Dear Friends,
I have known Sheila since she was a young adult. I was her parish priest at the time. Her mother and father were devout Catholics raising nine children. Sheila was the youngest.
When she was twenty she was chosen to be the queen of the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Everyone thought that she’d made the perfect queen – beautiful, intelligent and personable.
During that time she was dating a young man also from the southside. They made a great couple. People thought they were very well matched. Almost like something out of a storybook – she the Irish queen, him a college football player.
A few years later after they finished college I married them. It was a great celebration!
They went on to have three children. Both had successful careers. They raised their family in the far west suburbs.
Two years ago I married their oldest daughter. The story continued with her and her new husband.
I didn’t hear from Sheila after that for a few months. One day she called and said she was concerned that she was diagnosed with a tumor on her kidney. The doctors said that it was operable and that she shouldn’t worry. She asked for my prayers.
Some weeks later she called and said that they found cancer and that it was treatable. She went through chemo, then radiation. The cancer went into remission, but she asked for my continued prayers.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus I have talked with Sheila many times. The cancer has returned, and they have been trying different types of experimental treatments on her. She called last week to tell me that she was stopping treatments, that she was deteriorating into a poverty of quality of life. She was going in hospice.
We talked for a long time that night. She said that her husband and children were supportive of her decision. She said that she was OK with God and that her faith told her that the afterlife would be filled with God’s presence.
She had her last stay in the hospital this past Monday. She wanted to spend her remaining days at her house in Benton Harbor. She asked if I could come bye and give her the last rites. I said of course.
On Thursday I anointed her with her husband and her family present. We all cried except Sheila who was so peaceful with everything.
Sheila is certainly a woman of faith. I don’t know how much time she has left but she is determined to spend it with those that she loves.
Jesus says in the Gospel for today: “ O woman how great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Sheila shows me the power of those words. Let’s look around us and be inspired by the women and men who show us such great faith.
In His Love,
Father Patrick M. Marshall
Reflexiones del Padre Marshall
Queridos Amigos,
Conozco a Sheila desde que era una joven adulta. Yo era su párroco en ese tiempo. Su madre y su padre eran católicos devotos y criaron nueve hijos. Sheila era la más joven.
Cuando tenía Sheila tenia veinte años fue elegida para ser la reina del desfile del Día de San Patricio. Todo el mundo pensaba que era la reina perfecta: hermosa, inteligente y agradable.
Durante ese tiempo estaba saliendo con un joven también del sur. Eran una gran pareja. La gente pensaba que eran la pareja ideal. Casi como algo salido de un libro de cuentos: ella la reina irlandesa, el un futbolista universitario.
Unos años más tarde, después de que terminaron la universidad, yo los casé. ¡Fue una gran celebración!
Tuvieron tres hijos. Ambos tuvieron carreras exitosas. Criaron a su familia en los lejanos suburbios del oeste.
Hace dos años casé a su hija mayor. La historia continuó con ella y su nuevo marido.
No supe nada de Sheila después de eso por algunos meses. Un día me llamó y dijo que estaba preocupaba porque le diagnosticaran un tumor en el riñón. Los médicos dijeron que era operable y que no debía preocuparse. Me pidió que orara por ella.
Unas semanas más tarde llamó y dijo que le encontraron cáncer y que era tratable. Recibió quimo terapia, luego radiación. El cáncer estuvo en remisión, pero ella me pidió que continuara orando.
Desde el comienzo del coronavirus he hablado con Sheila muchas veces. El cáncer ha regresado, y han estado probando diferentes tipos de tratamientos experimentales en ella. Llamó la semana pasada para decirme que estaba suspendiendo los tratamientos, que se estaba deteriorando y que la calidad de vida se desvanecía. Se iba a hospicio.
Hablamos durante mucho tiempo esa noche. Dijo que su esposo y sus hijos apoyaban su decisión. Ella dijo que estaba bien con Dios y que su fe le dijo que la vida después de la muerte estaría llena de la presencia de Dios.
Tuvo su última estancia en el hospital el lunes pasado. Quería pasar sus últimos días en su casa en Benton Harbor. Me preguntó si podría ir y darle los últimos ritos. Le conteste que por supuesto.
El jueves le di los santos olios con su marido y su familia presente. Todos lloramos excepto Sheila que estaba muy serena con todo.
Sheila es sin duda una mujer de fe. No sé cuánto tiempo le quede, pero está decidida a pasar lo que le resta de tiempo con las personas que ama.
Jesús dice en el Evangelio de hoy: ” Mujer, qué grande es tu fe: que se cumpla lo que deseas”
Sheila me demuestra el poder de esas palabras. Miremos a nuestro alrededor e inspirémonos por las mujeres y los hombres que nos demuestran tanta fe.
En su amor,
Padre Patrick M. Marshall