I had a couple of strange. vivid dreams last week which left me exhausted and hardly able to drag myself to work. In the first I was walking through a local park with my sister Graiinie. She was asking me about the Signs of the Times and the way the world was changing. I forget exactly what I was telling her, but a lot of it was about Our Lady and she was looking very interested anyway. However as I spoke I noticed a very large and fierce black dog staring at me from across the park and with a sinking heart I relised it was going right into attack mode, stiff legged , stalking towards me intent glare. Eventually it came right up close to me fierce almost face to face and every time I tried to talk about Our Lady it went insane barking and growling savagely and trying its best to bite me. However it was prevented from biting me by what seemed to be an invisible thick glass screen for every time it went particularly daft at the mention of Our Lady it hit the invisible screen and had to fall back. This seemed to go on for the longest time. The first time, I believe I had talked about Our Blessed Lady to such a very,very unwilling audience!! :lol: :lol: However it left me very drained, I woke up praying intensely and lay awake through much of the rest of the night and went, spiritually to the Garden of Olives and spent the time praying in company with the good Lord as He waited for the soldiers to arrest Him for the Passion. I noticed the devil there too with the same intense stare looking over at Jesus from the trees with the same intense stare, though this time as a shadowy figure in a horrible dismal white. It makes me sad to see him in the form of a dog as I love dogs so much and they me too. Then I really woke up to total silence from this very,very peaceful block of flats and knew I had never really woken up but my 'waking up' was just part of the dream too. The next night I was woken from my sleep by a loud bang , like an explosion from my door and woke up with a start. I then heard very loud music from upstairs and raucous shouting as from a party and I ad an uneasy deeling that those at the party were concious of me in bad downstairs and were considering coming down to me. In this the devil reminds me of Loki the Scandanavian God of mischief, the Great Trickster. he often seems to let me wake up from dreams when I am really still with him so I drop my guard in relief, only to find him still very much with me, like a box within a box, within a box.... :roll: But he is an old 'friend' and has come so very,very often now that besides a fright we are like two old boxers trading blows and both of us knowing it will never come to very much. However it means that since I have to stay awake praying a lot and don't get much sleep I cannot post much on the forum when these things happen as I like to post early in the morning and when I drag myself home from work at nights I am dead beat. However a most unusual thing happened last night. I like to take bandit for a walk often round Belfast Castle which lies on a hill in its own little park. It was very beautiful last night, covered in snow and I threw snowballs for Bandit who enjoyed himself enormously. On the way down along the footpaths it was a little erriee with the great old fashioned lights casting great shadows and the dark of the woods all about. But I wasn't the least concerned as I am often up there and it is like home. However half way down I met an unusual old man dressed in what looked like a simple old fashioned red smock and with a red hat. I greeted him but he simply stared at me and marched on. At the bend of the road I tool a shortcut through the trees and up a very dark hill. I always carry a little lantern in my pocket for this short stretch as there are no lamps there and it is very dark. However something made me glance over my shoulder and I saw the little old man come walking very fast back down the road from the Castle in my direction. I was uneasy about this as he obviously had not gone to the Castle but had turned round shortly after passing me and come back in my direction....but I just thought he had got tired and was walking back. When I got to the very darkest part of the path I got a great shock when the old man calling me from right behind, how he got so quickly up the hill after me in the dark I do not know. He was asking me for the time. I was very concerned now as very few people use this little path and his behaviour including asking me the time seemed very unusual. However I am very big and bandit is a superb guard dog so nothing human would cause me much of a fright since both of us could handle pretty much anything anyone could throw at us both. Also I am totally unafraid of the dark, in fact i rather like it as it aids prayer by concentrating the mind within, However as I noticed things it all seemed so....well spooky and unnatural- I walked on and was concious of the man walking quite close behind. Halfway down he seemed to stop and just stood there staring after me. When I got to the bottom I heard a great shouting and commotion from were he was and I realised he was shouting and cursing down at me with great force and power out of the dark. Of course it might have been a homosexual trying to pick me up ,I suppose but somehow I don't think so..... :shock:
Padraig, on your walks have you managed to see Venus in the sky like an extremely bright star? It has been there for months and months both in the morning and the evening and it is truly magnificent. Lucifer means 'bright morning star' and it seems to me that the power of the devil is now coming to its peak as our civilization rushes headlong into a 'culture of hedonism and death'. His power is coming to an end however, as our Lady will be allowed to crush his head and he will be hurled back to the underworld and chained by the power of the Rosary. Fear not for 'perfect love casts out fear'.
