Lenten events – lenten miracles

Its been a little bit since my last blog post. Fortunately, I don’t enough readers to receive hate mail for this minor sin. (I hope my precious few readers will be assured that I do care about them, however!)

This Lent has been quite an awesome one. To start off, two of my friends – a couple whom many of us here at the seminary have gotten to know since the accident – gave birth to their first child, a baby boy named Thomas Jared. He’s just over three weeks old now and the coolest kid. Another great reason to hang out with a couple of very cool people. They’re two super-Catholics & I’m confident that they will be (are) great parents.

It has been something special to share in these guy’s newfound parenthood – in the distant way that friends can. The worries, expectations & joys of having a new child have really been made real in their parenthood. How does a couple prepare to be parents? What makes a good parent – and what ensures that a couple won’t be terrible parents? The answer is that there needs to be a sincere preparation for the responsibility for guiding a new life – but also belief & trust in God’s providence and plan for us, especially parents. Praise God for the gift of life – and of trusting the nurturing of that life to us & our parents!

Another Lenten miracle – also concerning this family – is worthy of mentioning. The brother of the mother of Thomas Jared (got that?) was in a really terrible accident a couple weeks ago. His car flipped several times & he was airlifted to the hospital. It was touch and go for quite some time: fractures in his face, internal bleeding, bleeding around his brain & a lot of cosmetic damage as well (teeth gone, fierce road rash).

The long and short of it is that he not only survived (a miracle in itself – something even the doctors attest to), but he has relatively little permanent damage. His left eye is damaged – perhaps to the point of blindness – and he has the cosmetic details to be taken care of. But in spite of all this, he was able to visit Thomas Jared & his mother a week ago. We all were introduced to him and from where I stood, he looked fantastic. You would think that he got the hard end of a long brawl, but he looks like a healthy young man – and he is. All praise & thanks be to God for this miracle as well.

In other news, Mundelein seminary is going through a bit of change. Father John Canary, at the end of last quarter, was asked by Cardinal George to be the Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Chicago. As he is the cardinal, one doesn’t say no without being on the deathbed. So Father Canary stepped down as rector and we were left with a hole in our administration (and some pretty large shoes to fill). Last week, Cardinal George announced that Father Dennis Lyle will be the new rector here at Mundelein.

Finally, I’d like to point all of you to my brother’s blog. I probably don’t tout my family enough, but with another Maurer man online, perhaps I won’t have to. Frankie is the family engineer (well, with my dad) & Army guy. But don’t take my word for it – check out his blog. I’ve added it to my list on the right (at the top, of course….he is family).

I’ve also updated my prayer list. Please keep Thomas Jared and his uncle (his mother’s brother, who was in the car accident…). Both are doing wonderfully, but can anyone really have too much grace? Perhaps you could throw in some prayers for Thomas Jared’s parents (and all parents).

God is good (all the time)!

- Jacob