A Remarkable Friendship of Faith: Cancer survivor Tammy Peterson and Catholic convert Queenie Yu
A blessed Rosary and daily prayers in a hospital atrium sparked an extraordinary spiritual journey for Tammy Peterson. Recorded just five days before her confirmation into the Catholic Church, this intimate conversation reveals how suffering became the doorway to profound transformation.
Tammy's story begins with her daughter Mikhaela's childhood battle with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis—38 painful joints that left a young mother feeling helpless and questioning faith. Yet through this suffering, she found an unexpected connection with Mother Mary, who watched her own Son die on the Cross. This maternal bond became the foundation for a spiritual awakening years later when facing her own mortality.
When Queenie Yu brought a Rosary blessed by Pope Francis to Tammy's hospital room during her battle of a debilitating mystery illness post-cancer surgery, neither woman expected it would become a daily ritual spanning five weeks. Through these morning prayer sessions, Tammy not only learned the mysteries of the Rosary but began a deep process of reflection, grief, and spiritual growth. "It was the one orderly thing," Tammy recalls, "very deep because I was also going through my life."
The fruits of this transformation are evident throughout the conversation. Family members marvel at the dramatic changes in Tammy, with her husband noting how unusual it is to see someone of her age transform so completely. What emerges is a woman who remains deeply concerned for her loved ones but is no longer attached to controlling outcomes—a freedom born of surrender.
As Tammy prepared to take "Mary" as her Confirmation name before her Confirmation a year ago, she reflects on how she's "been looking for Mother Mary since I was a little kid." Her journey reminds us that conversion can be the sudden conversion like that of St. Paul or a result of the culmination of a lifetime of seeking truth, persevering in suffering, and ultimately, finding peace in surrender.
Have you experienced profound transformation through friendship or suffering? We'd love to hear your story. Share your thoughts and join our community of women seeking to live out their faith with courage and grace.
The Tammy Peterson Podcast can be found on all podcasting platforms, including YouTube and Apple Podcasts
https://youtube.com/@UCUwUe0mLO6vOob4NmBL4cpw
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-tammy-peterson-podcast/id1624988035
Queenie Yu is the Director of Character Education at Hawthorn School for Girls in North York, Ontario
https://hawthornschool.com
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To hear the conclusion of the story about Dr. Peterson's medical distress a few years ago, as told by his wife, Tammy, please watch or listen to this episode:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/39-tammy-peterson-prays-for-pope-francis-and-the/id1739137478?i=1000706745492
https://youtu.be/O8bGcrRl
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Queenie Yu (00:01):
And I was mentioning that one of the hardest things
is for a mom to watch her childsuffer, and I remember you
talking about Mikhaela as achild suffering a lot and I saw
you kind of like bonding withOur Lady then because she, like
you, watched.
(00:22):
You know your child suffer.
Tammy Peterson (00:25):
Yeah, yeah, it was a lot of suffering 38
affected joints.
When she was diagnosed 38painful joints, I thought, oh my
goodness, that's too much painfor a little 17.
Yeah, still makes me cry.
Sheila Nonato (00:42):
How did you get here?
Tammy Peterson (00:44):
Oh, it was hard.
It was hard, you know.
One thing that happened was myDad came to visit.
I don't know how old Mikhaelawas.
She even might have been doingbetter by then.
She might have been in JuniorHigh, because we got her on
medication and she went intoremission for a while and had
some really good years.
Actually, my Dad came to visit.
I was more hopeful and havingmore faith that things would and
(01:09):
I also began to pray to mymother when she passed away.
I brought that up with FatherPeter.
I said you know, I prayed to mymother for a long time.
He said I've heard of that.
He said, "eah, people do pray totheir mother and I realized
well, really, what I was doing.
I was praying to what was bestin my mom, which is Mother.
Mary.
That's, Mother Mary, what'sbest in a mother, and I used to
(01:34):
pray to my Mom to help Mikhaelaand Mikhaela got better.
Sheila Nonato (01:43):
Hello and Welcome to the Veil and Armour Podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist,
Seeking the guidance of the HolySpirit and the inspiration of
Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
(02:06):
.
Co-Host (02:06):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Tammy Peterson (02:14):
On this Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary we
celebrate the Feminine Geniusof Our Lady, her courage to say,
"yes to God's will, despite thecost and the sacrifice, all for
her great love for god.
We also celebrate the sixthanniversary this month of the
(02:36):
beginning of a beautifulfriendship between canadian
podcaster tammy peterson andfellow convert Queenie Yu, who
brought a rosary blessed by thelate Pope Francis to Tammy when
she was suffering from adebilitating illness in the
hospital, recovering frompost-cancer surgery and facing
(02:56):
10 months to live.
In this never-before-seeninterview, recorded a week
before Tammy's confirmation atHoly Rosary Church in Toronto,
canada, we hear how theirfriendship began with the rosary
and sparked an incrediblejourney towards prayer,
self-reflection and a surrenderto Jesus.
(03:23):
Good morning, Queenie, MrsPeterson, Thank You for joining
me today.
So it's been quite thefriendship between the two of
you, quite the spiritual journey.
How are you both feeling aboutthe upcoming confirmation?
Whoever wants to start first?
I'll let you start first.
How do I feel about it?
(03:44):
It feels good, it feels right.
I don't have any hesitation.
I feel like I'm gettinginvolved in something that I
have more to learn about, butthat's also good.
Queenie Yu (04:03):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
I think it's a beautiful moment.
I was thinking that, well, Iknow a number of people who have
entered the Church and somehave unfortunately left
afterwards and I think maybethey think that getting
confirmed or entering the Churchis like training for an Olympic
(04:24):
medal.
They take it seriously.
For a while they go to theclasses, they go for spiritual
direction.
You know, do the R.
C.
I.
A.
spiritual direction, but assoon as Confirmation arrives,
okay, they think that that's it.
But no, that's really thebeginning, and you know, the
(04:45):
beginning of a new way of living.
So some people forget that andthey forget that after
confirmation, they need tocontinue learning about the
faith, they need to continuepraying, continue going to
spiritual direction.
Yeah, and it really is a newbeginning.
Tammy Peterson (05:05):
So I guess I was fortunate because you taught me
to pray the Rosary long beforethis 2019.
Yeah, so that's long beforethis, and I continued to pray it
, so I have a practice of prayerthat will sustain me.
Queenie Yu (05:25):
Yeah, and that's really amazing, because when you
learned to pray the Rosary andyou went to the hospital, we
didn't see each other for awhile, but you continued praying
the Rosary every day.
I thought that was prettyamazing.
Tammy Peterson (05:34):
It was, and you know my history of doing yoga
and meditating every day and forsome reason you know, 13 years
old I decided that that wassomething to do.
It may have been suggested inthe book, or maybe my aunt told
me.
Well, when we were at her house, when she gave us the book, we
did yoga for five days every dayand then I went home with it.
(05:59):
So I just continued to do itevery day and I did yoga every
day until I was well into my 50s.
So, a very long practice.
And most recently I've beenpraying the rosary, but instead
of doing the Mysteries, I'vebeen reading.
I've been reading Scripture,and so this will get me through
the Bible.
(06:19):
So what a great way I slottedthe Bible into this tried and
true time of prayer.
Oh, I thought right on, it'sworking anyway.
Queenie Yu (06:33):
You know.
Speaking of yoga, I rememberwhen I went to visit you in the
hospital and we were praying therosary for some time and I
realized that something washappening with you, like you
were changing, you were gettingpeace.
And at one point in time Iasked you there are many people
who are sick, who rebel againstGod, but you were getting closer
(06:56):
to him.
And I asked you why.
And you mentioned that beforeyou used to do yoga, but then
afterwards you realized itwasn't enough.
You were looking for more,which was why you turned to God,
yoga, but then afterwards yourealized it wasn't enough.
You were looking for more,which was why you turned to God.
And afterwards I was reflectingon that, trying to understand it
, and I realized that yoga orchocolate chip cookies, or
whatever consolation we can getin times of difficulties, those
(07:19):
are human made, and anythingthat's made by us, who are
limited human beings, isultimately imperfect and limited
, whereas God is perfect.
He's all wisdom, he's allgoodness.
