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!’”

The Power of the Word

‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’ (Proverbs 18:21)

 

I thought of someone the other day who, by my calculations, is probably deceased by now, prompting me to think up an impromptu eulogy which was “at least she can’t do anyone any more harm now”.  It was more gracious than it looks for I had never heard a word from her lips that was not vicious, critical, malicious or deceitful or all of the above. Perhaps one ‘kindred spirit’ attended the funeral but even for him it would have been more relief than sorrow.

 

Words do have immense power to create or destroy, to give life or to kill. I am sure it is easy to put names and faces to those we have encountered through life, who have been kind, encouraging, compassionate, caring, patient, loving - those who have given life by their presence, example and guidance, and similarly those we have encountered who caused great pain and wounded the heart and soul by their presence and words.

 

One Japanese chap, Dr. Masuro Emoto, conducted a series of experiments to determine the effects of both positive and negative words spoken (and written) on the response of water. (It is worth noting that we are 60%+ water) Whilst this would come under the category of Pseudo-Science as would many of his conclusions, what is interesting is the observations he made and their consistency.

 

Firstly he exposed water samples to positive spoken words, like Love, Gratitude, Peace, Joy. Then he froze the water samples and observed the structure of the resultant ice:- they formed beautiful, orderly crystalline structures. He conducted the same experiment using negative spoken words like Hate, Anger, Rage. The samples were again frozen and the structures were also examined. This time they were distorted, chaotic structures. The same observations were made by wrapping the water samples in paper with the words written on them, (in different languages) both positive and negative words giving the same resultant crystalline forms observed with spoken words. Exposure of water to prayer also produced the beautiful Crystals in the frozen water. Interestingly; he also tried different types of music played to water samples and this too yielded consistent results of orderly crystals in the water exposed to classical music and distorted shapes in the water exposed to loud heavy metal music.

 

Of course we can see too the power of words in the Gospels, at Jesus’s word (and later the apostles) demons are expelled, sickness removed from the body, the dead raised to life, sins forgiven, and when He found no fruit on the fig tree and cursed it, it died.

Before anything bad happens

Just before Christmas we took a trip to one of the Islands in Romblon to have a few days of prayer. The place we stayed in was a garden resort up in the hills with cabins and a good  restaurant, very peaceful and conducive to ‘rest and relaxation’. Often when we travel, there are Divine Appointments made and this was no exception. Our host, a successful businessman shared his testimony with us as a storm rolled in which would lengthen our stay by 2 days as ships would no longer be able to dock at the port due to the size of the waves. 

His story began with another storm, in Manila some years before, where he became captive to the weather and floods and was unable to go to work. It was during this time that he reflected on his life. Although hard working, healthy and materially successful, he had no time for God. He hadn't been to church since his wedding, decades earlier and it occurred to him that he ought to get himself in good standing with God, as he put it “before anything bad happens”. A pragmatic businessman indeed! He followed through and as the floods permitted, he went to church with a shopping list of sins and made his peace through the sacrament of reconciliation.

Soon after, a crisis did indeed present itself. His son had an accident wake boarding; an ill fitting helmet left him with a skull fracture. A simple operation was needed and whilst in recovery they noticed an infection in the bone had developed which made things more serious. A second operation was conducted to replace that area of the skull. After this, his son was becoming forgetful and it was clear that something was still wrong. A friend suggested that he seek St (Padre) Pio’s intercession. He googled Padre Pio to find out who he was and also identified a shrine dedicated to him near the hospital and began a series of visits to pray for his son. 

After one of those visits he returned to the hospital and found his son’s bed gone:- he had gone in for a third surgery. At that moment he noticed a strong smell of flowers in the room aka the odour of sanctity (often noticed by devotees of Padre Pio during his bilocations). The operation was a success and his son regained all his faculties on recovery. 

Whilst God is relentless in His pursuit of each and every lost soul, it is only when he opened his heart to God and turned his life around that he was able to tap into the new and true life in God. In this case, it also enabled him to handle the crisis in his son’s life as a man of faith rather than relying on his own strength. This became a precursor to another miracle for his son’s healing. It was a wonderful introduction to the might of the intercession of the saints in heaven and God’s provision in our lives when we pray in faith.

Why does Jesus Heal People now ?

