A MOTHER'S PRAYER

My husband and I, and even a good family friend, are worried about my older son. He has been through a great deal this past year and a half.

His world...as he knew it...was blown apart...as if by a dirty bomb.

The scales have been ripped from his eyes, and two women, whom he had adored, have shown him a different...darker...more hurtful...side of their personalities...the side, I had managed to protect him from...for much of his meager twenty-three years.

He has lost all respect for these elders, and he is questioning...everything...at the moment...his heritage...his genealogy...and yes, even...or more precisely...especially...God.

It breaks my heart.

This is a young man to whom I would go to discuss philosophy and faith...a young man who talked about the priesthood...went on vocation retreats...and even pilgrimage to Medjugorje for discernment.

That is no more.

The harshness that can sometimes be found in extended familial relationships...is weighing him down at twenty-three.

Each day, I place him...as I place my entire family...in God's Hands.

I pray, that God's justice and righteousness will cut through the insanity of the situation that is wearing my son down, and show him that God IS real...IS listening...and...IS able...to soften even the most hardened of hearts.

And, even as I pray for solace for my son, still I say:

"Thy will...NOT my will...be done!"