Dear Friends of our Czech Mission in California
Recently, after a hard day’s work, I thought I would just relax and watch a movie. Fortunately The Song of Bernadette was on TV that night. I really enjoyed it and want to share with you some of my thoughts.
It was a joy to me to see the simplicity of the film. Praying the rosary was a part of their life, but the film did not make a big deal out of it. Their faith in the power of the Blessed Mother to heal was slow in coming, and completely believable.
That film started a train of thought that brought me to reflect on a long past memory of my father. When I was about three or four years old he began to have severe pain, so much so that he wished he could go to Lourdes to be healed. But for a common man at that time it was impossible. I remember that one evening they invited the pastor to come over to visit, a once in a lifetime event.
I pretended to be asleep but, of course I wanted to hear everything. Fortunately all of our life was lived in the kitchen, so while I “slept” there they discussed many things, but one thing I will never forget. My father opened up and shared with the pastor that he had made a promise to the Blessed Mother that he would pray the rosary every day. He was keeping that promise and he no longer suffered from the terrible nerve pain. “What the doctors couldn’t do, the rosary did,” he said. The rosary continued to be a part of our family life, and I remember my mother saying, when occasionally the pain came back, “Didn’t you forget something?”
Thinking about my father leads me to the topic of Fathers’ Day. Since this year’s picnic will mark the halfway point of our fiftieth anniversary year as a mission, I am hoping to see very many of you enjoying a good time together on June 15.
Thanks for your cards and prayers at the time of my surgery. I am doing well and am resuming some of my travel later in the year.
