Reported by Robert R. Schwarz
Holding the hand of my friend, Kathy Muhr as she lay dying of cancer at age 77, I reminded her of the legacy she was leaving behind for the many who had loved her for her 22 years of devoted service to her church . I told her that I too was one of the many inspired and strengthened by the the bold way she had expressed her faith . Kathy looked up at me and smiled.
On Sept. 28, 2012, Mrs. Muhr died in her home. In his homily at her funeral mass celebrated at the St. James Catholic church in Arlington Heights, Illinois, her priest friend , Fr. Michael Sparough, made the following comments: "She was a woman of deep, deep faith with a passionate love for Jesus. To be in Kathy's presence was to feel the love of God. She wasn't afraid to voice her opinions when asked, and sometimes when she wasn't asked." Fr. Sparough, a veteran spiritual director . told us he once sought out Kathy to give him spiritual direction.As family and friends processed out of the church, Kathy's son, Bill, took up his trumpet and sounded the hymn "How Great Thou Art."
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Her Passion at a Church Healing Ceremony
 |
| Kathy Giving a Communion Host |
From
several parishes they had come this night
to be healed of afflictions of body, mind, and spirit. Some were
there to pray for a deathly ill friend or loved one. It began with a trio of
two ladies and a man filling the
sanctuary with their pulsating music of a tambourine, drums, and
a guitar. Arms went up, and palms faced
outward as if to brace a strong wind. Voices of more than 125 people kept repeating the refrain, " Yes, yes,
yes, Lord! " The music subsided
and Kathy began praying so softly that only
her friends on her right and left could hear her. Fr. Michael Sparough,
S.J., now rose from his altar chair to
begin his homily in St. Theresa Catholic church in Palatine, Illinois. "Let's open our hearts to God's
healing power," he said. "Believe that God's grace is sufficient for
us to carry the cross we are carrying"
Afterwards, on her way to the
altar to "drink the blood and eat
the body of Christ,” Kathy
reverently touched a glass case. Inside was the skullcap worn by Blessed
John Paul II when he was shot by an assassin outside the Vatican. She momentarily thought of how her former pope had
been healed of that near-mortal wound.
Twenty minutes later, she was first in
line with dozens of men and women waiting to be anointed with holy oil by the
priest. With his finger moistened by the oil, the priest made the sign of the cross on Kathy's forehead, then
on her palm. Two men stood behind Kathy to catch her as she now reverently fell backwards.
The men gently laid her on the church floor.
Kathy graduated in 1954 from Alvernia Catholic Girls School. She met her husband Bill at a St. Viator dance when she was a member of the St. Viator's young people's club and he a member of the St. John Bosco youth club. "Bill and I started these clubs because at that time it was difficult to meet other Catholics to date," Kathy told me during our interview. They married in 1957 and moved into their Arlington Heights home on North Kennecott Avenue in 1964, the same year she became a St. James Catholic Parish member. After Bill retired from Motorola, he and Kathy owned and operated an antique business , but as Kathy explained. "It got too cut-throat for us, and I decided I really wanted to get involved in church work. "
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Kathy graduated in 1954 from Alvernia Catholic Girls School. She met her husband Bill at a St. Viator dance when she was a member of the St. Viator's young people's club and he a member of the St. John Bosco youth club. "Bill and I started these clubs because at that time it was difficult to meet other Catholics to date," Kathy told me during our interview. They married in 1957 and moved into their Arlington Heights home on North Kennecott Avenue in 1964, the same year she became a St. James Catholic Parish member. After Bill retired from Motorola, he and Kathy owned and operated an antique business , but as Kathy explained. "It got too cut-throat for us, and I decided I really wanted to get involved in church work. "
"Do you have any special talents? I once asked her in her home. Kathy mused . "No, I feel being a mother and a wife were my special talents." Then she added whimsically, "God knows that I'm worn out from kids and baby-sitting. I never got away from my kids in 20 years. Today they all live in Arlington Heights, and we get together all the time….Raising my children gave me an opportunity to understand God's love and mercy. When things were happening that I couldn't control , I said to God, 'You love them more than even I do, so I am giving them over to you.' The weight of the world was then lifted and I was free to let God do the work."
She loves to play bridge and "silly" card games with her family. The only thing that makes her sad, she said, is the unwillingness of people to forgive a hurt. Remaining angry at someone, she believes, unknowingly binds you .
Then The Diagnosis
In 1990, Kathy said she had a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. "I felt this love of God absolutely drenching me. I had never experienced this before, and as I went up to the altar to receive communion, I was weeping, and I realized God was saying, 'You do what I ask of you and you will be rewarded.' "
Immediately after this communion, Kathy had a great desire to go to mass every day—and has ever since. "That reward," she said, "was eventually my being given the joy that only God could have given me."
"Let's pray together," the surgeon told Kathy, now a Eucharistic minister at St. James. The surgeon, a
Baptist, had just told Kathy she had stage four cancer in her lungs, lymph
nodes, and spine and that she had six
months to a year to live. That was in May, 2012.
But
this grim scene never showed on Kathy's face as she continued her church ministry. As worshipers grasped the chalice
or host from her hand, they saw her same welcoming, good-to-be-alive
smile on her face ." I know what God
wants me to do and that makes me happy, " she said.
She was then 76, an active woman with
salt-pepper hair and wearing a white tee-shirt with white pants
and white earrings; around her neck was
a bronze crucifix and a Marian medallion, a gift from her late husband. " That crucifix," she said, " has done more evangelizing for me !". In the other room watching a
ballgame sat two of her three sons: Kevin, 54, an employee then of the Chicago
Executive Airport, and Mike, 53, who published a resale shop directory. Other children include Bill, 44, a Christian counselor in Palatine; and daughters JoAnne, 50, a youth ministry volunteer; and Mary, 51, a junior high teacher at Holy Family school in Inverness and at the Carl Sandburg school in Palatine. There are 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
I asked if Kathy if she felt frightened by her physician's prognosis: "I used to be. That was before I knew you could
go directly to God. You see, we were
brought up to believe that we have to earn our way to heaven." This she
loves to tell to "old school " Catholics who are
hospital patients.
She also loves to relate events in
her life which she believes were directed by God. One was joining the
Charismatic Renewal of Chicago, whose
prayer group meetings she was attending on Wednesdays at St. Theresa's
. "It changed my life forever, " she said. "I learned we can
have a close relationship with the
Lord, that he wasn't up in the sky, but right here with me. I found out how real God was. When I now pray, I know that He sometimes
answers our prayers faster that we could ever imagine."
Worshipers at Kathy's prayer group
meetings "speak in tongue ". But Kathy was quick to point out that this is the "least important" gift of the Holy Spirit. "We received these gifts from the Holy Spirit at baptism, but they're sitting in
the closet not being used."
Since then, Kathy says God has also given her a desire
to "welcome" people, especially to St. James. "I try to go to people I have not met yet. It means so much to people if we
just take the time to say 'Hi' , welcome!' " She doesn't worry about anyone rejecting her or her words.
Rosemary Schumacher, who has worked alongside Kathy at mass
for more than ten years, described her as a " caring, thoughtful person
who's done a lot for the church."
And St. James pastor , Fr. Bill Zavaski ( now retired ) , told me that "she is grounded in faith and lives out her life in a beautiful way,
especially as a minister of care and bereavement minister."
" I Am Not Afraid "
Kathy said she had no wish-list of things to do in her remaining
time. " My kids all know
I am not afraid because my Lord has promised me a place with Him. "
comments welcomed
© 2014 , 2020,2022 Robert
R. Schwarz
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