The Living will envy the dead

In a TV ‘cop’ show I watched the other day, as they were about to introduce a new character they used the phrase – “He’s old testament” to let us know this muscled giant would dispense justice swiftly and squarely without compromise or any faffing around. And so he did. 

The God of the old testament, the one who flooded the earth in Noah’s day, poured fire from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, rescued His people from the Egyptians and gave us the ten commandments has not taken early retirement. 

It is said that the Father, in this post Resurrection era, views the world through the wounds of His son. It is no less horrifying to Him but sees that the price of our iniquity has been paid by the sacrifice of the Son. And even though the state of the world is far worse now than ever in human history, His anger is held back by the merit of Jesus’ sacrifice. The purpose of that sacrifice was to cancel the debt, to make mercy & forgiveness available. For humanity’s part, we are required (as a minimum) to seek mercy and accept forgiveness and turn back to God. 

What happens when humanity stops turning back to Him, when a tipping point is reached where the sin is so great and the desire to repent or change is almost entirely absent? He sends a warning. I was reading about the approved apparitions in Akita in Japan in the 1970’s where Our Lady spoke to a Japanese nun about what would happen. One message reads “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests” 

It’s hard to imagine what ‘envy the dead’ might look like but surely it’s better to avoid it by heeding this and the many other heavenly warnings we are receiving. The local bishop called it an update on Fatima and if we pay attention to this and the more recent apparitions which point to the same end (although in our day with greater urgency perhaps) disaster can be averted or lessened. Some people wonder why so many apparitions of Mary in our days, it’s because she is pleading with us to change, to pay attention, to see how precious human souls really are and how tragic when lost for lack of prayer or vigilance. 

Maybe this time of year is a good opportunity to begin again.

“All things new”

                                                                    

Perhaps the greatest mystery for us is what happens if we actually make it to heaven? The subjects of purgatory and hell have been very well documented over the centuries but heaven... eternal life...it’s a bit vague. Sitting on a cloud with a harp is an unbearable image, singing for 10,000 years might be a bit much too.

Some days ago, a chap called Maurice Mounsdon died, he was 101 and was one of the ‘last of the few’, a former pilot in the Battle of Britain. Most of his mates from those days would have been dead for 80 years by now. It reminded me of a favourite image of the here-after, which is from the end of the movie Titanic.

In the film, as the old lady breathed her last, she was transported down below the waves to the ancient wreck. As her spirit glided along its decks they were once again flooded with light. The rust and decay gave way to complete restoration of every detail. As she made her entrance and went up the grand staircase, all her acquaintances smiled and applauded as she was reunited with her beloved. A grand reunion, all things made new, nothing lost and she was young again without infirmity.

I think Maurice must have had a similar journey, as his guardian angel led him to have his debriefing with the Lord, I can well imagine the rest of the ‘firebirds’ (56 squadron) on hand to welcome him home and if there’s a soundtrack it must have been a Merlin engine’s roar! Nothing is lost in death, all things are made new and what is important to us now, what we have loved in life is still a part of us it’s just perfected by then. We think of deceased loved ones at this time of year, we will see them again!

“Disrupting ISIS Recruitment”

I recently visited the Island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, the scene of the siege of Marawi, where the ISIS affiliated ‘Maute group’ briefly took over the city and inevitably met their end. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to stir people from passivity and complacency; face a situation head on and contend with it. 

I met with the staff of Duyog Marawi a group initiated by the Redemptorist order with support from the wider Catholic Church in the Philippines. Their staff and volunteers are Muslims and Catholics, mostly young people who are committed to peace and the restoration of the lives of those affected by the troubles in Marawi. Duyog means to ‘accompany’ and the group intends to ‘journey with’ the Meranaw people as they move through the various stages of recovery and development.

