Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Faith gets me through - Rose Callaly

The mother of murdered Rachel O'Reilly has spoken of the capacity of her faith to help her cope with the tragic death of her two daughters.

Speaking on the RTÉ programme, Spirit Levels, Rose Callaly explained how she dealt with the loss of her daughter Ann to cancer, just six years after her other daughter Rachel was murdered by her husband Joe O'Reilly.

''For months and months when I realised how serious it was, I prayed non-stop and fervently. I prayed night and day for Ann to be saved. I would have given my life for her and I promised everything that God would ask of me if he would just save Anne but it wasn't to be.''

''In the beginning I was very angry and I kept saying to God if you had to take Ann, why did she have to suffer so much? I found that hard but with the grace of God I never blamed him.''

Ms Callaly, who admitted that her ability to forgive was still ''a work in progress'', added her belief that Ann and Rachel were now together gives her ''great consolation''.

''I've always felt there has to be a bigger picture; since Rachel died I felt there has to be a reason. I think if I didn't feel like that I wouldn't have got through and that all comes back to having faith and trust in God.''

SIC: IC/IE