On a wing and a prayer

A teacher tells how a salesman called to her school. When he produced his pen, she noticed that a Rosary beads had got caught onto the pens clip and came out as well. “you must be a Catholic” she remarked. “Not really” he said “but a lot of us owe our lives to Our Lady, and I promised her I would always keep my Rosary with me and say it everyday.

The story that unfolded ran: it was September 1940 when we joined the air force. At Halifax we were given an intensive training course because we were needed overseas. We were grouped into squadrons each of which consisted of 6 to 10 planes and each was trained to manoeuvre as a unit. About 30-50 men made up a squadron. They told us that we were going overseas and would be in action right away. We would be on nightly missions over enemy territory.

We eagerly awaited our new squadron leader. As an officer he would, we believed, go straight to the officers quarters. However, this one, Stan Fulton, in full uniform, headed for our bunk house, where he settled in with the rest of us, saying “ There’s a free bunk and I am tired ! I’ll meet each of you tomorrow”.

With that, he threw his bag on an upper bunk. Our squadron leader, an officer, sleeping here with us ! We liked him at once and our admiration grew each day. That first night he knelt on the floor and prayed his Rosary in silence. Astounded we were struck dumb. When he finished he looked at us his friendly smile and said “I hope you guys don’t find a fellow saying some prayers because where we are going we’re going to need them”.

Next day at manoeuvre practice, we found that Fulton was not just our military leader, but our friend. He was one of us. He never tried to intimidate with his rank. Next night, he repeated his prayer session. Although our group had been together for 6 months, I had never seen anyone kneel in prayer, and had no idea that any of our group was Catholic.

The third night 3 of our companions joined Fulton in praying the Rosary. The rest of us did not understand, but we kept a respectful silence. We weren’t slow however on the pick-up. Soon we were all answering the Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s. So, we ended each day in prayer.

Soon enough we were to begin a series of night raids from England over Germany. The evening before, Fulton gave each one of us a Rosary “we shall be in some tight situations, but if you agree to keep the rosary with you and to pray it, I promise you that Our Lady will bring you all back safe”.

“Sure thing” we replied, little thinking we would be in action for 4 years, often in dreadful danger. At such times, Fulton’s voice would ring through each plane “Hail Mary…” and we would devoutly respond ! We must have said hundreds of Rosaries in the skies.

Ours, was the only squadron that did not lose a plane or a single life. We said nothing, but we treasured our secret weapon and knew Our Lady had saved us all

Our Lady Help of Christians...a story from the USSR

Josyp Terelya is a Ukrainian Catholic who, along with many other lay people, helped keep the faith alive in the underground church during the communist regime, after most of the clergy had been either killed, imprisoned or expelled. He was zealous and out-spoken and became such a thorn in the side of the KGB that whenever he spoke, he was arrested; whenever he was imprisoned he promptly escaped, even from their maximum security prisons, the church’s answer to Houdini.

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Eventually they lost patience and decided to kill him. In solitary confinement, cell 21, they planned to freeze him to death. In this way they could avoid all the paperwork of a formal execution. “It was the middle of winter and they were forcing in frigid air. The walls were coated with ice so thick you could make it ring by tapping an object against it. They stripped me of my winter clothes, leaving me there in a light shirt. In half an hour I felt my jaws freeze shut. I couldn't move them and the very roots of my hair hurt.

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My mind was working, I was aware I was freezing and gathered my strength. I climbed the grate on the cell door to warm my head against the ceiling light bulb. The guard on duty, looking through the peephole saw this and switched off the light. I sat on the bed and began to freeze.

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There was an old quilt you could see through and I wrapped myself in it. Too weak, I finally lay down, praying and awaiting my death. It was then that I became aware of an intense flash in the room, a very powerful light, and heard what sounded like someone walking in my cell...the cell started to feel warmer. Against my frozen eyelids I felt the palm of a woman’s hand. When the hand lifted I was able to open my eyes. There before me was the Virgin Mary.

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“You called to me” she said “and I have come” (She told him when he would be released, that he would be unharmed, and consoled him in this trial) “After the Blessed Virgin disappeared, I took off my shirt and started walking around the cell, that’s how warm it was. I was sweating.

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After half an hour the KGB officials & prison hierarchy came to the cell, along with a doctor; all in fur hats & warm coats, they could not believe I was still alive, let alone standing there without a shirt. They were furious and demanded to know what had happened.