Before the insurrection in Marawi, ISIS recruited children as young as 9 years old as fighters, the younger they are the easier to brainwash, coerce and manipulate. The Maute family ran a residential school where many were recruited and whilst their families noticed how their joy left them to be replaced by aggression and hatred, they did not anticipate the outcome. Now however, through Duyog Marawi, the Muslim community have taken ownership of the problem. 

Duyog Marawi is now involved in countering the ideology and recruitment tactics of ISIS through a mobile Madrasah (Islamic school) for the children and a similar system to reach older youth to warn them ahead of time and teach them proper values. They are seriously disrupting ISIS recruitment through their efforts. The Muslim communities are forearmed now and can better protect their youth from those who would merely seek to profit from their children’s deaths.

As I listened to the three courageous young Meranaw Duyog Marawi staff, Juji, Jam and Hudaifa, it occurred to me that every young person seeks to know and find his part in the larger story, a noble or worthy cause to champion. Along with their Christian colleagues they had chosen the way of peace. They are the beacons of hope for a shared, common future.

As Christian and Muslim youth unite under a common banner of peace and understanding to protect their communities and nation from those who come only to ‘kill, steal and destroy’ (John 10:10), they become an impenetrable phalanx (interlocked shields) that will break the waves of fanciful infantile ideologies that crash against them, with unshakeable resolve and manly courage.

Perhaps communities in other nations can learn from this excellent project and apply a similar model to prevent radicalization of the young.

Duyog Marawi ... a tree and its fruits (Luke 6:43-45)

Blood Relic of Pope John Paul II

In Malate church a day before departure, I knelt before a blood relic of St Pope John Paul II and prayed for my journey. His own commitment to reconciliation between peoples is legendary as he forgave and later met with the man who tried to assassinate him.

This was my first trip to Mindanao in the southern Philippines, the scene of the siege of Marawi, the effects of which are still felt. What a handful of evil men can do in minutes can take a lifetime to repair in a community. 

Marawi 2017

I went to meet the staff of Duyog Marawi, a group initiated by the Redemptorist order with support from the wider Catholic Church in the Philippines. Their staff and volunteers are both Muslim and Catholic, mostly young people who are committed to peace and understanding and the restoration of the lives of those affected by the troubles in Marawi. Duyog means to ‘accompany’ and the group intends to ‘journey with’ the Meranaw people as they move through the various stages of recovery and development.

I travelled by ferry, the 36-hour journey would give me time to prepare my heart through prayer to meet those I was supposed to meet and to hear their stories and those of their people. It also took my mind back to the last war–torn area I visited some 25+ years earlier. Another group of young people in England formed to take aid convoys to refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina and to distribute these to all, regardless of religion or origin, Muslims and Christians alike. 

1st Convoy Preparations June 1993

2nd Convoy Preparations November 1993 

Perhaps this ‘remembering’ was what attracted me to the work of Duyog Marawi (DM) and to know more about it as I shared their vision.

The ship was filled with soldiers, many deployed for the first time in Mindanao, they were so young and I diverted some of my prayers for their safety as they work to maintain peace and order and protect the populous.

There is a peculiar tension in the hearts of men; a divided nature between the capacity for love placed there by their Creator and a tendency for destruction and hatred. When I see the photos of Marawi and remember the pock-marked, shell shattered streets of Mostar I see the landscape of the human heart, that battle within, which we all must enter into. 

Mostar 1993 (Medjugorje International Relief Convoy)

Bosnia-Herzegovina 1993 (Medjugorje International Relief Convoy)

Marawi 2017

Marawi 2017

I have heard that the proper interpretation of ‘Jihad’ is actually more akin to what Christians would recognise as ‘sanctification’ - to purify the heart. And we even use the same tools as Muslims, those, being prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Like in Lenten season where we seek to intentionally realign our hearts to God. It’s an internal process. It requires a certain maturity and sincerity of spirit to enter into. Sadly, in all religions, that is not always present. 

