Thank You, blessed Mother by orlando Aso

   Seven years ago, life could not have been much better for me, so I thought. I was a YUPI working in NYC as a Bank Auditor for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. My job exposed me to the world’s financial markets, overseas travel, exceptionally-bright people, as well as life-long friends. I commuted to Manhattan from my condo in Hoboken, NJ, where I entertained myself with my X-Box video game system and satellite DTV so I could still watch all my favorite Philadelphia sports teams. The extent of living out my Catholic Faith was nothing special. I was never an altar server, never attended youth group, never volunteered at the parish; all I did was attend Mass every Sunday, give a few dollars to the collection and then go about my merry way.

   Then one evening seven years ago, I had just returned to my apartment from Manhattan where I had spent the entire day playing in my buddy’s annual Texas Holdem Poker Tournament. My parents had been vacationing in the Midwest for a week, and their tour bus was returning home this day. So I was excited to learn how their vacation went. I noticed on my answering machine, however, no less than 15 new voicemail messages from my father saying basically the same thing, “Orlando, there’s been an accident, come to Staten Island Hospital as soon as possible.” It was the longest half hour car ride of my entire life. My mom had suffered a massive stroke on the bus and was on life support. The doctor said the bleeding was so close to the center of the brain that, even if it was his own mother, he would not attempt to operate. How could this happen? She had just retired after 20 + years of service as a physician at Allentown State Hospital and was looking forward to many years of rest & relaxation with my father. The most humble, kind, joyful, loving soul I had ever known was taken away instantly.

   Whenever things weren’t going well in my life, I remembered that my mom always gave me the same advice, which I of course ignored until this moment: You Pray. Just Pray. So I prayed. I prayed my mom’s favorite prayer, the Rosary. Many nights I cried myself to sleep praying the rosary. At first, I didn’t know if I was praying it correctly, and I didn’t always know on which particular set of mysteries I should be meditating, I just prayed, and poured all my anguish, desolation, anger, confusion, my entire being into that Rosary. All I knew was that I deeply missed my mom, and the Rosary was the best way to ask the Mary, Mother of Jesus, the Mother of All Mothers for help and consolation.

   And gradually, over the next three years, thanks to the Blessed Mother’s intercession, my relationship with God deepened & accelerated. I grew less and less attached to all the material goods I thought would make me happy. I began to give of myself rather than have everything revolve around me. I felt the desire to attend daily Mass on my lunch break, I exchanged happy hours at Sequoia’s with Holy Hours in front of our Eucharistic Lord, I learned about our Catholic Faith through watching programs on EWTN and attending religious education classes at Seton Hall University, I lectored at Sunday Mass, and volunteered once a week at a local Food Pantry.

   One day, I saw on EWTN an advertisement for a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, where the BVM more than 150 years ago appeared to a poor uneducated girl known today as St Bernadette. I met with a priest in confession who convinced me that the events of my recent past might be leading me to the priesthood. And so before I left Lourdes, I entrusted my future in the hands of the Blessed Mother in a special way, reciting the words of St Louis Marie De Montfort which were also used by Pope John Paul II: Totus Tuus, Maria (Totally Yours, Mary). And I have not looked back since.

   If there is one thing I hope to impress upon each of you, especially the young, it is to make prayer an essential part of your daily lives. Not only to thank God and to ask Him for help, but especially to listen quietly and patiently for His voice in the depths of your heart. From the beginning of time, God has laid out the perfect plan for each of us to reach happiness. There is no possible way we could construct a better plan for ourselves. But in order to know His will for us, we must find time to be alone with him in quiet prayer. As we learn from the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament, God was not found in the heavy wind, or the terrible earthquake, or the raging fire. God could be heard in a tiny whisper. I hope we all make time to listen to His tiny whisper.