My wife and I were at a market stall buying dried fish from a vendor in her 80’s, when she asked us if we remembered her. She had attended a talk my wife gave on healing prayer the night before in the church in the remote mountain town we visited. We had given out small bottles of blessed oil (a sacramental) and then Eppie gave her talk instructing the participants on how to approach the Lord for their healing. 

The conditions being , purity of heart and purity of intention. So firstly repentance of our sins and being reconciled with God and others; then purity of intention, or the ‘why’ you want to be healed, because you are needed, by family or others who rely on you. The lady from the market had been troubled by shoulder pain for some time, often being unable to sleep properly, and having placed blessed oil on herself, and prayed for her healing had made an instant recovery. We later learned of another group of friends who had gone to the hospital the next morning to pray for a sister who had dreadful skin problem (possibly leprosy) for some time and she too was healed  within a few days all the sores and puss dried up and her skin returned to normal. 

In the Gospels and Acts of the apostles healing is seen to be a very common and normal thing for Jesus and his followers to do; to restore His children to health; but something much deeper is taking place too. 

There is a turning to God in repentance, the restoration of health follows, an awareness of His living presence within us and in the world, and finally intimacy and union with Him in our prayer. This is the objective, a much closer, more vital dynamic and intimate walk with the living God.

Wild at Heart Series 4 Sam's story

 

Identity Crisis

 

As I gasped at an online article (that I subsequently verified as true); I wondered what would happen if I showed up at the doctors and told him that I now identified as a cat…would he offer me a saucer of milk ? Probably not, but if someone (even a child) declares that they ‘feel’ like they are another gender than their actual one, despite the physical evidence to the contrary, the doctor may proceed with hormone therapies or surgery to mutilate them and they can transition to another gender.

Well I suppose there are few surprises left in the madness of our age; a one minute read of a newspaper reveals the brokenness of humanity as it spirals down ever further into confusion and depravity.

One would however expect better from within the Church, and the Catholic schools entrusted with the formation of the hearts of the next generation of Catholics. The article I just read was about a transgender ‘man’ (a woman who has undergone a transition to become a ‘man’) who is a teacher of religion at a Catholic school in England… supposedly ‘bridging the gap between LGBT community and religion’. A little further study revealed that the Bishop of the same diocese is officiating at LGBT Masses.

Casualties of gender ideology and the LGBT agenda are stacking up, ruining people’s lives; they need help and only God can fix this. He equipped the church to deal with any such attack on the dignity of the human person. He gave His church the power of His word to call to repentance, His gifts of counsel and Healing to restore their minds and hearts and the gift of Exorcism for those under the worst kind of demonic oppression to set the captives free. How He longs to set them free and heal them and welcome them home; without compromise, fully restored. He makes no treaties with the enemy of their souls who seeks only to pervert and destroy them.

Ambiguity is Satan’s foot in the door and there is already plenty of it without importing it into the classrooms or church; we do a great disservice to those who are confused about gender when you sign a peace treaty with the author of confusion.

Don't play with Fire

 

Healing Testimonies .. Fr Blount

 

Two for the Price of One

Another miracle from Medjugorje, from last week (Sept 2010) Following a heart operation a chap from England developed some after effects even though the surgery went very well.

One was that his breathing was very difficult, he could only walk a few steps before becomming breathless. Also there was a big reduction in the functioning of his kidneys, this had gone on for a couple of years progressively getting worse.

A biopsy on his kidney was scheduled to look into that and unfortunately the medicine which could have helped his breathing problem (which was due to fluid on the chest) could not be used as it would cause further problems for the kidneys.

He went to Medjugorje in September 2010, having a great devotion to Our Lady, but not really anticipating any miraculous intervention. For the duration of the pilgrimage he remained at ground level not tackling the hills and mountains anymore as he had done on previous visits. He had a good pilgrimage but his condition had not improved any.

On his last day there, out on the balcony of the house he was staying in, he saw the sun spinning and the rays of light emanating from it towards him like laser beams. At that time whilst acknowledging it as a sign of Our Lady's presence there there was no cure or healing at that time.

The following day he returned to England and to his suprise, the breathing problem was completely healed. Breathing normally, able to walk quickly and back to full strength. Some days later he went for the biopsy of his kidney. On examination they decided not to do one but instead did a function test and found that it was some 7% better than when he last checked, this is the first time in 2 years it showed any improvement, previously it had been getting steadily worse.

Two miracles for the price of one !

Praise the Lord !

PS. As of now 2021 he is still with us !

