Special Treatment

The commemoration of the 75^th anniversary of the D-day landings was important not only to remind us of the courage and sacrifice of the previous generation in fighting the evils of Nazism but also to remind us that contending with evil now falls to this generation. There is always something that needs to be revealed, opposed and conquered.

There are dark clouds gathering over Europe once again; it is the same atheistic spirit that moved the Nazi’s and the Communists to the horrors they inflicted on humanity. And like them they conceal their works and objectives with their own new language to rationalise and sanitise.

Now that people have gotten used to eliminating the unborn; it’s natural for their eyes to fall upon the elderly, the infirm, those with mental or physical disability and push society towards mercy killing or special treatment as the SS used to call it.

Assisted suicide, a precursor of voluntary (and not so voluntary) Euthanasia is already well established in Holland, Luxemburg and Belgium. The laws were made loose to enable its extension or a liberal interpretation of them and already from an initial position of being for those in unbearable pain with no hope of recovery it is already found its way to the disabled and even the depressed at the ‘end of life clinics.’ In Holland a child of 12 can request Euthanasia.

We need to show that every life and every stage of it is important, has its own dignity and purpose, regardless of appearances and each human being has an immortal soul, a unique role in eternity.

It’s as important to keep this kind of legislation away from our shores as it was to keep an invading foreign power away. This is our fight, (or one of them) and as with all spiritual battle only prayer will decide the outcome.

The Road From Damascus.. a story from Syria

Ziad was born and raised in Damascus, finishing his schooling in this historic capital of Syria. Most of his life, Ziad had been a practicing Muslim like everyone else in his devout family.

He would often accompany his father, his three brothers, and some neighbours to the mosque for Friday noon prayers and frequently for prayer on other days. The rest of the five daily prayer times he would observe at home or at work. Not once had he failed to observe the month of fasting since his boyhood.

After graduating from the state University, Ziad moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he worked for several years as a civil engineer. While he was in Saudi Arabia, he continued to participate in all the Muslim religious duties, as well as to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. At times he wondered about the Injil and the Tawrat, but he would brush these thoughts aside for he believed that through his traditional religious training, he knew all he needed to know about the Holy Bible and about Jesus Christ. Yet, according to his testimony, "what I had heard from my Christian friends in Damascus and had seen in their lives, continued unanswered for many years."

In 1979, Ziad, along with his wife and young daughter, Ghada, went to Germany for one year of specialized training as provided by his employer. During the family's stay in Germany, Ghada became very ill and was admitted to a hospital. After receiving medical care for 4 days with no improvement, the doctors seemed resigned to her imminent death.

Feeling overwhelmed by the scene of his daughter's paling face, Ziad left her room with a heavy heart, and returned to the waiting room. There he sat motionless, yet agonizing, for a few moments, until he noticed a table in the middle of the room which contained books and magazines. He saw two recognizable books -- an English version of the Holy Bible and a German version of it. He got up and walked over to the table and picked up one.

As he returned to his seat, he held the book closed while his memory took him back to some sayings of Jesus Christ which he had heard from his former Christian friends in Damascus. Recalling one saying, he eagerly opened the Book that was in his hand and directed by the Holy Spirit, began searching for the passage. When he found it, he began reading it silently:

I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:13,14).

Seeing the willingness of the Son as expressed in these verses gave Ziad an abundant hope. He lifted a warm prayer to the Almighty God in the name of Jesus. His only request -- that his "dying" daughter would be healed.

"Immediately I felt a profound tranquillity and assurance," said Ziad. "I left the waiting room filled with unprecedented joy, seeing light surrounding me. As soon as I came into Ghada's room, I rushed to her bed and hugged her gently, saying, "Ghada my sweetheart, God will heal you."

The certainly with which Ziad made this statement even astonished him, but he knew deep in his heart that God had answered his prayer.

The tears which had dropped from his own eyes onto Ghada's cheek as he embraced here, Ziad wiped off. With tears of joy still clinging to his eyes, he turned to his wife and said, "I have asked God in the name of Jesus to heal Ghada. Never before have I prayed so fervently, nor so simply in such a special way. Somehow I am assured that God has answered this prayer."

Indeed, Ghada was healed. Two days later, the doctors released her from the hospital. They could find no reason to detain her.

