Flashback Friday

Here I am (age 8) on my First Holy Communion day at St. Charles Borromeo in Tacoma.

I'm standing with my best friend, Aileen.

We arrived wearing matching dresses ~ we were amazed and very excited with the coincidence.

Here are 4/6 of our children standing together at the very same spot at St. Charles,

still Aileen's family's parish.

Ryan (front), Peter, Joseph, and Peter.

Here's Aileen & me a few months ago at St. Charles after Mass.

She's a rock in my life, a sister in Christ, a faithful Catholic, an amazing woman.

We shared our First Holy Communion, and many other Holy Communions throughout our lives, including at our Nuptial Masses (marriages) and those of our siblings; at the funeral Masses for Aileen's daughter, Lucy, and her mother, Kathy; at Zac & Joseph's baptisms and First Holy Communions (they are her Godsons); Zac's confirmation Mass; and at many Sunday, daily, and Holy Day Masses throughout our lives. 

John 6:48-68

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

I am so grateful for my faithful friend, Aileen, who has answered Jesus as Simon Peter did.
May God bless her, and her family~ especially her father, Dick, who is suffering in his battle with cancer.