Three reasons.
First, I love to write. It is like breathing to me. I just
do it. Sort a like the French
philosopher Descartes who said “I think therefore I am,” I could say, “I write,
therefore I am.”
Second, I love Jesus and Mary and the saints and angels and
all things Catholic, and it gives me joy to share my faith with others. My dad was fond of saying to me, “Joanie, you
are a born promotor!” He knew me well.
Third, I love my grandkids as much as I love my own kids,
and I want to share my being with them. So often when we are together we talk
about everything under the sun, save what’s closest to our hearts. This is my
chance to do that.
Combine writing, faith and my kids and grandkids, and you
have the raison d’etre of my being!
I think I started writing in second or third grade, when I
lined my dolls up in the kitchen pantry facing a blackboard where I taught them
what I was learning in school. The Sacred Heart nuns taught us English
composition all four years of high school, drilling grammar and style into us as
if our life depended on it. In college I penned articles for our school paper
and when my kids were little I got a job as a free lance reporter for our weekly
newspaper, The Deerfield Review.
Too busy to write much in the early years of marriage, I
filled up notebooks with my prayers and letters to God. They are still in the
basement somewhere waiting to be tossed during a cleaning frenzy.
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Visionary Vicka
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At the closing of a Christ
Renews His Church retreat in my parish I knelt at the altar with my fellow
retreatants to share how I planned to serve God. Everyone had lofty plans for a
ministry, except me. When it was my turn to speak, all I could do was cry. I
wanted to serve the parish in a meaningful way, but had zero inspiration. Then
my good friend Mary Kay invited me to join her on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje,
Yugoslavia (Croatia), where Our Blessed Mother had been appearing to some
children with messages about salvation. That trip was an answer to prayer.
My kids were in school and the days were long and empty. I prayed,
asking God to show me how I could use
the gifts and talents I had. (I wasn’t sure what they were, but everyone had
some, right?)
Sitting among the rocks on Apparation Hill I begged God to
give me a way to fill the hole in my soul. Absentmindedly moving the small
rocks at my fingertips, I picked up a big one and found a pen. It stunned me. Was this a sign from God? Did He want me to
write? I knew the answer. My heart
began to beat faster. Tears started flowing. I knew that this was an answer
from God. So immediate. So total. So right on. I don’t know if I was more
excited to uncover the pen or to realize that God’s presence was with me. Or
both.
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Apparition Hill
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The pen I found
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The rest is history. Writing about my faith is my mission.
Finding that pen gave me permission to get started. Only I didn’t know what
exactly to write until the Holy Spirit inspired me in the shower one morning. I
would write and publish the life-changing witness talks from Christ Renews His Parish retreats! That
quarterly magazine went all over the world for nine years. People saved their
copies and still remember it!
In one of the issues I published a conversation I had with
John R. a young man we met in Medjugorje. He was a drug addict trying to break
out of his addiction. He was living there, praying and considering becoming a
priest. After talking at length with him and taking notes, when the magazine
got started, he gave me permission to print his story.
Skip 26 years. In
2015 I began volunteering at WSFI 88.5 FM Catholic Radio in Libertyville,
Illinois. One day, a man walked in who looked so familiar but I couldn’t place
him. He said I looked familiar too. We went back and forth for ten minutes
trying to remember where we had met. Then he remembered: Medjugorje! He was
John R. all grown up, volunteering at the radio station. It was a great moment.
He didn’t become a priest but had a number of good jobs. And his Catholic faith
was still all-important in his life.
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Joan’s Books
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After nine years of publishing Witness Magazine, Tommy and I
went to Italy for our 25th wedding anniversary. We took a
self-guided tour of the Eucharistic Miracles. It was awe-inspiring. At home I
began writing about it and finished with Feast
of Faith, Confessions of a Eucharistic Pilgrim, my first book. When publishers rejected it, I published it
myself. And so a new writing and speaking apostolate was born, Witness
Ministries. Other books followed.
I’ll close with one of my favorite Scripture passages: “We
know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are
called according to his purpose” —Rom 8:28. God takes good care of His friends!
Enjoy the photos of my grown kids, their spouses and their children. Also note
that the pen I found in Medjugorje has a cross on it! And the photo I took of
John R. in Medjugorje is special. He just looks older today but is the same
person full of goodness and smiles!
