Philomena, Sasha and Pia

Young people these days are quick to do everything with their phone, especially taking pictures. They take pictures of everything, especially selfies with their BFF’s. I don’t think of these things until it’s too late. I wish I had taken pictures of Sasha, a young mother and Pia, her precious 10-month-old daughter.

On my pilgrimage from the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I stopped at the National Shrine of St. Philomena who was a 13-year-old who had vowed herself as a consecrated virgin. She was the daughter of the king and queen of Greece.

In an attempt to conquer the world, Diocletian, the Emperor of Rome declared war on Greece. The king and queen took Philomena with them on a journey to Rome to beg Diocletian not to wage war on Greece. Seeing Philomena, he told them that he wouldn’t declare war on Greece if they gave Philomena to him in marriage.

She refused but her parents left her in Rome hoping she would change her mind. When she continued to refuse him, he imprisoned and tortured her. Every morning after being tortured the night before, she would emerge from her cell completely healed of her wounds. This enraged him so that he had a boat anchor tied around her neck and she was thrown in the lake. Angels lifted the anchor and she came out of the water, completely dry. Still refusing to marry him, he finally chopped off her head and she is honored as a teenage virgin martyr.

Sasha and Pia came into the chapel where I was sitting in front of the Tabernacle. As she walked in with baby in her arms, I saw a weight etched on her pretty young face.

After praying in front of the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the statue of St. Philomena, she began to leave. I asked her if she wanted prayer.

She did. Normally, I pray and then it’s over and we go our separate ways. Not this time.

She needed someone to talk to. She told me she was praying three or four different Novena’s for her marriage at the same time. She described something that sounded like my own destructive marriage. How after they got married, he changed, became angry and violent. Unlike my marriage, her husband had started to hit her. Now, even though he hadn’t hit her since Pia had been born, she was afraid for both herself and Pia.

Pia surprised me. Still in her mom’s arm, I said hello to her and she reached out to me as if she wanted to come to me. I reached out my hands as if to take her, never expecting she would actually come to me. This little 10 month old came to me easily, almost as if I were her own mother! Even Sasha was surprised and said Pia didn’t even go to Sasha’s own mother that quickly.

The three of us sat on the floor and while Sasha and I talked and prayed (tried to), Pia played with her toys going to both Sasha and me with equal ease and comfort.

Sasha talked about how she wanted to talk to her pastor but she always had Pia so a conversation would be difficult.

Suddenly and without really thinking about it, I offered that if she could schedule something with her pastor for the next day, I could meet her back at the chapel and watch Pia while she talked with him. Equally surprising was that she agreed and even said that she didn’t know why she trusted me.

The next day we met, but she hadn’t been able to make an appointment with her pastor. I told her I would take Pia to the cemetery on the back side of the chapel for 30 minutes so she could have some quiet time with Jesus in the Tabernacle. She needed time with Him more than anything.

No separation anxiety for Pia! She didn’t mind at all that I took her away from her mother. We had a lovely walk outside in the moderate temperature of a summer day in Wisconsin.

Thirty minutes later the three of us were playing on the floor in the basement which had been turned into their fellowship area complete with kitchen. Sasha continued her story, sharing with me experiences that made it seem as if even at 10 months-old Pia knew to be afraid of her father.

I began to wonder if Pia already has the same ability as her namesake, Padre Pio, to read hearts.

Too many parents dismiss signs their children exhibit that are expressions of who that child is supposed to become, who God has created that child to be later in life. Generally, parents don’t know to look for those signs and simply dismiss them as quirks or oddities that have nothing to do with anything. When in fact it is a building block of that child’s personality that needs to be understood and nurtured.

As a job before she married, Sasha had worked in a daycare and saw for herself how this happens all too often.

We talked for about two hours before she had to leave. She was going home to hubby in hopes her Novenas have been fruitful.

That’s the difficult thing about praying for people. I meet someone for a moment in time. Then it’s over.