Miracles of Healing (medjugorje)

In Kuching (Malaysia), our friend Maria was told by her colleague, an anguished father of a child who had been born prematurely at 7 months, that the baby needed to undergo a risky operation because he had water on his brain (hydrocephaly). Maria decided to go and pray for the child and she took with her rose petals blessed by Our Lady in Medjugorje. The parents are Anglican. They accepted the prayer. Maria told the father to place a rose petal on the child's head and to pray a Hail Mary, a prayer that he knew. The next day, on the day of the operation, the procedure was cancelled because the liquid had completely disappeared. The surgeon could not explain the change. Thank you Mary!

(this story is from the children of medjugorje newsletter...there website is: www.childrenofmedjugorje.com

Turning sorrow into dancing...a story from America

John grew up in an abusive home and said he thought of suicide during his formative years. When of age, John joined the military and excelled. In Vietnam he killed many enemy soldiers and was wounded himself on several occasions. He received many decorations during his military career.

In his late 30's, he left the military and said his family life became dysfunctional. He confided his personal problems with a Christian friend who told him to call on Jesus during his time of need and He would help him.

On one particular day, John decided to end his life and so drove his wife and young daughter from their home. John then took an overdose of barbiturates and drank a lot of rum. John said he felt the spirit of death come to him. At this point, out of his innermost man, John called out to Jesus for help. (Romans 10:13) The next moment, he rose to his feet sober and felt many demonic spirits depart from him.

When his wife and daughter returned home, his young daughter asked her mother who the man in the living room was. The mother told her daughter it was her father. John said his very countenance had so changed he appeared different to the young girl. John told his wife and daughter Jesus Christ had saved him, and had manifested Himself in a beautiful, powerful light. A short time later, John related his experience to a Holy Ghost minister. The minister laid hands on John and began to pray. John said the bone in his leg, which had been shot apart and healed poorly, straightened instantly.

Additionally, he was given a vision while under the power of the Holy Spirit. In the vision, he beheld an island in the sea. On the island, he saw Holy Angels ministering to multitudes of people through music. In the whitecaps of the waves striking the island were the joyful faces of people. John said he went to a pawn shop and purchased a guitar. He learned to praise the Lord in song. I asked John to sing a gospel song for me. As he began to play and sing, I felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit flow down over my head and ears like warm oil! Praise the Lord forever!!!

Letters to Padre Pio..a story from Uganda

In 1949, a Comboni missionary of my acquaintance, Fr Ercole de Marchi was sent to Arua in Uganda. In his first letter to me he told me he was unhappy that he had been unable to do anything for the mission, for just as he arrived he had come down with a fever and was seriously ill. Further letters revealed that his illness was getting steadily worse. I was very pained to hear this because I knew with what fervour and joy he had returned to the mission, so I wondered how I could help him and suddenly the idea of writing to Padre Pio came to me.

I wrote my first letter to Padre Pio. It was fairly simple, with words that concentrated on the essentials. I asked that he offer Mass for the complete healing of Fr Marchi and that he would be able to resume his missionary activity. Almost immediately I received the following handwritten response from the Fr Guardian of the monastery We have received your letter with the offering for a Holy Mass, Padre Pio thanks you, prays for your intention and sends his blessing.

I was a bit disappointed, at the least I would have expected a couple of lines from Padre Pio himself with some advice for Fr Marchi, at that time I knew too little about Padre Pio and what happens at San Giovanni Rotondo. (He received thousands of letters per day).

I sent the response from San Giovanni Rotondo in a letter to Fr Marchi, exhorting him to write to Padre Pio himself about whatever was close to his heart. My letter reached Uganda on August 9th. The next day Fr Marchi wrote a detailed letter to Padre Pio, to which he never received a reply. Yet on the same day he sent the letter to Padre Pio he was delivered from the fever and from all illness and was able to resume activities for the mission.

‘A Living God’

My wife and I were travelling recently in the Mountain Province in the north of the country. It’s still a mission territory but even though there is not always a priest around the people gather every evening for the rosary after they come in from the fields.

We joined them and couldn’t help but notice that most were old and most were women. This is a common sight here as in the western world to see mostly elderly women stoically bolstering the church. I wonder why ?

Clearly the problem cannot be our origin. It is the church started by the Lord Himself. It’s Pope and Bishops successors of Peter and the Apostles. We don’t cater to the shifting sands of public opinion but retain authentic and unchangeable teachings.