I have seen Venus, Garabandal and she is amazing, especially in the clear skies the frozen weather. I have wondered it is so magnificent. But a bit spooky. I did tell him the time, Sean, though I don't think think he was the least bit interested in it. It reminded me a little bit of the possessed lady I met in Medugorje. I think sometimes devils are so very well in occupation of people they can use them a little bit like robots and fire them of against people they see who are fond of praying. You can see this a little on occasion when folks take a sudden real bitter hate against you for no reason and can persecute you for no good reason. Oil and water don't mix. You can see this with an Archbishop connected who made a career decision to crash and burn poor Padre Pio after, apparently, St Pio had rebuked him in a confessional for paedophile activities. 'But the apostolic fervor of the young Capuchin aroused contradictions. Several neighboring canons (priests), used to leading a corrupt life and neglecting the duties of their ministry, found his presence quite troublesome. In addition, the sudden celebrity of the stigmatic, the influx of pilgrims and of contributions to his monastery did not please part of the local clergy. The local bishop, whose reputation was quite bad, had some priests and parishioners sign an accusation of supposed scandal at the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo, which led to long legal proceedings at the Court in Rome. As a consequence of serious calumnies, severe measures were taken against Padre Pio, by the abused ecclesiastical authority, starting in June 1922. He was forbidden all spiritual correspondence, even with his spiritual directors; he was forbidden to celebrate Mass in public; he was to be transferred to another monastery. In fact, the last two measures could not be enforced due to the outcry of the local population. But in 1931, this persecution led to his being forbidden to exercise any public ministry, except for the celebration of Mass in private. Padre Pio was to live as a recluse in his monastery. This painful situation lasted for two years, after which Padre Pio had all his priestly powers restored (July 1933). In the meantime, an investigation of the scandalous behavior of certain priests opposed to the Padre ended with the condemnation of the guilty parties.' This is par for the course for EVERYONE who is fond of praying. Its just that usually we do not recognise it, for it often happens in small patty ways we not see. Take for instance you go into a shop or supermarket and ask for advice and service and are very poorly recieved or even savagely treated. you take it the person treating you so treats everyone the same but this may not be so. Evil sees the person who likes to pray and will rise against it. This is not being paraniod it is the simple truth.I know of at least shops near me which I will not go into because I recognise a real feeling of evil from the folks who work there. For instance there was one I used to go into to buy a newspaper for my mother every Sunday evening to buy a newspaper for my mother when I was visiting. The couple who owned the shop made me very uneasy and I would never have gone in there but this particular Scoittish paper was only sold by them. One evening I went in and asked for the paper and the man began, right out of the blue to curse and shout at me about how it was very inconvenient for him to get me this paper while the woman gave me a look of such hate and bitterness it would have shrivalled me up. This is not being paranoid, but prayer teaches us that instances of random 'nastiness' or violence or abuse they have a cause. We assume that this is aimed then at everyone when it is not, it is cause specific, it is at the fact that we are people who pray. It goes more apparent when the evil concerned is someone we have to be close to for longer periods of time, a neighbour, a work colleague or , God forbid someone we have to live with. This is why in Religoous Houses such instance can become right out in the open. A priest or nun who goes bad tends to go bad, big, big time. On the other hand a priest of nun who follows the ways of prayer tends to go good big, big time and thus you have a really explosive mix and can see instances of a real martyrdom for the poor soul in the line of fire..... Another good example from the life of Saint Gerald Majella: 'True sanctity must always be tested by the cross, and it was in 1754 that Gerard had to undergo a great trial, one that may well have merited for him the special power to assist mothers and their children. One of his works of zeal was that of encouraging and assisting girls who wanted to enter the convent. Often he would even secure the necessary dowry for some poor girl who could not otherwise be admitted into a religious order. Neria Caggiano was one of the girls thus assisted by Gerard. However, she found convent life distasteful and within three weeks had returned home. To explain her action, Neria began to circulate falsehoods about the lives of the nuns, and when the good people of Muro refused to believe such stories about a convent recommended by Gerard, she determined to save her reputation by destroying the good name of her benefactor. Accordingly, in a letter to St. Alphonsus, the superior of Gerard, she accused the latter of sins of impurity with the young daughter of a family at whose house Gerard often stayed on his missionary journeys. GERARD'S CONDUCT Gerard was called by St. Alphonsus to answer the accusation. Instead of defending himself, however, he remained silent, following the example of his Divine Master. In the face of his silence, St. Alphonsus could do nothing but impose a severe penance on the young religious. Gerard