Prayers for my mom, please

My mom’s in the hospital today having surgery done, so I would appreciate any prayers and intercession. She’s having knee-replacement surgery (one knee this time, then the other knee after rehab).

Basically she hasn’t walked without intense pain for about 15 to 20 years now, climbing stairs only with extreme difficulty. She’s relatively young at 67, but due to various reasons all of the cartilage in her knees wore away when she was younger and it’s been bone on bone ever since.

I will add that whatever good you see in this blog or in my work at Catholic World Report can be attributed to my mother. She has been my example in the Catholic faith. Her life has been anything but easy. Her father died when she was seven and since his family didn’t like her mom, had little to nothing to do with her. Her mom was left mentally and emotionally scarred by my grandfather’s early death and she eventually died from Alzheimer’s. My mom has five kids and was left to raise us all nearly by herself after my parents’ divorce. And she has struggled with physical health problems and the scars of her parents’ problems her whole life.

Despite all that she has been a rock of faith. It is to her everlasting credit—and to the Holy Spirit, of course—that her five children are not only all rock-solid in their faith, but also remain as close as best friends today. Apart from Melanie, I would say that my two brothers and two sisters are my best friends and I always look forward to being around them. How many families can say that?

My mom is as self-effacing as they come. She doesn’t think of herself as either a model of Christian faith or virtue or as an especially good mother, but she is both. So if you can take a moment and say a prayer for her today, I’d appreciate it.