The thing is though, faith cannot really be taught, it must be caught. And you can only catch it from someone who has it in the first place. The early days of the church set the tone for this :- ‘These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.'’(Mk 16:17) The Acts of the apostles lead us into this demonstration of faith, confirmed by heaven through wonderful signs and wonders of His love and mercy.

Would anyone leave that church? Those early Christians showed that Jesus was a living God, the source of everything we need, not just salvation but everything. Faith became the very centre of their lives, a living faith, an active one, a life of miracles. After all it would be inaccurate to preach a God who is merely a historical figure, or a reclusive or remote Being.

After the Rosary we shared some testimonies about miracles we had seen over the years and my wife gave a talk about praying for healing and we prayed over many who were sick. After that the participants couldn’t wait to go and pray for their sick friends and relatives: an immediate domino effect. I think God is waiting as patiently to be introduced as His people are waiting to hear more about and receive Him!

Get up and walk

In Singapore, I saw a friend that I knew from Medjugorje, Fr. Michael Lim,who has a beautiful testimony.

From Chinese origin, a Buddhist, he knew nothing about our faith and wanted to keep away from Christians. His elder sister, Violet, has been gravely ill since adolescence. She had to go through many painful surgeries, including one that almost killed her. Her condition was getting worse and worse. Stuck to her wheelchair, she was a cause of great sorrow for her family, who felt powerless to help her. 

In June 1995, Rose, a Catholic, advised Michael to take his sister to a church where a priest was to lead a charismatic healing service. Michael was skeptical but willing to do anything to help his sister. He explained: 'People were waving their arms or placing their hands on another's shoulder to pray. I thought it was ridiculous. Rose told me to pray to Jesus to send the Holy Spirit through the priest to heal my sister. I didn't understand what she was talking about. But I spoke to Jesus and I said, 'Make her walk and I will believe in you.' When the priest came up to us, he prayed over my sister and then told her to stand. First she walked and then she started to run. The first thing that came into my mind was: He's alive! Jesus is real! I was in tears. From that point onwards I wanted to know everything there was to know about Catholicism. I read the whole Bible from cover to cover in less than 60 days.

Michael could not put the Bible down and spent several hours a day reading it, like a thirsty man who finally has found living waters to quench his thirst. His soul longed for the living God!

Of course the story does not end here, but I can tell you that after this event, his entire family was baptized and Michael was accepted into the seminary at the age of 38. He was ordained a priest last month, March 25th, the Annunciation. He said to his parishioners: It took me 35 years to find God. You were given that knowledge from birth and you want to throw it away? Listen to me. Never waste it!

Yes, Jesus is alive! On Easter we are going to celebrate the joy of having such a God, not made by human hands and powerless to save, but real and alive; and his name is Love! His name is Ieshua, God saves

www.childrenofmedjugorje.com

Saint Augustine “God Heals All Diseases”

You will say that diseases are great; but the Doctor is bigger!

” God heals all your diseases ” (Ps 103: 3). Fear not, all diseases will be healed. You will say that they are great; but the Doctor is greater. For an all-powerful Physician there are no incurable diseases. Only let Him treat you, do not reject His hand; He knows what he has to do. Do not rejoice only when He acts softly; accept Him when He cuts. Accept the pain of the medicine, thinking of the health that will bring you.

Behold, my brethren, whatsoever men, in their diseases, endure to prolong life a few more days. […] You, at least, will not suffer from a doubtful result: He who promised you health can not be deceived. Why are doctors sometimes wrong? Because it was not they who created the body they treat. But God made your body, God made your soul. He knows how to recreate what he has created; he knows how to reform what he has formed. You just have to abandon yourself to your Doctor’s hands. … Suppose, therefore, these hands and ” bless my soul, O Lord, and forget none of its benefits. It is he who forgives your sins and heals all your diseases “(Ps 103: 2-3).

He who conceived you that you would never be sick, if you had wished to keep his precepts, will he not heal you? He who made the angels and who, when he re-creates you, will make you equal to them, will not heal you? He who made heaven and earth, who made you in his own image, will not heal you? (cf. Gn 1:26). He will heal you, but for this you must consent to be healed. He perfectly heals all the sick, but only if they will. […] Your health is Christ!