was denied the privilege of receiving Holy Communion, and forbidden all contact with outsiders. It was not easy for Gerard to give up his labours in behalf of souls, but this was a small penance compared with being deprived of Holy Communion. He felt this so keenly that he even asked to be freed from the privilege of serving Mass for fear that the vehemence of his desire to receive would make him seize the consecrated Host from the very hands of the priest at the altar. Some time later Neria fell dangerously ill and wrote a letter to St. Alphonsus confessing that her charges against Gerard had been sheer fabrication and calumny. The Saint was filled with joy by the news of the innocence of his son. But Gerard, who had not been depressed in the time of his trial, was not unduly elated in the hour of his vindication. In both cases he felt that the will of God had been fulfilled, and that was sufficient for him.' I think that it is good for people who pray to be innocent as doves, yes, but also subtle as serpents. There should always be a certain watchfulness about , say when we are meeting folks who are strangers or going into strange situations for the first time. The devil really exists, so too do the devils children. For just as there are those who follow the ways of prayer there are those who follow the left hand path, the way of evil .The CHildren of Light walk in the open , but the Children of Darkness do their deeds in the dark. But the fact there deed are done in the dark should not fool the person of prayer for one minute. There is a current secular/humanist view of the world that everyone either means well or even if they do evil they are just people who have gotten a little twisted. Not so. The devil is like a raging lion roaming the world, seeking whom he can devour. Evil is out there, it is a reality. Catholics of all people should be aware of this. As someone once said Humanism dissappeared up the chimney of Belsen Concentration Camp. Prayer is a great eye opener. Bu yesterdays Psalm at mass reassures: Responsorial Psalm Ps 27:1, 3, 5, 8b-9abc R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid? R. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear; Though war be waged upon me, even then will I trust. R. The Lord is my light and my salvation. For he will hide me in his abode in the day of trouble; He will conceal me in the shelter of his tent, he will set me high upon a rock. R. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Your presence, O LORD, I seek. Hide not your face from me; do not in anger repel your servant. You are my helper: cast me not off. R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
To encounter the mystical and supernatural in the form of apparitions, dream or visions is one thing, to encounter the praeternatural in all its manifestations is quite another. The soul which meets the mystical is rather like a child that wakes up in its mothers arms and smiles as it realises it truly HAS a mother and this makes the baby, though it maybe has a surprised, shocked moment at the discovery to stare for a moment it will laugh and gurgle, happy enough to be loved and to be loved. But imagine wakening up in the arms of hate itself, the stare turns to dread. Not a comfortable experience. I think you can classify folks who have such an encounter as coming from three broad classifications. The atheist and unbeliever or those of a luke warm or non- practising faith , those who believe and practise or are fervent in their faith practises and lastly those of non Western cultures, those who come from simpler cultures, which we , in our arrogance call primitive. For those from such cultures such experiences pose much less of a problem as their world view is very much based on the magical, rather than the scientific. By magic I mean that they are much more willing to place things in a philosophical 'bracket' by simply seeing them as supernatural. as magical. A good example of this was the primitive Cargo Cult of the South Pacific who worshipped the planes that brought in cargo as Gods. For such people encountering the devil poses less of a problem than for ourselves, it would be just, like planes another piece of magic,scientific and grossly materialistic such encounters can be painful, very painful. Why ? Because such manifestations cause our whole world to rock, the entire basis for our understanding to shake. Even in the case of mystical experience it can be unsettling to our fixed view of the world, but to experience the evil or praeternatural causes the shock to be a hundred times worse. For the Catholic even for the Western Catholic we are given a lot of shielding from the shock my a very rich, mystical supernaturally inclined religious spiritual culture that harks beck for two thousand years or more of a very rich mystical experience. We take this very much for granted but it is always there for us to hang our experiences up on, a reference point for understanding as it were; a hool to hang things on. Not only this but we have a tremendous spiritual arsenal to fall back on, taught to us by our parents and their parents flowing back for generation. Even in this mystically very impoverished times. For the atheist or agnostic or for those of lapsed faith there is no such comfort zone, their world really rocks and falls apart, nor have they normative spiritual protection which we as Catholics have to fall back on. They find themselves in waterless places. Even our Protestant brothers and sisters whose religion is so much more, often of the mind than the heart, the mystical, find themselves very much at a loss and turn quite often naturally and instinctively to the Church for protection and interpretation. Now a few examples to illustrate all this....
