Vae victis ..Woe to the Vanquished

Recently I visited a town renowned for its traditional blacksmiths; everything from machetes for farming to replicas of battle-ready medieval swords. The process is long and exacting; spring steel forged at high temperature and hammered repeatedly on the anvil into shape and its cutting edges prepared; tempered and quenched to harden the steel; and sharpening with grindstone and then assembled with hilt and pommel. 

All of which reminded me of a confessor I had many years ago. My last visit to him ended with a mysterious warning: “expect a lot of suffering”.  As a recent returnee to the Father’s house I was thinking more of unlimited ‘fatted calf’ barbecue for some time to come; but he spotted something else: a rusted chunk of spring steel that would need a lot of work. The only way for God to bring about change in the heart of man is really by means of suffering; there is no other way. 

And right on cue it began. I didn’t know the enemy would be given such a free hand (or have a couple of little helpers placed in my circle). I felt like an unarmed, bewildered Hobbit being overrun by an army of ugly violent Orcs as I underwent the beginner’s spiritual warfare training. Analogous to Prometheus having his liver torn out every day; my mind and heart were tormented by whatever deceiving spirit was let loose. The only relief I found were a few minutes per day at Mass during the consecration and a few minutes afterward. Whatever it was had to flee at that point it seems. I could only pray and cling to a God I barely knew (I never prayed so much, so hard or for so long) trusting that the horror would in fact end, which two years later it did. Delivered just as suddenly as it began, at His word, and the aggressors were finally vanquished. Vae victis ! I too had been forged, hammered, tempered, sharpened, hopefully a little more useful by then in the hand of the Maker.

Reaching the Young

On a visit to England I attended a Mass where the children from the church schools also attended, perhaps 100+.

Apparently they were seldom seen as only a handful of their parents came to Mass and an even smaller number had their kids in the sacramental program.  

I found myself praying that God would reveal Himself to them and then remembered a couple of encouraging stories I had heard. Both are from talks by Fr Blount, an American charismatic priest and exorcist. The first was about when he spoke with elementary school children about praying for healing. He had them pray over each other and then instructed them to pray over their parents when they went home. One boy as they finished, ran home to pray over his grandmother who was on her death bed. He asked her permission and she agreed, he laid his hands on her and asked God to heal her. She leaped up from the bed, completely healed and headed off to church for thanksgiving. I am sure no one will forget that lesson ! 

Another was a retreat day Fr. Blount had for teenage boys. They had exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and he prayed that Jesus would do something a bit special for the boys during adoration to enhance the day. What followed was that from the host, the face of Jesus appeared. And It stayed. Everyone saw It and as they remained in adoration for several hours, some weeping and being transformed others greatly strengthened. 

We do live in dark days and in many ways its seems that the odds are against any great breakthrough or success in winning souls for God; information about God is not really enough; we need an encounter with the living God to catalyse a life of faith and an on-going life in Him.

The Holy Mass ...

 

Benefits of praying for the Holy Souls...

The cases of intercession of the souls in Purgatory are numerous :-

The following one, which is among the best known and most moving, happened in Paris in 1817.

A domestic servant, who had the pious habit of having a Mass said every month for the souls in Purgatory, became ill and having to be hospitalized, lost her job.

Upon leaving the hospital, she went to a church to pray, where she remembered that she had failed to have Mass said for the poor souls that month. However due to her unemployment, she could not afford a Mass offering since it would leave her penniless. After hesitating, she gave the offering.

Leaving the church, she met a young man who seemed to be a noble. He unexpectedly asked her if she needed employment and gave her the address of a house, which needed a maid.

When she arrived at the house, the owner, who had just dismissed her maid, wondered who could have known that she needed help. While describing the young man at the Church, the servant saw a painting of him on the wall.

Hearing this, the owner exclaimed, "That is my son, who died two months ago!"

Then both realized that God wanted to reward the maid's charity and reveal the power of a suffering soul's intercession.

To the ends of the Earth ..

