It was Septemeber 13, 1944 on the USS Warrington

A few years back before my mom passed away.... we all went

to New York to see my daughter perform at Carnegie Hall.  We also had somewhere else to visit that was long over do.

We took my mom to Battery Park to see the memorial for the soilders that drowned and who were never recovered in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean during WWII.

Two days out of Norfolk, along the Florida coast, a navy destroyer named the USS Warrington  received word that she was steaming directly into a hurricane. Later that evening, the storm forced the destroyer to heave. Keeping wind and sea on her port bow, Warrington rode relatively well through most of the night. Wind and seas, however, continued to build during the early morning hours of September 13th 1944. Warrington began to lose headway and, as a result, started to ship water through the vents to her engineering spaces.

The water rushing into her vents caused a loss of electrical power which set off a chain reaction. Her main engines lost power, and her steering engine and mechanism went out. She wallowed there in the trough of the swells, continuing to ship water. She regained headway briefly and turned upwind, while her radiomen desperately, but fruitlessly, tried to contact another nearby vessel. Finally, she resorted to a plain-language distress call to any ship or shore station. By noon on the 13th, it was apparent that Warrington's crewmen could not win the struggle to save their ship, and the order went out to prepare to abandon ship. By 12:50, her crew had left Warrington; and she went down almost immediately. A prolonged search by 10 other vessels rescued only five officers and 68 men of the destroyer's 20 officers and 301 men.

My mother's brother...Chief Storekeeper USNR Edward John Labuda was one of the men lost at sea.  He had just been home on leave prior to returning to duty.
 

The memorial says....

 

My mother looking at her brother's name engraved in stone for the first time.

 

La Buda Edward J.

 

His name on the wall faces the Statue of Liberty and

 

.....Ellis Island.  The same port where his father entered the United States as an immigrant years before.

Thank you to all of those that made the ultimate sacrifice.  You're forever in our debt and hearts.  Indeed...in to thy hands, O Lord.



10,000 Angels To Light My Way Home

I wrote this post a while back and I'd like to share it with you in honor of my sweet mom. 

Mom's angel she had displayed in her front yard. Now it's in my yard.

While watching EWTN one evening...I heard a story about a woman. Monetarily...she had nothing. She lived in a home with dirt floors but she was rich in her faith. Upon her death....she was unable to leave money or assets to her children but she left them the greatest gift of all. Her faith.


   I received a Catholic education and the
Sacraments. Most of my life I've attended mass on a regular basis. I considered myself a practicing Catholic or so I thought. I was going through the motions and pretty much it stopped there.


Since...my mother passed away...I've started a journey. I pray this spiritual journey will last for the rest of my life. This question was asked of me once.  If you don't know Jesus...then how can you love him?   I'm hopeful and excited that with perseverance through prayer, Sacred Scripture study, learning about the saints, practicing the Sacraments...regularly receiving the Holy Eucharist ...I'll come to better know our Father by strengthening my relationship with him.


Did you know the saints had struggles of their own? That's the wonderful thing about sainthood. God uses their lives as examples for us. Even with their human shortcomings and trials .....they still became saints and we're inspired by them. My Catholic faith challenges us all to become saints.


My mom didn't force her religious beliefs on to anyone but she was there to discuss them if you wanted to. I wish...I was at the same place in my faith journey when she was a live as I am now. What opportunities I missed for some lovely conversation with her. What I could have learned!

I'm blessed to have her bible though. As I read through it ....I can see parts of Scripture that she highlighted and drew stars around. I sometimes feel uncomfortable....that I'm trespassing into what were her inner most personal thoughts, struggles and joys in her journey with Christ but maybe that's His plan. Maybe...with those bookmarked pages and highlighted words of Scripture...she's accompanying me on my journey.
I can choose to believe this or not. I choose to believe. A gift of faith. ~Amy


10,000 angels with lanterns to light my way back home.
Will you be glad if I come back home?
Long time I've been away.
Is it true?
Can I come back today?
~Aaron Thompson

'10,000 Angels' from the album 10,000 Angels

Our Father...

Outside early this morning.


I once heard that Catholics say prayers and Protestants pray.  For most of my life... I always thought.... maybe other denominations were on to something in the way they prayed to God.  They have this way of outwardly praying to God that's energetic... less formal and seems to come out quite naturally.  Now as I look back... I can see the power of reciting 
 the Lords Prayer that Jesus gave us. 
Years ago... my dad was in the hospital.  It was a rough sleepless night for him and it was approaching dawn.  He asked me to pray the Our Father with him.  We both prayed and I couldn't help but notice that after we prayed... he finally peacefully drifted off to sleep.   

At my husbands grandfather's funeral... we talked to an aide from the assisted living home where grandpa had lived.  Grandpa asked this aide to recite the the Lord's Prayer with him and kiss him on the forehead each night.  Because.... that's what he and grandma used to do throughout their marriage before she passed. 

My mom had a stroke years later and she was in intensive care before she passed away.  She barely spoke.  One evening... my siblings and I decided to say the Our Father with her.  Not missing a beat... she recited the whole prayer with us.  It was something that I'll never forget.    

Now...when I say the Our Father at mass...I feel this undying beautiful bond with my parent's.

  Those golden moments... as difficult as they were.... praying the Our Father with my loved ones... have proven to be a blessing and a gift from God.   I shall cherish those memories for the rest of my life.   I can't help but to be in awe and thankful to the aide that showed an act of kindness towards grandpa.  I believe through her... he experienced the presence of God.
Looking past the grief from these last 15 years.... 
I understand now...what the bigger picture was through this powerful prayer.

Today's Gospel Reading:  Mt 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples:

"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,

who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Do not be like them.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

"This is how you are to pray:

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy Kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

"If you forgive men their transgressions,

your heavenly Father will forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men,

neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."