The Purpose of Pain .... a story from America

In the apple-growing state of Maine in America, I was visiting a farmer friend and saw an apple tree so loaded down with fruit that the branches had to be propped up to keep them from breaking under the weight of apples. When I remarked about the fruitfulness of the tree, my friend said to me, Go over and look at that trees trunk down near the bottom.

There I saw that the tree had been badly wounded by a big gash across its side. The farmer explained, That is something we have learned about apple trees. When the growing tree tends to run to wood and leaves and not to fruit, we stop it by wounding it, by cutting into its bark. And we don't know why, but almost always the result is that the tree turns its energies to producing fruit.

Part of a sermon by St Anthony of Padua....

The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal in ourselves these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak.

We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: A law is laid upon the preacher to practice what he preaches. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.

No one knows the day or the hour...a story from England

A few years ago now, when we lived in Coventry,  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 Mass a few of the parishioners were invited back to the house for tea and biscuits. They talked for a while and she shared her concerns for her brother-in-law.

Whilst She was a devout Catholic; her brother-in-law 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 blood 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 in every way and also for her patient. After praying for forgiveness of sins, 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 nights 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 measured his blood count, while the doctors were preparing for the transfusion. The blood count 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 etc) The more people that witnessed to him the wonders of God, the more hardheaded he seemed to become !

Some months passed and on January the 3rd , 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 !