Saint Augustine (354-430), in “Remarks to the Psalms – Ps 103,5-6”

Death to Life ... a Padre Pio story

One Sunday morning, 26 years ago, my wife and I were planning to go on a picnic to a local beauty spot. After we finished our dinner, Ann went into the sitting- room with a cup of coffee. The two older children, Michael and Nichola, and I started to prepare a picnic hamper.

At this point Ann was pregnant with twins. While we were making the picnic hamper we heard a scream from the sitting-room. I ran in to find Ann lying on the floor.

A few years before that, Ann had miscarried a child. I thought it was something to do with this happening again. We called a doctor. By the time the doctor came Ann was completely stiff, her eyes were rolling in her head and her mouth was twisted up to her ear. The doctor got a pair of scissors to cut the clothes off Ann and gave her several injections. The ambulance came and took her to the local hospital.

A team of doctors and nurses examined her while I sat in the waiting-room. They came to me and said: "Mr Mulrine, your wife has no more than half an hour to live. She either had a massive brain haemorrhage or has a tumour of the brain. We just don't know but we feel that's most probably what it is. " They said: "If you wish, we can keep your wife alive by ventilator until the unborn children reach the age of 38 weeks, which is about two-and-a- half months away. If you don't sign the forms, then your wife and two unborn children will die within the next half-hour."

I signed the forms and they told me to go in and say goodbye, she might or might not hear me. I went in but she was just like an animal, there was blood coming from everywhere; she was completely distorted. Then they took her away and put her on the life-support machine. She looked as if she was lying peacefully after that.

That night I went down to visit my mother and my mother- in- law and I was handed a little relic leaflet of Padre Pio by my mother. That was the first time I ever heard of him. I shoved it in my top pocket. I then went back up to our house to make arrangements for the children to be looked after. I went, after that, to arrange for time off work. The man we had bought our house off had roses everywhere in the front garden and when I was passing them I thought, 'I will take those roses to Our Lady's altar.' But I sort of laughed at it and walked away.

Eventually I was walking through a place called William Street where there's a beautiful flower shop. The window was full of roses. Once again I got this feeling that I should take flowers to Our Lady's altar. So I went in and bought some and took them up to the chapel. As I was putting the roses on the altar, the stems of the flowers caught the little leaflet I had been given. It was sticking out of my pocket and it fell to the ground. I lifted it up and knelt down and said the prayer on it, which was a prayer Padre Pio would have said for people looking for his intercession. It said everything you would have liked to have said but didn't know how to say. From that time on I had a great prayerfulness about me, which I never had before.

Ten or 12 days passed and Ann was still the same. One night I was sitting down beside her with the little leaflet and I said: "Look, if you're going to do something for me, give me a sign." I asked Ann to squeeze my hand and I swore she did. I sent for the nurse and the doctor but they told me I was clutching at straws, there was no chance at all. They said she was clinically brain dead. But they said there was a specialist coming down in a few days and he would talk to me and put me more clearly in the picture.

Eventually this doctor came down and told me what I had been told before. He said: "Your wife either had a massive brain haemorrhage or has a tumour and we have no intention of doing anything at all because your wife is clinically dead, only the machine is keeping the children going." Another five or six weeks passed. All this time I was going to Our Lady's altar with roses and praying to Padre Pio. They then asked me could they move my wife to hospital in Belfast and I said: "Yes."

One night in Belfast I was sitting beside my wife's bed when one of the nurses said: "Mr Mulrine, would you mind leaving for a while?" It was about half past one or two o'clock in the morning. I went down to the end of the corridor and I started saying the Rosary. I got up after the first decade and walked towards Ann's bed but something pulled me back. On the last decade of the Rosary I looked up the corridor and I saw this figure coming around the corner and I ran towards it and said: "Excuse me, you're looking for me."

I had never met the man in my life, I didn't know who the man was; don't ask me why I said that. He said: "I'm looking for a man called Mulrine." I said: "That's me." The man's name was Michael Murray and he and his wife ran the Padre Pio Centre for Northern Ireland. He said: "I got a phone call about half-an- hour ago from a lady who said for me to take the glove of Padre Pio to Sean and Ann Mulrine in the Royal Hospital." This was a brown mitt that Padre Pio would have had over the bandages, over the stigmata on his hands. We went up to Ann and he said to me: "She might hear you talking, tell her what it is." So I told her. We put the glove of Padre Pio on Ann's head. Despite all the tubes, she moved her hand, she grabbed the glove, she brought the glove to her face, blessed herself three times, brought it to her stomach and blessed her stomach with it. She then just fell back into the bed again. This was the first movement we had seen. After that, Michael and I sat and he told me some things about Padre Pio. Then we left. I went to my room. Next morning I went to Ann's bed again but she was moved and the bed was gone. I thought they had taken her to take the children out. The nurse came to me and said: "The doctors have read the reports from last night and they've taken her down to surgery for exploratory examination."

