Some years ago, when we lived in the Midlands a lady had a Mass offered for her sick brother-in-law who was a cancer patient, she was looking after him, a full time job at that stage. After the Mass a few of the parishioners were invited back to the house for tea & biscuits. They talked for a while and she shared her concerns for her brother-in-law. Whilst she was a devout Catholic, he had no time for God at all.
A very intelligent man,
the living room was filled with plaques and certificates that hailed his
achievements in his academic and professional undertakings and as a civic
leader and local hero, but faith was absent and she feared for him as he had
already exceeded the life expectancy predicted by the doctors, another credit
to his will of iron.
That evening he was not
at home, but at the hospital scheduled to receive a blood transfusion. The
nature of his illness meant that he had a low haemoglobin count and so needed
regular transfusions. After tea, the group decided to pray together for a
while, first for the lady who was so exhausted and also for her patient. They
prayed for the current problem with his blood, also that he would be relieved
of his pains and be able to sleep again (it had been almost a year since he had
a night’s sleep, every few minutes he woke up because of the pain), and also
for him to open his heart to God and receive the faith.
Meanwhile in the hospital,
at the same time, 9pm, the patient was hooked up to a machine which monitored his
haemoglobin count and other parameters, while the doctors were preparing for
the transfusion. It was measuring a low level, then suddenly it went up and was
reading what would be considered normal. The doctors were a bit baffled by
this, but continued with the transfusion. (The patient told his sister-in-law
about this strange event, on his return, before she told him that he was being
prayed for).
That same night he slept
like a baby too, and was able to do so in the next few months with little or no
pain killers. The same group of parishioners visited him again after his
release from the hospital and whilst he became more open and requested prayers,
as he always felt better afterwards, he was still unwilling to believe what God
had done for him. (perhaps the blood count machine was malfunctioning, perhaps
the pain killers were working better all of a sudden, maybe its psychological ,
if you know you’re being prayed for maybe it makes you feel better ! etc.)
The more people that
witnessed to him the wonders of God, the more hard headed he seemed to become!
Some months passed and on January the 3rd 2006, he passed away.
On January the 2nd he
was rushed to hospital with a chest problem, which turned out to be Pneumonia.
But on January 1st, at
his own request, he was Baptised and became a Catholic the peace and joy that
filled him at that moment visible to all present. The Lord knew the day and the
hour and He answers prayers !
Our Father will pursue each soul to
the very end; but prayer is really needed, without the consistent prayers over
many years of his sister-in-law, the outcome could have been so very different.
As Our Lady mentioned at Fatima in one of her messages to the children .. Pray, pray much, and sacrifice
for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to sacrifice and
pray for them.”(August 19th 1917 Message)
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