That’s the icon I meant. Thank you.
Hello again!
What a beautiful icon depicting the meeting at the Golden Gate!
My Mom became ill when I was a baby. She went all over, for 6 months, trying to find out what was wrong. It turned out to be cancer, a large tumor behind her breastbone and in her lymph nodes above the waist. She was considered terminally ill when admitted to a cancer hospital with double pneumonia and was blasted with radiation and chemo. 3 1/2 months passed.
At Christmastime she was sent home with a tracheotomy, weighing 88 pounds. She was told to go home and have an early Christmas, then return. My Dad was told to be as happy as he could around her, because she was not going to be alive to see Christmas.
The Prayers in Preparation for Chistmas had been mimeographed and sent out by my Mom’s sisters. The priest who Baptized me brought her a relic of St. Peregrine, the “Cancer Saint.” And my parents promised to make a pilgrimage every year to a Shrine of St. Anne if my Mom lived. No one gave up!
Well, when Christmas came, my Mom was alive to see it, and celebrate all over again. We made that pilgrimage every year until my Dad was unable to travel. The parents of Our Lady, the Theotokos, are very dear to my heart.
My Mom and Dad have passed into eternity, but not until my mother had seen her 70s! They never did figure it out, and even tested her further over the years to find out why the tumor suddenly stopped growing. It was still there. We all knew why. And nothing can stop me from believing God gave us a miracle.
Thank you for listening to my story. I share it, as my mother did, to praise and thank God for a miracle that came from St Anna, a Christmas journey of prayer, St. Peregrine, and the faith, hope and love of so many people.
May God bless you and give you peace; may His Name be praised for all eternity!