PARAGUAY, Silvia Cabañas •
How does one overcome the departure of a son? That is a question I am frequently asked. I prefer to use the term departure and not death, because for me, my son did not die. He only departed prematurely to meet God, our Father, and our Mother Mary, a conviction that keeps me strong and standing. Most of all, it is what motivates me to struggle against my own human weakness, and for me to also make the effort so the moment that God decides that I will meet my beloved son Enzo, and we will be together once again just as he promised.
That he departed prematurely is what one often thinks when God calls a child or a young person home. But in reality, I believe that we are not aware that God is the only and absolute owner of our lives, thus he can take it whenever he decides. So who are we to question or even to curse when he makes this decision?
There is no greater pain than to see a child suffer
My son had a short life, yet a long struggle in keeping it. As a consequence of fetal distress, he had aftereffects that kept him struggling through rehabilitation, early stimulation among other therapies, not counting 9 or 10 surgeries that he underwent besides suffering frequent respiratory episodes. He had pneumonia, and he was in Intensive Care for four long months, firstly, because of pneumonia and then for several other complications.
There is not greater sorrow than seeing a child and not being able to do something to console or ease the pain and suffering. It was at those moments that I fervently clung to the Blessed Mother, since there is no one better who knows this sorrow. I closed my eyes and prayed that she would hold my son in her motherly, loving arms, and that she would accompany and console him at every moment, and that he would feel her presence so that he would not feel alone for a single second.
The sorrow of his departure will always remain
Those who have experienced the pain of having a loved one in ICU know that one is only allowed to enter for a few minutes during the day to see the patient. In my case, I had to leave my son, who was only 6 years old, alone, among strangers with unusual light-filled devices that make noise 24 hours a day, along with a myriad of wires and tubing connected to his body.
My son went to Heaven a year ago, and the sorrow of his departure will always remain. It was also very painful to explain it to Franco, his little 3 year-old brother that Enzito will not return home. We tried to explain to him the best we could for a child of his age, we told him that Little Mother Mary came to him, raised him in her arms and took him to Heaven, and now he will live with Father God, Mother Mary and the other little angels.
We tell him how beautiful and wonderful this place is, and that in order for us to also go there someday, we must pray everyday and to behave well as God the Father wants.
When we go to the Shrine, upon seeing the picture of the Blessed Mother with the Child Jesus Franco tells me: “Look, mother, there is Enzito in Mother Mary’s arms.
Source: Revista Tupãrenda, July 2017
Original. Spanish, 19 August 2017. Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA. Edited: Melissa Peña-Janknegt, Elgin, TX USA
