Like many of you, I was raised Roman Catholic. Like many of you, my family went to church every Sunday(and I used to see a lot of you every Sunday at 10:30 or 12pm mass–we were the ones always sneaking in late, without fail.)

 

And, like many of you, I lost my faith a long time ago. I don’t go to church regularly anymore, but thanks to online or “e”giving, my parish still gets their weekly tithe from the Cran fam.

Jamey was also raised Roman Catholic, even though his father was a Proddy(Episcoteryinautherdist to be precise.) Jamey’s grandmother was hardcore Irish Catholic from Bah-stinnn and was intent on making sure Jamey and sibs were raised in the faith.

 

I’m not going to go into a religious diatribe here, but we have had some weird things happen and I’ve felt some pretty moving emotional shifts while visiting religious sites such as:

Padre Pio‘s shrine in Buena, New Jersey

Cardinal John Neumann‘s in Philadelphia, PA

and Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton‘s shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland

 

I’ve always been a big fan of Mary, Mother of God as well. No offense to Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit(and pretty much any religion that isn’t catholicism), but I kind of prefer praying to Mary over any one of the dudes in the Holy Trinity.

 

So it was pretty weird last week when I got a message from a woman who is going through a very similar situation as I am who was also connected very closely with Mary. I mean, I don’t think they hang out and get mani-pedis together or anything, but any specific mention of Mary and I’m in.  She posted an awesome series of prayer requests that I wanted to share with you.  Here goes….

 

“I will keep reading And I will pray for you all. I’m really big on asking the saints, Mary and Jesus for help. So here goes…

 

St. Dymphna, pray for us, please ask God to give our husbands those precious moments of clarity. Lots of them.

 

St.Monica, pray for us , help us in our loneliness, help us feel grounded even when we are in Oz-land because our husbands are blaming us for messing with the remote while they are holding it (sigh).

 

 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us sinners. This is so very hard and you know we are at our worst when we are tired and heartbroken and that is about 99% of the time.

 

 

And immaculate heart of Mary, pray for us, you get our pain and grief only second to God himself.

 

 

Come Holy Spirit, comfort us when its all over, the dust settles and we are alone in a quiet house.

 

We did a good job.

 

Amen!”

 

I just think it’s absolutely beautiful and wanted you all to share in its beauty.

 

I also wanted to tie it into the newest video from “Caeley’s Corner”.

 

My parents came down to visit yesterday.

 

As much as I like them visiting, it is, admittedly difficult to sometimes see how much my mom has regressed in the last year or so. For those who don’t know, she was diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimers disease about a month before Jamey began to really spiral downhill cognitively.

 

As you can imagine, it’s been doubly-hard to deal with two relatively young family members(mom’s currently 66, Jamey’s currently 47) slowly slipping away.

 

My dad and I are on parallel journeys now; both running a race neither of us wants to be in, let alone win.

 

To quote my mom from the video and to sum it all up: “It sucks.”