Handmaids of Mercy

God's Mercy from Creation to Eternity

A new merciful way of looking at our bodies and souls.

I'm taking a wonderful seminar at CDU (Catholic Distance University) it is entitled, Introduction to Genesis and it is taught by Dr. Robert D. Miller II.  The following quote was in our lecture notes: "Man is in the image of God, not one aspect of man! We aren't souls encased in a body; we are people - body and soul. Man's spiritual life is not something added to his physical life, our very existence is our relationship to God."

This is a novel concept to me because I've always heard that the soul is what was created in the "image of God' so I prayed to the Holy Spirit for enlightenment. My heart was flooded with thoughts. First, I remembered Our Blessed Mother, assumed body and soul into heaven. Why? because she was immaculate, without blemish. When God created Adam and Eve, they too were without blemish until they chose to disobey God. Eve's quest for "knowledge" on her own terms, as opposed to God's wisdom, led to her disobedience and sin entering the world, by way of death. In order to die, there must be a cause for death, hence aging and disease etc. Prior to the fall, there was no aging, no disease, no death. Body and Soul were in a perfect union acting together.  Eve made the choice in her mind to say "No, I will not abstain" from the tree of knowledge and used her body to pick the fruit of temptation. Body and Soul worked together to her demise.

                                  

I believe that life's struggles are actually opportunities to choose virtue or vice, once we make the choice in our mind then we eventually move forward with our bodies. Our Blessed Mother humbled herself in complete obedience to the Father, "Be it done to me according to your will."  She did not have all the knowledge most young girls would have desired about her situation, but she had faith and used her free will to say "Yes" to God. She said yes with her mind and her body when she conceived Christ. Her soul and body were in perfect union with one another, because she was in obedience to God.

We must not separate our intellect and spirituality from the actions of our bodies.

The body is a blessing. It is the body that allows us to touch, to feel, to hear, to see, to taste, to smell, but it can be a curse when we don't use it as God intended. When we say no to God, and sin with our bodies...lust, gluttony, sex outside of marriage, etc. we upset the "order" intended by God in creating us in His image. I think we get too boxed in by the word "image"....we think in terms of an absolute replica...instead, perhaps we need to think of "image" as "strikingly alike" or "in union. with".  For example, when someone says, "Oh she is the "image" of her Mom" they really mean, so much like her, or an uncanny resemblance. Isn't that what God wants of us, to desire to be like him in our nature? Not to be "A God", but to be like God. We must not separate our intellect and spirituality from the actions of our bodies, because God created us to have them work in unison with one another in order for us to fully know Him, love Him and serve Him.

So, what if we've messed up? Is it too late?

Take the Prodigal Son for example. He made bad choices. With his mind he greedily decided to take his inheritance and with his body he used his money to sin. But, his father waited anxiously for his return. When the prodigal son did return, his father seeing him in the distance, went running towards him joyfully rejoicing. This is how it is with Our Heavenly Father, he is waiting with Divine Mercy for us to return to communion with Him. The prodigal son was repentant and only expected to serve his father as a lowly servant when he humbly returned. But, the Father said, bring him fine robes and serve him a feast. The mercy of God is like this, shining in splendor, spread out like a feast before us, awaiting our return. All we have to do is to return to Him with a contrite heart and a soul wanting to be united with the actions of our bodies.

Why not take a class or two at CDU?  CDU Catholic Distance University

Mary Kidd Flemming blogs for The Handmaids of Mercy , The Splendor of Truth and The Compass Rose (Parenting and Family Life Issues). You may also enjoy her husband's website: Crossroads Family Center

My Mother's Day Shot in the Arm, courtesy of the Holy Spirit.

Getting what you ask for...

Over the past few weeks, God has given me just what I needed and just what I'd ask for....only on His terms.

A few weeks ago, while preparing for a field trip with my son to the National Zoo, I had a sudden overwhelming pain in my stomach. It was similar to female pain that I've had in the past when suffering with endometriosis, but I hadn't had any problems with that for about 17 years. It was somewhat different, a burning pain, almost like a small fire had been set in my lower abdomen.

I was determined to go to the zoo anyway. I'd promised Justin, we'd been looking forward to it since the beginning of the school year and I would just take two tylenol, add a few to my purse and deal with it. That is exactly what I did. But, as I walked around the zoo, I knew that something wasn't right, this was pretty intense pain. The bus ride home was excruciating. My husband, John, took me to the emergency room that evening, but they were extremely busy and we decided to go home. All night long I agonized with pain comparable to the last bit of childbirth. I went to the doctor the next day only to be told that she felt it was a female problem, most likely an ovarian cyst and that I'd need to get an ultrasound at the hospital and follow up with my OB/Gyn.

The next day I went to the hospital and had the ultrasound, but the technician couldn't see my ovaries! Huh? I knew they were there, and half-jokingly insisted that I'd never authorized for them to be removed! He recommended that I see my OB/Gyn because there was a lot of "air" in my intestines apparently blocking the view of my ovaries. So, I made an appointment and was in to see my OB/Gyn before I knew it. He found a "fluid sac" but it wasn't on my ovary, he said it looked to be an inflammation of my intestine. He suggested a strict diet regimen for two weeks which consisted of eliminating many simple carbs, and he said he was almost 100 percent sure that I'd be feeling better at the end of the two weeks. He was right.

