Monday, September 20, 2010

What Does It Take To Unstop Deaf Ears and Open Blind Eyes?

Yesterday I went for a Divine Mercy mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral.  I brought people with me who were hoping for a miracle, for among the attendees was Stanley Villavicencio. Read about his story here and here and here.  During his talks, many miracles of spiritual and physical healing have been reported.

In the few days before the Mass, I asked a few friends to come.  Most were interested but some had that blank look on their faces that told me that they were working hard to keep their thoughts and feelings hidden.  I knew they thought I was being gullible.

Why is there so much disbelief in our world?  So much cynicism, so much doubt, so much skepticism... what has happened to faith, trust, confidence?

Does it really matter if Stanley Villavicencio is a fake or a con?  It is clear in the Bible that "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20. What miracles may be possible when God is present in our midst? Besides, if Stanley V is a conman, he isn't a very good one.  He doesn't ask for money, he doesn't ask for people to worship him.  All he wants is for people to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet.  He doesn't even get royalties out of that.  Well, I'll be attending his talk on Tuesday night so I'll be able to share more on what happened later.

I think that if there were more love and trust in our world, more reaching out than waiting for others to make the first move, surely there would be more happiness.  If we reached out, and the other rebuffed our gesture, at least we tried.  At least the other person knows we care about him, whether or not his heart is ready to accept the caring.  But what if we reached out and the other person grabbed our hand and realized that someone in this world cared about him, someone in this world noticed his existence?

One of the warning signs of suicide is depression and feeling hopeless.  Perhaps if we opened our hearts to more people, there'd be less hopelessness in our world.  Why guard our hearts so rigidly... we can only be hurt if we allow others to hurt us, anyway.

People like Stanley Villavicencio bring hope and encourage devotion to our Lord Jesus.  We should draw near to such people.

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