A precious recollection. Padraig, Today's gospel passage and your previous post depicting your creepy encounter with the older man has brought to mind an incident that occurred almost 25 years ago. Geralyn was still involved at Upstate Medical Center, so this event has to go back that far. After parking our car, Geralyn went into work and I preceded to head to downtown Syracuse by foot. I was working as an auditor for the County at that time. Anyway, ahead of me a man approached who was staggering as though drunk, but whose eyes were such that I tentatively concluded he was high on drugs. As we passed I gave him ample room, yet he seemed to deliberately lurch to his right in order to bump me with his shoulder. I ignored the rude gesture and continued on my way. After another twenty paces I heard this scream and turned to witness this same man charging at me full-tilt. Numerous thoughts raced through my brain: should I turn and run? should I raise my fists and prepare to fight? should I jump behind the tree that was to my right? Because of his charge, I really did not have the time to weigh my options; he was upon me! Suddenly, a command came to my lips which I consciously did not formulate: "Be still in the name of Jesus Christ!" Immediately, the man stopped as though he had hit a brick wall. He growled, but then suddenly spun on his heel and proceeded in his original direction. This memory is a crucial one for me. I learned at that moment the constancy of the indwelling Holy Spirit. He had brought to mind the words of authority to turn back this deranged fellow. On my own, I wouldn't have considered that option or formulated those words. Am I a holy guy or an exorcist? Neither! But I am a child of God. He loves me and protects me. Each of us must be confident of this and it is only the life of prayer, penance, and fasting, that solidifies such confidence. Praised be Jesus Christ who shares with the weak his power over the enemy: ...He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Yes Terry, I'd certainly say that was a possessed person and that it was your angel guardian who let you know how to stop him. One psychiatrist the Late Scott Pack called drugs and alcohol misuse , :The Sacred Disease' in that it is an attempt by the individual to attain the mystical states of peace and love brought on by prayer. I think it can be as dangerous as an Ouijiee Board in lEtting in evil spirits, though hopefully only temporarily for the period of misuse. When we do this {or commit any sin to an extent} we greatly lower the Power of Protection of our angel guardian, he turns his face away as it were and the doors are left open. A good example of this are fights in bars and folks saying very,very wounding things to each other, things that break up families forever. Then folks wake up the next say in total horror and say , 'What on earth did I say'/do that for' but by then its often too late. The spirit of evil has seen and opening and jumped on in. Thats not tatelly to excuse such things but still they shouldn't have left the door open. This becomes more exentuated, I believe of acute long term drug and drink abouse were the door is always left open. The best example is perhaps the mad killers who go out with guns and s;ay many people with guns, again and again looking at their lives you see huge evidence of demonic activity or pschcopathic serial killers. Son of Sam was the perfect example and there was another killer back in the '60's who killed through astrological signs I think you called him the Zodiac killers. In such cases I would pretty well expect, in the normal course of events, demonic infestation, in a kinda way the exact opposite of the Pilgrim Path of Prayer, the Dark Path, in fact. By the way if anyone is upset by this thread they should just ignore it and leave it alone. I understand its not for everyone.