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I told them the Mother Of God was here with me”... Josyp was released 4 years later, at the time Our Lady had told him and the rest as they say is history, the communist regime is gone, Lubyanka prison is closed, and the sanctuary lamps burn brightly again across Russia, even in the heart of Moscow, drawing the people back to God. During the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima ,she prophesied that Russia would be converted and her Immaculate heart would triumph, how wonderful to see it being fulfilled before our very eyes !

The Wall

(A story from the persecuted church in China by a lay missionary)

“on the second night of his visit, he was awoken in the middle of the night by the noise of people moving around the house. A little scared, he got up out of bed and went to his door. Opening his door he grabbed one of the men living in the house and said to him “what is going on ?” The Chinese man replied “we’re going to the wall”. He inquired further “ What is the wall ?” The Chinese man replied “Come with us and we will show you”

He got dressed and ventured out into the night with this group of people, walking for miles. On the way they were joined by 2 other groups until they numbered about 120 people. They came to a forest and he noticed that some of the male members were climbing up the trees. (it turns out that they were look-outs).

They got to a clearing in the forest and there was a small half-built wall from an old derelict building. As they came closer, everyone fell down on their knees before the wall.

Moments later, one man got up and walked towards the wall and reaching forwards removed one brick, behind the brick was reserved the Blessed Sacrament. They adored the Blessed Sacrament for one hour in silent prayer. Then the brick was replaced, the men came down from the trees and they went home.

Two or three times a week they would go to the wall in the middle of the night, risking imprisonment or even their lives, to spend an hour with Jesus, their greatest friend.”

The Wrong number..

One night, about 3am, the phone rang in the Presbytery. The PP answered it and the caller enquired “Is that the funeral home ?” ; “No, we are all alive here, only sleeping, its 3am” was the response. The caller went onto explain that he had just returned from the USA having heard that his mother had just died and was trying to find out where she was. The Priest recognised the name; he was to conduct the mother’s funeral that week.

The plot thickened; as the son told him how he had left under a cloud, the ‘blacksheep’ of the family you could say, and although he wanted to attend his mother’s funeral he was a bit concerned about how he would be received by the rest of the family. Perhaps Fr.. could smooth things over for him ? He agreed to do so.

At the funeral, when he came in all his relatives embraced him and welcomed him, somehow the death in the family became a source of unity and they all cried together and were reconciled and put past events behind them.

The son was so pleased that he heartily thanked the PP for his help and said that “if there is anything I can ever do for you, just let me know and I will” The priest thought this over for a few moments and said “actually there is one thing, I’m having a Life in the Spirit Seminar here for the next few weeks and I’d like you to attend”

His face dropped at the prospect of having to spend a half a dozen evenings in church; He had been away from the church for a very long time, born into the Catholic church but never really deciding to be one. However he was grateful and so agreed to attend, just to please him.

As the weeks went by, and he listened to the teachings and testimonies of these “born again” Catholics, he received the gift of faith, it all started to make sense to him, the love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He decided for God , was reconciled with Him and received His mercy and forgiveness.

A complete change came over him, the same zeal and dedication he had once had for sin, he now had for God and wanted to share this good news with others. Soon his family, amazed at his transformation, were attending the next Life in the Spirit seminar, as were some old friends. He was happy and at peace at last.

A couple of months later, still in his twenties, he had a heart attack and died.

The Angel's prayer..a story from Fatima

One day in the autumn of 1916, the shepherds of Fatima took their herd out to graze. After their meal, they went to pray precisely where the Angel appeared to them the first time. While they recited the prayer that the Angel had taught them (My God, I believe, I adore, and I love You! I beg pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!),their faces to the ground, a light appeared above their heads.
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The children saw the Angel again who this time held a chalice in his left hand; the Host rested above it with drops of Blood dripping down into the chalice. Leaving the chalice and the Host suspended in the air, the Angel prostrated himself on the ground next to the children and repeated this prayer three times: "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly and offer You the most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the earth, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners."

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Then standing up, the Angel took the chalice and the Host into his hands and gave Holy Communion to Lucy, and the Blood of the chalice to Jacinta and Francisco, saying: "Take and drink the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make up for all their crimes and console your God." He then prostrated himself one last time with the children and repeated the prayer to the Holy Trinity (above) three times. The three small visionaries kept strict silence about the apparitions of the Angel. Why did they behave this way? Sister Lucy stated later: "...because of the painful experience of the apparition of 1915."