Good afternoon:
 
My name is Loretta  and I and my husband have been asked to share some our faith story with you.
 
I’ve been a Catholic all my life and have belonged to several parishes in the city.
 
We all have our stories, and some are heart breaking, but this is my little story.
 
After I was married to my husband Bernie and we had our first child Andy became brain damaged at about 2 years of age
due to an illness, and I was pregnant with my second.

As a result, I hated God, stopped going to church and I was very angry and bitter.
 
Eventually I went to see a priest (not Fr. Ron, He was      just a baby then.)
 
This was years ago.
The priest looked at me and said “God's got broad shoulders
Loretta, you must love God very much to get that angry with
Him”
The ice melted around my heart.
 
There was no chastisement or judgment.
 
We move from God, but He doesn't move away from us.
 
That priest was evangelizing, and we have to be that for each other and to share our stories faith to let people know what a personal relationship with Jesus can entail.
 
And believe it or not I still get angry with God once in awhile.
 
Thank You
 
 
 
 
 
You just heard Loretta's story. What she didn't tell you, because a wife can't testify against her husband, is that she was also angry at God because of what was happening to that young couple that was so much in love.

We were drifting apart because of our separate views on how to deal with our new responsibilities with Andy.

Just before the breaking point I was asked by a friend if I would like to make a Cursillo weekend. Of coarse I said no because I had my grade school religious education from the Baltimore Catechism with all the questions and answers memorized. This should do me for the rest of my life.

When the next Cursillo weekend came up my friend, who did not give up on me, asked me again if I would like to go.

For some reason I said ok. Now, I suspect there were a lot of prayers said for me. That weekend I had my encounter with God through the prayers and life stories of the presenters, and it changed my life.

Fortunately, I was able to thank my friend before he died, for saving my marriage and my spiritual life. Up to that point he had no idea of what effect his evangelization had had on my life.

So share your life's faith story with each other. You may never know the good it will do.

Thank You