On entering the Radio Maria Philippines HQ in Tarlac in central Luzon, I was greeted by the familiar image of Our Lady of Tihaljina on their logo and immediately knew the quality of their mission. The focus is almost entirely on prayer, both the Mass and Rosary broadcasts daily coupled with the prayer of the church and solid Catholic teaching.

Each Radio Maria station in the world has its own special role to play in bringing the Gospel to the people. Here the terrestrial coverage is limited to a few regions of the country but it struck me that it’s real potential was way beyond that. 

In Yellow, Fr, Raymund Cruz, Station Director with some of many volunteers

We have reached a stage in human history where we can almost ‘proclaim the gospel to every creature’ by partnering with technology. The station is also available through internet and an App for IOS and Android smart phones and can be heard all over the world. This is particularly important for Filipinos because the work force is so mobile. More than 2 million are OFW’s (Overseas Foreign Workers) and are often employed in some of the most inhospitable countries where the faith is restricted or outlawed entirely but via Radio Maria they can now stay connected to their faith and join in unity with this huge praying community and in their own language. 

Another enormous potential audience are the seafarers. Somewhere between 30-40% of the world’s seamen are Filipinos as Maritime schools have flourished here for many decades. It can be a lonely and isolated life spending months at sea without much to feed the soul, but now they can listen in and join together in prayer as they plough the ocean and sea roads.

Most of the funding comes from the pennies of the poor: parishes and school children filling tins with coins to keep the station running and volunteers provide most of the content as well. A class of school kids might be leading the Rosary on air today, a group of college students from another town tomorrow so it’s really a grassroots and providential undertaking. 

Before I left, the station Director Fr. Raymund Cruz told me news that quickened my spirit even more. They are just starting a new station in one of the darkest corners of Europe…England.

In my mind’s eye, I could see the angels gearing up for this Marian invasion of my homeland. It’s almost a thousand years since the apparitions of Our Lady in Walsingham, at one time a shrine almost as popular as Jerusalem or Rome; such was the strength of faith and Marian devotion in those days. Perhaps the Mother of God is set to reclaim England which in ancient times was referred to as the ‘dowry of Mary’ How wonderful to live in such days of restoration!

Walsingham ... The Ancient Shrine

A glimpse of Walsingham below  and a soundtrack called Mary's Garden by Paul Lisney

Mary's Garden from maxtmh on GodTube.

To download the Radio Maria App to your phone go here to their website:- https://www.radiomaria.ph/

Letters to Padre Pio..a story from Uganda

In 1949, a Comboni missionary of my acquaintance, Fr Ercole de Marchi was sent to Arua in Uganda. In his first letter to me he told me he was unhappy that he had been unable to do anything for the mission, for just as he arrived he had come down with a fever and was seriously ill. Further letters revealed that his illness was getting steadily worse. I was very pained to hear this because I knew with what fervour and joy he had returned to the mission, so I wondered how I could help him and suddenly the idea of writing to Padre Pio came to me.

I wrote my first letter to Padre Pio. It was fairly simple, with words that concentrated on the essentials. I asked that he offer Mass for the complete healing of Fr Marchi and that he would be able to resume his missionary activity. Almost immediately I received the following handwritten response from the Fr Guardian of the monastery We have received your letter with the offering for a Holy Mass, Padre Pio thanks you, prays for your intention and sends his blessing.

I was a bit disappointed, at the least I would have expected a couple of lines from Padre Pio himself with some advice for Fr Marchi, at that time I knew too little about Padre Pio and what happens at San Giovanni Rotondo. (He received thousands of letters per day).

I sent the response from San Giovanni Rotondo in a letter to Fr Marchi, exhorting him to write to Padre Pio himself about whatever was close to his heart. My letter reached Uganda on August 9th. The next day Fr Marchi wrote a detailed letter to Padre Pio, to which he never received a reply. Yet on the same day he sent the letter to Padre Pio he was delivered from the fever and from all illness and was able to resume activities for the mission.

‘Follow the clues’

It’s odd how science & faith are often portrayed as rivals these days, the former being hijacked by atheists and held up as the cleverness of enlightened man to explain all. It is increasingly impressive too.