Duyog Marawi’s work encompasses many areas across four phases of activity; firstly there was work with the internally displaced people following evacuation from the city, providing food, water, temporary shelter etc. Later the work shifted to more community engagement and peace building between Christians and Muslims. Another area, the HILOM project focussed on helping the former hostages to process their experiences - many of them became DM volunteers later as a part of their healing journey. Now they are developing livelihood programs for IDP’s. Perhaps the most critical work though is in countering the ideology of ISIS. 

The ISIS groups recruited children as young as nine years old and many families saw their children change from normal healthy children to aggressive, confused and frustrated shadows of themselves following indoctrination by the Maute group at the school that the Maute family operated. But few could see what was to come.

Photo Courtesy Duyog Marawi

Photo Courtesy Duyog Marawi

Duyog Marawi operates a mobile ‘Madrasah’ – which travels from place to place to teach the children Islamic values and teachings that will counter the false teachings and enticements of the ISIS recruiters who work in the same territory. They also run two ALS (Alternative Learning System) schools for the older out-of-school youth which achieves the same purpose. The Meranaw community is committed to protecting their youth from ISIS recruiters as the loss of many of their young is mourned, as is the destruction of their homes and livelihoods. The need for vigilance is acutely felt now and the peace builders are on the front lines of the battle for hearts and minds. 

Hudaifa and Juji

As I listened to the three young Meranaw Duyog Marawi staff; Juji, Jam and Hudaifa; it occurred to me that every young person seeks to know and find their part in the larger story, a noble or worthy cause to champion. Each generation (of whatever religious group or nationality) produces its own leaders and they fall into two categories, I noticed.

The terror group leaders are violent, superficial, insolent, and bold. Boldness is a boyish trait, which if not satisfied, quickly dissipates. There is no thought of tomorrow or the consequences; just rage without real purpose. Peacemakers, on the other hand are leaders who exercise a patient, considered response, they are courageous and long suffering. They are the beacons of hope for a shared, common future. 

As Christian and Muslim youth unite under a common banner of peace and understanding to protect their communities and nation from those who come only to ‘kill, steal and destroy’ (John 10:10) they become an impenetrable phalanx, interlocked shields that will break the waves of fanciful infantile ideologies that crash against them, with unshakeable resolve and manly courage. 

One other thing that was interesting from our discussions was that in the presence of a common and savage enemy, lesser arguments melt back into the background and unusual alliances form. For example, the volunteers work in conjunction with the military to check the areas they will visit are safe; so there is good cooperation between church and state, but also have the support of the MILF (Moro Islamic liberation Front) who see ISIS as a threat to their struggle for autonomy from the central government, which has often been an armed struggle. 

My own experiences confirm this pattern, and the need to never give in to prejudices of assuming all those of a particular religion, nation or tribe are bad and another all good - it simply is not true. When my friends and I were taking aid to refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina we came upon a city under siege, a Muslim enclave on one side of a river, a largely Christian group on the other and to enable both sets of refugees to receive aid we worked with the Jewish community who, by cover of night, were able to take food and supplies by boat over the river to their Muslim friends and neighbours. Unexpected ... but there are men and women of good will everywhere. 

Mostar 1993

I returned home to Manila via Cagayan, the ship’s name was St Pope John Paul II! And in the sky, out in the middle of sea, I saw a rainbow, the sign of a promise (Gen 9:16) “ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” Truly God is with the work and efforts of the Duyog Marawi team. God bless them.

Rainbow ... God's Covenant with Noah

Links:- Duyog Marawi 

          :- Medjugorje International Relief

The Best Kept Secret

There were 3 rural parish priests who had a problem with birds nesting in the nooks and crannies of the ceilings of their churches. One had a shotgun and fired a few shots at the ceiling and they flew off, only to return soon after. The second rigged up a net and caught them, put the net in his truck, drove them 100 miles and released them and when he got back to his church they were already back. The last one had one of those high pressure car washing devices which he filled with Holy water and Baptised the whole flock; and never saw them again. 

