On Tuesday, March 4, 2014, while driving to the Collin College Courtyard Center Campus for my night class "Project Management for Healthcare Leaders," I received a clear and explicit direction into my mind that said this to me:
"Do not write, 'I did this and then I did that.' Instead, write it this way:
The Spirit sent this person to me and that person to me. Write that the Spirit led me here and lead me there."
At that time, I revised the following essay to use that style of expression. That is why this essay was written the way that it was written. As to the source of that "direction," I will leave that up to the reader and between God and me.
The Holy Spirit Working in My Life
In 1992, the Holy Spirit inspired Joan and Blaine Manker to teach the Life In the Spirit Seminar in their home, where I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit set me afire and inspired me to commit myself to obedience to all doctrinal and moral teachings of the Catholic Church.
He then received Myra, my bride, into the Catholic Church. After Myra's fertility surgery, the Lord Jesus appeared to her, and said, "Everything will be all right." Immediately after that, we received the gift of five children (Matthew, Joseph, Kristin, Daniel and Sarah) within nine years.
The Holy Spirit inspired me and my family to serve as lay persons by participating in the Apostolate for Family Consecration (AFC) holy hours, first at St. Anthony Parish, then at the home of the Woodson family. We made two week-long “Familyfest” retreats at AFC's Catholic Familyland in Ohio. We actively participate in pro-life activities at our parish and with the CPLC.
The Holy Spirit inspired me personally to serve as a Catechist for 6th and 7th graders from 1995 to 2006, to become a 4th degree Knight of Columbus, to attend the Christ Renews His Parish retreat (CRHP I), and to serve on the host teams for CRHP II, III and IV, which included giving the witness of my faith story numerous times.
In 2012, as my engineering job of 28 years began to crumble, the Holy Spirit led me into an extended period of suffering and loss of confidence. During those hard times, I experienced a profound sense of peace while making personal visits to the residents of a nursing home. I often visited one resident, named Rosemary, with significant dementia, who could tell stories about things that happened 60 years ago with such exquisite detail that when I closed my eyes it felt like I was there!
One day, I encountered a dying, depressed and despairing woman who was angry, cussing and complaining about the food. She said several times, “I just want to die!” and I humored her saying, “Oh Mrs. Iva, I don't think it is your time yet.” She kept saying, “I just want to die!” I felt such compassion for her! After I held her hand for just a moment and then gazed upon her, she leaned forward, bending down all the way to the table and kissed the back of my hand. Then, she straightened up in her chair, looked me straight in the eyes and said "I love you!" That experience shook me to my very core. At that moment, God spoke volumes directly to my heart and I learned that when we allow the Holy Spirit to use our hands, our faces and our voices, he gives us the power to heal, without any effort on our part. In that place, I met a caring and compassionate man who is loved by many and whose kind words and actions positively affect the people around him. The man I met there is me. I found my compassionate side and my passion!
In December 2013, I visited my mother at Kathy Hospice in Wisconsin for the last time. As I was leaving, I put on my jacket and turned to walk away. Then, I looked back at Mom again. Though I knew her mind was severely obscured by Alzheimer's, I believe that she clearly knew in her spirit that this was the last time that she would see her baby son on earth. Mom was waving to me and exhibiting an alertness that I had not seen in years.
When I returned to Dallas, I found out from the nurse that Mrs. Iva had “expired.” I found out her full name and searched for her obituary on the Internet, but found nothing. I wondered if she had passed away without anyone knowing or caring.
On January 8, 2013, at 3:05 pm, while my plane was waiting to take off from DFW airport, I finished praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for my Mother (Arlene) as she expired at Kathy Hospice in West Bend, WI. Her sister Bernadine had also broken her hip and expired at the same hospice facility at the Hour of Mercy three weeks earlier on December 17, 2012. The probability of two people dying at the Hour of Mercy is 1 chance out of 576. Divine Mercy became the "theme" of my mother's funeral activities.
From the I-94 / I-43 Interstate elevated freeway in Milwaukee, from National Avenue to Lincoln Avenue, one can see the steeples of twelve of the city's original ethnic churches, including the huge dome of the “crown jewel” of Milwaukee, the Basilica of St. Josephat, built by Polish immigrants and completed in 1901. This was my mother's childhood neighborhood and this is where her Mass of Christian Burial took place on Monday January 14, 2013. See the beautiful photos of the Basilica of St. Josephat, her obituary and her Divine Mercy holy card,
In May 2013, the Holy Spirit led my wife and I to the original Divine Mercy image in Vilnius, Lithuania, and to the tomb of St. Faustina near Krakow, Poland, knowing full well that his future vocational plan for me would be to become a “witness to” and an “instrument of” Divine Mercy as a Catholic Chaplain.
My Calling to Become a Catholic Chaplain
In August 2013, the Holy Spirit accepted our son Matthew into Holy Trinity Seminary. At Christmas break, he led Matthew to recommend the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours (morning and evening prayer) to his parents, adding prayers of thanksgiving and praise to their daily routine.