I find this thread very interesting indeed. Padraig, I can relate to what you say about prayerful people becoming victims to bouts of evil outbursts from time to time. Only for you and Mario wrote of your experiences, I would not write this, but a similar incident happened to me only just last night. Nothing much, but it did affect me. I was working in the local pub two nights ago. Late that night, after closing time, a family friend, and a friend of mine, started smoking in the bar. Now this poor guy is only about thirty (I might have asked for prayers for him here before) and has a serious alcohol addiction. It was clear he was drinking all day as he began to fall asleep on the bar stool. Very bad language also, and virtually non-practising Catholic. I asked him quietly to go outside because of the smoking and I was told to go somewhere in no uncertain terms, with colorful language to boot. I asked him again. Numerous other drunken cronies laughed at my attempts to get him out. He then ignored me. Then only last night, I headed to the bar to meet up with a friend, and my other friend above was there again, in pretty much the same condition as he was the night before when I was working. On going home, I mentioned quietly to the landlady what had happened the night before. She quizzed him. He denied it, flat out. All his colleagues lied, supporting him. In trying to support his lie, he landed a punch on my shoulder, as I was nearby. Not a punch that would knock you out, but still one that would be felt. I immediately left. It did upset me a good bit when I came home, but I know that any reasoning or retaliation would be completely useless. I am praying for him and his associates. But all the while I felt evil there, a feeling that would make you want to get away as fast as possible. Sean
When I was much younger , Sean, there used to be group of young men who always sat together , about six or seven of them in one of our local bars. They were the most savage 'slaggers'; {masters of the funny put down}. There conversation about others was really savage and could hurt others really badly, so much so that I think a lot of people were frightened of them in that folks were afraid of being made little of and held up to public ridicule, because really they would stop at nothing they said about other people , no matter how vile. I think the things we say or do, or even what we think can be either positive or negative and can lead to very negative consequences and atmospheres spiritually around us. We should be building each other up rather than putting others down. It is kind of the very opposite of prayer which always builds up. That was many years ago but I have heard several people commenting on how badly things truned out for that group of men. One died a very bad death of cancer, another was very,very badly disabled in a car accident, another died very suddenly and unexpectedly of a brain tumour and another is dying at the minute of a rare neurological illness. I believe that people who open themselves up to being negative to others open themselves to its destructive consequences on themselves. You might have noticed this in the case of men of violence and drug dealers. They never seem to prosper and usually die quite young, usually in violent circumstances, as Jesus said, he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword. I believe this is true even of sins that do not appear so obviously to open folks to such consequences. Say a man in an office who gossips maliciously and very cruelly and negatively against others causing great hurt and upset. It might seem that over the years he gets away with it. But no one ever excapes the consequences of negative action. I t is a bit like pulling a pot of boiling hot water down on soneone else. The water will scald us too, we can, noe of us escape the negative consequences of negative actions. This is one of the reasons I especially love the Sacrament of confession in that being forgiven helps escape the effects of my negative actions. But above all I love Divine Mercy Sunday with its magnificent promise that those who attend can escape such negative effects. This is a very.very. very big deal for me who was once such a big sinner. “If you haven’t had a chance to make your yearly confession, don’t miss out on this great opportunity because next Sunday is our new feast called Divine Mercy Sunday. What our Church is offering next week is called a plenary indulgence and what this means, in simple terms, is that, if we go to Confession and receive Holy Communion, we can obtain the total forgiveness of all sins and punishment”. That means we would go straight to Heaven! To ease people’s fears to enter the confessional, we could say these incredible words that Jesus told St. Faustina to remind her that He is in the confessional, just waiting there for us: “When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If there trust is great, there is no limit to my generosity. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart…when will it beat for me”? (from the Diary entry 1602, 1725, 1728) Jesus also made a special promise to help priests in their preaching to save sinners, Our Lord said: “Tell My priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak.” (Diary, 1521)
