‘Légion étrangère’

It is often only with hindsight that we can comprehend the significance of certain events or fleeting moments in life. The other day I suddenly remembered a peculiar meeting, 33 years ago at a motorway service station on the M6 in the UK.

A few compadres and I were returning from Medjugorje (Bosnia Herzegovina) having delivered a few vanloads of aid goods to the refugees during the war there. We clambered out of a minibus, unkempt, unshaven, weary, and with an odour that sang its own tune. A man approached us; he was a soldier in the French Foreign Legion, a Glaswegian, given leave to attend his mother’s funeral. He asked to exchange some French Francs for Pounds so he could complete his journey. We were able to oblige and he gave me his business card. His skill set was impressive.

The Legion will accept anyone as a volunteer. They are given a new identity when they join (many need one) and the training is one of the toughest of any military unit. Whatever skill they bring will be greatly enhanced through training and discipline and unified in their ‘esprit de corps’.

The other day, I watched a talk about Medjugorje where the interviewee spoke about the essence of what Medjugorje is about. Whilst there are many physical healings of course, the most important and most numerous by far are the massive conversions that take place every day. There were complete turnarounds in the lives of the most shipwrecked souls you can imagine. A Priest mentioned that converts have deeply felt contrition for their past sins. Medjugorje does not attract the good so much, as those whose lives are wounded by mortal sin and ignorance. (I can be counted amongst these). The graces being poured out from heaven so liberally on the least deserving of souls, is unprecedented.

But the Medjugorje experience is just the beginning; as with the Légion étrangère,’ we are given a new identity, restored as children of God as we are snatched out of the fire and begin a long and often painful process of change, purification and growth; our basic training in the Christian life, to pray with the heart; weapons training like the Rosary and an array of armaments for the spiritual warfare we are all engaged in. In the first instance then, Medjugorje can be seen as heaven’s rescue mission for each individual but from another vantage point :- it’s something more.

In almost 45 years since the apparitions began, over 50 million pilgrims from all over the world have visited. Few would return empty handed and so now our Lady has at her command, at a variety of levels of training, millions of warriors, formerly ensnared by the enemy to some degree, now forged to form the tip of the spear against him and his legions. They are deployed by the Queen of Peace through Prayer groups, Pilgrimage organisers, (annoying) evangelists, charitable groups and a multitude of other frontlines throughout the world, who by the word of their testimony increase the harvest of souls.

Oftentimes the more traditional Catholics don’t get it… we look different, sound different, dress differently perhaps and sometimes we smell different, but we love God : which puts us on the same side!

Our Lady’s Message from Medjugorje ... May 25, 2026

Dear children,

may this time be for you a time of prayer and fasting. Return, little children, in love to God who is your peace. I am with you, little children, and I love you with my motherly tenderness.

Thank you for having responded to my call.

(With Ecclesiastical approval)

My Sheep Hear my Voice and they follow me

 

 

Anyone who takes their faith and the Christian mission seriously will ultimately face some form of conflict or persecution and find themselves in need of God’s guidance. Whilst I believe He always finds a way it’s a good policy to develop the practice of listening for the voice of God by entering into adoration or some form of meditation or silent prayer so when the crisis comes, which it will, your ears will be trained to hear. 

A few years ago my brother was in the Adoration Chapel at his local church, kneeling before the monstrance, earnestly seeking God’s guidance in his predicament. Just then his phone beeped. It was a message which read “time to break out the blue paint” followed by a photograph of Hamish, a character from the movie Brave Heart with an orange beard, a blue face, and a large sharpened Axe. 

I know this because I sent the text message. I was 12,000 miles away in the Philippines having read the account of what was happening in his life and was pondering the situation myself in prayer when I felt prompted to send the text. It’s one of our favourite movies and I knew he would understand the meaning easily. It was necessary to resist and fight this particular corner. 

I had faced similar treatment from an employer 20 years before, so I could see the trajectory and the gas lighting techniques designed to wear people down into submission and resignation. That he worked for a Catholic charity made it more surprising (and a rather dreadful betrayal; they even employed an outside ‘consultant’ to orchestrate the assassination so as not to have blood on their hands). But I knew the architect of the scheme; a deceitful man seemingly hell bent on ruining 20 years of good work; many enemies of the church have infiltrated Catholic organisations with this in mind in similar fashion. 

The battle would ultimately seem to be lost; as was mine years before. But a sacrifice for what is right and proper, even if it costs you everything, is always worthwhile. There is no better place to stand than with God; as we stand with Him now, later He will stand with us at the victory parade in Heaven.

Gratitude, Thanksgiving (and favour)

 

Some time ago a guest Priest at our parish gave a homily about Thanksgiving and instructed us to make it a habit by thanking God for all He does for us each day and to continue for some months to establish the habit. I embarked on this journey the next day and kept a list at the back of my diary which I would add to each day, week and month. 

