Holy Relics Visitation: Our Lady of Fatima Prayer Group, 8/31/2013

The August prayer meeting at the Gruber Residence got off to a rough start this month.  An accidental concrete gravel spill on the freeway leading out to Mililani Town closed down 4 out of the 5 lanes, causing a major traffic jam.  A drive that normally took me about 30 minutes, took me an hour and a half instead.  The traffic just crawled... plus it was miserably hot on that side of the island!  I was almost tempted to turn my car around on some side street and head us back to cool and breezy Kailua but we decided to keep going.

 

I thought our small Kailua group was going miss most of the meeting, but as it turned out, all the other participants turned up late, too, due to other reasons and we all ended up arriving at about the same time!  I guess that's the Holy Spirit for you - He always arranges things for the children of God so that everything ends up working out just fine.

 

So as we always do, we started the meeting by reading the Gospel of the day, which inspired a lively and meaningful discussion on evangelization.  Next we read one of the older monthly messages from Our Lady of Medjugorje, which tied in very closely with our Bible reading... and then I shared about St. Rose of Lima (right photo), who I picked for the Saint of the Month.  The group was a little intimidated by the extreme penances practiced by this Saint, but I did my best to explain that it was all because of St. Rose's immense desire to emulate Christ Crucified, to sacrifice for sinners, and to fully put into practice the Lord's maxim:

 

"If any man will come after me,

let him deny himself, and take up

his cross, and follow me."

~ Matthew 16:24

 

The Rosary and the other personal prayers that followed were all very powerful and most of it was centered on praying for PEACE in the world, especially with the turmoil in Syria.  I felt very tangibly the presence of the Holy Spirit moving around us - through us - as we openly lifted up our petitions to God in union with the prayers of Our Lady and the Saints.

 

A holy relic of St. Rose of Lima, on

display in the Gruber home for the prayer

meeting, along with a portrait and statue

of Bl. Alexandrina of Balasar, the

group's special patroness.

 

It was beautiful evening spent with a beautiful group of people... and I'm glad I didn't lose patience and give in to the temptation to turn around in the traffic jam.  If I had given up, me and my Kailua friends would have really missed out on the wonderful graces God poured forth tonight... plus the loving fellowship and an exceptionally delicious potluck dinner!  What a shame that would've been.  So thank you, Holy Spirit, for being with us even in the midst of traffic and inspiring us to keep on going.  God is indeed AWESOME!