I find it comical in a way as all we do as scientists is really follow breadcrumbs neatly laid out by our creator so we can make the discoveries He has hidden away in nature. We can use our inquisitive nature to unravel the mind blowing complexities of our world and this ought to lead us directly to Him in an attitude of awe. In this way all discoveries are meant to benefit the human race.

Sometimes however, our reliance on knowledge can also undermine our dependency on God so we don’t look to Him as we should.

Too little attention is paid to following the clues that lead us to discover why we are here in the first place. This field of study too has a trail of breadcrumbs to follow that lead to His throne. The saints point the way and the many movements across the centuries have their own pathways like the desert fathers, Celtic communities, charismatics or the schools of prayer that develop during Marian apparitions. It is up to each individual to pick up the trail head and follow one of the schools of prayer which will deepen knowledge and closeness to God. Then, as with a scientific discovery, we can enter the mysteries and treasury of grace, to come into the fullness of life (John 10:10). The Lord has so much to give to those who want it. 

In a way the rigidity of the church, with its obligations and regulations, tends to make many stop at the minimum as if it is the maximum or all there is. Perhaps the growing numbers of prayer groups is a remedy to this blockage in our search for a deeper and fuller walk with God. 

Practicing our faith is more than just showing up on Sunday. Often people go to church weighed down with problems and difficulties and after Mass just bring them home again. Can a community develop in the few minutes before or after Mass? 

Small groups have advantages in that people can get to know each other and a sense of community forms and praying openly together seems to make people more understanding or compassionate of one another’s difficulties as they intercede for each another. We realise we are not alone and can learn from each other’s experiences. 

And the more we pray, the more aligned our prayers become to God’s wishes, the more are answered and this builds faith in communities and confidence in a God who is no longer a remote Sunday morning visitor but an intimate ally. 

The prayer group I attend gives an opportunity to lay down one’s burdens and concerns and bring them to God in prayer and miracles happen as the community prays in faith for His intervention. Nothing is off limits, no prayer too big or too small. 

The Good Shepherd ... a story from Australia

A young girl, a lapsed Catholic, broke her leg . As she was unable to do much, one of her friends asked her if she would like to go to Mass with her and she went along. The reading was about the Good shepherd going after the lost sheep.

And in the sermon the priest was saying that in olden times when a lamb was a bit wayward sometimes the shepherd would break one of its legs, so it would be immobile and unable to run off and would then carry it around on his shoulders while the leg healed. 

In that way the lamb would become familiar with the shepherd and less inclined to stray. As the girl was listening to this, its application in her life became clear and she came home to the church and counted the broken leg as a blessing !

Don’t throw tradition under the bus

A few days ago I was at Mass and there were clouds of incense wafting across the pews and up to the heavens. It reminded me of something. Years ago I attended an Alpha Course (the Anglican version) in a small village in Warwickshire. 

Whilst the course was very good indeed, scripture based (and great food) ; the latter part following the prayer for Baptism in the Spirit may have been a bit mishandled. Some of the facilitators were rather antagonistic to the older traditions, or anything that seemed outdated and encouraged the enthusiastic newcomers to the Spiritual life to find a ‘good’ church, meaning a ‘happy clappy’ one with the minimum of props. 

I had to interject to give them a little of my journey and why I did not jump ship to any other more modern or exciting church but rather stayed on as a Catholic after being ‘born again’ because I knew that what we have has been there for a long time, and, ignorant ‘cradle catholic’ though I was, I knew there must be a reason for that. And so, armed with a new view of the world that the Holy Spirit gives us, I began an exploration of the mysteries I had known only superficially.

This has been the greatest  adventure of my life. The intimacy of the life in the Spirit does not replace the traditional: by no means, it enables you to understand what you have with greater depth and so the reverence and awe of the Mass for example, is greatly intensified. Reverence and Intimacy are not opposites or conflicting but synergistic as they were in the apostolic times.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a wonderful gift to believers and the church; but lets not throw our tradition under the bus.

Vengeance or Forgiveness ?

