Not long after(the death of Mr. T) I went to a Mr. P. who had a cancer also. His case was similar to that of Mr. T. He was within two weeks of his death, had never been baptized. He was in his 70’s and lived with his daughter, who was a Catholic. They were very much concerned about his physical condition but no one thought of his soul that Our Lord had redeemed at so great a price. Oh yes, there was One who wasn't indifferent. The Good Shepherd was searching him out and made use of my feet and hands and tongue and heart to grasp him. I started by taking good care of his body, then we talked about the soul. He hadn't given it a thought before. I told him the importance of Baptism, what Our Lord said about it. He also asked me for a little time to think it over. The next day, his answer was “Yes”. His daughter couldn't believe it. He received Baptism and died a few days afterwards. It was another conquest of the Sacred Heart.
Another time it was a retired minister of the Episcopalian denomination that I was instrumental in bringing into the Fold. He had married a Catholic girl. From her he learned a lot about our faith and was much inclined toward it. He was stricken with cancer and I was asked to take care of him. We had little conversations each day on the Church and its beliefs. He was a very educated man. He loved the light, was seeking it. The Sacred Heart helped my poor words he finally was convinced of the truth of the Catholic faith and asked to see a priest. How happy his wife was and how thankful to the Sacred Heart.
Father, it would be too long if I were to write about all the converts our Lord gave me. In one house, two young couples were living in the same apartment. The two wives were Protestants but had never been baptized. One of them had two children not baptized also. The two husbands were Catholics and had been sometime in a seminary before marrying, but found out it was not their vocation. The two couples have been married by the Justice of Peace. I brought them a picture of the Sacred Heart and started working on them with His help. First they consented to have the children baptized, then I had the happiness of instructing the two women, one of them was in the family way. When they were ready to be admitted in the Fold, two husbands had to go to confession. One hadn't been for eight years, while the other for two years. The marriages were blessed and thanks to the Sacred Heart six souls were put on the right road. That was a good handful, wasn't it, Father?
I took care of an old sea wolf who hadn't been to confession for some forty years. Was I discouraged the first day. I had to wash his face. His beard was eight inches long and when he ate, the food ran down on it and dried up and hung there like icicles. It took quite a little bit of talk to influence him to get the barber and shave it off. He wasn't the same looking man afterwards.
If his beard hurt my eyes, his language wasn't always very refined. The word “damn” ran out of his mouth every other word. He loved that word. Had it framed and hung in his room. That was the first thing one would see entering his room. “Life is one damn thing after another.” And there was another such motto in another panel. It took me several weeks before I could get around and work on his soul. First, I brought the Sacred Heart picture and hung it right near his bed so he would be under Our Lord's gaze. Then we said a short prayer together every day. He had forgotten his Hail Mary, even. Gradually the grace of God softened him up and he finally consented to go to confession. What happiness it was to us all. He had changed all around. He died so peacefully. His last look on earth was for the Sacred Heart right near his bed. This story is a little gruff, but I know you understand what we come across in our work. We don't pay too much attention to the shell but seek out the pearl enclosed in it. Facts are facts and we have to face them.
Last year it took me nine weeks of tramping very often in snow and slush over my shoes to get a woman to come back to her Sacraments. She hadn't been for some twenty years and kept putting it off and putting it off. Thanks to the Sacred Heart also, she finally got the courage to go to confession.
A little girl came to tell me that Mrs. M. wanted a subscription to the Sacred Heart Messenger. I said: “Very well, I'll bring her a Messenger.” “But she isn't a Catholic,” said the little girl. I said, “Our Lord will fix her.” As I brought her the first book she told me she wasn't a Catholic, but I said: “Wouldn't you like to be one?” She said: “I would, Sister.” Being in the family way and having two other small children, I had the happiness of instructing her also in our Catholic Faith.
