the parable of the lost cross

A couple of years ago when I was living at home and Mimi had not yet moved downstairs, I was passing through the upstairs and she asked me if I had seen a little gold cross hanging on a stand.  Now, if you know my Mimi and you know my house, you know that crosses and other religious paraphernalia are not in short supply and if you want to find a cross, you have but to turn your head and you will find one.  But, for whatever reason, this cross was special.  It was her lost coin that she would turn the house upside down to find.

I answered I had not seen it, but I would keep my eye out for it.  Being the human I am, I did not immediately make a search for my sweet Mimi’s missing cross.  Maybe for a year after that Mimi would periodically ask me if I had seen this cross.  After the first couple of times she asked, I actually did some real looking for it, but I came up with nothing.  I would tell her the same thing every time, “No, Mimi, but i’ll keep my eye out for it”.
 
Her eyes were not very good by this time, and they were getting worse and worse as time went on.  We who lived with her and loved ones that visited were the privileged few who got to be Mimi’s eyes at the end of her days on earth.  

I tried to find the cross as time wore on and she continued to ask for it and all the while I wondered at the fact that she had not given up on this cross (a gift from a friend) after so many months of unfruitful searching.  

This cross, because of Mimi’s refusal to give up on it, stayed in my mind.  Her patient persistence and refusal to abandon hope of finding it called my attention to a little treasure one quiet day in my home resting in a completely reasonable place.  There it was, hanging on its’ little stand to remind me that those who seek shall find.  Mimi sought out this cross using my eyes, and she finally found it.  

I don’t remember exactly where I it was, but I remember the happiness it gave me to hasten to Mimi and report to her that what I thought was certainly lost had in fact been found.  She was so very pleased.  

Mimi was called to her True Home a year ago today.  She was embraced by her Beloved Savior, the One she never quit searching for, a year ago today.  The story of this cross so perfectly characterizes Mimi for me.  She is faithful, persistent, patient, and would never give up on Jesus.  She suffered tremendously at the end of her life, but her last breaths were used to praise Jesus in song, prayer, and loving words to her family and friends that surrounded her to gather the warmth from the flame of faith that emanated from her whole self.

Her treasure was Jesus.  The cross that she wouldn’t give up on was her longing for Christ.  Her heart was for Heaven.  And as the Good Book says, “Where your treasure is, there also your heart will be”(Matthew 6:21).

She stored up treasure in Heaven, where neither moth nor decay could destroy, nor thieves break in and steal (Matthew 6:20).  And in the end, when it was just Jesus and her, she clung to the Cross.  She pointed to the crucifix in her great suffering and told my Aunt Sharon, her beloved youngest child, “I am up there with Him”.  

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” Matthew 16: 24-25

Mimi found her life in Jesus.  She took up her cross and her momentary light affliction has produced for her an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).  
I realized just now when I was recalling this story that it didn’t really make sense to me why our Lord would let something that was such a treasure to Mimi be lost from her for so long.  I see now that part of it was done for me.  I wouldn’t have this memory nor would I have had the joy of finding it and giving it to her.  If I had found it the first time she asked, I would have forgotten it instantly.  But because of her patient, unwavering hope that she would yet find her cross and because she would not stop asking me if I had seen it for at least a year, it has become a beautiful memory for me.  A testimony to who my Mimi is and who she lived and died loving above all else.  

It was and is Jesus that she lived for and died for.  It was the cross that was her treasure.  The treasure she would never give up on.  That is the legacy she leaves on this earth to her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and all the descendents that will follow.  

I miss her very much, but she is with me when I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, she is with us all at Mass in the Eucharist, and she is praying for me as she always did.  She is praying for us all.  Happy homecoming anniversary, Mimi.  I love you always.

When she had gone Home, my mom asked me if there was anything I would like of Mimi’s old keepsakes that hadn’t already been given a home.  At first I said no, but then I remembered the cross, and I knew I had to have it.  It was meant for me to carry when Mimi had gone.  That’s why I was the one who found it.  She sought it not only for herself, but for me, and I will take it with me through life to remind me of why I am here, and where I want to go.

   

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise” Pope John Paul II

The souls of the upright are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them.

To the unenlightened, they appeared to die, their departure was regarded as disaster,

their leaving us like annihilation; but they are at peace.

If, as it seemed to us, they suffered punishment, their hope was rich with immortality;

slight was their correction, great will their blessings be. God was putting them to the test and has proved them worthy to be with him;

he has tested them like gold in a furnace, and accepted them as a perfect burnt offering.

At their time of visitation, they will shine out; as sparks run through the stubble, so will they. (Wisdom 3)

The souls of the upright are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them.

To the unenlightened, they appeared to die, their departure was regarded as disaster,

their leaving us like annihilation; but they are at peace.

 If, as it seemed to us, they suffered punishment, their hope was rich with immortality;

slight was their correction, great will their blessings be. God was putting them to the test and has proved them worthy to be with him;

 he has tested them like gold in a furnace, and accepted them as a perfect burnt offering.

 At their time of visitation, they will shine out; as sparks run through the stubble, so will they. (Wisdom 3)