‘Do you have a difficult work colleague or boss ?’

In my early career I was very blessed in having good Supervisors and Managers. They were good mentors and I benefited greatly from their experiences and the knowledge they passed on, as well as their friendship. So years later, when I joined a new company, it was something of a challenge to deal with a particularly difficult boss who was shaped in a rather different mould.

Of course we are all under authority of some sort and firstly I had to acknowledge that reality and accept his direction as legitimate and suffer in silence,but not passively. I sought a higher authority.

I noticed a nearby church which held Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during lunchtime on Wednesdays and I decided that I would use part of my lunch hour each week to pray for him. And so week after week, month after month I went to the Holy Hour and prayed for my boss. Frankly his ways did not improve; but after a few months he was offered a good job in another company and left. I rejoiced and thanked God !

By now I was already in the habit of my Wednesday lunchtime prayer and decided to continue. This time I decided to pray for my immediate supervisor, who I got along with very well, and so again I prayed week after week, month after month and after a few months, he was promoted and I inherited the stapler, his desk, and his Job Title!

I was on a roll and quite fascinated at how God was bringing about the structural changes in our company. What next? I was running out of Bosses but there was one left, also a good chap, so I started to pray for him. Week after week , month after month I made my Wednesday pilgrimage for my colleague and a few months later, I left! Another opportunity opened up for me overseas.

Really there is no formula that we can apply with how God works. Especially if we have no fixed agenda in our prayer for others, we can simply watch Him work things out for us and for those around us.

We cannot get along with everyone, nor usurp legitimate authority but, we can change the world with prayer!

Reaching the Young

On a visit to England I attended a Mass where the children from the church schools also attended, perhaps 100+.

Apparently they were seldom seen as only a handful of their parents came to Mass and an even smaller number had their kids in the sacramental program.  

I found myself praying that God would reveal Himself to them and then remembered a couple of encouraging stories I had heard. Both are from talks by Fr Blount, an American charismatic priest and exorcist. The first was about when he spoke with elementary school children about praying for healing. He had them pray over each other and then instructed them to pray over their parents when they went home. One boy as they finished, ran home to pray over his grandmother who was on her death bed. He asked her permission and she agreed, he laid his hands on her and asked God to heal her. She leaped up from the bed, completely healed and headed off to church for thanksgiving. I am sure no one will forget that lesson ! 

Another was a retreat day Fr. Blount had for teenage boys. They had exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and he prayed that Jesus would do something a bit special for the boys during adoration to enhance the day. What followed was that from the host, the face of Jesus appeared. And It stayed. Everyone saw It and as they remained in adoration for several hours, some weeping and being transformed others greatly strengthened. 

We do live in dark days and in many ways its seems that the odds are against any great breakthrough or success in winning souls for God; information about God is not really enough; we need an encounter with the living God to catalyse a life of faith and an on-going life in Him.

The Wall ... a story from China

A story from the persecuted church in China about a lay missionary 's visit there:

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.

I will be with you always...

During China's 1911 Republican Revolution or the earlier Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), anti-Catholic militants seized a Catholic parish. They confined the pastor to house arrest. From his rectory window he witnessed the desecration of the Church.
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He knew that there had been thirty-two consecrated hosts in the tabernacle. An eleven year old girl was praying at the back of the church and the guards either did not see her or else paid no attention to her.
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She returned to the Church that night and made a Holy Hour and then consumed one of the sacred hosts, bending down to receive Jesus on her tongue. She continued to return every night, making a nightly Holy Hour and consuming one sacred host.
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On the last night, the thirty-second night, unfortunately a guard was awakened after she consumed the sacred host. He chased her, grabbed her, and beat her to death with his rifle.
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Archbishop Fulton Sheen became aware of her martyrdom while he was a seminarian. He was so inspired by her sacrifice that he promised to pray a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament each day for the rest of his life.
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The eleven year old girl could have had no idea how she would have influenced a future bishop who would in turn influence millions and promote Eucharistic Adoration. We also have no idea how our witness and sacrifices influence others.

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.”