The experience of the mystical the spiritual in prayer gives great reassurance and peace, carrying as they do all the signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit. As though the soul were plugged in, as in truth it is with the God of Love. So the Prayer Pilgrim feels at one with Love itself. "The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name … to be with you for ever" (Jn 14:26,16); "… and he will be in you" (Jn 14:17); "and then we (my Father and I) will come to you and make our home with you (Jn 14:23). The presence of the praeternatural in prayer brings the exact opposite feeling. A feeling of disconnectedness with the universe, a feeling of shock and , 'This cannot be'. For the soul, however experienced it is in life and no matter how aware it is of evil as a real force is dumbfounded and appalled as it stands in the precense of purest evil, a fallen angel , in fact. A good example of this was Father Bernard who was set to exorcise a young man in his early twenties who was a drug dealer, a Satanist who had sold his soul to the devil in a Satanic rite and who was, then in secure room at the Downshire Mental Hospital in Downpatrick. Father Bernard went to see him and happily enough carried a large crucifix which he held behind his back for protection. When he entered the young mans room Bernard told me the man appeared to literally fly of his hospital bed to attack the poor priest. Father Bernard then held out the crucifix and the possessed mad hit the floor like a thunderbolt hit him. But when on the ground he began to wriggle like a snake. More pointedly it was obvious to Father Bernard that it was physically impossible for the young person to move his body in this way, for in order to do so he would have had to have had no bone structure, no bones at all. I recall the look of horrified wonder as Father Bernard told me this. I think this is an important point in meeting pure evil, it has the quality of errieness, of weirdness, of hair standing on the back of the neckness, of a disjointedness. The mind says to itself, 'These things cannot be...' yet the eyes see, the ears hear the senses tell the mind, the appalled mind that it is indeed true, that 'reality' is not what it seems and so for the soul that witnesses such things reality can never be the same again.... For the devil, though he is as Saint Peter told us like a raging lion seeking whom he may devour , he is a hunting lion who well knows how to hide and stalk his pray and in these latter times, like a great general he well knows how to hide in the fog of great unbelif that shrouds the world like a dark stifling fog. For the Prayer Pilgrim who walks the Mountain of Prayer the air becomes clearer...and seeing the soul walking by faith casts aside more and more his hiddeness and stalks his prey and may well confront it more openly. Another aspect of Satan ,when we look at him is his intense rage. Imagine, if you will a man who is insane with rage, his face purple with anger, his whole demeanour filled with violence and total hate, now multiply this a hundred times over. But this total rage is not a rage that fades it is constant and never wavers, never dies, it was born at a time before times itself began and its force shall never fade even when the suns themselves, the stars of the universe cool and die out. It is a scream of fury uttered by the Great Dragon from the bottom of his being and he never grows hoarse with its utterance. A fury aimed most particularly at you and me , the Children of Mary , whose seats in Heaven , formerly occupied by the fallen angels we are set to inherit. Revelation 12:4 Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and knocked them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born. Another aspect of Satan is his indefagibilty is that he never, ever gives up. Satan knows, better than anyone that he was defeated on Calvary. All he has now is a slight rearguard action...to be contd...
padraig, I am going to the Divine Mercy Conference in Dublin on 21st Feb. Anne the lay Apostle will be speaking at it. I am really looking forward to the event. I have noticed that Divine Mercy Devotion is promoted by very devout priests but it seems to be kind of ignored by many of the Bishops. There seems to be a kind of intellectual distain against these popular devotions. Mary
Maryrose, you know I'm a fan of Anne the Lay, please let us know about the conference when you return. Padraig, this is amazing that you had the flyer for the Divine Mercy Sunday in LA....have you ever seen Father Michael Sears? He was a speaker at a Marian Conference in San Francisco and I found him just amazing. He is so matter of fact, lives in the Holy Presence of God, calls out with the gift of Knowledge (maybe that's why he's matter of fact?) and is given the gift of healing. Really inspirational.
Mary, I like to believe the younger priests are swinging back to the way they should be , after the big rot that set in in the '60's. I would be very distrustful of a priest who was anti devotional, I think some priests are trying hard to be Protestants. I hope you get a chance to talk to Ann, I have no doubt she could drop a few hints about the future if she wanted :wink: Lee, Father Michael sounds wonderful, I would love to meet him someday, if he comes to Ireland. I have a feeling quite a few saints will emerge right round the world as the darkness deepens. ib :wink: :wink:
