Annunciation and New Life in Christ


“Those who live in Christ are not outside of God as petitioners or supplicants; rather they are in God as friends and sharers in the Spirit."   Bp Robert  Barron

Yesterday, on the celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation to Our Lady, we celebrated a Baptism down at the ocean, immersion style.  Wendi, another of our good friends here, asked to be baptized.

Dr. Tony and his wife Marcy gave instruction to Wendi before taking her in for total immersion.  Dr. Tony mentioned that he and his wife have always agreed that the main mission of Hope4Cancer is to bring people to God. None of us know when we will die, but our life, whether we live or die belongs to God.
It was quite moving because though a real "liturgy" was missing, God continues to work among those who place no obstacles.  It reminded me of St. Paul discovering a group of believers who had been baptized but had not even heard of the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul explained their baptism to them, gave them instruction, prayed and through the Holy Spirit gave them the gifts they were yet missing.
Isn't it the same with all of us?  We rejoice to meet fellow believers but at the same time we want everyone to have the fullness of all that God is offering.  God so often has us encounter each other on that level.  There is always a mutual exchange of gifts in God. No one has all the gifts even if we have the fullness of the faith.  We help each other in Christ come to a deeper fullness of life in Him.  That is something we have experienced deeply here.
ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
Today marks one full week of being here.  Sister has a wonderful doctor  who sees her regularly and came to answer her questions today.  He went over a few things with her regarding her progress and encouraged and reassured her that the various things she is experiencing are normal for the treatments, (though of course new to Sister.)  He is happy with where she is at after one week and reassured her they will continue to track things and see what may need to be modified or added.  For now she is doing plenty with good effect so far.  After 3 months, when she comes back for a 3-day reassessment, they will determine whether she needs to add any other treatment to bolster the assault on the cancer.  So far, he is hopeful that won't be necessary.
Sister started immunotherapy yesterday, which will be one of the enduring protocols she follows at home.  It is primarily meant to activate the macrophages and killer T cells, etc. in the immune system.  Everyone speaks of it as one of the most important of the therapies.  
With the arrival of 2 new people yesterday and 7 new people today, we look forward to hearing more life-stories.  That is one of the most fascinating and amazing parts of what is shared here.
I, (Sr. Anne) will be up in Anaheim tomorrow and Thursday for the funeral of one our Sister's father.  Sr. Mary Paul's father Harris went home to God last week.  Please include him and their family in your prayer.
Because of that, I will probably not repost again until Friday.  So not to worry.  We will pick up again as soon as I return.  
Blessings on all of you!
In Our Mother's Heart!
Sr. Anne
Evening in Tijuana

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Good News!

Image
Home Visit Pics We all know that the word "Gospel" means good news!  The good news is that Jesus steps into our world in order to save us from all that is not life-giving, whether it be sin,  worry, resentment, wounds and hurts that keep us bound to the past, our own narrowness, boredom, indifference, blindness, selfishness, anger, our suspicions, doubts, negativity or fears.  Jesus comes to give us life, and the more abundant life.  But there is a battle each of us must fight within ourselves in order to fully receive all that Jesus wants to give.  And that battle will manifest differently in all of our lives. But at the core of it will always be our need to surrender and completely trust God's love for us, while facing our own resistance to this surrender.  This is the battle we all must engage in and win if we are to come to eternal happiness.  It's not good enough to acknowledge God, even God as our Lord and Savior, if we continue to live li...
Read more

The Resurrected Body

Image
Easter is a time for reflection on many things: the victories Christ has won for us over sin, the  flesh, the devil, death and hell. We also receive a pledge of the joy and peace and light and transformation He promises through the witness of His own Paschal mystery, the promise of empowerment with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the call to mission, and many other things besides. Perhaps one thing we do not reflect upon as much as we should, is the body, and the promise that Jesus brings to us in the qualities of His own resurrected body. "Sacred Scripture and Catholic theology teaches that our glorified resurrected bodies will experience four properties as an outflow of the beatified soul enjoying the vision of God’s essence: 1) Impassibility – the glorified body will no longer suffer physical sickness or death, as Saint Paul teaches regarding the glorified body in 1 Corinthians 15:42, “It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption.” 2) Subtlety meaning that w...
Read more

This is the Day the Lord Has Made!

Image
This is the day the Lord has made!  Let us rejoice and be glad in it! A message from Sister Lucina: "How Merciful and loving is the Lord!! My news was better that expected this morning In the week before I arrived at the clinic my cancer markers more than doubled. My test results show no spreading and the cancer markers in these three weeks went DOWN 10 points!!!!!!!!! I am speechless and so very great grateful. Thank you everyone for all your prayers. I will enjoy these two next weeks with my family ❤️" Please continue your prayers.  This is great news and we only want it to get better and better.  This indicates that Sister's cancer has been arrested and is responding to the treatments.  Over time we want to see the continued decrease in the cancer present in Sister's body, until it is no more.  It will require a faithfulness to the protocols, but given they are not bebilitating in their effects, Sister should be able to stick to it while...
Read more