MaryAnn Hassan

Hello Family and Friends:


It was absolutely a gift, every single day, we had together for 25 years of friendship, 22 married, and 7 in fighting this cancer!! Thank you, Lord! I am indeed grateful.


This is the site MaryAnn had asked me to setup to share with you all updates concerning her health and situation over the course of the battle with the disease, when back in March 2009 she was diagnosed stage IV cancer with tumors in her liver and her lungs (which was later identified as intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma).  We then asked you to please pray for her cure, but now I ask you pray for us and her soul, - yes, we should never assume anything from our vantage point , but in hope, love, and knowledge of her having received the Sacraments penance, Eucharist, and the anointing of the sick, along with the Apostolic pardon, we pray confidently in and for God's mercy for my beloved!


"(43) And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection. (44) For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead, (45) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. (46) It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." (2 Maccabees 12:43-46)
Also, I have been asked to share again the last letter to my beloved, and so I share it here now.  This is my last letter to MaryAnn that I put with her remains in the casket. 


****
J+M+J


To MaryAnn, Wife and Mother


January 29, 2016


My Dearest Beloved MaryAnn,


The Lord God Heavenly Father placed the gift of you in my life those 20 and 5 years ago when we first met and since journeyed together. However now, He has called and taken you home and we lay your earthly remains to rest today.
I am lost right now, my love, and I do cry out to Jesus to show me the way forward. I will too, follow His feet and His steps as far as He wants me to and walk with Him.


As you were slipping away and starting to see beyond the visible world you told me just how wonderful Heaven was and is! I rejoice in that for you my love! Don’t delay for me, my love! Go, enjoy the perfect love of the Beatific Vision.
I do shed a tear, my beloved MaryAnn, because it is not yet my time to follow you. So, save a place for me, pray for me, protect me, and help and guide me as you have always done to remain faithful to the Lord! The Holy Spirit still breathes life into our love and sustains us still as always! 
Forgive me in all my failings, my dearest love. It is all that I am and my only hope that I won your heart, served you well, and helped prepare you for eternity. 


Know, I rejoice for you my love, my dearest beloved MaryAnn! While I cannot hold your hand, caress your cheek, feel the softness of your hair, tenderness of your kiss, nor lose myself in the wonder of your sparkling clear eyes; I know you are there. You still are my beloved, my confidant, my best friend, and my soul mate. I call out for you, “Oh, MaryAnn!” I am so consoled to hear in my heart, and in my soul your response so softly, so sweetly, and so serenely “Yes, my love.” 


My beloved MaryAnn, thank you for 22 years of a wonderfully blessed marriage and 25 years of growing more and more in love. Thank you for the gift of all our children, and most importantly thank you for the gift that was your love and devotion to me. 
I am forever your devoted husband, I am your
Matthew


****
So continue to pray for my beloved MaryAnn; continue to pray for me and the children.  Ask MaryAnn to intercede for and guide me.  It was my only hope, goal, and desire to love and serve her, my beloved MaryAnn, with every breadth and every day I had. Right now, I am so lost without my beloved.


We always ended with a prayer of petitions for the intercession of the first jointly canonized couple - we aspired to live our marriage as they did, modeling ours on the Holy Family.  So here it is a little modified from what we always posted:  


“Lord, You give us an example of holiness in Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, parents of St. Thérèse. Who are saints by their faith and hope, the fidelity of their union and the observance of Your commandments; they inspire us to follow You. Deign Lord, to accept our prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of the last seven years and assistance of Saints Louis and Zélie in our marriage, love, and devotion for each other. Grant us the favor of MaryAnn's entrance into Heaven and that she will be with you in Heaven as soon as possible. - Amen.


Thank you and Love,
Matt