An inmate at a jail in the Bronx had an interesting insight, distilled from his life experiences:- “When someone wrongs us, we want the maximum amount of punishment. But when we do wrong, we want the maximum amount of understanding and forgiveness.” As a teenager he was robbed of his paper round earnings of $27 by 3 older boys. He got a knife, found them and stabbed all three and this began his own criminal life.  His response or reaction to the evil inflicted on him took him down that same road.

A former inmate from Manila city jail that I met recently had a different story. He was framed by an acquaintance for a multiple murder, a forced confession under torture was obtained by Police officers eager for promotion and he was sentenced to death by electric chair. (This was during the Marcos era when the death sentence was still used). He spent the next 6 years on death row, mostly in solitary. During that time, through the Prison ministry and a life in the Spirit seminar, he had a conversion and was able to forgive the people who had contributed to his woes. He accepted all as coming from the hand of God, whilst still pleading for his life to the new president. Soon after, his appeal was referred to the Supreme Court and he was found not-guilty and released. Since then he travels between jails to reach out to inmates, telling his story and bringing them what little relief he can, grateful to God and compassionate to his brother inmates, whose sufferings he understands all too well.

How we respond to the evil we encounter in life has a profound effect on the result.

For the Lenten season this year I was inspired to pray for the people who had caused pain and suffering in my life, I decided to have Masses offered for the more malevolent and malicious among them. And as I prayed during these first weeks of lent, I found many names and faces from the past come up who still had some capacity to affect me as I relived the incidents and then prayed for them. For example I thought of a sadistic school teacher, a false friend, an overcritical work colleague, a bully during my school days. The worse they were, the more I pitied them. Forgiveness is a must as we need it too, from those we have wronged and of course from God. 

You will do greater things

I attended a crusade at a friend’s born-again Christian church a few months ago where it is likely that most members were former Catholics. Somehow the lack of teachings, doctrine and tradition becomes useful to them as it doesn’t get in the way of the central message.

It got me thinking about how, in many parts of the world, the church seems to be haemorrhaging souls to cults on the one hand and to the born-again Christian or Pentecostal churches on the other. 

With cults clearly there is a strong demonic influence, it goes beyond mere brainwashing and coercion to get people to believe their zany teachings and demi-god status of leaders. They promise freedom and deliver bondage. 

With the born again groups its quite the opposite I find, they are successful because they offer freedom and deliver on it, leading their congregation to be open to the Holy Spirit and into a close union with Him. The bad thing is that, now that what was missing in their lives is now filled, the converts perceive that all that they had before was lacking or irrelevant, so an element of deception creeps into the equation.

As Catholics we are really good at praying, going up the mountain, the private room, and it is our strength, as Padre Pio said it was the Masses said throughout the world everyday that hold it together, I believe that. 

Perhaps the born again Christian groups only exist because of our reluctance to enter in fully to the other dynamic areas of Jesus’ mission, empowered by the Holy Spirit to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. Imagine if everyone in your parish was equipped like that! 

The strength of the born again groups is that they take Jesus at His word, “you will do even greater things” and then allow Him to work His miracles through them. 

Surely we can do the same, and when you think about it, as our church has God given authority, would He not pour His Spirit out on us all the more, if we ask for it?

I will be with you always...

During China's 1911 Republican Revolution or the earlier Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), anti-Catholic militants seized a Catholic parish. They confined the pastor to house arrest. From his rectory window he witnessed the desecration of the Church.
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He knew that there had been thirty-two consecrated hosts in the tabernacle. An eleven year old girl was praying at the back of the church and the guards either did not see her or else paid no attention to her.
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She returned to the Church that night and made a Holy Hour and then consumed one of the sacred hosts, bending down to receive Jesus on her tongue. She continued to return every night, making a nightly Holy Hour and consuming one sacred host.
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On the last night, the thirty-second night, unfortunately a guard was awakened after she consumed the sacred host. He chased her, grabbed her, and beat her to death with his rifle.
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Archbishop Fulton Sheen became aware of her martyrdom while he was a seminarian. He was so inspired by her sacrifice that he promised to pray a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament each day for the rest of his life.
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The eleven year old girl could have had no idea how she would have influenced a future bishop who would in turn influence millions and promote Eucharistic Adoration. We also have no idea how our witness and sacrifices influence others.