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Carl, my father, was a fallen away
Catholic for most of his adult years. He had six children with my mother,
but he left her to pursue his own adventures with other women and drugs.
Since child support
laws were not well established in our state, my father did not feel the
obligation to help meet our financial needs. Times were hard, food and clothing was scarce. Yet, my mother would always remind us
to pray for our father and forgive him. It wasn't very hard for
me to hate my dad, since he had little to do with us and left my mother
in sorrows as she struggled to care for us.
Mother always remembered Carl in her
daily Rosaries, and she
taught us how to pray the mysteries too. As teens, we continued to
practice our faith, attending weekly Mass, receiving the Sacraments and praying our daily Rosary. Years went by and we grew up, yet
my anger and hatred for Carl remained unchanged. Mother insisted
that we should pray for his soul because he was indeed on a path to hell.
In January 1997, I joined a small
prayer group and we began praying for the conversion of sinners.
I had the chance to attend a healing retreat in March and listened carefully to
this holy Catholic priest
speaking about giving up our anger and living the "Our Father" prayer by
fulfilling one statement in the prayer: "As we forgive those who
trespassed against us." This Priest stated that we had to forgive
everyone who hurt us in order for us to be fully forgiven by the Lord too. It all made sense, I had been reciting the Our Father prayer my whole
life, but had not realized that I had so much ANGER AND UNFORGIVENESS in my heart
against my father, which needed to be dealt with so that I could find peace
in my life.
I realized that I had sinned against God, the anger I felt was my sin
even if my father was the cause of my anger, my sin! I had to
forgive my father, no matter what and I realized this.
Shortly after that, I found
an old Green Scapular that my
mother had given it to me years prior. Realizing that I had to "try
hard to forgive my
dad", I decided to write his name on top of my blessed Green Scapular.
I knew that the normal use of a Green Scapular was to place it in the room of
the person it was intended for, but if I sent it to Carl, he would probably just
throw it away since he was living in mortal sin.
So I wrote his name directly on my blessed Green Scapular and I
entrusted Carl to Mother Mary's intercession and Jesus' mercy for his soul.
In April 1997, I was asked to
pray for a friends sister who had been away from the church for many years and was
an alcoholic. It crossed my mind to write her name and everyone else
that I was being asked to pray for by writing their names on Mother Mary's blessed Green Scapular, so that
during Mass I could offer up my Holy Eucharist, my Rosaries, Chaplets of Divine
Mercy and other forms of prayer that I normally said throughout the day for
them. I would offer all these souls whose names were
written on Mother's Green Scapular to Jesus Christ, for healing and conversion,
for God's mercy.
My faith in Mother Mary's intercession was sealed,
the Mother of God could bring all those souls I had written on her Green
Scapular to her son Jesus perfectly since that is Mother
Mary's mission. She wants all of us, to know and love her son Jesus!
So I wrote my name on a
blessed Green Scapular, then began writing my family members names on Green
Scapulars, my friends, then my enemies and everyone else who
requested me to pray for them. On Sunday, March 29, 1998, I
received a call from my sister. She explained that Carl had died the night
before. He had been out drinking, doing drugs and dancing with his girl
friend (later we found out the autopsy report indicated he had a heart attack
caused from a drug overdose). I began crying, I was certain from the way
he died that he must have gone straight to Hell because he didn't have enough
time to repent for his sins (he died very quickly). I began praying to Mother Mary,
praying that she had interceded before the Throne of God for my father's soul
because I
needed to know, if Carl was in Hell? I remembered Blessed Mother's
promise to St. Simon Stock regarding the Brown Scapular and the promise she
made: "Whosoever shall die clothed in my scapular, shall not suffer
eternal fire." I hoped this promise would also apply to her Green
Scapular, I prayed that it did.
On the following Tuesday,
still hurt that my dad had died and I never reconciled with him,
I knew I had to visit the confessional to confess my anger and hatred for
father. During my confession, I told the Priest that I had not loved my Father from birth, I hated him my entire life for leaving my mother, brothers and sisters
in poverty, for never being there while we were growing up and never
paying any child support when we were in need. I confessed that I never wanted to know him, I
was ashamed of him, and that I never gave him a chance to know me or be a part of
my life. The Priest gave me absolution and I felt peace.