Since this amazing answer to Ziad's prayer, both Ziad and his wife have experienced the transforming work of God in their lives. They know the truth about Jesus Christ and proclaim their faith in Him. Later, Ghada followed them on this path; she too now believes that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

She hated her father! .a story from Germany

From the Children of Medjugorje Newsletter

During the 70’s, in Germany. Monica was 17 when she lost her mother whom she loved very much. She was left behind with three siblings and her father who was a non-practicing protestant and an architect near Bonn. Monica detested her father. He had very little interaction with his children, so she found him cold, rigid, and insensitive. Since she was unable to connect with him on a heart level, she moved out at 17, using her studies as an excuse.

At the age of 20, she had a deep experience of God in her bedroom, and she conceived a great love for Jesus. Through some Protestant brothers, she understood that loving and forgiving her father are part of God’s commandments, you will honor you father and mother, so she made several attempts to do so. Eventually she offered to spend a vacation alone with him in the beautiful Swiss mountains. In the heart of this magnificent scenery, she discovered the truth about her father’s heart and started to love him. She also understood that his suffering was caused by a very difficult childhood. She forced herself to focus on the positive points of their relationship, rather than straining with the contentious ones. She also became aware of her own faults, the ones she had in common with her father; and she began asking him for forgiveness. She prayed and slowly discovered within her father a child capable of being in awe.

Then a providential event took place. She was with her father and his friends (who had, like him, run away from East Germany just before the closing of the Berlin wall) when her father became a different person. In a different context he was vulnerable, open, obviously his true self. Monica discovered everything he had suffered because of his exile and how he was forced to harden his heart in order to survive. She understood also how children can too quickly reject their parents and make them become as hard as marble. Monica’s heart opened to this “unknown” father and at last a dialogue started between them.

When she was 26, she was working as a nurse in a home for the elderly. She worked the night shift and often found herself alone in the service. Every two weeks, she visited her father. She worried about his loneliness.

At 77, her father enjoyed good health and there was no inkling of any medical condition. One day he went to the hospital for a minor overnight procedure. That same night, Monica was working the night shift when suddenly a strong feeling seized her. In her heart, she knew that she must go immediately to be near her father. At sunrise she got into the car and drove two hours non-stop at full speed in the rain and fog. She was going through an inner struggle, ‘I’m crazy, I could go see my father later, why should I go there now?’

However her intuition was too strong. She sensed that this encounter with her father would be important, and she began to pray. When she arrived in Bonn, instead of going to the hospital, she felt an urge to go first to her father’s house, without knowing why. The house was empty. Monica walked toward the armoire, opened a drawer and found a document unknown to her. She took it and quickly went to the hospital where she found her father in excellent condition. They opened the document together and found the diary that he had written when he was young.

They came upon a story of a hike that he had made with his friends when he was 17, during the War of 1940-1945. On that day, at the top of the mountain, her father and his friends had marveled at creation, as if they had seen the glory of God. The story was extremely moving. Monica and her father started to cry. For Monica, the moment was as if a corner of heaven was opened. The visit lasted 3 hours. The father-daughter relationship deepened and there was a true exchange of hearts.

Monica asked him if he would give his life to the Lord. Her father accepted and there they prayed together for the very first time! Since her father did not know how to pray, he asked her to say the prayers and he would repeat them after her. Monica began a spontaneous prayer, simple, as the Holy Spirit inspired her. A great union of hearts developed during that prayer too.

Taking advantage of the occasion, Monica told her father how much she loved him and she thanked him. It was a little like a declaration of love, sober but sincere. She asked his forgiveness for all the hurt that her attitude toward him might have caused. Then his roommate returned and her father walked his daughter to the door. From a distance he waved to her good-bye and Monica noticed a light surrounding him. Monica was full of joy and returned to work. Three days later she received a call from her brother saying that their father had just died very peacefully, alone.

Monica is now catholic. Her journey to forgiveness is encouraging! At times we feel unable to forgive a person who has hurt us. But doesn’t God offer each one of us a path of mercy and peace? We find it only kneeling down, in a heartfelt prayer. This reconciliation between Monica and her father is beautiful, but more beautiful still is the way Monica listened to the Holy Spirit and let Him guide her, without taking into account her feeling of repulsion towards her father. We depend too much on our feelings; we speak too much about them; we judge too much; we ‘ruminate’ and we constantly comment on evil; we feed upon sad stories. But happy are those who listen to the whisper of God in their hearts and who let the beautiful flower of forgiveness bloom, sprouting even in the middle of sordid garbage. Our garbage will pass but the flower and its fruits will remain. They come from God.