So when you said it wasn'tenough for you to go to yoga,
yeah, and it's westernized tooWesternized yoga so it's
(07:41):
definitely man-made right.
Tammy Peterson (07:43):
Yeah.
Because it's not.
I'm not a Hindu, I don't livein India, I don't understand the
deep spirituality of the yogicpractice and, as I've learned
through going to yoga classessince then and I've hardly ever
gone to any but they are not.
That's not what they're about.
(08:04):
They're really's not whatthey're about.
They're really about, you know,they're about staying present,
but they're about fitness aswell, and they might also be
about there's some meditation inthem, there's some
visualization, but it's notscripture.
And I look back at something Iwas reading I don't remember
(08:25):
what, and I read that the wholeidea of meditation was supposed
to be based on scripture andlots of people don't know that.
But that's really somethingpeople need to know.
Is that?
That's the deepness of it.
(08:52):
So, what would you say is theglue of your friendship, the
foundation of your friendship?
Well, it became a practice,didn't it?
Because you came every day forfive weeks.
So it became a practice, sametime every day.
I respond to practice Idefinitely do.
It was.
It was the one orderly thing, Ithink.
You know I that's not true.
My, my husband came to thehospital, my relatives came to
(09:15):
the hospital and we'd play cards.
Like so we did.
We did things regular, but thiswas 10 in the morning every day
for five weeks and I waslearning.
I was learning how to do thisand it was very deep because I
(09:37):
was also going through my life,right.
So it was a very deep time forme to learn what I was going
through and take the time tomeditate on that and to grieve.
So it was very wholesome too,right.
It was very well-rounded, itwas deep.
Queenie Yu (09:57):
And I was thinking initially, when I went to visit
you, I wasn't thinking, oh, I'mgoing to go every single day,
and I was just thinking okay,well, I'll visit.
I brought you the rosary, gaveyou the little pamphlet.
I was amazed that you wanted tolearn, but I realized I
couldn't teach you, right thenand there.
So I thought okay, I'll teachyou tomorrow.
(10:17):
And I remember the next day wasa Thursday, so we went over the
Luminous Mysteries and then Iwas amazed that you enjoyed
praying the rosary and I thought, okay, well, let's do it again,
but tomorrow it's the Sorrowful, so I need to teach you how to
do that.
That's why I came back, right,right.
And then the next day it wasSaturday, so, oh, that's the
(10:40):
Joyful, so I'll come back andteach you.
And then the next day wasSunday, I got to teach you the
gloss, and the next day wasMonday Okay, I have to teach you
the Joyful.
So it just happened day afterday.
Tammy Peterson (10:50):
Yeah, it was like one day at a time, I guess,
was it oh?
Queenie Yu (10:53):
Yeah, and then one thing that really amazed me was
how much you were getting out ofit.
And then I remember when wewere going over the Sorrowful
Mysteries, the fifth SorrowfulMystery, with Our Lady watching
her son die, and I wasmentioning that one of the
hardest things is for a mom towatch her child suffer, and I
(11:20):
remember you talking aboutbonding with Our Lady then
because she, like you, watched,you know, your child suffer.
Tammy Peterson (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, it was a lot of suffering 38
affected joints.
When she was diagnosed 38painful joints I thought, oh my
goodness, that's too much painfor a little seven-year-old.
Yeah, it makes me cry.
Sheila Nonato (11:55):
Wow, how did you get through that?
Tammy Peterson (11:57):
Oh, it was hard.
It was hard, you know.
One thing that happened was mydad came to visit I don't know
how old Mikhaela was she evenmight have been doing better by
then.
She might have been in JuniorHigh, because we got her on
medication and she went intoremission for a while and had
some really good years actuallyand my Dad came to visit with my
Mom and I was in the basementwith them.
(12:19):
Everybody was together, or wewere maybe on the main floor
together.
My Dad's a very jovial and biglaugh kind of guy, always
teasing, always making fun ofthings.
I went up to the bathroom and Ilooked at myself in the mirror
and I realized I wasn't smilingand that as a child I had been a
very smiley child.
And I thought, oh, oh, I didn'trealize.
(12:39):
And that as a child I had beena very smiley child.
And I thought, oh, oh, I didn'trealize I'd lost my smile.
Oh, so I thought, well, Ibetter start smiling then.
So I kind of looked in themirror and smiled and then I
started walking down the streetsand I'd smile at the people
that I met, and people sometimesthey'd look at me and they kind
of wanted their eyebrows and goup like what do you want and
what do you want, you know, kindof thing, and but other people
(13:02):
would smile back, it's like, "ohyes, you know, it's a lovely
day and it's nice to meet you,kind of thing.
But it's just a smile and afterit, first it felt forced, but
eventually it became normalagain and then my whole life
started to turn around.
Instead of being someone who washopeless and lost, I was more
(13:26):
hopeful and having more faiththat things would, and I also
began to pray to my mother whenshe passed away.
I brought that up with FatherPeter.
I said you know, I prayed to mymother for a long time.
He said, " I've heard of that.
He said you know, I prayed tomy mother for a long time.
He said I've heard of that.
He said, yeah, people do prayto their mother.
And I realized well, really,what I was doing.
I was praying to what was bestin my Mom, which is Mother Mary.
(13:47):
That's, Mother Mary, what'sbest in a mother.
And I used to pray to my Mom tohelp Mikhaela.
And Mikhaela got better, so andnow she's baptized, so blessed
again.
Yeah, so Mikhaela's come a longways Because she was.
Her faith was dashed, when shewas young, her faith.
(14:15):
She thought what God would putme in this much pain, you know.
So her faith was dashed.
But she's married to a man offaith now and I used to call her
and say, " hey, makayla, guesswhat happened?
I'd tell her a miracle.
Oh, she'd say Mom, I'm notthere yet.
And I'd say, "ouknow, it doesn't matter, I'm
just telling you, you know whatI'm celebrating.
" And then one day she called me.
(14:35):
She said Mom, somethinghappened, and that was three
years ago.
But then in the last monthsomething more profound happened
, and so she got baptized.
Sheila Nonato (14:52):
So I wanted to talk about confession, I guess
before you have your FirstConfession.
Tammy Peterson (14:55):
Oh yeah, okay, I've been thinking about it,
(Sheila (14:58):
Have you had your First Confession yet?
) Tammy (14:58):
"o, no.
Sheila Nonato (15:00):
What are your thoughts?
Tammy Peterson (15:01):
What are my thoughts?
What do you mean?
What are my thoughts?
Queenie Yu (15:07):
No need to do the public confession here, do you?
Sheila Nonato (15:09):
Do you have any hesitations?
Do you have any questions?
Tammy Peterson (15:12):
I don't have any hesitations.
I've been reading the Catechismjust to familiarized myself in
the Catholic way of figuring outwhat your sins are and what the
right way forward is.
So I've been familiarizingmyself with that which I need to
(15:32):
do for today, tomorrow andwhatever day comes after that.
And I'm curious to know,because it said that you're
supposed to think of thecardinal sin, really the sin
that you identify with most.
And I have a couple that Iidentify with, so it's not that
(15:53):
I only have one, so I'm going tohave to bring up a couple.
You know, when you go to thedoctor they say one thing at a
time, the priest just one, orcan I add in another one?
Yeah, so two.
I have two issues that I butI've been working on those
issues for a very long time.
The second one, probably moreseriously and more consciously,
(16:18):
really, since I've been goingthrough the catechism.
The other one, I've beenthinking about that one and
working through it continuallyfor, you know, five years or so,
but that is still.
The probably outstandingfeature of my tendency to fall
(16:39):
away is in that way.
Queenie Yu (16:42):
I have a handbook of prayers that has an examination
of conscience for all theCommandments.
Tammy Peterson (16:46):
Yeah.
Queenie Yu (16:46):
So I can lend it to you.
You can read through all thequestions and it helps you
examine.
Tammy Peterson (16:51):
Oh, okay.
Oh, that'd be good.
Queenie Yu (16:52):
In all areas.
And then so.
, yeah and then.
But I was thinking that, well,my mom recently had knee surgery
.
She both knees plus hip surgery.
But no matter how manysurgeries you have, you can't
walk the same as you did before.
You will never be.
(17:14):
She will never walk like her 2020- year- self or her five five-
year- self.
But when it comes to thespiritual life, no matter how
much we have fallen in the past,even grave sins, no matter how
much baggage we have, we can bemore beautiful than before.
Our soul can be more pure thanit was before with confession.
Tammy Peterson (17:36):
Yeah, there's no limit to the depth that can go
right, and there's no limit tothe height you can go, so, which
makes it an adventure beyondall adventures.
Sheila Nonato (17:51):
Do you remember your First Confession, Queenie?
Queenie Yu (17:54):
Yeah, well, the thing is I was baptized as an
adult, because I'm a convert aswell, and then with baptism it
wipes away all your sins, right?
So I didn't have to go toConfession before being received
into the or before gettingbaptized, but afterwards I was
told that it would be good toconfess everything, and it was
(18:20):
scary, yeah, and I rememberwalking out.
Well, even in the confessionalI was crying.
Tammy Peterson (18:32):
How much had you thought it through before you
went in there?
Queenie Yu (18:36):
I think I was praying for weeks, yeah and yeah
.
So I went to Confession and Iwas crying in the confessional
and I remember the priest sayingthat God literally forgets
everything that we've confessed.
So after we've made our, heliterally forgets.
(18:59):
He doesn't go back and say,"hey, remember the time you know
when you did this and you didit again.
Yeah, right, he doesn't do that.
No, so there's a clean slateand you can really begin anew
again.
So it was extremely liberatingit was extremely liberating,
Sheila Nonato (19:20):
Mrs.
Peterson, the last time I sawyou in Detroit.
I'd ask you if you had taken aConfirmation name.
Tammy Peterson (19:25):
Oh yeah, I've thought about it.
Sheila Nonato (19:26):
Will you keep your name?
Tammy Peterson (19:27):
No, actually Maureen is my second name, which
I've never really bonded with,I guess, and I think Mary.
I mean I was looking at all thestates and states and then I
thought, oh, I don't know whyI'm bothering doing that.
It's really I know.
I know what brought me here Iwas.
(19:48):
I've been looking for MotherMary since I was a little kid.
So, yes, it's Mother Mary, soMary Mary and that sounds, that
sounds right.
Sheila Nonato (20:03):
Do you feel like a new woman since all this
happened to you?
Tammy Peterson (20:08):
Yeah, yeah, and I would say my I was talking to
my daughter-in-law yesterday.
She was with me when we werewatching the Baptism (of my
daughter, Mikhaila).
We were watching together onthe phone.
It was nice that she was there,it was good, and she told me
that I've changed a lot Becauseactually, when she arrived was
2016, right before Jordan becamepublic, so she came into our
(20:33):
family just as it just scatteredreally, and then has slowly
been coming back together eversince and, um, at that time was
still three years before I wasvery sick and I was still, I was
(20:53):
still operating from place ofself-will mostly, you know, and
so that has changed a lot andshe said it has.
And my kids, all my kids, myhusband, they all say I've
changed a lot.
Queenie Yu (21:11):
Did they give you concrete?
examples
Tammy Peterson (21:16):
Um, I think that my .
.
.
you can tell, just to be withme, that I'm not.
I'm not concerned with theirtroubles so much.
I mean, it's not that I'm notconcerned, but I'm not attached
to them.
You know I'm joyous for themwhen they figure something out.
(21:39):
I'm sad for them when theyexperience something that's hard
on them.
You know I'm joyous for themwhen they figure something out.
I'm sad for them when theyexperience something that's hard
on them.
But it's not up to me to getinvolved in it any really any
more than that.
You know I can take them coughsyrup if they're sick and things
.
I can do things like that, butyou know it's not up to me.
They know, they know they'rethey, they know what they're
(22:02):
doing, and so I have.
I think I have more trust inthem.
And I think they noticed thatmy husband feels.
What does my husband feel?
He says that I, that he has noidea what I'm capable of because
I've changed so much.
He said he's very surprised.
He said it's very odd to seesomeone of your age change so
(22:24):
dramatically.
Doesn't that sound likesomething you would say?
And that he's very excited tosee what's next.
Yeah.
Sheila Nonato (22:39):
So the next Sacrament I wanted to touch upon
is the Holy Eucharist.
So your First Holy Communion.
Again, do you have anythoughts, um, preparation?
I've talked to Father Peterabout it.
Uh, I'm just gonna have a teenylittle bit of gluten-free
(Host), and he said that thatwas fine, and that I do it once
(22:59):
a year on Easter and that's good.
So yeah, so we have thatorganized, yep.
And how about for you, Queenie?
What does the Eucharist meanfor you?
Tammy Peterson (23:10):
Yeah, I won't know.
Queenie Yu (23:13):
It's our daily bread , yes, and it's the source of
our transformation in Christ.
I remember well when I decidedto become a Catholic.
There were many truths of thefaith that I had to learn and
some were more difficult for meto accept, and the Eucharist was
one of them.
(23:33):
But I went to the chapel at theuniversity every single day to
do a visit to the BlessedSacrament.
And I remember one day I waspraying for something that I
thought was very important Now Idon't remember what it was and
then later on my prayer wasanswered.
So I was so delighted I wentback to the chapel to thank our
(23:55):
Lord and I said I wish I couldgive you a hug to thank you.
And then I remembered wait aminute: Communion.
That is a spiritual hug to God.
That's the way we can becomephysically close with God,
receiving Communion.
So that's when I understood theEucharist, and it just so
happens that Eucharist meansThanksgiving.
Tammy Peterson (24:17):
Do you feel that way when you go to Church,
though, also that that's whatyou're doing, is you're you know
, when you get on your knees,you go there because you're, um,
you're becoming, you'rebecoming, uh, humble in the
sight of God.
Queenie Yu (24:33):
Yeah, yeah, I find that I need to go to Mass uh.
Every Otherwise I'm a wreck.
And also it's a reminder that Ineed to be humble and to accept
the fact that things aren't inmy control.
Tammy Peterson (24:54):
Right.
Queenie Yu (24:55):
That, even though I want to plan things out, and
there's sometimes when I havegood ideas, but really God has
the best ideas and he has thebest solutions to all our
problems.
Tammy Peterson (25:08):
Right.
Queenie Yu (25:09):
So if I go to Mass I can pray, abandon those
problems in him and things willwork out better than if I had
tried to solve them myself.
Tammy Peterson (25:19):
Yeah.
Yeah, well, that's what I havedone, you know, maybe
imperfectly, by praying theRosary every morning.
But I have read.
I've been reading a book byDavid Calloway, the History and
Heroes of the Rosary.
It's a very good book that itcame from the 13th century in
(25:42):
France and then during thebubonic plague it got brought to
England.
So it survived the bubonicplague and it was the Dominicans
who brought it and they're nowthe Black Friars in England and
they call themselves the Dogs ofGod and they have the Rosary
here and a sword here.
Yeah, it's very cool, and justthe whole idea of it going from
(26:03):
150 down to 50.
And the whole idea of there wasa monk, a young monk, who
before he went into the seminaryhe used to pick roses to put
around Mary and then when he gotinto the monastery they
wouldn't allow him his roses andso he used to imagine with
(26:24):
every prayer he would put a rosearound Mary and they ended up
calling it the Rosary because ofthat.
Yeah, I've only read a littlebit of the book, but I've
already got all of that out ofit.
Queenie Yu (26:36):
So the other thing about the Mass is the entire
church is there.
You know, Heaven, all theangels, everybody who has passed
away, who has gone to heaven,people who are in purgatory or
souls in purgatory.
My friends in other countriesand I remember when some of my
(27:02):
friends were leaving Rome theywere studying there and they
were talking with Bishop JavierEchavarria, who was the prelate
of Opus Dei at the time, andthey were telling Bishop Javier,
you know what?
We don't want to leave Rome, wedon't want to leave you because
you're a spiritual father.
And then he said we'll meet inthe mass.
(27:22):
And I was thinking this is thisis so profound and but true
that if we have parents,relatives, friends who are far
away, we can be close with themin the Mass yeah, that's good.
Sheila Nonato (27:40):
So my next question is and so this past
weekend you were in a room ofmore than 500 women.
Tammy Peterson (27:46):
I was yeah, Wow.
