SIGN OF THE CROSS
The distraught mother stumbled down the Albanian street with a shivering baby pressed against her chest. Falling on the church steps, she cried, “Please help her. I cannot!”, placed her child in Sister Luigia’s arms, and left.
The stunned nun carried Mariada inside to find a blanket and some warm milk. “There, there,” she hushed, moving her gaze from the hungry eyes to the cross on the wall, “Don’t fear, child. God will provide.”
As she grew, Mariada watched this truth unfold as the nuns reached out to the desperate people around them with the sign of the cross, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
She heard the Gospel preached in a language a child could understand-one spoken with garden tomatoes, mended socks, and wrapped bandages.
Then her little heart responded with a faith born under the shadow of the cross, “Please God, send me a family.”
Divine providence sent her to an orphanage at age 6. The nuns covered the miles between them with fervent prayer and visits, their arms laden with packages to share.
Luigia would sit beside her while she opened her gifts, watching Mariada’s face closely. “What are you learning, child?” she asked with a gentle touch on her cheek.
“Jesus loves me, this I know,” Mariada sang.
“Good.” The old nun nodded her approval, for she could see that Mariada now held the greatest treasure of all-the gift of His Son. “Remember your prayers,” she whispered in a hug.
Mariada never forgot. Each week she peeked into the school office and asked, “Have you found my family yet?” But with every no, she still saw a "yes” in the cross of Christ that hung above the desk.
She continued to ask for 7 more years-thankful for all she had been given-until one glorious day, God gave her a family of her own.
For 25 years now, Mariada has lived under the cross-the sign of a Father’s extravagant love-the proof she was never abandoned.
“If Christ did this for me, I want to live for Him,” she testified with gratitude, “What more can I ask for?”
“Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”
Romans 8:32
