Prayer Witness Talk
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2021 Stewardship of Prayer Witness Talk - Toni Medaglia
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STEWARDSHIP OF PRAYER WITNESS TALK
NOVEMBER 27/28, 2021
Given By: Toni Medaglia
Thank you Father. My name is Toni Medaglia, and I have been here at St Pius as a parishioner for nearly 10 years. I will be witnessing to you today about the stewardship of prayer in my own life.
We moved here in 2012 with my husband Tim Fuerst and our 4 wonderful children: Megan, Nathan, Katelyn, and Ben. We moved here for my husband’s dream job at the University of Notre Dame, so he could be a tenured faculty member in the Economics department. I did not adjust well to the move and spent many months crying out to God in distress, often praying in anguish about living in Indiana. I took comfort in the words:
“The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God can not sustain you.”
It was God’s grace that sustained me during that time of transition and uncertainty.
I have also been a pediatrician for over 30 years and eventually was able to find a job that I love as a doctor at the Notre Dame Wellness Center. Like so many of you, I constantly struggle with balancing my family life, work and my faith. My prayers were often very short at that time in my life, usually desperate Hail Marys between patients or a few decades of the rosary on the ride home from work.
As I learned more at St. Pius about the stewardship of prayer and giving God the first fruits of our time, I became more active in the different opportunities available here at parish life. Prayer became a priority in my life.
When I think about the stewardship of prayer that we are called to, I turn to the true definition of prayer captured so beautifully by St. Therese of Lisieux:
“Prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love , embracing both trial and joy.”
Like so many of you, life has a way of blindsiding us with unexpected pain and grief. Early in 2016, my perfectly healthy wonderful faithful husband, Tim, was diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer, and he died just 10 months later.
Being a widow has been the hardest, most painful thing I have ever been called to do. It is my prayer life and relationship with God that has sustained me. So many people prayed and helped us at that horrible time, and we were so blessed by their Christian kindness and outreach. And honestly, so many of them were Saint Pius parishioners. I truly felt carried by the hand of God. Since this time, I have prayed more deeply and often, and even felt called by God to start a Catholic grief support group here at Saint Pius, called Seasons of Hope which meets monthly to help those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
“Rejoice always,
Pray without ceasing,
In all circumstances,give thanks for this is
the will of God for you in Christ Jesus,"
1 Thess 5 16-18
God is with us every second of every day, and he wants us to remember that the Lord is near, and we are all only one last breath away from meeting the face of God.
Saint Pius offers so many opportunities for us to grow as a person of faith who places prayer as a priority in our lives. The stewardship of prayer should become a way of life where our relationship with God is an investment in our future of eternity with him. We simply spend more time with the people we love.
As my husband lay dying in my arms, some of the very last words I said to him wereI adore you,
Please forgive me
I am so grateful for you,
I need you to pray for me.
We can use these exact same words to start a conversation with our Lord, who suffered and died to save us for all eternity. Prayer is simply saying to God every day in our own way;
I adore you,
Please forgive me,
I am so grateful to you,
I need you ……
Now, my Italian grandmother used to say “people don't remember what you say they remember how you make them feel,”
So today at the end of my witness,May you feel loved by God,
May you feel inspired by the Holy Spirit
And may you feel motivated to pray.
May Christ lead us all to a life in prayer as we place our trust in Him. Amen