Mass was about to begin, so I decided
to stay and pray for Carl. At the moment when we offer our prayer intentions to the Lord, I
said aloud, "I wish to pray for the repose of my father's soul, who died this
week." At that moment, the Holy Spirit came over me and I was filled with
the power of God. Father God's love and grace began pouring into my soul. I was being healed from my anger and I thought I would die from the
incredible infilling of God's grace. I began
crying and was unable to stop crying for the next three days. The love I never received from my
dad, came from my real Father, my Heavenly Father and I was healed of my
unforgiveness and anger. In fact, I began loving my own father, Carl, as if he was the best
father in the world, all my hurt, pain and sorrows had melted away!
I still had a question in my
heart, did Mother Mary intercede on behalf of my father's soul? When I
came home from Mass that Tuesday night, I humbled myself in front of my home altar. I
asked the Blessed Virgin, "Did you save my father from eternal damnation? Did
you ask Jesus, your Holy Son to spare him from Hell? I had his name on
your blessed Green Scapular Mother, were you able to intercede for him at his judgment?"
I begged Mother Mary for her help, I was emotionally hurt not knowing if Carl was in
Hell or
Purgatory and I needed to know.
Friday morning, April 3rd,
it was my turn to host our prayer meeting. More people had decided
to join us that day because we had a special guest, a lady was promoting enthroning homes to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. After our meeting, I
began to tell our speaker and other guests about the Green Scapular. I wanted to show
everyone in attendance the many Green Scapulars that we had and how
many names had been written on them and handed over to me for safe
keeping. There must have been around 300-400 scapulars collected and placed into a
large craft container that opened in the middle. I wanted to show our guest
speaker what we had collected so I placed the container on one of the
chairs so I could open it and when I opened the container
a miracle took place. I saw one Green Scapular rise about a foot up in the air, then
gently move towards us and in front of the container then it gently glided down to
the ground.
I couldn't believe my eyes, nor could anyone
else that was watching this great miracle. I bent down to pick it up, and
looked at the name on the Scapular. Tears filled my eyes when I read the name, Carl. I had my answer from Blessed Mother Mary,
her
holy and miraculous Green Scapular was the source of my fathers' blessings.
He had not been sent to Hell, he was in Purgatory and I knew it. In my great joy, I knew I
had to go to church that night to thank and praise the mercy of God the
Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit and I wanted to thank Blessed Mother Mary for her
intercession.
It was the first Friday of the month, and I had been observing all First
Friday's that were dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
When I drove up
to the church the parking lot was full of cars. I couldn't figure out why so
many cars were at the church until after I went inside. I discovered it was
Confirmation night and our Bishop was present. Because of the crowd, there was no
place to sit. I finally found one chair that was sitting up
against the wall in the back of the church, so I took it. I had brought my
Bible with me but placed it on the floor against the wall, to keep it hidden
from others so they wouldn't pick it up as I walked up to the Altar for holy
Communion. Just before Mass began, I kneeled down and began praising God and giving Him thanks for
the salvation of my father's soul. After Holy Communion, I again
kneeled when I saw a paper lying on top of my Bible. I couldn't figure out
how it got there. Surely no one put it there since my Bible was out
of sight. The lights had been dimmed in the church
during the Confirmation ceremony which made it difficult to see anything and no
human could put their hand through a
six-inch wall where my Bible was, so I wondered how did the paper get
there.
I picked up the paper, read it
and began to cry. It read:
"If the greatest sinner on earth should repent at the moment of death, and draw
his last breath in an act of love, neither the many graces he has abused, nor
the many sins he has committed would stand in his way. Our Lord would
receive him in to His mercy." The author's name was St. Therese of
Lisieux, my Confirmation Patron Saint! I understood now, St. Therese must
have delivered
this miraculous message, written on a small yellow paper. A mystery of Father God's mercy and Jesus' salvation!
Salvation for my father Carl, on
this special First Friday dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
My faith changed, I
began to understand God's holy mercy for all souls, especially those who are
destined for hell. I praised God the Father, His Son Jesus and the Holy
Spirit for teaching me about His holy mercy and I thank my Heavenly Mother above
all for interceding on behalf of my father, Carl, to Jesus.
Story submitted
by: Elizabeth and published with permission.
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