Her Name is Philomena

I have a devotion to St. Philomena, mainly because St. Jean Vianney had a devotion to her as well.

As one could infer from my previous post, things did not appear to be going well with this pregnancy. Carolyn usually starts getting nauseated right away, and she did experience a little of that. Then one day last week all the nausea stopped.

We had already started a novena to St. Therese of Liseux for our unborn child to at least live long enough to receive the waters of baptism. That novena ended last Thursday. We celebrated the end of the novena by attending Mass at Mater Dei Catholic Church in Irving, and then I suggested that we celebrate the answer to our prayer by taking the family out to dinner.

Before leaving the church, Carolyn and I prayed the Te Deum, rejoicing and thanking God for an answer to our prayers - even though we both suspected the answer was not the one we wanted.

St. Therese has always managed to have our prayers answered quickly, almost immediately after the end of our novenas in the past. In every case we know that whatever God wills for us is for our ultimate good and the benefit of our eternal souls - but it still hurts, especially knowing that so many children are aborted in this world, and we would love to have more.

As in the past, we have named our lost children, and remember them in our daily prayers. We have named this child Philomena Rose Lourdes. Along with Anastasia and Therese, we hope to see Philomena some day in Heaven.

Perhaps they are resting in the arms of their big brother.