Our God! I was given a glimpse of Heaven. I pray everyday to continue to grow for his purpose and into his will completely . Amen. Better Is one day In Your House By Kutless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdE03zRJtxw In Christs Holy Name, Danny
Just Danny Speaks 