John Janaro's Blog, page 141

Dear Dad, These Memories Are Very Close to Me

Dear Dad: 

The last time I cared so much about a Game Seven of the World Series was 40 years ago. This is basically what we looked like in those days (from a picture of us at a game at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium around that time period). Back in 1979, the Pittsburgh Pirates were down three games to one, and they came back to win it all (including the last two games on the road). 
We went to Game Four in 1979, and even though we were in the outfield seats, and even though the Pirates got crushed that night, it's a memory I cherish. Tonight, that memory and so many other sports memories seem very "close to me." 
It's funny, this past March - during your final illness - your grandson and I were telling you about the Nats' prospects for the coming season. We didn't think they had a very good team. 
No matter what happens tonight, one thing is clear: We were WRONG about the Nats. 
Dad, I miss you, and that you're not here in bodily life to share this with us. I know, of course, that the bond continues to grow in other, mysterious ways. Still, I'm thinking of you, and praying that the Lord will embrace you forever, and that in the end we will all "finish the race" and "keep the faith," that we will all be "winners" together. 
Rest in Peace, Dad.❤➕

Remembering and Celebrating Blessed Chiara Badano

Today we honor the short but heroic life of this wonderful 18-year-old girl: Happy feast of Blessed Chiara "Luce" Badano! She is indeed a "light" who encourages all of us to love Jesus and trust in Him no matter what. Her intercession for us in the presence of the Lord is - I am convinced - very powerful.

Chiara is especially important for young people, and for the evangelization of youth in the midst of the dominant trends of secularist culture with its idolization of power and external success.
As a young person growing up in the 1980s, she shared in the normal endeavors and aspirations of her time. She played sports, enjoyed hiking and swimming, loved music, and had a beautiful singing voice. She had friends and was known to be a good listener, a confidant for peers in their difficulties. 
She had her own struggles, problems with school, and heartbreak, like any teenager. She was an exceptionally lovely young woman, bright, unassuming, accessible, modest without preoccupation, ardent, persistent, open-hearted.
She sought Jesus, to love Him and serve Him. She hoped to become a medical doctor, to tend the needs of the desperate poor of sub-Saharan Africa at that time. Instead, at age 17 she became a patient herself, struck down with osteosarcoma. 
In her final two years she fought for her life, endured immense suffering, and offered herself ever more profoundly in union with Jesus on the cross in His cry of abandonment. She died three weeks short of her 19th birthday, on October 7, 1990. Even with all her pain, she radiated a transcendent joy that amazed everyone around her.
I don't understand her, and I can't imagine such courage. But I love her for it.
And now - living forever in the glory of Infinite Love - she has opened her listening heart to my troubles and sorrows. She has encouraged me and helped me to be a better father, a better educator, and a more open person to the needs of others. She also has led me to seek the light of Christ shining in places where I would not have thought to find it.
She is a sign of the Lord's great compassion for me, and for the whole world.
"What a free and immense gift life is and how important it is to live every instant in the fullness of God. I feel so little and the road ahead is so arduous that I often feel overwhelmed with pain! But that’s the Spouse coming to meet me. Yes, I repeat it: 'If you want it Jesus, so do I'" (Blessed Chiara Badano, dying of bone cancer, 1990).

When We Were Young (1995)

It was twenty four years ago today that these two young people got "officially" engaged: October 28, 1995 (this pic is from December 1995). Eileen and I have been together for nearly half our lives.⭐❤ #SoGrateful

"Standing Before God's Eyes..."

"To pray is to stand before God's eyes without any illusions, excuses, or justifications" (Pope Francis).

Josefina Turns Thirteen!

The Janaro family has another teenager!

Well, "technically" speaking...

Thirteen years ago, on that wacky-and-totally-unforeseen-day-that-we-never-dreamed-we-would-end-up-celebrating-every-year, October 26 in the year 2006, Josefina made her surprising (but necessary) early debut on the ex utero "platform" of life.

She had major health issues that required emergency surgery (and ultimately another emergency surgery months later) and ended up spending nearly seven months in the NICU. I have written about this story many times on this blog and even in my 2010 book Never Give Up: My Life and God's Mercy.