Sheila Nonato (27:48):
The theme seems to be a call to action for women
of faith to live out theirvocation.
What does this mean for both ofyou?
Tammy Peterson (28:01):
Well, for me it means really being being present
, paying attention and reallydoing the next right thing.
But for me, that next rightthing is to interview people.
Interview people who havesomething to share with me that
(28:23):
might be helpful to the youngpeople.
That's what seems to be callingme, and Jordan told me.
He said Abraham was an old manwhen he was told to leave his
father's tent, and what were thegifts he got when he did leave
and went out on his adventure?
(28:44):
He had gifts.
The gifts to himself was thathe became more rounded, more
amorphous, fully alive, and hehad gifts of sharing with his
family and his community andalso being a father of nations,
and so his scope of influencewidened.
(29:07):
And he said those are the giftsof God that you can.
If you take on this challenge,then you can have these gifts
come to you if you're fullyinvolved.
Queenie Yu (29:27):
When I was at the conference I was thinking, wow,
all these women who are on firefor love of God.
It's beautiful to see.
And I was thinking I want tohelp more people get to know God
.
I want to help more people getto know God.
I want to help more people getcloser to God.
And the action-oriented personin me wants to just go and talk
(29:47):
to people and send emails orwhatever it is right.
But then the other, more formedindividual, says I have to pray.
If I want to reach more people,I need to pray more.
So I have to work on my prayerlife.
I have to be like Our Lady, whowas an incredible contemplative
(30:10):
but also an action-orientedperson.
And you see that at theAnnunciation where the angel
Gabriel appears to her, she'spraying about what God's will is
.
She's able to say yes,immediately.
But because she knew that hercousin Elizabeth was pregnant
(30:30):
from the angel Gabriel,immediately she goes and takes
care of Elizabeth.
She doesn't think, oh my gosh,I have this big mission.
I got to get my life sorted, Igot to organize my things, I've
got so much to do, Me, me, me,no.
She thinks about Elizabeth.
So I, after attending thatconference, my resolution is if
(30:51):
I want to do more, I need topray more.
Sheila Nonato (30:57):
Just on this topic of women in society, there
seems to be a movement toredefine what is a woman.
So what is a woman?
How would you define a womanand what is her role in society?
Tammy Peterson (31:11):
Well, the thing that I think that something that
we've lost is community.
The Church was the center ofevery community.
The Church was the center ofevery community and it isn't the
center of everyone's communitynow.
It's still a central, it'sstill a center, but who is
(31:35):
taking part in that center?
Not as many people.
So that means that thecommunity is fractured.
Women have gone out to work, sothey've left their communities,
so that means that they've leftthat center.
That would.
If someone is feeling lostwithin the community, there's
usually other people around whocan, who can notice and pay
(31:58):
attention, and now that's beenfractured.
So then you know, you can livein a neighborhood nowadays and
maybe your community getstogether once a year and you
find out who's moved to town,who's died, you know who's
graduated.
You don't even know that,except for that one day a year,
whereas he used to knoweverything because all the women
(32:19):
were connected on the street orin the neighbouirhoods.
That's gone, and so that meansthe children.
Now they don't have thatmooring anymore and we're seeing
what's happening to childrenbecause of that.
So I think we really, and itdoes come back to the Church,
but as it comes back to theChurch then it goes into your
(32:43):
community and into your familiesand so then the families aren't
being held together like theywere and the communities aren't
being held together like theywere and the whole community
around the church isn't beingheld as tightly as it was.
So having all those women,those 513 women or something,
all together in one room, thatwas very powerful.
(33:06):
To see Women, it was good.
Women, women trying, womentrying to really trying to do
the next right thing, just therepresent, seeing what they could
do, that's good.
Queenie Yu (33:26):
Yeah, it was good.
So it's, you know, how do yousay what a woman is.
But I work in.
Well, I work at Hawthorn Schoolfor Girls (Toronto) and I work
with girls of all ages and Ihave been working, or I've been
living, at Kintore College withuniversity students for a number
(33:46):
of years and when I startedworking at Hawthorne I thought,
oh well, you know, the girlsshould be similar to the
university students that I workwith.
Nothing could be further fromthe truth.
Because as soon as I was exposedto the high school girls, I
realized, "oh my goodness,they're so emotional.
Their perception of reality isa little bit off.
(34:09):
Sometimes they cry so much orthey care so much about what
others think of them.
Their sense of belonging ordesire for belonging is so great
.
Anyway, they have a lot tomature, a lot to grow.
So there's a lot of emotionthere and when you're a woman
(34:34):
you can understand that, BecauseI remember wait, look at that.
And then women can give youngerwomen a lot of security, saying
I understand how you feel thisis going to pass.
I felt that too.
Exactly Right.
I know you feel that your worldis falling because your friend
(34:58):
seems like she doesn't love youanymore, but that's not the case
.
You know, we can understandother women better in a way that
men can't.
The other thing is, if we useour gifts of intuition and
(35:18):
empathy, we could reallyencourage people to be the best.
For example, Our Lady.
When the apostles fled from theCross, they saw that Our Lord
died.
I'm sure they were verydiscouraged, sad.
They were ashamed that they hadabandoned him, but she was the
(35:40):
one who encouraged them and saidyou know what Keep going.
There's forgiveness, you can doit.
So I think, women, through ourempathy, our intuition, we could
really bring out the best inindividuals.
Sheila Nonato (35:58):
So the last question.
So when we're talking, we weretalking about the stories of the
scene.
Your husband had been injuredand he's in the bathroom.
What was going through yourmind?
I'm thinking about the crossand the suffering, and what was
going through your mind, whatwas happening at that point?
Tammy Peterson (36:16):
Well, I think, you know, I felt an urge to go
upstairs and then I felt an urgeto check in the room, in the
bathroom, I heard the showergoing.
I knew he was in the shower, um, and when I opened the door and
he was, uh, laying on the floor, my first thought was, um, that
he, that I should check on him,right, that I should check on
(36:38):
him, right, that I should checkon him.
And when I leaned over him, hesaid you know, what'd he say?
"Don't bother me, or don'ttouch me, or something like that
.
and I was like, "a ha, you'renot as sick as you thought you
were
Sheila Nonato (36:57):
To listen to the conclusion of the story about Dr
.
Peterson's medical distress afew years ago.
You can listen to the episode39, when Tammy Peterson prays
for Pope Francis in the conclave, talks about faith, family and
motherhood and finding courageto answer God's call, or you can
also watch it on YouTube, whereshe talks about the role of
(37:18):
women in faith and family, andit is a conversation on the
one-year anniversary of herconfirmation in Toronto at Holy
Rosary Parish.
I will also include it in theshow notes.
Thank you to Queenie Yu andTammy Peterson for sharing the
story of their friendship andconversion.
May we have the boldness tofollow Queenie's lead by
(37:40):
inviting others to come to knowthe Feminine Genius of Mary, and
the beauty of faith in God.
May we emulate the courage ofTammy Peterson to say, Yes" to
God in carrying our cross withgrace, humility and gratitude.
That we can say in confidenceand live by the words: "Jesus, I
(38:03):
trust in you.
The story told by Tammy abouther health struggles and her
husband's health struggles yearsago reminds us how fragile life
can be and how powerful prayerscan be.
Recently, Tammy and Jordan'sdaughter, Mikhaela, shared how
her father is battling a newhealth crisis: Chronic
(38:25):
Inflammatory Response Syndrome.
Please join me in praying the St.
Josemaria Novena prayer for Dr.
Jordan B .Peterson.
It was this very same prayerwhere Tammy was healed of a
mystery illness afterpost-cancer surgery.
It was on the fifth day ofpraying the Novena.
(38:45):
And when Tammy was healed ontheir wedding, on her wedding
anniversary, and it was promisedthat she had made to her
husband that she would be healedby then.
And it miraculously, happened.
In the name of the Father and ofthe Son of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Oh God, through the mediationof Mary, our Mother, you granted
(39:07):
your priest, Saint Jose maria,countless graces, choosing him
as the most faithful instrument,the founder Opus Dei, a way of
sanctification in daily work andin the fulfillment of a
Christian's ordinary duties.