They removed part of the crown of her head and put a camera in to see what was there. They came to me after the operation and said they had seen several of the major vessels in the brain and they had burst. There was a large amount of congealed blood in the centre of the brain and it could not be sucked out. They said: "We don't know how the event last night happened, we can't understand it, she's clinically dead." That night I went into my room and I couldn't go through the door for the overpowering smell of roses. It was years later that I was told that this was the invisible presence of Padre Pio.

To cut a long story short, Ann came out of the recovery room, they put her in bed and she opened her eyes and started to talk and move. They took her off the ventilator to see how she would do. They called it a fluke. They said: "We don't know how this has happened." Ann got so well that she was eventually brought back to Derry, where the babies were born just a week after she arrived. She just went from strength to strength. She never looked back and she and the two boys were released from hospital on 23 September, which was the anniversary of the death of Padre Pio.

Eventually we went out to San Giovanni in thanksgiving and we met Father Alessio who was Padre Pio's secretary and nurse. He is dead since. He asked could he investigate Ann's story as part of the cause of Padre Pio. They investigated for four or five years or more. When they asked for the doctors' personal opinions, they all said it was beyond medical science how she is today.

As a result, for the beatification we were asked to meet the Pope and present flowers from the people of Ireland. And for the canonisation I was also invited to go up to the Pope with the presentations. We take the trips out now in thanksgiving. We never make any fuss about it. We don't say it was a miracle. We say it was a grace given by God through the intercession of Padre Pio.

Sean runs the Padre Pio Centre for Northern Ireland, which is affiliated to the monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo

Melanie forgives her mother ..a story from Australia

Now in her early twenties, Melanie grew up not knowing why she was always angry with her mother and at times didnt want to live. She left her home in Malaysia and came to Australia to attend university but never found happiness.

Eventually she asked her mother why she felt this way and what her mother said shocked Melanie to her soul; Because of problems in her marriage Melanie's mother wanted to abort her when she found out she was pregnant. Melanie said they both cried when she told her, but her feelings of rejection and worthlessness grew to a painful degree from that time.

During the final rally at a Christian Congress, a lady called Cheryle  had shared a vision of a baby in a mother's womb with the placenta being removed and the child being set free. Cheryle said that God was healing someone from the womb. Moved by what she heard Melanie finally asked for prayer when the call was made. As soon as the prayer began I felt a powerful love touching my heart and I knew it was God. She said. I had never known love before and it completely overwhelmed me. Melanie said that Gods embrace had given her the ability to forgive her mother completely. Failing to hold back tears, she told her story for the first time as Cheryle comforted her. 

Melanie was set free by Gods grace and was able to offer mercy to her mother. After the Congress Melanie contacted her mother and told her for the first time that she loved her. When her mother heard Melanie's forgiveness and words of love, her mother broke down in sorrow. As Melanie shared what God had done for her and how much she loved her mother no matter what she had tried to do, over twenty years of guilt vanished from her mother's heart in a flood of tears. By Gods grace and unfathomable mercy Melanie's mother found a new daughter and Melanie found a new mother that day as the grace of forgiveness flowed with healing love. Both are now healed and reconciled.

Prepare for Miracles

A few days ago, in a small town in the Cordillera mountain range, we sat at a table having dinner opposite a man with a vision. I was surprised by it and at the same time knew that it would be magnificent. 

Earlier that day after Mass the Priest asked people to share any testimonies or insights on the goodness of God and my wife gave witness to a period in our lives where through prayer for healing, both the laying on of hands and prayers over the phone from overseas, I had been healed by God following a rather unpleasant brain haemorrhage I had 9 years ago. I left the hospital without any operation, without medication or any permanent ill effects.

Whenever we go away we always bring blessed oil (a sacramental) and prayer cards from our prayer group for whatever local community we encounter; but this trip was different. The apostolic zeal and intense hunger for God of the town’s folk took our breath away. We were invited to speak at different prayer and church groups, taken out into the hills, to the many dwellings on the rice terraces where the sick were waiting for prayers. 