She is fine today. But she has always been a little bit on the small side for her age. Maybe she's just a small person, physically speaking. As I always say, she is the opposite of small when it comes to personality. 

And that has been true since the beginning, when she was all big eyes and chubby cheeks, charming the NICU nurses (most of the time).

When I began this blog, she was only four years old. John Paul (our oldest) was thirteen. Now he's into his twenties and engaged. Agnese and Lucia are in university. Teresa just got her driver's licence. And now Jojo enters the teen years, in the strict sense, at least (according to the numbers). But she's hardly your average teenager.

She's still very much a kid. People could be forgiven for guessing that she's ten or eleven ("forgiven" in general, though maybe not forgiven by her

Beer and Baseball

A beer and the World Series.⚾ (When you're my age, this is partying... woot!)

The Road of Life Moves Onward

I have another vlog near the end of the month of October. It's lovely to be outside in the beautiful weather we've been having these days. Here is the latest episode of "My Front Porch," which reflects - among other things - on the possibility that I might soon be making this series from a different front porch. Check it out below:

John Paul II and Us

If you've followed this blog or my other Internet media sites for any length of time, then you've seen this picture of the newly married John and Eileen Janaro with Saint John Paul II in Rome on July 3, 1996.

This encounter will always be precious to us. We'll never forget how he invested himself in those few brief moments with his amazing capacity to give of himself, his magnificent humanity, and also his own unguarded vulnerability as a real person. He was carrying the burdens of his 18 years in the office of Peter, his advancing age, and the early stages of Parkinson's that was slowly shaping the last heroic sacrifice of the physically debilitated final years of his singular papacy. 

On that afternoon, we spoke with him and asked him to bless our marriage, and he traced the cross on our foreheads. Then we hugged him and he felt like an old grandfather, and we kept saying, "We love you, we love you!" He said, "Thank you."

I think that, for a moment, we actually gave him some small consolation. 

I know it was a huge, pivotal moment in my life, in Eileen's life, in our marriage, in relation to all that has happened since then, to the future yet to come, everything. God alone knows...

Saint John Paul II, pray for us, for our family, for all families, for all those who suffer.

John Paul II: "Christ Bathes Life in New Light"

“The words of Jesus explaining his identity and his mission are so important: ‘I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12). Our personal encounter with Christ bathes life in new light, sets us on the right path, and sends us out to be his witnesses. This new way of looking at the world and at people, which comes to us from him, leads us more deeply into the mystery of faith, which is not just a collection of theoretical assertions to be accepted and approved by the mind, but an experience to be had, a truth to be lived, the salt and light of all reality.... Let the Gospel be the measure and guide of life's decisions and plans! Then you will be missionaries in all that you do and say, and wherever you work and live you will be signs of God’s love, credible witnesses to the loving presence of Jesus Christ” (Pope Saint John Paul II).

New Challenges For Our Family

Our little personal world is changing again.

Last week my dear 80 year old mother fell in the condo in Arlington and broke her ankle (thank God, she had no other major injuries, but any broken bone is especially difficult for someone at her time of life). Prior to the accident, Mom had continued to live in Arlington on her own. She wanted to stay there as long as she had enough mobility to get around the apartment, and she got frequent help from us for more difficult tasks. Her mind has been (and remains) strong and active.

Now, after orthopedic surgery, she will spend some time in a rehabilitation center. After that, Mom will move out to be near us in the Shenandoah Valley. We are looking forward to having her with us. The goal is (eventually) to get a house with a small apartment attached, so that Mom can still have her own space and her own pace of life, but be near enough to get as much help as she needs.

Ultimately, this event might lead to some good things. I'll be very happy to have Mom around. Right now, she has to go through the process of healing and rehab with whatever challenges they bring. After that the challenges are mostly logistical: we eventually have to sell the condo, sell our own house (where we have lived for 18 years) and move her and us into a new place.

Right now it all looks rather daunting to me, because my health has been unpredictable and, of course, it has been such a year of changes (sorrowful ones, and joyful ones too). But there is a constructive path before us, it's steps are well known, and many of our friends have taken it.

God will give us the grace to persevere on this path, one step at a time.