Dear Father, these are just some examples of what the Sacred Heart accomplished with an unworthy instrument. But I must confess I owe to the great St. Joseph the spread of the Enthronement in Newport. It was on his feast day that I asked him to grant me the favor, that the work begun in Newport wouldn't die out and that someone else would get interested in it. It seemed as though I was alone on the field and was afraid if anything happened to me, it would disappear. It was a lack of faith on my part because God's work doesn't die out. St. Joseph showed it to me by a little miracle. A little vigil light put to burn at 5:30 AM was supposed to burn until 5:30 PM. But it happened that at 9:00 PM it was still burning with no fuel in the glass. The glass was dry but the wick had a beautiful flame that lit up the whole glass. We all took a look at it. The Sister who had charge of the chapel took it to her room, put it in front of a picture of St. Joseph and at 10:00 PM it was still burning. But before 11:00 PM she had fallen asleep. It must have burnt until the feast day was over.
It was then I got the idea of going to the Cenacle and ask for a day of Recollection for the Mothers who had or who would be interested in the Enthronement. That brought Father Larkin and you Father Andrew, as also other members of your Congregation especially Father Condon, who went visiting around and got the fire going and the Secretariat established with the Sisters of St. Joseph. Thanks to Saint Joseph.
I wrote all this the best I could. In my heart, I am fully convinced that I cannot do the least good but by the grace of God and that conversions are His work. I am grateful to the Sacred Heart that He would so make use of a weak instrument to do some good.
Father, I'm enclosing also a letter I received from a Mrs. M. I met her first at a patient of mine who belong to the sect of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Mrs. M. was an educated woman, very refined and had a diploma from a conservatory of music. But when I met her she was suffering from locomotor ataxia. Her hands were partly paralyzed. The Jehovah Witnesses in town paid for her room and one quart of milk a day. She lived with a little old lady who used to go around with a graphophone and play records of speeches that Judge Rutherford made. This little old lady was so zealous and tireless. She would even forget to eat when the Judge was on the air. Mrs. M. called me one day to give her care and what was my surprise to find her living with this little old lady. I brought Mrs. M. the life of the Little Flower of Jesus and I saw that she wasn't interested anymore in the Watch Tower or other literature of the Jehovah’s. Bluntly, one day I said: “Mrs. M. weren't any of your folks Catholic?” She said, “Yes, my mother was.” Then she went on telling me her story. She had been baptized, made her first communion and was confirmed in St. Mary's church in Newport. Her father was a non-Catholic. Her mother died when she was eleven and her father let her go the way she wanted. She gradually abandoned her faith. Being a first-class musician she was prosperous for a while. She married a divorcee who had money and they lived high for so many years. Then he died. Afterwards she developed this sickness and gradually all the money she had was eaten up going to doctors and hospitals. She became penniless. So, it was that the Jehovah Witnesses were caring for her and had her as an adherent to their sect. She told me how unhappy she was. I explained to her that that wasn't her place. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, etc.” Go and see a priest. Come back to God and then you'll see He will help you with all the rest. And so she did. She went to confession after some 40 years away from the Church and to Holy Communion. Then St. Vincent de Paul Society helped her out. I found her a room with a Catholic family and visited her there. She received Holy Communion every month afterwards and was so happy. After two years, she went to California as she had her brother there. But he was unable to take care of her so she was sent to the poor house. I wish I had kept the letter I received from her while there. She told me she had nothing in the material line but she was the happiest woman in the world. She had her “Faith”. She had found God and wished for nothing else.
This letter she wrote holding her pencil with her two hands as they were partly paralyzed.
The Jehovah Witnesses were very angry with Mrs. M. when she left them. For six weeks they came to see her and brought her their literature she had left behind. When she refused they threw it in the house. My patient received a silly letter from one with whom she had lived. “Sister Elizabeth will be saved because she's ignorant but you, Mrs. M, you'll surely be damned. You know better.” Did we laugh.
The Sacred Heart, the Good Shepherd had made use of my feet to run after the erring sheep.
Praise be to His Sacred Heart.
留言