“While He was still a long way off…”

The mentor of C.S Lewis, a chap called George McDonald wrote that “it is better not to have known the Father, than to have learned Him wrong”.

For those of my generation the way God the Father was presented was a bit worrying, especially if you were taught by nuns and you were boys, aka ‘the barbarian horde’. The chances of heaven were so slim, I don’t recall it ever being mentioned or described; whereas purgatory and hell were described in such detail we wondered how the sisters had got out so as to return and tell us about it. The idea of God as a loving Father was not on the radar.

Often religion clashes with reality as we read in the parable of the prodigal son, where Jesus tells us who His father really is.

After coming to his senses and heading home with a desire to be reunited with his father, we see a father who is already scanning the horizon, hoping and waiting for his return. This is how it is with Our Father too, He waits, His eyes moving across the earth in search of His lost sons and daughters. Perhaps even engineering their return, sending them messengers, interventions, nudges to guide their steps home.

And when they do have that moment of clarity, or change of heart, He runs to them. He doesn’t wait. He runs to them ‘clasped him in his arms and kissed him’ as the scripture puts it.

He doesn’t need to hear the carefully crafted speech or apology. Nope. He is already celebrating ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.’

That’s who the Father is. Nothing to fear for those who want to come home. No obstacles in our path if a change of heart and reunion with God is what we desire. That is the great gift of Divine Mercy. He wants us back more than we want it. And there is joy, not anger awaiting us.

Your Sins are Forgiven .. a story from America

Let me introduce myself and tell you a little about me. My name is Thomas and I was born into a Catholic family in 1956 and presently live in Northeast Ohio. I am a steel worker, (since 1989) and I presently live on the grounds of a Catholic National Shine as a Hermit of sorts. I rent a vacant retirement apartment from the Shrine and help in various ways. It really is quite beautiful and peaceful.

It was a real struggle for me to leave my prior worldly lifestyle to accept the invitation by the Rector of this Shrine to move out here. Since coming to live at the Shrine, I have had many wonderful spiritual experiences or awakenings, if you will. It is a literal Sanctuary where the evils and temptations of the world dare not encroach! It is my little slice of Heaven on Earth! I have consecrated my life to Jesus as slave and servant of the servants of God, whoever they are! 

Once married, (although not in the eyes of God, but just legally), I have been divorced since 1987. I never remarried. At the time of my divorce, I was a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy. I spent 13 years in the Navy, but left so I could get custody of my three daughters upon my divorce. Later, my mom told me that while I was in England, (before my divorce) she was vacuuming the floor and she had an overwhelming burden to stop and immediately pray, Mary, bring him home now! I was in Southern England, drinking and drinking and when I would sober up, I would drink some more. My wife and children had returned early to the states and I was to remain another year in the UK. My marriage was in trouble, but I was oblivious! When my mom intuitively sensed trouble for me, my wife and our daughters, she prayed. I was home in three days on some sudden military temporary errand and I never returned! My life was about to be turned every which way but loose. 

You see, even though I was your basic heathen, drunkard, atheist; I felt the unmistakable presence of a Heavenly Mother, Par Excellence, arranging or rather, re-arranging my life so that I could be the custodial parent for the girls. I stopped drinking and went through the ugly process of the divorce. I started experiencing a strange thing that repulsed me at first, but that invisible Mom would not permit me to do what I had an urge to do RUN! Someone, or something was messing with a very private part of me my soul! Someone was speaking to my soul, convicting me of the miserable life I had been living, and calling me to renounce these former ways and follow a new path. Someone was telling me to Do whatever He tells you. And so, I began to see in my minds eye, whole thoughts, some in the form of personal helps, some in the form of poetry, many surrounding the theme of Love a new kind of love I had not known. Unconditional Love for everyone, even my Ex-wife. A very strange change for me! Like some kind of nut, I began leaving notes all over the house, on the mirrors, the refrigerator, the doors..Love, Love or Love Unconditionally 

One thing led to another, and I was guided to the little closet we Catholics call The Confessional; and as I began, Bless Me Father, for I have sinned, its been 20 years since my last confession I burst into tears, telling Jesus, (even though I was with this Priest), I have sinned , my God, I turned my back on You and lived only for myself! It was my literal experience and living out of the Prodigal Son, seeing the miserable state I was in, returning Home to my Father! When this Catholic Priest spoke the words, I absolve thee in the name of Jesus Christ, it really was Jesus telling me, Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more. Thus began my new life and is how I eventually wound up here at this Shrine after raising my three daughters, now a steel worker living a celibate life of service to Jesus and His Heavenly Mother who refused to let go of me during my darkest days. I have had a lot of time to study Comparative Theology and Religion. I have accumulated way too many books, tapes and papers. Prepared for something of an Apostolate, not for the sole purpose of promoting the Catholic Church, but for the main purpose of bringing souls to Jesus Christ through a ministry of love, unconditional love.