(A true story)
The boy, after listening to their erroneous reasoning could
not bear it any longer, and full of indignation,
he interrupted them, saying: ...
not bear it any longer, and full of indignation,
he interrupted them, saying: ...
"Look, Mommy, what a beautiful prayer," he said to his mother one day.
"Never again say it," answered the mother.
"It is a superstitious prayer of Catholics who adore idols and think
Mary is a goddess. After all, she is a woman like any other. Come on,
take this Bible and read it. It contains everything that we are bound to
do and have to do."
From that day on the little boy discontinued his daily "Hail Mary" and gave himself more time to reading the Bible instead.
One day, while reading the Gospel, he came
across the passage about the Annunciation of the Angel to Our Lady. Full
of joy, the little boy ran to his mother and said: "Mommy, I have found
the 'Hail Mary' in the Bible which says: 'Hail full of grace, the Lord
is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women.' Why do you call it a
superstitious prayer?"
On another occasion he found that beautiful
salutation of St. Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary and the wonderful
canticle MAGNIFICAT in which Mary foretold that "the generations would
call her blessed."
He said no more about it to his mother but
started to recite the "Hail Mary" every day as before. He felt pleasure
in addressing those charming words to the Mother of Jesus, our Savior.
One day, when he was fourteen, he heard a
discussion on Our Lady among the members of his family. Every one said
that Mary was a common woman like any other woman.
The boy, after listening to their erroneous
reasoning could not bear it any longer, and full of indignation, he
interrupted them, saying:
"Mary is not like any other children of
Adam, stained with sin. No! The Angel called her FULL OF GRACE AND
BLESSED AMONGST WOMEN. Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ and
consequently Mother of God. There is no higher dignity to which a
creature can be raised. The Gospel says that the generations will
proclaim her blessed and you are trying to despise her and look down on
her. Your spirit is not the spirit of the Gospel or of the Bible which
you proclaim to be the foundation of the Christian religion."
So deep was the impression which the boy's
talk had made that his mother many times cried out sorrowfully: "Oh, my
God! I fear that this son of mine will one day join the Catholic
religion, the religion of Popes!"
And indeed, not very long afterwards,
having made a serious study of both Protestantism and Catholicism, the
boy found the latter to be the only true religion and embraced it and
became one of its most ardent apostles.
Some time after his conversion, he met his
married sister who rebuked him and said indignantly: "You little know
how much I love my children. Should any one of them desire to become a
Catholic, I would sooner pierce his heart with a dagger than allow him
to embrace the religion of the Popes!"
Her anger and temper were as furious as those of St. Paul before his conversion.
However, she would change her ways, just as
St. Paul did on his way to Damascus. It so happened that one of her
sons fell dangerously ill and the doctors gave up hope of recovery.
Her brother then approached her and spoke to her affectionately, saying:
"My dear sister, you naturally wish to have
your child cured. Very well, then, do what I ask you to do. Follow me,
let us pray one 'Hail Mary' and promise God that, if your son recovers
his health, you would seriously study the Catholic doctrine, and should
you come to the conclusion that Catholicism is the only true religion,
you would embrace it no matter what the sacrifices may be."
His sister was somewhat reluctant at the
beginning, but as she wished for her son's recovery, she accepted her
brother's proposal and recited the "Hail Mary" together with him.
The next day her son was completely cured.
The mother fulfilled her promise and she studied the Catholic doctrine.
After long preparation she received Baptism together with her whole
family, thanking her brother for being an apostle to her.
This story was related during a sermon given by the Rev. Fr. Tuckwell:
"Brethren," he went on and said, "the boy
who became a Catholic and converted his sister to Catholicism dedicated
his whole life to the service of God. He is the priest who is speaking
to you now! What I am I owe to Our Lady. You, too, my dear brethren, be
entirely dedicated also to Our Lady and never let a day pass without
saying the beautiful prayer, 'Hail Mary', and your Rosary. Ask her to
enlighten the minds of Protestants who are separated from the true
Church of Christ founded on the Rock (Peter) and 'against whom the gates
of hell shall never prevail.'"
No comments:
Post a Comment