Grant that I, too, may learn toturn all the circumstances and
events of my life into occasionsof loving you and serving the
(39:30):
Church, the Pope and all soulswith joy and simplicity,
lighting up the pathways of thisearth with faith and love.
Deign to grant me, through theintercession of St Josemaria,
the favour we ask today for thehealing of Dr.
Jordan B .Peterson and for hisgranddaughter, Audrey.
(39:51):
Amen.
our Father, who art in Heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as itis in Heaven.
Give us this day our dailybread ,and forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive thosewho trespass against us, and
lead us not into temptation butdeliver us from evil.
Amen.
Hail hail Mary, full of grace,the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
(40:14):
womb, Jesus jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and
at the hour of our death.
.
,Glory glory be to the Father and
to the Son and to the HolySpirit.
As it was in the beginning, asnow, it ever shall be world
without end.
Amen, In in the name of theFather and the Son, the Holy
Spirit, Amen.
Thank thank you very much forjoining us, us and we look
(40:36):
forward to speaking with youagain and bringing more stories
of the Feminine feminine Genius,genius and God's amazing,
awesome love Godbless
.
(40:58):
Thank you for listening to theVeil and Armor podcast.
Co-Host (41:01):
I invite you to share this with another Catholic mom
today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel and please
spread the word.
Let's be brave, let's be boldand be blessed together.
And I was mentioning that one of the hardest things
is for a mom to watch her childsuffer, and I remember you
talking about Mikhaela as achild suffering a lot and I saw
you kind of like bonding withOur Lady then because she, like
you, watched.
(00:22):
You know your child suffer.
Tammy Peterson (00:25):
Yeah, yeah, it was a lot of suffering 38
affected joints.
When she was diagnosed 38painful joints, I thought, oh my
goodness, that's too much painfor a little 17.
Yeah, still makes me cry.
Sheila Nonato (00:42):
How did you get here?
Tammy Peterson (00:44):
Oh, it was hard.
It was hard, you know.
One thing that happened was myDad came to visit.
I don't know how old Mikhaelawas.
She even might have been doingbetter by then.
She might have been in JuniorHigh, because we got her on
medication and she went intoremission for a while and had
some really good years.
Actually, my Dad came to visit.
I was more hopeful and havingmore faith that things would and
(01:09):
I also began to pray to mymother when she passed away.
I brought that up with FatherPeter.
I said you know, I prayed to mymother for a long time.
He said I've heard of that.
He said, "eah, people do pray totheir mother and I realized
well, really, what I was doing.
I was praying to what was bestin my mom, which is Mother.
Mary.
That's, Mother Mary, what'sbest in a mother, and I used to
(01:34):
pray to my Mom to help Mikhaelaand Mikhaela got better.
Sheila Nonato (01:43):
Hello and Welcome to the Veil and Armour Podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist,
Seeking the guidance of the HolySpirit and the inspiration of
Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
(02:06):
.
Co-Host (02:06):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Tammy Peterson (02:14):
On this Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary we
celebrate the Feminine Geniusof Our Lady, her courage to say,
"yes to God's will, despite thecost and the sacrifice, all for
her great love for god.
We also celebrate the sixthanniversary this month of the
(02:36):
beginning of a beautifulfriendship between canadian
podcaster tammy peterson andfellow convert Queenie Yu, who
brought a rosary blessed by thelate Pope Francis to Tammy when
she was suffering from adebilitating illness in the
hospital, recovering frompost-cancer surgery and facing
(02:56):
10 months to live.
In this never-before-seeninterview, recorded a week
before Tammy's confirmation atHoly Rosary Church in Toronto,
canada, we hear how theirfriendship began with the rosary
and sparked an incrediblejourney towards prayer,
self-reflection and a surrenderto Jesus.
(03:23):
Good morning, Queenie, MrsPeterson, Thank You for joining
me today.
So it's been quite thefriendship between the two of
you, quite the spiritual journey.
How are you both feeling aboutthe upcoming confirmation?
Whoever wants to start first?
I'll let you start first.
How do I feel about it?
(03:44):
It feels good, it feels right.
I don't have any hesitation.
I feel like I'm gettinginvolved in something that I
have more to learn about, butthat's also good.
Queenie Yu (04:03):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
I think it's a beautiful moment.
I was thinking that, well, Iknow a number of people who have
entered the Church and somehave unfortunately left
afterwards and I think maybethey think that getting
confirmed or entering the Churchis like training for an Olympic
(04:24):
medal.
They take it seriously.
For a while they go to theclasses, they go for spiritual
direction.
You know, do the R.
C.
I.
A.
spiritual direction, but assoon as Confirmation arrives,
okay, they think that that's it.
But no, that's really thebeginning, and you know, the
(04:45):
beginning of a new way of living.
So some people forget that andthey forget that after
confirmation, they need tocontinue learning about the
faith, they need to continuepraying, continue going to
spiritual direction.
Yeah, and it really is a newbeginning.
Tammy Peterson (05:05):
So I guess I was fortunate because you taught me
to pray the Rosary long beforethis 2019.
Yeah, so that's long beforethis, and I continued to pray it
, so I have a practice of prayerthat will sustain me.
Queenie Yu (05:25):
Yeah, and that's really amazing, because when you
learned to pray the Rosary andyou went to the hospital, we
didn't see each other for awhile, but you continued praying
the Rosary every day.
I thought that was prettyamazing.
Tammy Peterson (05:34):
It was, and you know my history of doing yoga
and meditating every day and forsome reason you know, 13 years
old I decided that that wassomething to do.
It may have been suggested inthe book, or maybe my aunt told
me.
Well, when we were at her house, when she gave us the book, we
did yoga for five days every dayand then I went home with it.
(05:59):
So I just continued to do itevery day and I did yoga every
day until I was well into my 50s.
So, a very long practice.
And most recently I've beenpraying the rosary, but instead
of doing the Mysteries, I'vebeen reading.
I've been reading Scripture,and so this will get me through
the Bible.
(06:19):
So what a great way I slottedthe Bible into this tried and
true time of prayer.
Oh, I thought right on, it'sworking anyway.
Queenie Yu (06:33):
You know.
Speaking of yoga, I rememberwhen I went to visit you in the
hospital and we were praying therosary for some time and I
realized that something washappening with you, like you
were changing, you were gettingpeace.
And at one point in time Iasked you there are many people
who are sick, who rebel againstGod, but you were getting closer
(06:56):
to him.
And I asked you why.
And you mentioned that beforeyou used to do yoga, but then
afterwards you realized itwasn't enough.
You were looking for more,which was why you turned to God,
yoga, but then afterwards yourealized it wasn't enough.
You were looking for more,which was why you turned to God.
And afterwards I was reflectingon that, trying to understand it
, and I realized that yoga orchocolate chip cookies, or
whatever consolation we can getin times of difficulties, those
(07:19):
are human made, and anythingthat's made by us, who are
limited human beings, isultimately imperfect and limited
, whereas God is perfect.
He's all wisdom, he's allgoodness.
So when you said it wasn'tenough for you to go to yoga,
yeah, and it's westernized tooWesternized yoga so it's
(07:41):
definitely man-made right.
Tammy Peterson (07:43):
Yeah.
Because it's not.
I'm not a Hindu, I don't livein India, I don't understand the
deep spirituality of the yogicpractice and, as I've learned
through going to yoga classessince then and I've hardly ever
gone to any but they are not.
That's not what they're about.
(08:04):
They're really's not whatthey're about.
They're really about, you know,they're about staying present,
but they're about fitness aswell, and they might also be
about there's some meditation inthem, there's some
visualization, but it's notscripture.
And I look back at something Iwas reading I don't remember
(08:25):
what, and I read that the wholeidea of meditation was supposed
to be based on scripture andlots of people don't know that.
But that's really somethingpeople need to know.
Is that?
That's the deepness of it.
(08:52):
So, what would you say is theglue of your friendship, the
foundation of your friendship?
Well, it became a practice,didn't it?
Because you came every day forfive weeks.
So it became a practice, sametime every day.
I respond to practice Idefinitely do.
It was.
It was the one orderly thing, Ithink.
You know I that's not true.
My, my husband came to thehospital, my relatives came to
(09:15):
the hospital and we'd play cards.
Like so we did.