Prior to this incident, our entire family had joined the hospital affiliated Wellness Center and I'd started working out again. I was feeling better but having trouble losing weight because I didn't have a "diet" plan. Well, now I had one, an un-realistic one, but it was a start. I clearly remembered praying for a lifestyle change for all of us in regards to better eating and exercise, so I knew in a way, this was probably an answer to prayer.

My shot in the arm, courtesy of the Holy Spirit.

Some people refer to a wake-up call, a new realization, a new understanding as a "shot in the arm". Not only did my stomach pain and change in diet foreshadow what would happen over the next few weeks, it began to prepare me to consider how I'd been abusing high carb foods for years. I realized I was addicted to the sugar rush after two weeks with out potatoes, sweets, rice and breads. I began to see that my stomach pain was self-inflicted and a consequence of a lack of self-control and temperance (moderation). In other words, gluttony and wild abandon were running my life, and consequently the lives of my children and husband.

I cried while thinking about the challenge of making changes and sticking to them...uh, that's called fortitude. I'd had some success. My kids love all kinds of fruits and vegetables and I'd switched to whole grains about a year ago, my dinners were well planned and balanced. But, I knew I also had my failures, too many high carb snacks, treats and drinks plagued our family. I prayed that somehow I could inspire my family to get on board with making a healthy lifestyle change.

Then, I had "THE" phone call from my husband. He was having chest pains and shortness of breath. Thankfully, it turned out to just be anxiety and indigestion, but it scared the bee-jeebies out of him and me too! He went to the local emergent care center, with both of us thinking he was having heart problems. In the course of the hour and a half between the start of the pain and the results of the test, my forty-one year-old husband had a lot of time to think. While praying for him, I asked God to please keep him here with me until we both grew very old and to help him to make healthy changes. John came home that evening a changed man, devoted to "getting healthier" and we talked for hours about the changes we needed to make.

My son's shot in the arm, an exercise in virtue.

Though we were both resigned that we needed to do this for ourselves and our children, we didn't become completely convinced until the diagnosis of our eight-year-old son with Type I Diabetes (insulin dependent). This cinched the deal. Justin has to have a regulated diet, he has to learn temperance, fortitude and self-control, gifts of the Holy Spirit long before he is confirmed. The alternative is death, period, that's the final answer. So, my son's cross, his challenge, his suffering will benefit us all in the long run. With each shot that I give him in the arm, I realize that it is a shot in the arm for me as well, a wake-up call to better take care of the temples of the Holy Spirit dwelling in my household. I remember thinking how odd it was that Mother's Day and Pentecost were on the same day this year. How foolish of me, mothers attempt to teach our children virtues every day. What a better job we'd do if we relied on the assistance and the gifts of the Holy Spirit more often. The gift may be delivered by a blazing, burning, fiery pain in the stomach or an alcohol swab followed by a injectible syringe delivering insulin.

Insulin is the "key" that opens the door to our cells to let sugar inside. The sugar is the energy that our body needs, it keeps us fueled, without it we become lifeless. Sometimes we need a "key" to open the door to keep us spiritually energized. The key given to us by Christ is the Holy Spirit. When we let the Holy Spirit open the door to our hearts, we can cross the threshold to Christ-like living. We embrace the virtues and turn away from the vices. We have a new Pentecost.

Mary Kidd Flemming writes for Handmaids of Mercy, The Splendor of Truth, and The Compass Rose (Parenting and Family Issues)

You may also enjoy her husband's website: Crossroads Family Center

Mercy's Motherhood

Motherhood: Being Tough is Not Enough

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. I sent my excited kindergartener off to school with his jar of salsa for the fiesta, not knowing that it would be a day that would forever change the life of our family. After the older kids got on the bus, my husband took our eight-year-old son to the doctor for what I thought was a bladder infection. Our son has asthma and severe eczema and suffers a great deal from these ailments and has been very cranky for weeks. Within twenty minutes of arriving at the doctor, my husband was told that our son was also suffering from Type I Diabetes. His disease will require daily shots of insulin and a strict diet. John was also informed compassionately by our very loving, supportive, Catholic friend and pediatrician....that it was "another" auto-immune disorder.

I say "another" auto-immune disorder, because last December, we spent a week at UVA Children's Hospital with our four-year-old daughter, where she was diagnosed with Auto-Immune Liver Disease. Dr. Werner later told me that she regreted deeply having to tell John that we were facing another auto-immune disorder, and she knows how hard this all must be for us to absorb. It is hard. I'm finding it extremely difficult and I'm agonizing in my heart about being able to meet another child's medical needs. I've been told by many people that God doesn't ever give you anything that you can't handle. I've felt a lot of pressure after a well-meaning person has said this to me. It seems the burden is placed squarely on my ability to "handle" the situation. It is almost like suck it up, gather yourself together and move on. This is true to some extent, we do have to find strength somewhere inside ourselves, but what so many people fail to realize is that being tough is not enough. Eventually, the effects of being tough will manifest themselves in personal illness, psychological issues or even addictions if we focus only on our own ability to handle the situation.