Many in the last few generations align to tradition without knowing why and maintain a skin deep relationship with the church and often no relationship at all with their God. 

When I was taught about religion; it was by religious sisters, who could talk about hell with such clarity and detail that we all knew they had been born and raised there! I could probably pass a test on the Catechism but didn’t have a clue who God was really or how this could be a part of life beyond having to go to Mass on Sunday; and this unimpressive start was before sin entered the picture much. 

Who God is and what He can be for a follower of His, is probably the best kept secret in the church and strangely religion often stands in the way of its discovery, distracts from the goal rather than leading to it. Grace has its own timing of course, but it’s seldom entirely independent. The catalyst is generally a witness, someone who does know God, who has experienced that touch of grace in a way which brought about a transformation in their lives and can then do the same for the listener. God is experiential, a theoretical one won’t captivate anyone, He is living and acts mightily in the here and now, not merely historically. 

When someone opens their heart to God, in all sincerity, then it’s like being unplugged from the Matrix.., to suddenly see the world as it really is, who we are, and who God is. And then the journey begins together and we realize all He can be for us. The most beautiful thing to realize is that we are not alone. There is a good Father on whom we can rely entirely for everything we need; there is no need to be afraid of life anymore, you are in safe hands. But we must be intentional about seeking him out, trusting Him and being aligned with His Spirit through prayer. 

How can the current or next generations ever know God unless there are authentic witnesses to tell them the church’s best kept secret?

Civil Disobedience ... Arrest outside Abortion Clinic for Praying ...

The American philosopher Henry Thoreau wrote an essay entitled ‘Civil Disobedience’ after spending a night in jail for refusing to pay his taxes as a protest against slavery. One line reads “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” 

Earlier this year, a man (in a wheelchair) was arrested outside the Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Ealing, London for praying for an end to abortion and for the mothers and babies inside. This followed a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) which bans ‘engaging in any act of approval / disapproval towards abortion outside the facility- including prayer.’ The charges were later dropped. 

This is a new phase in the hardening of intolerance towards Christianity and the Pro-life movement, one that we should be greatly encouraged by though. In trying to ban prayer the face of the industry is further unmasked. On the days when pro-lifers are praying outside an abortion clinic, women turn back and go home, both mother and child are spared the horror of abortion and the clinic loses its revenue. 

It is an abuse of power to arrest people who are praying, but even under this PSPO there must be clarity that an offence has been committed before an arrest can be made, so perhaps it can be countered by raising a reasonable doubt. A group of people standing outside without photos or placards, remaining silent and retaining their composure, rosaries concealed in their pockets perhaps, showing no approval or disapproval to the activities going on inside cannot be legitimately moved on or arrested. And I doubt if anyone could prove they were praying other than by the miracles that proceed forth. 

The Muslim civil rights leader Malcolm X was successful because his congregation was so disciplined; controlling their emotions, and acting as one with an almost military precision. As he pointed out ‘for one to control one's thoughts and feelings means one can actually control one's atmosphere and all who walk into its sphere of influence.’ 

One thing was quite disturbing though. Christian Hastings, the man arrested outside Marie Stopes, was the only one. Where were the rest of the Parishioners from his church? Where were the rest of the parishioners from his Diocese?

A Walking Weapon

Whilst praying the Rosary this morning, I had an unexpected insight.

I had been reading an article on the Israeli self-defense system Krav Maga and a phrase had stayed with me that a ‘well-trained practitioner of Krav Maga is basically a walking human weapon” My insight was that praying the Rosary was our equivalent in the realm of the spiritual life.

Many of the traditional martial arts are primarily defensive; derived from a philosophy or observations in nature and tend to take many years to master; it becomes a way of life. They also tend to be quite precise and elegant in movement. Transplanting them to western culture it becomes competitive with tournaments and grades and so on.