We did things regular, but thiswas 10 in the morning every day
for five weeks and I waslearning.
I was learning how to do thisand it was very deep because I
(09:37):
was also going through my life,right.
So it was a very deep time forme to learn what I was going
through and take the time tomeditate on that and to grieve.
So it was very wholesome too,right.
It was very well-rounded, itwas deep.
Queenie Yu (09:57):
And I was thinking initially, when I went to visit
you, I wasn't thinking, oh, I'mgoing to go every single day,
and I was just thinking okay,well, I'll visit.
I brought you the rosary, gaveyou the little pamphlet.
I was amazed that you wanted tolearn, but I realized I
couldn't teach you, right thenand there.
So I thought okay, I'll teachyou tomorrow.
(10:17):
And I remember the next day wasa Thursday, so we went over the
Luminous Mysteries and then Iwas amazed that you enjoyed
praying the rosary and I thought, okay, well, let's do it again,
but tomorrow it's the Sorrowful, so I need to teach you how to
do that.
That's why I came back, right,right.
And then the next day it wasSaturday, so, oh, that's the
(10:40):
Joyful, so I'll come back andteach you.
And then the next day wasSunday, I got to teach you the
gloss, and the next day wasMonday Okay, I have to teach you
the Joyful.
So it just happened day afterday.
Tammy Peterson (10:50):
Yeah, it was like one day at a time, I guess,
was it oh?
Queenie Yu (10:53):
Yeah, and then one thing that really amazed me was
how much you were getting out ofit.
And then I remember when wewere going over the Sorrowful
Mysteries, the fifth SorrowfulMystery, with Our Lady watching
her son die, and I wasmentioning that one of the
hardest things is for a mom towatch her child suffer, and I
(11:20):
remember you talking aboutbonding with Our Lady then
because she, like you, watched,you know, your child suffer.
Tammy Peterson (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, it was a lot of suffering 38
affected joints.
When she was diagnosed 38painful joints I thought, oh my
goodness, that's too much painfor a little seven-year-old.
Yeah, it makes me cry.
Sheila Nonato (11:55):
Wow, how did you get through that?
Tammy Peterson (11:57):
Oh, it was hard.
It was hard, you know.
One thing that happened was mydad came to visit I don't know
how old Mikhaela was she evenmight have been doing better by
then.
She might have been in JuniorHigh, because we got her on
medication and she went intoremission for a while and had
some really good years actuallyand my Dad came to visit with my
Mom and I was in the basementwith them.
(12:19):
Everybody was together, or wewere maybe on the main floor
together.
My Dad's a very jovial and biglaugh kind of guy, always
teasing, always making fun ofthings.
I went up to the bathroom and Ilooked at myself in the mirror
and I realized I wasn't smilingand that as a child I had been a
very smiley child.
And I thought, oh, oh, I didn'trealize.
(12:39):
And that as a child I had beena very smiley child.
And I thought, oh, oh, I didn'trealize I'd lost my smile.
Oh, so I thought, well, Ibetter start smiling then.
So I kind of looked in themirror and smiled and then I
started walking down the streetsand I'd smile at the people
that I met, and people sometimesthey'd look at me and they kind
of wanted their eyebrows and goup like what do you want and
what do you want, you know, kindof thing, and but other people
(13:02):
would smile back, it's like, "ohyes, you know, it's a lovely
day and it's nice to meet you,kind of thing.
But it's just a smile and afterit, first it felt forced, but
eventually it became normalagain and then my whole life
started to turn around.
Instead of being someone who washopeless and lost, I was more
(13:26):
hopeful and having more faiththat things would, and I also
began to pray to my mother whenshe passed away.
I brought that up with FatherPeter.
I said you know, I prayed to mymother for a long time.
He said, " I've heard of that.
He said you know, I prayed tomy mother for a long time.
He said I've heard of that.
He said, yeah, people do prayto their mother.
And I realized well, really,what I was doing.
I was praying to what was bestin my Mom, which is Mother Mary.
(13:47):
That's, Mother Mary, what'sbest in a mother.
And I used to pray to my Mom tohelp Mikhaela.
And Mikhaela got better, so andnow she's baptized, so blessed
again.
Yeah, so Mikhaela's come a longways Because she was.
Her faith was dashed, when shewas young, her faith.
(14:15):
She thought what God would putme in this much pain, you know.
So her faith was dashed.
But she's married to a man offaith now and I used to call her
and say, " hey, makayla, guesswhat happened?
I'd tell her a miracle.
Oh, she'd say Mom, I'm notthere yet.
And I'd say, "ouknow, it doesn't matter, I'm
just telling you, you know whatI'm celebrating.
" And then one day she called me.
(14:35):
She said Mom, somethinghappened, and that was three
years ago.
But then in the last monthsomething more profound happened
, and so she got baptized.
Sheila Nonato (14:52):
So I wanted to talk about confession, I guess
before you have your FirstConfession.
Tammy Peterson (14:55):
Oh yeah, okay, I've been thinking about it,
(Sheila (14:58):
Have you had your First Confession yet?
) Tammy (14:58):
"o, no.
Sheila Nonato (15:00):
What are your thoughts?
Tammy Peterson (15:01):
What are my thoughts?
What do you mean?
What are my thoughts?
Queenie Yu (15:07):
No need to do the public confession here, do you?
Sheila Nonato (15:09):
Do you have any hesitations?
Do you have any questions?
Tammy Peterson (15:12):
I don't have any hesitations.
I've been reading the Catechismjust to familiarized myself in
the Catholic way of figuring outwhat your sins are and what the
right way forward is.
So I've been familiarizingmyself with that which I need to
(15:32):
do for today, tomorrow andwhatever day comes after that.
And I'm curious to know,because it said that you're
supposed to think of thecardinal sin, really the sin
that you identify with most.
And I have a couple that Iidentify with, so it's not that
(15:53):
I only have one, so I'm going tohave to bring up a couple.
You know, when you go to thedoctor they say one thing at a
time, the priest just one, orcan I add in another one?
Yeah, so two.
I have two issues that I butI've been working on those
issues for a very long time.
The second one, probably moreseriously and more consciously,
(16:18):
really, since I've been goingthrough the catechism.
The other one, I've beenthinking about that one and
working through it continuallyfor, you know, five years or so,
but that is still.
The probably outstandingfeature of my tendency to fall
(16:39):
away is in that way.
Queenie Yu (16:42):
I have a handbook of prayers that has an examination
of conscience for all theCommandments.
Tammy Peterson (16:46):
Yeah.
Queenie Yu (16:46):
So I can lend it to you.
You can read through all thequestions and it helps you
examine.
Tammy Peterson (16:51):
Oh, okay.
Oh, that'd be good.
Queenie Yu (16:52):
In all areas.
And then so.
, yeah and then.
But I was thinking that, well,my mom recently had knee surgery
.
She both knees plus hip surgery.
But no matter how manysurgeries you have, you can't
walk the same as you did before.
You will never be.
(17:14):
She will never walk like her 2020- year- self or her five five-
year- self.
But when it comes to thespiritual life, no matter how
much we have fallen in the past,even grave sins, no matter how
much baggage we have, we can bemore beautiful than before.
Our soul can be more pure thanit was before with confession.
Tammy Peterson (17:36):
Yeah, there's no limit to the depth that can go
right, and there's no limit tothe height you can go, so, which
makes it an adventure beyondall adventures.
Sheila Nonato (17:51):
Do you remember your First Confession, Queenie?
Queenie Yu (17:54):
Yeah, well, the thing is I was baptized as an
adult, because I'm a convert aswell, and then with baptism it
wipes away all your sins, right?
So I didn't have to go toConfession before being received
into the or before gettingbaptized, but afterwards I was
told that it would be good toconfess everything, and it was
(18:20):
scary, yeah, and I rememberwalking out.
Well, even in the confessionalI was crying.
Tammy Peterson (18:32):
How much had you thought it through before you
went in there?
Queenie Yu (18:36):
I think I was praying for weeks, yeah and yeah
.
So I went to Confession and Iwas crying in the confessional
and I remember the priest sayingthat God literally forgets
everything that we've confessed.
So after we've made our, heliterally forgets.
(18:59):
He doesn't go back and say,"hey, remember the time you know
when you did this and you didit again.
