The first Mary I speak of is my sister. She is now with the Heavenly Father in his Kingdom. She died violently in 2000. One year to the day of that infamous day 9/11 which will always be in my memory and that of my family to be exact.
Now I will attempt a short story about two Marys. One woman killed by a relative and the other who died in a state of grace of natural causes. My Mary, my sister had a short 31 years and left behind 2 children, a boy and a girl whom I love dearly. They will always be in my prayers for the rest of my days.
This story is written in hope of bringing peace to people who have had similar experiences– who have had a hard time forgiving and forgetting. I could have been cynical and I almost was for a time. I had hatred in my heart for some years. My peace was found in reconciliation. To this day we feel Mary’s death has some mystery to it, even though the relative served some time, were unsure of the circumstances. We could have fought this but we chose not to because of the kids. What they have been dealing with is more important. I wanted bad things to happen to my relative but now it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. It was painful and soul searching but in the end the Lord won the case. I commended my will to that of the Great Judge. His call not mine.
I realized that I belonged to my Lord in all things human. His watch makes the decisions and He knows we have the free will. Mary belongs to Him as well as His mother, the second Mary of this short story.
In the end the Rosary entrusted as a gift to His Mother is what got me through these hard times. It has brought comfort to my troubled soul. Its the weapon of choice in troubled times, next to the Bread of Life of course.
My hope was to overcome the hatred and pain all in good time. Slow pondering time. The second Mary showed me the way to her merciful Son–Jesus. I will always be grateful to her for this and honor her with respect hopefully for the rest of my days. He is the heavenly Judge and the others are the earthly Judges. “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and give unto God what is God’s.” That our Lord will come to judge the living and the dead.
Its been hard but I have forgiven my relative even though I have not confronted him. Counseling is good and appropriate at times. I tried but at the time I couldn’t do it, my hope is that the Good Shepard has this stored up in the book of life for me. I chose to do reconciliation and go to confession which is good for the soul as the psychologists say. Thank you Mary, my sister for having been in my earthly life for a short time. Thank you, Mother Mary and Heavenly Mother for giving me the gift of the Blessed Rosary and the Real Presence at Holy Hour from Christ the Son your Beautiful Joy and ours—always and forever.
For those who read this I hope peace is found and understanding. A key word here “hate” says it all in this article, for as I write this article people are being persecuted and dying in India under I think many misunderstandings. My hope is that dialogue and diplomacy calm the day. People seem to blame religion and I don’t think this or that is the case. When you get secularism mixed up underneath belief then you have a problem but faith does not have anything to do with war. Faith is belief in a HOPE for PEACE not HOPE in a coming war to achieve PEACE.

Holly, so sorry to hear about your sister. The book….Left to Tell : Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza may help in your healing.