Krav Maga on the other hand was developed out of necessity by a Jewish chap in Slovakia to protect their communities from fascist anti-Semitic thugs who attacked them in the run-up to the second world war. It is the ‘blunt force trauma’ of martial arts, which has only one objective- to neutralize an attack (with multiple attackers in mind) and render them unable to continue. It is easily learned and improved with practice. 

Within the church we do have our own experts in the martial arts of prayer; like the desert fathers who spent their whole lives in fasting and contemplation and today’s monks and religious sisters whose life of prayer is derived from that and continue to hold the world together by their intercession and holiness and inflict great violence on the enemy. 

For the ordinary man in the street though; we have the Rosary, our means to weaponise our prayer life; to neutralize the attacks of the evil one on our own lives on a daily basis. The reality is that we are all in this fight, like it or not, acknowledge it or not, and to protect ourselves and our families is essential. Particularly for men; the heads of families need to enter into this. Let your sons see you praying the Rosary so they will learn it too and become “well trained practitioners; walking weapons.”

“Woman, Why do you besiege me?”

A woman from San Giovanni Rotunda watched her sick husband go from bad to worse and sink rapidly towards death. In great distress , she ran to the monastery to get Padre Pio to pray for his recovery but could not get past the crowds.

She could not wait in the long line for confession to see him so prayed interiorly that Padre Pio would help her husband who , at any moment might die and leave her alone to bring up their children.

When she saw Padre Pio move to the altar to celebrate Mass she dashed over there but was engulfed in the crowds again, she tried going to the right, then the keft but could not reach him. So she prayed interiorly again, filled with anguish that wrenched her heart, because of her husband’s condition.

When Mass was over she managed to squeeze through into the corridor he would use to return to the monastery and continued to pray again. Padre Pio came along and stopped by her saying “woman of little faith, why do you beseige me and bombard me with your prayer? Do you think I am deaf? You have already told me what you want 5 times, from the right, from the left, in front, behind, I get the message ! Go home , everything is alright” Full of joy, she thanked him and ran home to find her husband in perfect health.

A Rosary Miracle ... Sr Emmanuel (Medjugorje)

During the Second World War, my father was arrested by the Gestapo for his activities in the Resistance. He spent three years in a cell with 10 other resistance fighters in concentration camps in Germany. As a great lover of Our Lady, he prayed the Rosary often. His mother, whose only son he was, had no news of him over those years, but she was heroically trusting in Mary, and kept believing that he would return, praying rosary after rosary.

One day when my father was exhausted and starving like all his fellow prisoners, the SS in faction asked the prisoners to carry stones from a quarry to the place where they planned to build something. Each prisoner was given a stone to carry. When my father saw the stone he was given, he understood that his last hour had come, for it was impossible for him to lift it even an inch as it was so large. He also knew that if he didn't carry it, the dogs of the SS would jump on him and the guards would finish him off like a beast. He had seen this happen before.

Standing by his stone, in his distress, he looked up. He then saw a simple house close by, and on its façade was a small alcove in which stood a statue of the Blessed Mother. When my father saw the statue, he exclaimed inwardly, "Mary, save me!" At that very moment, the heavy stone became weightless! My father used to say, "It became lighter than confetti!"

Of the 10 men in his Resistance cell, he was the only one to come back alive (thanks to which I was born!). Needless to say, my father never failed to pray his rosary every day!

Jesus Wept

One survivor from the concentration camp in Buchenwald had a surprising attitude about his experience there.  It was a place noted for extremes of cruelty; one guard used to hang inmates by the wrists and leave them to die in what became known as the singing forest on account of the wailing his victims made as they died in agony.

The survivor though, having seen so much horror did not seek for vengeance or even justice for his tormentors. His own suffering was nothing compared to the broken-heartedness he felt for those poor German youths who could be so cruel; and thinking about the state of their souls was what troubled him, not their victims, whom he saw as ‘on the side of Christ’.

