At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus. G.S.
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A Christmas Letter to the Nazareth Family which is the Madonna House Apostolate
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Most Holy Trinity,
I hope this note finds you, the whole MHA Family, and your own families well; despite these trying times. Because we are often surprised by God with Good News in the very midst of our trials and in the darkness of doubts, struggles, and pain; I now post this letter for publication as a web log or blog.
Last night, Friday, December 23rd, 2022 around 9:30 p.m., I began suffering pain which was familiar... it was like the previous 4 times I endured kidney stones: 1984, 2008, 2014, and 2015.
There was a simultaneous grace, all the more surprising that it was not at all expected, to accept to endure this pain in solidarity with the suffering Body of Christ and for the Lord's intentions and Our Lady's intentions, Mary Mother of Jesus and our Mother.
After a few hours, I began to have doubts and called the "health assistance line" 811 and, after around 2 hours on the phone - most of it was waiting - I was advised to go to the hospital; since the pain could be caused by other conditions that may be more serious and dangerous.
After waiting for the first possible bus in the bus shelter for a good half hour... it was freezing cold.... I shared the shelter with what seemed to me to be a homeless man, an itinerant.... He occupied the entire bench with bags beside him and on the ground to his right, one of those home use little shopping carts covered with a large garbage bag. He wore a heavy winter coat with hood and seemed asleep. My heart would have wanted to acknowledge him, but my spirit warned me not to awaken him... he seemed well protected from the cold and slumber seemed more pleasant than waking....
What a relief when the 360 bus finally came.... The seat and the warmth were so comforting as to be thrilling despite the pain in my groin. The driver kindly accepted to let me know when we got to the stop for the CHUM hospital. We got there around 3:00 a.m. It took what felt like ten minutes to walk around the block to the main entrance on the other side of the building. The security agent kindly pointed me in the direction of the Emergency Room. On arriving there, I was disoriented by the very formal procedure to be followed. Go to the "red machine" and get a number... wait to be called... then I got called to register and answered many questions after presenting my health insurance card.
Not too long after I was seen in triage, given a sample bottle, went to the toilet where I half filled it after washing my hands with the disinfectant packet, went to the designated room 6 to deposit the sample, returned to the waiting area and there I waited to be called. From 9:30 p.m. the previous evening until around 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning, the pain was pretty much constant. It was at its most intense over the first two hours. On two occasions a half hour apart, spasms upheaved all the contents of my stomach. The pain caused two more spasms upheaving my stomach even though there was no longer anything there... most unpleasant....
During the two hours on the phone waiting for an 811 consultation and receiving it, going out to the bus stop to wait, taking the bus, and arriving in Emergency, and until 7:00 a.m. or so, the pain was a bit less but fairly constant, but no longer so intense as to cause spasms; for which I was most grateful.
A young woman doctor saw me around 8:00 a.m. In the next few hours I was served a simple breakfast, fitted with an intravenous water solution, and brought for an "iodine scan", which later revealed the stone had moved out of the kidney. That would explain why around 7 am the pain diminished considerably and became more discomfort than pain. Around 10 a.m. I even received a visit from a brother priest and fellow resident. Such visits have inestimable value and I am grateful....
The highlight of this ordeal was connecting with two women who turned out to be sisters, one of whom was in terrible pain, the result of cross-secondary effects from her many meds following heart surgery, and who was accompanied by her sister. She related that the pain was such that she could do nothing with her hands and needed her sister to do everything for her. She was obviously in excruciating pain at a moment when mine was diminishing. I was a bit hesitant to make contact, one never knows these days how people will react.
At first they were
cautious, but after a few hours, by the time we had both been seen and received both diagnosis and treatment; they revealed that they also
believed in Divine Providence.... What began as a frustrating wait with no signs of progress in the queue with that terrible feeling of "How long must we wait before someone is called?" turned into an experience of competent, gracious, and courteous care and an unexpected encounter with pleasant strangers. When they left, both sufferers experiencing increasing relief, we heartily wished one another
"Joyeux Noël!" It was the joy of the Gospel... the joy of the encounter with a stranger which reveals the Presence of the Lord....
A bit longer, and I was out of the hospital with a prescription and now, having filled it and begun taking the meds, I thought to write you before I take a nap. I sense the Holy Spirit's joy within me at the thought of going through with the Christmas Eve Mass in French in Église Sainte-Gertrude in Montréal Nord, one of 3 grouped together. Like many churches in Québec these days, the Sunday assemblies have dwindled to very few people scattered throughout the church, and several churches entrusted to each priest, who at various times feel overwhelmed or tired.
That was why there was this church which was without a priest for Mass on Christmas Eve and I had offered to go. Now, I sense the Lord wants to use my experience of pain, poverty, helplessness, and trust in Him to touch those dimensions in the lives of the faithful and draw them to Himself; so that He may lift them up and make them new....
My perspective on the sufferings of others became much sharper from this recent experience of my own pain and gratitude to God and to health care workers, especially in the subsequent relief.... In previous months, I have been reading two biographies of Marthe Robin, a French woman living in a rural part of France from 1902 to 1981 who spent the last 50+ years of her life confined to her bed and unable to do anything for herself. The Lord Jesus called Marthe to found, with the help of her spiritual director, "Les Foyers de Charité", which became an international movement with the objective of providing spiritual retreats to help people to encounter the living God.
During all that time she was even unable to swallow anything, neither food nor drink. Those who attended her would moisten her lips, and all she could take was Holy Communion every Wednesday. From Thursday afternoon until Friday, then in time until Saturday, later until Sunday, and finally until Monday, Marthe experienced the passion of Jesus as though it was happening to her. Then on Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. she would be as one dead for around two hours, after which she would emerge into a state of ecstasy which over the years was extended to Saturday, to Sunday, and even to Monday.
People reported that her suffering was intense, but that for Marthe, it was never about the suffering or pain, but about the Love of God manifested in Jesus for us. It was her personal experience of God's Love that prompted her to accept this invitation of the Lord Jesus to enter into his passion for the sake of the Body of Christ; for all of us.
You see, my brief experience of pain caused by the kidney stone, turned upside down all that I had read about Marthe Robin and her stigmata, her vocation to solidarity with the suffering Christ. Although the pain from the stone was awful, the grace of desire to accept it in solidarity with the suffering Christ was quite unexpected, and truly a grace, a gift from God. Now I could understand how Christians since the time of Jesus have at various times and in different places boldly accepted atrocious sufferings but with almost ecstatic joy. They were carried by grace; as Jesus promised He would do, as reported in the Gospels when He told us not to worry about what to say in the moment of trial. The Holy Spirit will provide the words in those very moments.
It was never God the Father's intention that we human beings should crawl through life under the crushing weight of all our world's troubles... no... rather, the Father has always desired for us that we would accept to enter into the communion of the divine community which is the Most Holy Trinity. This is why Jesus offers to enter into "partnership" with us in our daily life. Though we must taste at times the bitter and the painful; Jesus dwells with the Father in those who accept and believe in Him, and the Holy Spirit brings the sweetness with abundance of life....
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Mt 11:28-30
God is good! All
the time! And all the time! God is good!
I am with you all in spirit.... Christ is born! Glorify him!
My Christmas Wishes for 2022 and Wishes for the New Year 2023!
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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus. G.S.
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© 2004-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2004-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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