Next, the Spirit sent Jason Evert to teach me what it takes to be a real man and to show me my new identity — that of being like a guardian angel – respecting, protecting and defending the dignity of women. Next, the Spirit sent many graces to me, through the hands of Our Lady, which enabled me to conquer my "most grievous fault." This led Heaven to rejoice, so exuberantly, that blessings and graces began to pour down on my life like a hard-driving rain. (UPDATE: As of May 25, 2014, the hard-driving rain has continued non-stop and I was accepted into the Masters of Pastoral Ministry graduate program at the University of Dallas on May 20, 2014. All praise, honor, glory and thanks to God!)
The Spirit continued to send Joan Manker to be a mother figure to me. Joan helped me to “discover” myself. Like a good mother, she always looked for the good in me and told me about it. Next, the Spirit worked powerfully through a motivational speaker named Terri Frey Maxwell, who inspired me to discover my passion in life and to go after that as my second career.
On Sunday January 26, 2014, the Holy Spirit discarded my engineer's resume and wrote a new resume for me from scratch. In it, he stated that, if I could have any job in the world, it would be:
to assist in the spiritual preparation of people of all faiths who are passing from this life, in ways that are most meaningful to them.”
He also wrote about how I want to be remembered:
“by the resident's families as a 'light in the darkness' and as a man of deep faith who treated people with great love."
On Wednesday January 29, 2014, the Spirit led me to the National Association of Catholic Chaplains website where I watched the video Chaplaincy Ministry— Is God Calling You? At that moment, the Spirit showed me who he created me to be and showed me how he wants me to serve him. He wrote on my heart, with large white calligraphy, the word "Chaplain." Next, the Spirit led me to the School of Ministry at the University of Dallas to study for my Masters in Pastoral Ministry, the perfect place to study to prepare for lay ministry in the Diocese of Dallas.
In the midst of all that was happening, the Spirit sent Piroska “Patty” Kalaj, who watched my family grow for 20 years from the opposite side of St. Anthony Catholic Church. She suddenly popped up at the Holy Spirit Prayer Meeting, ministered to me, and taught me that I must become an empty vessel giving all credit to the Holy Spirit for every good thing that happens.
In 2000, the Spirit led me to profess Total Consecration to Mary per St. Louis De Montfort. Then, in 2014, the Spirit led me to honor the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima at five Dallas parishes, to remind me that I must be a chaplain with a fervent devotion to Mary. Finally, the Spirit led me to the Pilgrim Image of Our Lady of Czestochowa to remind me not to forget my Polish heritage, through which my Catholicism was received.
Ministry to the Elderly: Building Christian Unity
The specific call to mission (“to be sent to continue the work of Christ”) and to ministry (“to witness to the Good News”) with the elderly in our communities is rooted in one of the deepest longings of the human heart — our longing for our mothers and fathers. In facilities overflowing with mother figures and father figures, we are called to practice the commandment of love and to cherish life in all of its circumstances. We come as a witness to Christian unity, bearing our Lord's most precious gift to us: Our Heavenly Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is understood to be the Bridge to Christian Unity, even by some Protestant pastors such as Lutheran Pastor Rev. Charles Dickson.
Through dialog, we can explain why Mary is the Bridge to Christian Unity and how she is not very different from us. We can affirm that when we get to Heaven we will still have free will — the free choice to do good or evil — but we will be living without a fallen, sinful nature. Each and every soul in the Kingdom of Heaven will be so completely full of God's wisdom and grace that they will always choose to do good. We will remain fully human and yet live for all eternity without ever committing a single sin.
We can shed light on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception by affirming that just as God fills all the souls in Heaven with wisdom and grace, he has the power to provide this privilege to a person on earth, not only after her death, but even from the moment of her conception. We can also explain that Jesus Christ, who atoned for our sins to rescue us from the “pit,” also has the power to preserve a person from falling into the “pit” in the first place, by allowing her to “walk around the pit” instead. By preserving his Mother from our fallen, sinful nature, our Redeemer granted her salvation by a different means. Just like us, the Blessed Virgin Mary needs a Savior.
The call to ministry to the elderly is a call to alleviate what Mother Teresa called “the terrible poverty of loneliness.” Although there are abundant opportunities to visit the homebound and the residents of nursing homes at the parish level, most of these ministries currently only have resources to minister to Catholic residents. To build this ministry into a true witness to Christian unity requires a huge increase in our numbers. This can only be achieved by proclaiming to our society the truth about which activities in life bring true fulfillment and joy. We must show people how to conquer their fear of growing old and fall in love with listening to the life stories and wisdom of the generation that gave us life. Only then will our people come to a new realization, seeing nursing homes as they truly are – places overflowing with precious jewels in human form.
(© 2014 Michael Anthony Tadyshak)