Amazing Grace, Divine Mercy and Holy Nudges

We can not lean on our own understanding, we must ask for grace and mercy. Grace is freely given from God, we can't earn it, but we can ask for it. Yesterday, I was beside myself after hanging up the phone with my husband. I cried out, "God, help me, my little boy, why my little boy, he is already suffering so much?" Immediately, I felt the urge to call my SOUL SISTER Hannah. I simply asked her for her prayers, that's all I could do. I also told her that it seems this disorder comes from my bad gene pool and she quickly rebuked me in a kind and compassionate way saying, "Mary this is not your fault, you can not blame yourself. God loves you and Justin and He is with you now. He will give you the graces you need."

Later on in the afternoon, Hannah emailed me with some amazing news. She was in her office at the church and flipped over a Liturgy magazine that had been sitting on her desk for several days. On the back cover was the following:

Saint Pauline of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (1865-1942)

O St. Pauline Visintainer, always trusting in God,

having suffered yourself with the affliction of diabetes,

and ever faithful in responding to Our Lady's call

to help diabetics and all the suffering in the world,

we ask your loving care over the Church that you

love so dearly; we entrust to your loving care our lives,

our famiilies  and all of God's people.

Hannah sat there and typed out the entire article about St. Pauline for me and put it in her email! She said she just couldn't wait to get me a copy. I'm so glad she did. This prayer brought me so much comfort. I'm a self-ascribed Handmaid of Mercy, dedicated to spreading the Divine Mercy Message, "Jesus, I Trust in You.",  yet I needed something to remind me of that message. "O St. Pauline, always trusting in God...." ALWAYS trusting in God at all times, I couldn't remember that in my agonizing heart, but through God's grace and Hannah's willingness to be a handmaid of mercy, I was reminded to put my trust in Him.

You know, the patron saint of diabetics could have had any name, but her chosen name was Pauline. In 2007, I had a sudden unexpected miscarriage. I felt in my heart the baby was a girl and named her JoHannah Paulina after Pope John Paul II and my dear soul sister Hannah. It is no mere coincidence that it was Hannah that found the information about St. Paulina. I truly believe that my little saint in heaven Johannah Paulina interceded on behalf of her brother, by sending a holy nudge to her spiritual godmother on earth. This very small act of turning over a magazine while immersed in thoughts and prayers for our family turned out to be a tremendous act of mercy for a mother with an agonizing heart.

Reflections from Heaven

Several years ago, I was directing the Children's Choir at our church and Hannah was playing the organ. During the rehearsal, I turned around to look at the clock and noticed a beautiful round circle of light on the back wall outside of the confessional. I said to Hannah, "Look at that, doesn't it look like the Eucharist?" She said that she had seen that before and thought the same thing. We pointed it out to the children, who were by the way preparing to sing for First Communion. So, every week we watched for the stained-glass induced Eucharist on the wall. The amazing thing is that the stained-glass window with a cross and a bleeding heart representing Precious Blood has no white glass in it.

Last night, before heading to the hospital, I stopped by the church to offer my prayers for Justin before the Blessed Sacrament. I sobbed more deeply than I ever have while alone in the Church with Our Lord. I let it loose, I let it go, and turned it all over to Him. I asked for direction and immediately the words of the Memorae came to my mind about Our Blessed Mother never abandoning us and then the Hail Holy Queen came to my lips and I began to sing them out loud:

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of MERCY, our life, our sweetness and our HOPE, to Thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send out our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then Most Gracious Advocate, Thine eyes of Mercy towards us. And after this, our exile, show unto us the Blessed Fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.

It is May, the month dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. It is also the Month for First Communion and May crowning. On Saturday, May 3, 2008, my Justin received his First Holy Communion. On Sunday, May 4, 2008 he received his second communion and crowned the statue of the Virgin Mary with his brothers and sisters. On May 5, 2008 he received his lifelong cross of insulin dependent diabetes. As I sat pondering all of this and looking up at Justin's First Communion banner, I wondered if the stain-glassed Eucharist was on the back wall. I turned looking behind me and it wasn't there. I said my final prayers and genuflected beside my pew. As I turned to leave, I looked over at the pew across the aisle from me, where a small white round circle the size of a dessert plate was reflected on that pew. My Eucharistic reminder was no longer behind me or a figment of my past experience, but was seated right beside me, reminding me that Jesus is right beside me at all times, it is up to me to take His hand and the hand of His Blessed Mother like a little child and let them lead me wherever I need to go.....the hospital, the pharmacy, the specialists, or uncharted waters.

Mary Kidd Flemming, Founder of The Handmaids of Mercy www.handmaidsofmercy.typepad.com

Mary's blog about TRUTH, www.splendor-of-truth.com

Other Blogging by Mary Kidd Flemming concerning parenting issues and family life can be found at www.thecompassrose.typepad.com

You may also be interested in visiting www.crossroadsfamilycenter.com the website of Crossroads Professional Counseling and Family Life Center, owned and operated by John A Flemming, LPC.