And together with the priest and praying community so many were prayed over: a patient with multiple sclerosis, a stroke patient and finally a lady with gall stones and heart complications who was in such agony when the group arrived. By the next morning the lady we last visited was sat on the porch enjoying the sunshine and praising God, feeling better. Serious illness is a lonely place for patients and their care givers alike, and hearing testimonies of healing and receiving prayers for it injects a ray of hope into the gloom.

As we finished dinner with the Principal of the local High school, he shared his dream of Catholic groups from their community visiting the sick in their homes and hospitals, not only for company or sympathy, but to bring the healing power of God to them. His own experiences with the long illnesses of his wife and children have shown him that it was only the non-Catholic Christian sects who sent people to pray for healing. Surely, as Catholics we must do likewise. Now they will begin.

It was a beautiful thing to see such love in a community for their sick and elderly neighbours as well as this intense desire to serve them and put their faith in the living God. The parishioners have purity of heart and purity of intention; that is a rare sight. Somehow I know God will honour that and we will hear of great miracles in that town. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14)

Sr Euphraxia

Chapter XXVI (from stories of the desert fathers/ sisters)

One day the gatekeeper came to the abbess with an urgent message.

"My lady," she said, "there is a woman standing weeping outside the gate with her child of about eight years old, paralysed, deaf and dumb."

The abbess knew by the revelation of the Spirit that Euphraxia had been given the grace of the Lord against demons.

"Ask Euphraxia to come here," she said to the gatekeeper. And when she appeared she said to her:

"Go and take that child from his mother and bring him here."

She went out to the gate and when she saw the child, paralysed and trembling, she was over come with compassion, heaved a deep sigh and made the sign of the cross over him.

"May he who created you heal you, my son," she said.

And she picked him up and took him to the abbess. While she was carrying him the boy was healed and began to cry for his mother, which gave Euphraxia such a start that she dropped the boy on the floor. The boy immediately got up and ran towards the gate, still crying for his mother. Meanwhile the gatekeeper ran to the abbess to tell her what had happened. The abbess called the mother of the child.

"Now look here, my sister," she said, "Have you come here simply to pay tricks on us?

"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, my lady," said the mother, "that child has never walked or spoken a word until this present moment. But when that other sister picked him up he began to speak! She was so startled she dropped him on the floor, but the child got up immediately and ran to me, your servant."

"So then, he is completely restored to you!" she said. "Take him and go in peace."

Which she did, and departed glorifying God.

The healer

When we are told ,  “…in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil 4:6) we know it makes sense, perhaps by faith or experience and yet can become forgetful and rely instead on our own understanding, perhaps it’s part of our terminal independent streak

.

A few months ago I woke up with a sore thumb. The knuckle was stiff and it was painful to move. Either google or Facebook led me to believe that it might be arthritis or gout and I should drink plenty of water. It didn’t work. So I took the unusual step of visiting the doctor, who prescribed some pills. They didn’t work either. After many months it dawned on me that I had not really mentioned it in my prayers so my wife got a bottle of blessed oil and prayed over my thumb for healing.

At this point I would have been quite satisfied with a common or garden complete miraculous healing of the pain and symptoms.

After the prayer it was still sore. So I figured I would have to carry this cross a little further and we went out for a walk. Or perhaps I should say we were led by the Spirit, because the Lord had a much more spectacular healing in mind.

To escape the searing heat of summer we soon ducked into an air conditioned shopping centre and strolling through its endless corridors walked up to a Pizza restaurant I had never been in. We usually avoid all fast-foods but before you could say cholesterol, we were locked in to its tractor beam and found ourselves seated in front of two freshly baked pizzas. It was, without exaggeration, the most delicious pizza I have ever tasted, heavenly. But the full significance of this event was not revealed until the next morning.

When I awoke and tried to wiggle my fossilized thumb, it was pain free, no longer stiff, with a full range of movement again. The Divine Physician had written out his prescription “take 2 pizzas and call me in the morning” which of course I did; to thank Him. The pain never returned.

It was a really funny answer to prayer but when you think about it, whilst doctors have a certain generalized knowledge of how the body works and its various malfunctions; only God has the big picture and He knew what vitamin or mineral or other ingredient was missing from my system that a pizza could replenish. How much more then can He provide solutions to all our needs if we entrust them to Him in prayer.