My Mom, A Child Before God

April 11, 2018

By Lesia Petrizio, A Women of Malvern.

Faith is believing when there is no proof!  My faith is my greatest gift from Abba. One of the gifts that I receive from my mom is my mom’s steadfast belief that God is her Father, Jesus is her brother, and Mary is her mother.  Let me tell you about my mom’s faith.  Her faith is that of a child.  My mother lives what Jesus told his disciples, “You must come to me as little children.”

I am often presented with opportunities to discuss Jesus in my life.  When someone asks me “what does Jesus mean by ‘come to me as children’”, I always tell them about my mom. 

My mother started out with a privileged life, but because her dad was an alcoholic it quickly went from riches to rags.  My grandfather was an alcoholic who had a wife and four children.  My mom witnessed the death of her mother, the drowning of her baby brother, and her father’s suicide all before she reached 13.  My mother and her two surviving brothers had to fend for themselves.  They were shuffled from one relative to another. No one really wanted them back in the 1950’s.  My mom was sent to live in a home run by nuns.  My mother tells me this was God’s divine intervention.  One of the many in her life!  The nuns introduced my mother to Jesus.  My mom recounts that she gave her life to Jesus the minute she heard the nuns talk about God, Jesus, and Mary.  My mom, who had no family, now had a family.  She had God, who is her father, Jesus, who is her brother and Mary, her most blessed Mother!

My mother often recounted through my life how God saved her from all kinds of situations, bad decisions, and ultimately led her to my father.  My mom, without realizing it, was witnessing to me the love of God and showing me how to live as a daughter of God. 

My mom now is in her 70’s and has multiple myeloma.  She again shows me how to come before God as a child.

Think about how a child relies on her parents, know she is safe, know she is loved, knows she will be fed and clothed and not afraid.  As a child you blindly trust.  That is what my mom continually shows me.  She shows me the love and trust she has for God, Jesus and Mary.

During my mom’s MRI scans, she told me that when she is lying there during the hour and a half test, she sees the Holy Mother. “Holy Mother” is my mom’s name for our blessed mother.  She said that the Holy Mother, “comforts me and talks to me and tells me I am going to be fine.”  During her latest MRI she told me that Jesus was in her face instead.  I asked her if he said anything, she said, “No, he just looked at me with the most loving eyes and I knew I was going to be fine.”  She said she kept looking for Holy Mother and found her out of the corner of her left eye.  That is the all-encompassing trust my mom has for God, Jesus, and Mary.

Every time I take my mom to an appointment is yet another witness to how to surrender to the Father like a child.  My mom is good because God, her Father, takes care of her. 

As Jesus said,

“At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” (Mathew 18:1-5)

I am blessed and grateful and joyful for my mother’s presence in my life and her incredible witness of faith!