Blessed Anthony Neyrot and the Perils of Marriage

Bl. Anthony Neyrot was a Dominican religious in the 15th century. He started off his adult life rather uneventful. He got wanderlust and moved around looking for the next adventure. Later he was captured by a Muslim ruler and even, for a time, disavowed Catholicism and married a Turkish lady. He started to translate the Koran (into what I’m not sure) but when he found out a Dominican friend died, he came back to the Church. Apparently, the Muslim community did not approve and stoned him to death on April 10, 1460. Anthony’s travels and unrest during his life mirrors many individuals today.

I started off in southeast Texas and moved to Georgia to finish college. I met a Georgia boy and got married in 1997. It’s been said that there are five things that test a marriage—death, moving, loss of job, illness, and children. Let’s do a quick tally of the first few years of our marriage, shall we?

1. Death: In 1997, we lost my father (cancer), my husband’s sister (auto accident) and my husband’s grandmother (stroke).

2. Moving: Hubby got transferred to the Midwest right after buying our first home.

3. Loss of Job: I had to quit my job because commuting daily from Kansas City to Athens, GA was not viable.

4. Illness: When my son was born via emergency c-section, the OB-Gyn found ovarian cancer. My husband had a major heart attack while I was seven pregnant with my daughter.

5. Children: I’ve been pregnant three times. The first resulted in a miscarriage.

Suffice to say, there are times that it’s been rough. But I’ve always managed to go to church and find solace in my faith.

Except the time my husband was laid off in 2008 from a company he had been with for 15 years. Then soon after my father-in-law, Pop Pop, died from lung cancer. I was very bitter and my faith in God lapsed. What was God trying to teach me by laying off my husband and our only source of income? Why let a good man like Pop Pop suffer?

When I went to the hospice chapel, I opened the Bible to 2 Timothy 4:7. “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith…” God, in His own Way, was telling me to trust Him and myself. And insecure Christy was waffling. I imagine that was a verse Anthony and Pop Pop knew and practiced to the very end. And when I accepted it, the blessings started flowing and my faith was rejuvenated.