I was on the Mount of Olives a couple of months ago at a chapel commemorating the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem and I imagine this as analogous, he was heartbroken at the refusal of his people to recognize Him and accept His offer of mercy and the life in its fullness that the Gospel offers.

As we returned to England and came back to my home town in Manchester arriving in the early hours of the morning at the bus station, we were met with the revelry of the Gay pride festival, men with beards in dresses celebrating their rights; it was quite a contrast having been in Bethlehem the morning before.

We live in strange days. I read an article the other day where a woman who had recently given birth now decided that she ‘identified herself as a man’ and was demanding the right to change the birth certificate to have her recognized as the father of her baby. Many parents are increasingly concerned about the way gender ideology and its massive confusion are being inflicted on their children in the classroom, made to believe that it’s all ‘normal’.

This undermining of the family and validation and forced acceptance of all and any manner of ‘alternative lifestyles’ coupled with the continued genocide against the unborn shows that society has reached a peak of decadence beyond which there can only be ruin. These contain within themselves the seeds of their own destruction.

The ancient Greeks and Roman’s went down a similar (though much less extreme) decent into effeminacy and it was the end of their civilizations; it’s heartbreaking to watch people destroy their own lives though. Only prayer can really make the difference; at least for some. As a Face Book posting I saw this morning said “Jesus told the story of the prodigal son to make a simple point, - never mind what you’ve done just come home.”

“No; you will forget it”

Among the many people who came to see Padre Pio was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who , later clinging stubbornly to Catholic Tradition, as he called it, questioned the authority of Vatican II and was removed from office by Pope Paul VI. He had a meeting with Padre Pio who looked at Lefebvre sternly and said “Never cause discord among your brothers and always practice the tule of obedience, above all when it seems to you that the errors of those in authority are all the more serious. There is no other road than that of obedience for those of us who have made this vow”

Lefebvre responded to Padre Pio with “I will remember that Father” Padre Pio looked at him intensely and seeing what would soon happen said “no !You will forget it !You will tear apart the community of the faithful, oppose the will of your superiors and even go against the orders of the Pope himself and this will happen quite soon. You will forget the promise you made here today,,a dn the whole church will be hurt by you. Don’t set yourself up as a judge. Don’t take powers that don’t belong to you and do not consider yourself as the voice of God’s people, as God already speaks to them. Do not sow discord and dissension. However I know this is what you will do”

The Trap

A trader from Genoa had to visit Foggia to negotiate an oil sale. One of his friends who knew he had been away from the church for a long time planned to lay a trap for him. He asked him to make a detour to San Giovanni Rotunda to deliver a letter to Padre Pio, hoping that his friend would meet the priest. He agreed and went to the monastery to deliver the letter and wait for the reply. 

When Padre Pio saw him , he approached him and asked “what do you want ?” He replied he was just waiting for a reply to the letter. “Ah Yes the letter” Padre Pio replied “But what about you, Don’t you want to go to confession ?”

The man admitted that he had not practiced his religion in a long time. Padre Pio asked him “how long since your last confession ?” I was 7 years old said the trader. The priest looked at him as though he saw into his soul and said “how long do you intent to live this disgusting kind of life ?” 

In a flash the man saw how his life had been lived without God, repented, went to confession and was filled with Joy. He stayed on another week and attended the Mass each day.

Lack of Masculinity

Following the latest shooting incident in the US, there was much debate on gun laws and the availability of these high powered automatic weapons; but very little on addressing what is at the heart of the problem with so many shootings.

Large numbers of casualties grab the headlines but if one looks at the trend of say knife and other violent crime in England or other western countries it is also seen that they are on the rise and very numerous, although fortunately causing fewer casualties per attack.

A former special forces soldier appeared on one of the news channels with his take on this and quite rightly I think identified that these kind of attacks by very angry young men are not the product of toxic masculinity but the complete absence of masculinity.

