Our Lady's Answer to Infertility

While our house is full of children, time was when we were struggling with infertility. As a Catholic who tries to practice the faith, I knew there were limits to what we could do to overcome this burden. Long ago, and long before we were even "trying", a priest told me that the best method to overcome infertility is to make a Marian pilgrimmage as a couple, and for the husband to request fatherhood. He told me "Our Lady cannot deny a husband who wants to become a father." He was a holy priest and said it with such conviction that it went into my file of things remembered.

Years later, at the end of our diagnostics, I was frustrated with our failure to conceive. I asked Dave if he would make this pilgrimmage. With his characteristic generosity, he said, "Sure, Baby. Why not?" We were travelling to Orlando to visit the Shrine of St. Walt that June, so we added a trip to Mary, Queen of the Universe as well. We both attended Mass and spent some time in the Blessed Sacrament chapel afterward. I silently prayed a rosary while my Lutheran husband had a silent conversation with the Blessed Mother. A few months later, on the feast day of that shrine, we conceived our son who was born the next May, a month traditionally set aside for Mary. The Church celebrates Mary's personal birthday on the 8th of September, and I considered my son's birth on the 8th to be one more wink and smile from Our Lady. A month later, on the first Saturday in June, he was baptized and I also consecrated him to Our Lady.

I have often shared this story with other Catholics who are struggling with infertility. Saturday night, at the Valentine's Dance, a woman who we only know as a passing acquaintance made her way over to our table to tell us that she remembered me sharing this story and that she shared it with her daughter and son-in-law, similarly struggling with infertility. They were travelling from Kentucky to Washington, D.C., she told them my story, and they chose to make their pilgrimmage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Her grandson, John Paul, is two.



WELCOME: Anchoress and Sundries readers! Here's a good round-up of my little blog.