I started with the basic necessities of life; the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, shelter, clothes, jobs and income and then added things I identified as blessings as they were given. I noticed two things as time went on. Firstly that they were often of themselves rather ordinary; I remarked to my wife that most of them related to food that I particularly enjoyed ! The second thing I noticed was that I began to feel noticeably happier each day and much more observant of things which displayed the hand of God, behind the scenes, and wondered expectantly what would be next. The experiment of noting things down as they occurred made for a more intimate, personal daily experience of God. In a way it was like re-wiring the brain to focus on what is there rather than what is absent. The latter tends to produce the opposite fruits of a feeling of lack, impatience, abandonment and misery. 

Often it seemed that blessings arose through impeccable timing. Just last week I went to pay the electricity bill which presents little opportunity for a happy ending. Added to this as I arrived the payment centre was full, 30 people and only 2 cashiers. Here in the Philippines there is a pecking order. If you are over 60 you get your own cashier and a Priority number so generally it’s a bit quicker to get served. On this day I was the only over 60 and was served immediately ahead of the other 30 people although I arrived last (Matt 20:16) I was so delighted I could have moon-walked out at the end although I didn’t want to rub it in for the youngsters still in the queue! Favour seems a bit unfair. 

One other thing I did become aware of though was just how much of a back-log I have accrued in thanksgiving. The many years (decades really) where I was receiving far greater numbers of blessings and not even acknowledging them at all as coming from God. Worse I put any success down to my own efforts or merit which does not concur with the reality. So my next project is one of repentance for being ungrateful and to make a new list, a much longer one, for all the gifts I have received in advance of recognising them as such. And this too will increase my joy I know. Better late than never.

Our Lady's Message from Medjugorje.

 Our Lady's Message from Medjugorje. 

April 25, 2026

"Dear children,

I am praying for you and encourage you to a new life, a life in joy and prayer.

May the Holy Spirit fill you, little children, with joy so that you may be like a spring of pure and drinkable water; that you, little children, may be in God and with God missionaries of love and peace.

Your life is short here on earth and that is why I am with you to lead you towards Heaven.

Thank you for having responded to my call."

(With ecclesiastical approval)

St John Bosco's Visions of Hell .. Talk by Fr Ripperger

 

St Charbel ... The Healing of Dafne Guiterrez from Blindness

Dafne Gutierrez, a 30 year old blind Hispanic American woman, mother of three children, who had lost her eyesight to Arnold-Chiari malformation has been healed in Phoenix, America by St Charbel the day after she visited St Charbel’s holy relic at St Joseph’s Maronite Catholic Church in Phoenix, America.

Phoenix is a city with a large Lebanese community, mostly Maronite Catholics with the local Maronite church is dedicated to St Joseph and Masses are celebrated in three languages: Arabic, Spanish and English. St Joseph’s Maronite Catholic Church is the hub of one of the 36 Maronite parishes in the United States, divided between the two big dioceses of New York and Los Angeles.

The relic of St Charbel, which has toured various parishes since early October 2015, consists of St Charbel’s bone which is kept in a cedar chest. This pilgrimage marks the 50th anniversary of St Charbel’s beatification. The Parish Priest of St Joseph Church, Father Wissam Akiki, had publicised as much as he could the short visit of the St Charbel’s relic at his church which was between the 15th January 2016 to 17th January 2016.

Dafne was diagnosed with Arnold–Chiari malformation at the age of 13 and over the years developed papilledema (swelling of the optic disc swelling) at the end of the optic nerve. Surgery to correct the malformation had proved unsuccessful. In 2014, she lost the use of her left eye, which had gradually weakened a year earlier. In November 2015, the right eye was also lost, which plunged her into total darkness that even sunlight failed to break when she looked at it directly. A medical report eventually concluded that her blindness was irreversible and that she required permanent medical assistance. Dafne even considered moving to a blind residence so she won’t be a burden on her family.

Over the weekend of the 16th and 17th January 2016, motivated by Fr Akiki’s posters, relatives encouraged Dafne to ask for healing at St Joseph’s Church. Then one of Dafne’s relative took her to St Joseph’s Church to receive a prayer and a blessing from Father Akiki on Saturday, 16 January 2016. “I put my hand on her head, then on both eyes, and I asked God to heal her through the intercession of St Charbel,” Father Akiki said. The next day on Sunday, Dafne and her family attended Mass at St Joseph’s Church and then went home.

On the morning of the 18th January 2016, the amazing miracle occurred. Around 5am, Dafne woke up with severe itching in the eyes and the feeling of pressure on her skull and eye sockets. She woke up her husband, who detected a strong burning smell in the room. He switched on the light, but then switched it off very quickly, at Defne’s request because it bothered her. Then in the glow of a nightlight, she shouted with amazement and joy, that she could see again. “I can see you. I can see you with my own eyes,” she shouted. At the same time, she felt a strong pressure on the skull and eyes, like after an operation. She put her hand to her head, on the right side, as if there were an injury. “I cannot believe it. I did not want to close my eyes,” she said. Dafne’s children were also shouting: “Mum can see! God healed mum!’”