What If--This Is the Beginning of the End?

I visited with an elderly aunt today who had what seemed to be a passing TIA or mini stroke that kept her for three days with very weak leg, slurred speech and facial droop. She lives close to relatives, but by herself, and even though she was improving you could tell by the look on her face what she must be feeling in the depth of her heart. It was the same feeling that I dealt with last year with the possible diagnosis of cancer. “What if this is the beginning of the end of my life?”

Being a very faithful and strong Catholic who deeply loves Jesus, Mary and Joseph—she is ready to go home—BUT—like myself, there are the thoughts about, ‘am I ready for the process or the journey that will take me home? For that is an unknown and scary road.’

Just recently, Jesus had placed into my heart the comforting words---
“I AM Home. A home that you carry about with you wherever you are. Stay with Me and you are always in a place of refuge and comfort, peace and joy. Just stay one in My Love, in My Words and in My Ways. Never fear for I Am here, I Am with you always.”

For those of us aging, or those of us dealing with terminal illnesses—these Words of Love from Him, must be pasted into our mind or printed out and put on the ‘icebox.’ (Sorry it will always be icebox to me, so you know my age. )

One of my favorite memories was the gift of walking with Mom her last 100 miles, even though we were 500 miles apart. She had heart problems and when she had chest pains, I would be given chest discomfort, pain, or just ‘call Mom’ message. Whenever I did, she would say—“how did you know?”

“God has His ways, Mom.” Then we would talk on the phone and enjoy a visit. Usually the call would end with a prayer. One call ended with Jesus asking in my heart, ‘what do you want me to do for your mother?”

I asked myself, does she want to be healed? She always declined pain meds so she could offer up her pain as a prayer for others. No, she does not want that. So, my prayer was “Lord, please bless her with the grace and the strength to carry her crosses with patience and love, and be with her as she journeys home to You.

Another call ended with His gentle words, “this is her last year.” That was in March, and she went home December 6^th of that year. The night before, I was arguing with my teenage son and started to have severe chest pain, I thought from the tension, and went and laid down to rest. The next morning, I call as usual only to be told, she went quickly in the middle of the night at the ER. After of course asking for our pastor to come and hear her confession. (He remarked, “If she needed to go to confession, I may not have a chance, for she was such a saint.”)

We all have good friends and dear family members who are walking the last 100 miles of their earthly journey. Truth be told, everyone may be walking that last 10 miles of your human walk—you never know when do you? How are we to walk our walk, or be with them on their walk? With Jesus at our side we walk. And walking with them, let us see Jesus on the Cross in them and just be there with love, prayers and support. Relate to their emotional state of being and please do say words like, “oh you are going to be okay.” You may not want to face the truth of aging, death and dying—but when someone is on that journey in life—they know the truth that lies within. For this is grace given by God to give us time to prepare and ready ourselves for passing through that door that waits to open—where we will find Jesus and all the rest of heaven standing on the other side. Safe journey to all and Peace be with you.