Another story from the field: Recently I ran into Tony XXXX while having lunch. Tony grabbed me and gave me his usual “bear hug” for a greeting. Tony looked great!!! Not too long ago Tony was very ill and the prognosis was not good. I remember the day I received the phone call from our other friend, John, describing to me the severity of Tony’s pulmonary disease. In fact, in our conversation, John told me that Tony had month’s left because the disease was so aggressive. As anyone can image after hanging up the phone with John, I was stunned at the news. I wanted to do something and found myself helpless in trying to do anything. I was even afraid to call Tony, for the fear of not being able to keep myself composed enough to talk with him. After a day of dwelling on the idea about bringing our teams statue of Our Blessed Mother and the Men of the Sacred Heart and pray with Tony and his Family if he was up to it and if he agreed to it. When I proposed it to our team captain, his response was “wherever”, “whenever” and “however” there would be no problem accommodating the request for my friend in need and visiting Tony and praying with him in his darkest moment. I next called Tony to let him know that we would like to visit him and bring the statue of Our Blessed Mother and pray with him and his Family. Tony did not hesitate either and invited us to come over to his home. When we arrived we were greeted by all of Tony’s Family along with some close friends. For the next couple of hours we prayed, told of a few stories and shed a lot of tears, but all the while it was very peaceful. That was really what the The Men of the Sacred Hearts delivered that morning, more than the statue we had delivered peace into the family. This gathering of family and friends would have otherwise not taken place if it weren’t for us bringing the statue over and gave everyone an excuse to pray together. But what we really delivered was an opportunity to open their hearts and pray !!!!! Tony is as genuine as a person gets. Tony lights up the room with his personality. He’s still a very handsome man, tall, blue eyes, a head of silver hair and a soft and deep voice to tell you his life experiences. If you become his friend, he gives you a two dollar bill and tells you to pray for him every time you see the two dollar bill because he prays every morning for the people he’s given a two dollar bill’s too. Knowing Tony, he’s probably given several thousands of those two dollars bills out throughout his lifetime…….maybe more!! He’s called me since our initial visit and you could still hear in his voice that he was trying to catch his next breathe. At one point he told me “ Forgive me, but I might hang up the phone if I can’t talk anymore.” There were several occasions where we didn’t say much more than “Hi” and hang up. Since our visit to Tony’s home his health started to improve. Tony’s come out and told me, “You know why I’m doing better!!” and I would just nod in the affirmative. By the way, our visit to Tony’s home was over a year and half ago. According to the doctors he shouldn’t even be here with us anymore. It’s true, miracles happen every day and blessed are we who get to witness them!!! Through prayers and through his Faith Tony is still with us, giving out two dollar bills and greeting everyone with his bear hugs. I thank God I carry his two dollar bill in my wallet.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:22:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015