Yeah, right, he doesn't do that.
No, so there's a clean slateand you can really begin anew
again.
So it was extremely liberatingit was extremely liberating,
Sheila Nonato (19:20):
Mrs.
Peterson, the last time I sawyou in Detroit.
I'd ask you if you had taken aConfirmation name.
Tammy Peterson (19:25):
Oh yeah, I've thought about it.
Sheila Nonato (19:26):
Will you keep your name?
Tammy Peterson (19:27):
No, actually Maureen is my second name, which
I've never really bonded with,I guess, and I think Mary.
I mean I was looking at all thestates and states and then I
thought, oh, I don't know whyI'm bothering doing that.
It's really I know.
I know what brought me here Iwas.
(19:48):
I've been looking for MotherMary since I was a little kid.
So, yes, it's Mother Mary, soMary Mary and that sounds, that
sounds right.
Sheila Nonato (20:03):
Do you feel like a new woman since all this
happened to you?
Tammy Peterson (20:08):
Yeah, yeah, and I would say my I was talking to
my daughter-in-law yesterday.
She was with me when we werewatching the Baptism (of my
daughter, Mikhaila).
We were watching together onthe phone.
It was nice that she was there,it was good, and she told me
that I've changed a lot Becauseactually, when she arrived was
2016, right before Jordan becamepublic, so she came into our
(20:33):
family just as it just scatteredreally, and then has slowly
been coming back together eversince and, um, at that time was
still three years before I wasvery sick and I was still, I was
(20:53):
still operating from place ofself-will mostly, you know, and
so that has changed a lot andshe said it has.
And my kids, all my kids, myhusband, they all say I've
changed a lot.
Queenie Yu (21:11):
Did they give you concrete?
examples
Tammy Peterson (21:16):
Um, I think that my .
.
.
you can tell, just to be withme, that I'm not.
I'm not concerned with theirtroubles so much.
I mean, it's not that I'm notconcerned, but I'm not attached
to them.
You know I'm joyous for themwhen they figure something out.
(21:39):
I'm sad for them when theyexperience something that's hard
on them.
You know I'm joyous for themwhen they figure something out.
I'm sad for them when theyexperience something that's hard
on them.
But it's not up to me to getinvolved in it any really any
more than that.
You know I can take them coughsyrup if they're sick and things
.
I can do things like that, butyou know it's not up to me.
They know, they know they'rethey, they know what they're
(22:02):
doing, and so I have.
I think I have more trust inthem.
And I think they noticed thatmy husband feels.
What does my husband feel?
He says that I, that he has noidea what I'm capable of because
I've changed so much.
He said he's very surprised.
He said it's very odd to seesomeone of your age change so
(22:24):
dramatically.
Doesn't that sound likesomething you would say?
And that he's very excited tosee what's next.
Yeah.
Sheila Nonato (22:39):
So the next Sacrament I wanted to touch upon
is the Holy Eucharist.
So your First Holy Communion.
Again, do you have anythoughts, um, preparation?
I've talked to Father Peterabout it.
Uh, I'm just gonna have a teenylittle bit of gluten-free
(Host), and he said that thatwas fine, and that I do it once
(22:59):
a year on Easter and that's good.
So yeah, so we have thatorganized, yep.
And how about for you, Queenie?
What does the Eucharist meanfor you?
Tammy Peterson (23:10):
Yeah, I won't know.
Queenie Yu (23:13):
It's our daily bread , yes, and it's the source of
our transformation in Christ.
I remember well when I decidedto become a Catholic.
There were many truths of thefaith that I had to learn and
some were more difficult for meto accept, and the Eucharist was
one of them.
(23:33):
But I went to the chapel at theuniversity every single day to
do a visit to the BlessedSacrament.
And I remember one day I waspraying for something that I
thought was very important Now Idon't remember what it was and
then later on my prayer wasanswered.
So I was so delighted I wentback to the chapel to thank our
(23:55):
Lord and I said I wish I couldgive you a hug to thank you.
And then I remembered wait aminute: Communion.
That is a spiritual hug to God.
That's the way we can becomephysically close with God,
receiving Communion.
So that's when I understood theEucharist, and it just so
happens that Eucharist meansThanksgiving.
Tammy Peterson (24:17):
Do you feel that way when you go to Church,
though, also that that's whatyou're doing, is you're you know
, when you get on your knees,you go there because you're, um,
you're becoming, you'rebecoming, uh, humble in the
sight of God.
Queenie Yu (24:33):
Yeah, yeah, I find that I need to go to Mass uh.
Every Otherwise I'm a wreck.
And also it's a reminder that Ineed to be humble and to accept
the fact that things aren't inmy control.
Tammy Peterson (24:54):
Right.
Queenie Yu (24:55):
That, even though I want to plan things out, and
there's sometimes when I havegood ideas, but really God has
the best ideas and he has thebest solutions to all our
problems.
Tammy Peterson (25:08):
Right.
Queenie Yu (25:09):
So if I go to Mass I can pray, abandon those
problems in him and things willwork out better than if I had
tried to solve them myself.
Tammy Peterson (25:19):
Yeah.
Yeah, well, that's what I havedone, you know, maybe
imperfectly, by praying theRosary every morning.
But I have read.
I've been reading a book byDavid Calloway, the History and
Heroes of the Rosary.
It's a very good book that itcame from the 13th century in
(25:42):
France and then during thebubonic plague it got brought to
England.
So it survived the bubonicplague and it was the Dominicans
who brought it and they're nowthe Black Friars in England and
they call themselves the Dogs ofGod and they have the Rosary
here and a sword here.
Yeah, it's very cool, and justthe whole idea of it going from
(26:03):
150 down to 50.
And the whole idea of there wasa monk, a young monk, who
before he went into the seminaryhe used to pick roses to put
around Mary and then when he gotinto the monastery they
wouldn't allow him his roses andso he used to imagine with
(26:24):
every prayer he would put a rosearound Mary and they ended up
calling it the Rosary because ofthat.
Yeah, I've only read a littlebit of the book, but I've
already got all of that out ofit.
Queenie Yu (26:36):
So the other thing about the Mass is the entire
church is there.
You know, Heaven, all theangels, everybody who has passed
away, who has gone to heaven,people who are in purgatory or
souls in purgatory.
My friends in other countriesand I remember when some of my
(27:02):
friends were leaving Rome theywere studying there and they
were talking with Bishop JavierEchavarria, who was the prelate
of Opus Dei at the time, andthey were telling Bishop Javier,
you know what?
We don't want to leave Rome, wedon't want to leave you because
you're a spiritual father.
And then he said we'll meet inthe mass.
(27:22):
And I was thinking this is thisis so profound and but true
that if we have parents,relatives, friends who are far
away, we can be close with themin the Mass yeah, that's good.
Sheila Nonato (27:40):
So my next question is and so this past
weekend you were in a room ofmore than 500 women.
Tammy Peterson (27:46):
I was yeah, Wow.
Sheila Nonato (27:48):
The theme seems to be a call to action for women
of faith to live out theirvocation.
What does this mean for both ofyou?
Tammy Peterson (28:01):
Well, for me it means really being being present
, paying attention and reallydoing the next right thing.
But for me, that next rightthing is to interview people.
Interview people who havesomething to share with me that
(28:23):
might be helpful to the youngpeople.
That's what seems to be callingme, and Jordan told me.
He said Abraham was an old manwhen he was told to leave his
father's tent, and what were thegifts he got when he did leave
and went out on his adventure?
(28:44):
He had gifts.
The gifts to himself was thathe became more rounded, more
amorphous, fully alive, and hehad gifts of sharing with his
family and his community andalso being a father of nations,
and so his scope of influencewidened.
(29:07):
And he said those are the giftsof God that you can.
If you take on this challenge,then you can have these gifts
come to you if you're fullyinvolved.
Queenie Yu (29:27):
When I was at the conference I was thinking, wow,
all these women who are on firefor love of God.
It's beautiful to see.
And I was thinking I want tohelp more people get to know God
.
I want to help more people getto know God.
I want to help more people getcloser to God.
And the action-oriented personin me wants to just go and talk
(29:47):
to people and send emails orwhatever it is right.
