‘A Living God’

My wife and I were travelling recently in the Mountain Province in the north of the country. It’s still a mission territory but even though there is not always a priest around the people gather every evening for the rosary after they come in from the fields.

We joined them and couldn’t help but notice that most were old and most were women. This is a common sight here as in the western world to see mostly elderly women stoically bolstering the church. I wonder why ?

Clearly the problem cannot be our origin. It is the church started by the Lord Himself. It’s Pope and Bishops successors of Peter and the Apostles. We don’t cater to the shifting sands of public opinion but retain authentic and unchangeable teachings.

The thing is though, faith cannot really be taught, it must be caught. And you can only catch it from someone who has it in the first place. The early days of the church set the tone for this :- ‘These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.'’(Mk 16:17) The Acts of the apostles lead us into this demonstration of faith, confirmed by heaven through wonderful signs and wonders of His love and mercy.

Would anyone leave that church? Those early Christians showed that Jesus was a living God, the source of everything we need, not just salvation but everything. Faith became the very centre of their lives, a living faith, an active one, a life of miracles. After all it would be inaccurate to preach a God who is merely a historical figure, or a reclusive or remote Being.

After the Rosary we shared some testimonies about miracles we had seen over the years and my wife gave a talk about praying for healing and we prayed over many who were sick. After that the participants couldn’t wait to go and pray for their sick friends and relatives: an immediate domino effect. I think God is waiting as patiently to be introduced as His people are waiting to hear more about and receive Him!

Distance no object...a story from Africa (by Dr David Jeremiah)

While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, I travelled every two weeks by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This required camping overnight halfway. On one of these trips, I saw two men fighting in the city. One was seriously hurt so I treated him and witnessed to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I then returned home without incident.

Upon arriving in the city several weeks later, I was approached by the man I had treated earlier. He told me he had known that I carried money and medicine. He said, Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We waited for you to go to sleep and planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards. I laughed at this and said, I was certainly all alone out in the jungle campsite.The young man pressed the point, No sir, I was not the only one to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone. 

At this point of my church presentation in Michigan, one of the men in the church stood up and interrupted me. He asked, Can you tell me the exact date when this happened? I thought for a while and recalled the date. 

The man in the congregation then gave his side of the story. He stated, On that night in Africa it was day here. I was preparing to play golf. As I put my bags in the car, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for you. In fact, the urging was so great that I called the men of this church together to pray for you. Will all those men who met to pray please stand? The men who had met that day to pray together stood. . . there were 26 of them!

Where are all the men ?

Recently I visited a church while the Stations of the Cross was under way and, I observed that there was quite an imbalance in the ratio of women to men, about 7:1 in fact. I began noticing this imbalance (a quick head count) at other times too; the closest call was in a prayer meeting I attend where it was 3:1 in favour of the ladies.

In another town, at a funeral, it seemed that most of the men were outside in the car park having a smoke and chewing the fat while their wives were inside.

I wonder what the reason is; some say that women are more spiritual than men, that we are more earthy, others that the church has been ‘feminised’ over the centuries and men find little to identify with anymore.

I don’t think that the first reason carries much weight, as in Jesus’s day men flocked to him, every hillside and valley were packed with men listening for hours or days on end. They even climbed trees and opened up roofs to get closer and have their needs met.

I don’t think men have changed, and Jesus hasn’t changed either so maybe we lost sight of who he is and our need for him. Maybe those who say that the lion of Judah has had his claws manicured, his teeth filled down and his mane given a blue rinse have a point.

What image comes to mind when we think of our Saviour ? Is he a wild, potent stallion galloping across a plain; or a compliant young gelding being led around an enclosure; do we think of him as being like Ghandi with a beard and a full head of hair or as someone who manufactures his own weapons and unleashes his fury on the temple shopkeepers; a man’s man with rough splintered hands who knew (however unlikely the candidate) who would win the football league last year ?

