 |
Name
Wendy O'Bar |
|
Hometown
Houston, TX |
Occupation
Wife, mother, marriage mentor |
Introduction
Vince and Wendy O’Bar live in Houston
with their three sons. Vince is a salesman who
enjoys spending time with his kids, playing
basketball with the guys, and drinking a cold
beer on a hot afternoon. Wendy has named herself
“Secretary of Interior” at the “O’Bar
mansion” and cares for their children
full-time. After visiting their cheerful and
lively home, one would never know that the family
has encountered tremendous hardships in the
past few years. In addition to two miscarriages,
Wendy has given birth to two children with a
fatal genetic disorder. Both children passed
away within a week of their birth. Showing great
faith in God, Vince and Wendy have come to view
these tragedies as opportunities to grow closer
together and appreciate the wonderful gift of
life.
How did you become affiliated with
the spirituality of St. Josemaria?
I began to notice the spirituality of St. Josemaria
when Vince met Opus Dei for the first time.
Over the next few years I started seeing him
make a lot of changes, becoming this manly man
of prayer I like to jokingly call him. And he
just became a great, great spouse. It was like
we were dating again.
What part of St. Josemaria’s
spirituality really resonated with you?
Well, I love conversing with others and meeting
new people that don’t have the exact same
interests as I do. And St. Josemaria said to
take those moments and make them holy by smiling
at those people and trying to be generous and
patient because they have faults just like I
do, but they're children of God. That's always
been my favorite teaching from St. Josemaria.
How did St. Josemaria’s spirituality
help you better understand the loss of your
two sons?
The Way, written by St. Josemaria, was the book
that I carried with me and had with me in my
little overnight for the hospital and there's
a great chapter on suffering in there. And ultimately
it helped me look at Jesus and say “Make
me like you.” I'm a Christian, I want
to be Christ-like and this was one of those
opportunities that was very, very difficult
as a mother and it was very hard to live through
humanly speaking. But as a Catholic and wanting
to be Christ-like I had to unite my suffering
with Jesus' suffering which he did for me, for
everyone.
How has your family remained so joyful
through these trials?
In this life time we can choose to struggle
well or struggle badly. So this was our shot
when our Lord gave my whole family a very difficult
situation and we could struggle well and use
it as something redemptive to really help the
family or we could use it to just completely
cave in and lose the family dynamic. So James,
our first son who was sick, brought us our greatest
joys and our greatest sorrows; but he also taught
us what to love was. When you lose a child,
then you realize what life is. Life is such
a gift