But then the other, more formedindividual, says I have to pray.
If I want to reach more people,I need to pray more.
So I have to work on my prayerlife.
I have to be like Our Lady, whowas an incredible contemplative
(30:10):
but also an action-orientedperson.
And you see that at theAnnunciation where the angel
Gabriel appears to her, she'spraying about what God's will is
.
She's able to say yes,immediately.
But because she knew that hercousin Elizabeth was pregnant
(30:30):
from the angel Gabriel,immediately she goes and takes
care of Elizabeth.
She doesn't think, oh my gosh,I have this big mission.
I got to get my life sorted, Igot to organize my things, I've
got so much to do, Me, me, me,no.
She thinks about Elizabeth.
So I, after attending thatconference, my resolution is if
(30:51):
I want to do more, I need topray more.
Sheila Nonato (30:57):
Just on this topic of women in society, there
seems to be a movement toredefine what is a woman.
So what is a woman?
How would you define a womanand what is her role in society?
Tammy Peterson (31:11):
Well, the thing that I think that something that
we've lost is community.
The Church was the center ofevery community.
The Church was the center ofevery community and it isn't the
center of everyone's communitynow.
It's still a central, it'sstill a center, but who is
(31:35):
taking part in that center?
Not as many people.
So that means that thecommunity is fractured.
Women have gone out to work, sothey've left their communities,
so that means that they've leftthat center.
That would.
If someone is feeling lostwithin the community, there's
usually other people around whocan, who can notice and pay
(31:58):
attention, and now that's beenfractured.
So then you know, you can livein a neighborhood nowadays and
maybe your community getstogether once a year and you
find out who's moved to town,who's died, you know who's
graduated.
You don't even know that,except for that one day a year,
whereas he used to knoweverything because all the women
(32:19):
were connected on the street orin the neighbouirhoods.
That's gone, and so that meansthe children.
Now they don't have thatmooring anymore and we're seeing
what's happening to childrenbecause of that.
So I think we really, and itdoes come back to the Church,
but as it comes back to theChurch then it goes into your
(32:43):
community and into your familiesand so then the families aren't
being held together like theywere and the communities aren't
being held together like theywere and the whole community
around the church isn't beingheld as tightly as it was.
So having all those women,those 513 women or something,
all together in one room, thatwas very powerful.
(33:06):
To see Women, it was good.
Women, women trying, womentrying to really trying to do
the next right thing, just therepresent, seeing what they could
do, that's good.
Queenie Yu (33:26):
Yeah, it was good.
So it's, you know, how do yousay what a woman is.
But I work in.
Well, I work at Hawthorn Schoolfor Girls (Toronto) and I work
with girls of all ages and Ihave been working, or I've been
living, at Kintore College withuniversity students for a number
(33:46):
of years and when I startedworking at Hawthorne I thought,
oh well, you know, the girlsshould be similar to the
university students that I workwith.
Nothing could be further fromthe truth.
Because as soon as I was exposedto the high school girls, I
realized, "oh my goodness,they're so emotional.
Their perception of reality isa little bit off.
(34:09):
Sometimes they cry so much orthey care so much about what
others think of them.
Their sense of belonging ordesire for belonging is so great
.
Anyway, they have a lot tomature, a lot to grow.
So there's a lot of emotionthere and when you're a woman
(34:34):
you can understand that, BecauseI remember wait, look at that.
And then women can give youngerwomen a lot of security, saying
I understand how you feel thisis going to pass.
I felt that too.
Exactly Right.
I know you feel that your worldis falling because your friend
(34:58):
seems like she doesn't love youanymore, but that's not the case
.
You know, we can understandother women better in a way that
men can't.
The other thing is, if we useour gifts of intuition and
(35:18):
empathy, we could reallyencourage people to be the best.
For example, Our Lady.
When the apostles fled from theCross, they saw that Our Lord
died.
I'm sure they were verydiscouraged, sad.
They were ashamed that they hadabandoned him, but she was the
(35:40):
one who encouraged them and saidyou know what Keep going.
There's forgiveness, you can doit.
So I think, women, through ourempathy, our intuition, we could
really bring out the best inindividuals.
Sheila Nonato (35:58):
So the last question.
So when we're talking, we weretalking about the stories of the
scene.
Your husband had been injuredand he's in the bathroom.
What was going through yourmind?
I'm thinking about the crossand the suffering, and what was
going through your mind, whatwas happening at that point?
Tammy Peterson (36:16):
Well, I think, you know, I felt an urge to go
upstairs and then I felt an urgeto check in the room, in the
bathroom, I heard the showergoing.
I knew he was in the shower, um, and when I opened the door and
he was, uh, laying on the floor, my first thought was, um, that
he, that I should check on him,right, that I should check on
(36:38):
him, right, that I should checkon him.
And when I leaned over him, hesaid you know, what'd he say?
"Don't bother me, or don'ttouch me, or something like that
.
and I was like, "a ha, you'renot as sick as you thought you
were
Sheila Nonato (36:57):
To listen to the conclusion of the story about Dr
.
Peterson's medical distress afew years ago.
You can listen to the episode39, when Tammy Peterson prays
for Pope Francis in the conclave, talks about faith, family and
motherhood and finding courageto answer God's call, or you can
also watch it on YouTube, whereshe talks about the role of
(37:18):
women in faith and family, andit is a conversation on the
one-year anniversary of herconfirmation in Toronto at Holy
Rosary Parish.
I will also include it in theshow notes.
Thank you to Queenie Yu andTammy Peterson for sharing the
story of their friendship andconversion.
May we have the boldness tofollow Queenie's lead by
(37:40):
inviting others to come to knowthe Feminine Genius of Mary, and
the beauty of faith in God.
May we emulate the courage ofTammy Peterson to say, Yes" to
God in carrying our cross withgrace, humility and gratitude.
That we can say in confidenceand live by the words: "Jesus, I
(38:03):
trust in you.
The story told by Tammy abouther health struggles and her
husband's health struggles yearsago reminds us how fragile life
can be and how powerful prayerscan be.
Recently, Tammy and Jordan'sdaughter, Mikhaela, shared how
her father is battling a newhealth crisis: Chronic
(38:25):
Inflammatory Response Syndrome.
Please join me in praying the St.
Josemaria Novena prayer for Dr.
Jordan B .Peterson.
It was this very same prayerwhere Tammy was healed of a
mystery illness afterpost-cancer surgery.
It was on the fifth day ofpraying the Novena.
(38:45):
And when Tammy was healed ontheir wedding, on her wedding
anniversary, and it was promisedthat she had made to her
husband that she would be healedby then.
And it miraculously, happened.
In the name of the Father and ofthe Son of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Oh God, through the mediationof Mary, our Mother, you granted
(39:07):
your priest, Saint Jose maria,countless graces, choosing him
as the most faithful instrument,the founder Opus Dei, a way of
sanctification in daily work andin the fulfillment of a
Christian's ordinary duties.
Grant that I, too, may learn toturn all the circumstances and
events of my life into occasionsof loving you and serving the
(39:30):
Church, the Pope and all soulswith joy and simplicity,
lighting up the pathways of thisearth with faith and love.
Deign to grant me, through theintercession of St Josemaria,
the favour we ask today for thehealing of Dr.
Jordan B .Peterson and for hisgranddaughter, Audrey.
(39:51):
Amen.
our Father, who art in Heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as itis in Heaven.
Give us this day our dailybread ,and forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive thosewho trespass against us, and
lead us not into temptation butdeliver us from evil.
Amen.
Hail hail Mary, full of grace,the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
(40:14):
womb, Jesus jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and
at the hour of our death.
.
,Glory glory be to the Father and
to the Son and to the HolySpirit.
As it was in the beginning, asnow, it ever shall be world
without end.
Amen, In in the name of theFather and the Son, the Holy
Spirit, Amen.
Thank thank you very much forjoining us, us and we look
(40:36):
forward to speaking with youagain and bringing more stories
of the Feminine feminine Genius,genius and God's amazing,
awesome love Godbless
.
(40:58):
Thank you for listening to theVeil and Armor podcast.
Co-Host (41:01):
I invite you to share this with another Catholic mom
today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel and please
spread the word.
Let's be brave, let's be boldand be blessed together.
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