The role of men in western society is far from what it used to be – to defend and protect others, to provide, to uphold and fight for what is right; these roles have been somewhat discouraged if anything in many western countries even to the point of putting a very high proportion of boys (more than double the number of girls in the US) on ADHD medicines to control their natural wildness and manliness. The frustration created in young men at not being what they ought to be as well as having no real direction from their fathers, with the high levels of divorce, separation and abandonment, makes this tragic cocktail even worse.

The natural aggression and wildness of boys, is God’s design and therefore should be encouraged, not suppressed with drugs or regulations; developed by good example and guidance through their youth to bring out their true nature and calling, an authentic masculinity of nobility, integrity and courage. 

Padre Pio …. Give me a sign

Aure Caviggioli, an antique dealer from Monte Carlo, had been away from the church for a long time. One day he went to the Rome-Termini station and without knowing why, bought a ticket for Foggia. During the journey he dozed off and when he woke up he became aware of a strong perfume but could not identify its source.

On his arrival in Foggia , he took the bus for San Giovanni Rotunda and checked in at the hotel. Next morning, on his way to Padre Pio’s Mass, he was aware of the same perfume he had smelt on the train.

During the celebration he was fascinated by the priest’s presence. He wanted to get near but the crowd was dense. The next day, thanks to some brothers, he was able to get close to Padre Pio who asked him, “what do you want?” Caviggioli was embarrassed for a moment and then remembered that one of his grand-daughters, living in Switzerland had a brain tumour, so he recommended her to his prayers. Padre Pio advised him to go home because the child had been cured. The cure had in fact been immediate and complete, so much so that the doctors would not take their fees as they concluded that they had done nothing in this case.

This excited Caviggioli’s curiosity and he went back several times to San Giovanni Rotunda to meet Padre Pio and make his confession to him. But a certain fear held him back. Two years passed and he decided to make Padre Pio a gift of a painting of the Virgin Mary carrying the child Jesus, the work of a sixteenth century painter. A friend who came to look at it asked Caviggioli how much it was worth. He answered that it was worth millions! But during the night Padre Pio came to him in a dream and looking at him very severely said “What are you talking about ? you paid only 25,000 lira for that painting!” When he woke up , the antique dealer recalled that in fact that was the price he had paid for it to a Jew who had been deported during World War II.

When Caviggioli went to San Giovanni Rotunda he presented the painting to Padre Pio who asked him “what did you dream last night , you rogue ?” and burst out laughing.

However, even on this occasion Padre Pio would not hear his confession. Back in his hotel, alone and looking at the monastery he cried out “Listen Padre Pio, give me a sign that I may know when to come to confession” To his utter amazement, he had hardly finished the sentence when Padre Pio appeared before him, took him by the hand and then disappeared. Caviggioli was filled with fear and quite stunned by this. Next day the priest heard his confession and apologized for having scared him by appearing at his hotel !

Freedom

There is a story told in Poland about Stalin; drinking vodka late at night, thinking about Poland, and mumbling that ‘trying to get Poles to embrace communism was like trying to put a horse’s saddle on a pig’

What is more surprising to me is how anyone managed to export the ideology to the Chinese, to whom it must have seemed equally unnatural. Thousands of years of innovation, faith and dynamism swept aside to make way for the monotony of a godless, humorless autocracy. As a creative, freedom-loving nation, it must have been stifling to have every aspect of life controlled, monitored and restricted in the manner it has been during its short epoch.

During his struggle with the British Empire, Gandhi noted that the small number of colonists cannot control millions of Indians once they decided not to be controlled anymore and his non-violent invitation for the British to leave was ultimately successful.  A handful of hard line Communists are beginning to realize that too, as many of their nation’s one billion souls long to be free again.

No one in China has forgotten the Tiananmen Square massacre; the broken tip of an enormous and growing iceberg of dissent and resistance; and all eyes are now on Hong Kong to see if the people there are ready to stand firm before the vice grips of the mainland regime close in on them and on the very core of what it is to be free. 