Or maybe what has men huddled in the car park or running at the fence is to do with the perception of what a Christian man ought to be. Is the objective to become a ‘good boy’ or even worse, a nice guy; or rather should we be extremely dangerous, fighters for justice and truth in the service of the most courageous of warriors and the noblest of Kings.

Where are the Men ?

Recently I visited a church while the Stations of the Cross was under way and, I observed that there was quite an imbalance in the ratio of women to men, about 7:1 in fact. I began noticing this imbalance (a quick head count) at other times too; the closest call was in a prayer meeting I attend where it was 3:1 in favour of the ladies.

In another town, at a funeral, it seemed that most of the men were outside in the car park having a smoke and chewing the fat while their wives were inside.

I wonder what the reason is; some say that women are more spiritual than men, that we are more earthy, others that the church has been ‘feminised’ over the centuries and men find little to identify with anymore.

I don’t think that the first reason carries much weight, as in Jesus’s day men flocked to him, every hillside and valley were packed with men listening for hours or days on end. They even climbed trees and opened up roofs to get closer and have their needs met.

I don’t think men have changed, and Jesus hasn’t changed either so maybe we lost sight of who he is and our need for him. Maybe those who say that the lion of Judah has had his claws manicured, his teeth filled down and his mane given a blue rinse have a point.

What image comes to mind when we think of our Saviour ? Is he a wild, potent stallion galloping across a plain; or a compliant young gelding being led around an enclosure; do we think of him as being like Ghandi with a beard and a full head of hair or as someone who manufactures his own weapons and unleashes his fury on the temple shopkeepers; a man’s man with rough splintered hands who knew (however unlikely the candidate) who would win the football league last year ?

Or maybe what has men huddled in the car park or running at the fence is to do with the perception of what a Christian man ought to be. Is the objective to become a ‘good boy’ or even worse, a nice guy; or rather should we be extremely dangerous, fighters for justice and truth in the service of the most courageous of warriors and the noblest of Kings.

My brief survey may not be accurate or universal but any deviation from a 1:1 ratio must surely be cause for concern, investigation and remedy. A man without God is weak, and a church without men is weak too; it needs them in the pews and in the world, taking their places on the battlefield that only they can fill.

Sister Marie Marguerite’s cure … a story from Lourdes

A Poor Clare in the Monastery of Rennes since 1896 Cured on 22nd. January 1937, in her 65th. year. Miracle on 20th. May 1946, by Cardinal Clement Roques, Archbishop of Rennes.

One of those rare cures connected with Lourdes yet happening far away from the Shrine. In actual fact, the illness of Sr. MARIE MARGUERITE began in 1924 with a renal disease. In the subsequent years she suffered "cardiac crises" anginal in type, as well as steady deterioration of kidney disease. Complications cropped up in 1936: --generalised phlyctenular oedema of both lower limbs. --more and more frequent cardiac crises, with dyspnoea, and --facial neuralgia.

These entirely prevented her from leading a normal life, showed no improvement, and even death was feared at the beginning of 1937. The Community at her Convent started a novena to Our Lady of Lourdes during which Sister joined in by replacing all her medication with Lourdes' Water.

On the last day of the Novena, 22nd January, Sister suddenly sensed a great relief during Holy Mass, at the moment of the Elevation of the Host. The oedema vanished in an instant; the bandages, now too large for her legs, fell down, she could wear shoes and walk!

Starting next morning, she took up her former job of attending to the turn-table at the Convent until the end of the 1939-1945 war... something she had not done for eight years. This cure was verified, not without immense surprise, by her doctor, who continued to visit her up to 1945.

At the request of the Archbishop, Cardinal Roques: --a commission of three doctors met in November 1945, and confirmed that the cure could not be explained by natural causes; --a Canonical Commission, in its turn, studied it at the beginning of 1946, and submitted a favourable verdict to the Bishop.

This was sufficient for Cardinal Roques to declare on 20.5.1946, that "this cure was miraculous" and "that it must be attributed to a special intervention of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes".