Except for some wetness protectable by raincoat and umbrella, I had been relatively dry amid the recent widespread southwest monsoon flooding that, as of this writing, has continued to bring incredible misery to many people in towns in Pampanga’s fourth district.
Neither having the energy (having been a stroke victim) nor the resources (I am far from being rich), I would have felt guilt for being not there in disaster areas even just to package relief goods.
Except that I could pray. The result of praying for the victims can’t be seen, but it must be powerful, or Our Lady of Medjugorje, or even the Bible itself, would not have exhorted us to pray, pray, pray always, instead of just act, just act, just act.
q q q
Now back to Nicky Eltz’s interview of Austrian mystic Maria Simma (died 2004) who spent most of her life communicating with poor souls in Purgatory (ghosts, if you will) who not only sought her help for their deliverance to Heaven, but also revealed to her information that should be of some interest to us humans.
We continue with the question-and-answer article of Eltz, as culled from his digitally available book “Get Us Out of Here.” This part tells us how we should avoid judging others merely according to our humanly imperfect perceptions, and also explains the importance of prayer.
Q: Can you think of any other public figures who according to the souls are also in Heaven? I ask this in the hope that your answer might again put emphasis on Jesus’ teaching that we may never judge one another.
A: Yes, I can and that teaching is of great importance if we really wish to be with Him as soon as at all possible.
The two people who come to mind both had to suffer a lot and both had very little if any religious or spiritual guidance in their youth.
About three years ago now Norma Jean Baker, whose stage name was different of course (Marlyn Monroe) was already in Heaven.
And then just recently I found out that John Lennon was also in Heaven. He was murdered by a fellow who at the time suffered a possession and who later, while in jail, was freed by a good priest praying a deliverance prayer from outside the walls…a friend of mine had to explain to me who exactly they were, because when I had these names with me I was not at all aware how famous these two had been…
Q: You mention prayer so often that I’d like to ask you about it. Why do you give it such importance?
A: Prayer is what brings us closer to God. Look at it this way. When we have a friend the first thing we do is give him time and he gives us time.
If we neglect to give our friends time, it will not take very long before we find ourselves completely alone and in many ways lost and in the dark. All right, once we give him this time we do two things, we listen and we talk.
And if we wish to remain a friend, listening is far more important than talking. True friends, as you know, can gain much strength and support by merely being next to each other in silence.
Prayer is most often simply being with God in silence, listening to Him, observing and absorbing Him. There is no one He ignores. And in prayer we are giving time to our very best friend- the friend who gave us life….
I think it was St. Augustine who said that prayer is man’s greatest achievement and God’s greatest gift to man….
Q: What would you advise me to do if I have never prayed and want to start by speaking to God this evening?
A: Turn off the television, ignore… no, unplug the telephone, go to your room and close the door behind you.
Prayer is the only this in the world with which we may and must be entirely selfish.
Then be in silence and tell God that you wish to be near Him. Do these on regular basis and do not let Satan pull you away with all his me, me, me chatter. Then learn a little bit about Jesus, His Holy Family and His disciples…but I must warn you now that attempts will be made to distract you from this and from Him….
Q: Can you give me an example where a very small prayer made a very big difference?
A: Yes, every smallest prayer is heard. Let me think. Oh yes, and there again it concerned a poor soul who came to me some years ago. A man appeared one night and after he’s told me what he needed to be delivered, he remained standing in front of me and asked: Do you know me? I had to answer no.
He then reminded me that many years ago, in 1932, when I was only 17 he had traveled with me briefly in the same compartment of a train to Hall.
Then I certainly did remember. He had complained bitterly about the Church and about religion, and I felt I had to respond to this by telling him that he was not a good person to pull down such holy things.
This response surprised and annoyed him and he told me: You are still too young for me to let myself to be lectured by you. And I just couldn’t resist being a bit rude and fired back at him (by replying):
Still, I’m smarter than you are. That was that, he sank his head into his newspaper and didn’t say another word.
When his station came by and he left the compartment, I simply prayed under my breath: Jesus, do not let this soul get lost. And now that he was with me, he told me that that tiny prayer had saved him from getting lost.
(to be continued)