Perhaps in our lifetime we will see the return of China to greatness having rid herself of the malaise of Mao’s failed experiment and the streets of Peking (and Hong Kong) may be lit up with the joy of freedom, an inherent gift of God, once again; but not without struggle; not without blood, I suspect.

Called in his Sleep

A young engineer from Bologna who had been away from the church for years, dreamt one night of Padre Pio. The friar gazed at him for a long time and then disappeared after saying ‘It is fortunate for you that you could sustain my scrutiny’ The man had never heard of Padre Pio at that stage but was intrigued and made enquiries about him. He had a great desire to meet him and at the same time felt his conscience pricking him. He wanted to come out of his situation but did not feel he had the inner strength to do so and sank back into his lethargy and eight years passed by.

It took a catastrophe to shake him out of his apathy. An earthquake shook Bologna. He decided to visit Padre Pio and took a train to San Giovanni Rotondo, but after several kilometers he felt ill and had to return home. He wrote to Padre Pio to explain and he replied telling him to be patient and carry out charitable works until the right moment came along to visit.  Eventually he did visit and when he saw Padre Pio at the monastery he recognized him as looking exactly as he did in his dream 8 years earlier and fell to his knees weeping and blurted out “ I have known your reputation for holiness for 8 years” Padre Pio responded ‘what good has it done you, you have lived as you wished’ Change your life my son’

This time he accepted his advice , went to confession, received absolution and returned to Bologna a  new man and gave witness to God’s grace through Padre Pio.

An opera singer ‘s conversion .. a Padre Pio Story

A famous Italian tenor, Beniamino Gigli wanted to meet Padre Pio. He arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo in a luxurious car with a uniformed Chaffuer. When Gigli was introduced to Padre Pio, the priest gave him that searching look of his which went to the heart of things without being influenced by appearences. He went up to him and said point blank “ you call yourself ‘Gigli’ like the Lily which is a symbol of purity but you are a sullied lily because you are cheating on your wife and have a secret relationship with another woman” You call yourself ‘Beniamino’ which means beloved of God but God does not love you at all because of the state of your soul” One can imagine how upset the tenor was on hearing what Padre Pio had read in his soul which others had chosen to ignore and confronted him with the responsibility. Beniamino however had the strength and humility to accept this brutal indictment and changed his ways, broke off the extramarital affair and until his death became a faithful friend of Padre Pio.

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.

Vanquish the Enemy

"It is the image of God reflected in you that so enrages hell; it is this on which the demons hurl their mightiest weapons."

Anyone seeking to live a Christian life will discover that our adversary will quickly move from anonymity to bullying and intimidation. But we have been given a wonderful gift, as Catholics, in that we have at our disposal a means to counter whatever comes, Mary, the mother of God. She is charged with the task of ‘crushing the head of the serpent’ (Gen 3:15).

Protestant churches have been robbed of this knowledge and struggle on without this important heavenly help, perhaps not understanding why the Lord delegated in this way.

Fr Amorth, a prolific exorcist from Italy, noticed that whenever he invoked the name of Mary during an exorcism the person became more agitated and violent; having authority over the evil one, he questioned him about it.

He asked why he seemed more afraid at the name of Mary than the name of Jesus Christ: He replied that ‘I am more afraid when you say the Madonna’s name, because I am more humiliated by being beaten by a simple woman, than by Him..’ Her power over him is such :- “Because she always defeats me, because she was never compromised by any taint of sin!”

It’s analogous to a school bully who terrorises everyone and is then laid out cold by a punch from the smallest girl, in front of everyone. God makes his humiliation fitting to his pride.

When Fr Amorth questioned further it was revealed that ‘every hail Mary makes hell tremble’ and the most noteworthy point I think was that ‘if Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’

No wonder the greatest saints were champions of the Rosary; with this weapon we can protect ourselves and Our Lady can vanquish the enemy.