Look closely at this photo. It is my Grandfather at the age of three and my Great Grandparents and Uncles & Aunts and “Family”. All “blood” relatives. Do you see what is missing in today’s society? This photo was taken in Prievidza Slovakia in 1907. Click on it for the enlargement.

This is a follow-up post to “Will There BE Faith“.

I’m going to post a short profound conversation that I had this morning that took place on Facebook. It was regarding a photo that I had found of my Great Uncle Monsignor Mikulas Misik circa 1958 in Slovakia.

Peg Demetris: He presided over my First Holy Communion I truly believe he is the reason for my coming back home to the Catholic Church too

Peg Demetris: Although I had only met him 3 times, and he never spoke a word of English, his life is a HUGE inspiration to me. He survived the Nazis and then the Communists, never seeing “freedom” ever again in his home country of Slovakia but understood completely, true “Freedom” comes from God. Not any secular nation on earth. His country didn’t save him. God did. Our Lord did. That is the faith I have in my heart today.

John R. Misik: He also said Holy Mass at my mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary in 1975.

Peg Demetris: That was when I made my First Holy Communion Uncle John R. Misik along with Kim & Pam

John R. Misik: Didn’t know that.

Peg Demetris: May 4th 1975. I was married to my husband Mark just this past May 4th in the Church. It was Great Uncle whispering to me the entire time to fix the fact I was out of Communion

I didn’t realize until after talking about it, just how much our Lord used, not only my great-uncle to impact my life, but an entire Generation of Faithful. Today, I have zero attachment to the country I live in. I have zero attachment to anything outside of the faith. It’s not to say for the past 15 years or so, looking back on my life in regards to where I went wrong, but rather looking to see where I needed to return to, to get back on the road to “Home”. It’s not to say that I have been living in the past. Not at all. For the past fifteen years, I have been living for the future. Our Lord had granted me the grace to “See” and apply the Truth, His Truth, to the life I was called to live. He used the “Faith of our Fathers” to do so.

“Return to your first Love”.

Faithful women, rearing their children in the faith, not in the things of the world.

EDIT TO ADD: From Pope Francis today:

And reflecting on the icon of Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple, Pope Francis noted that it depicts three generations that come together fulfilling a single design: the elderly persons represent faith as memory; Mary and Joseph are the family, sanctified by the presence of Jesus who is the fulfillment of all God’s promises. Like the Holy Family of Nazareth – the Pope said – “every family is part of the history of a people; it cannot exist without the generations who have gone before it”.