Padre Pio and the Anglican Minister - Partners in Healing

     As the Reverend Eric Fisher laid his healing hands upon the infirm leg of Alice Jones, she was astonished to see his face transform into the face of Padre Pio

     The Reverend Eric Fisher is an active Anglican priest of the Church of England, who has dedicated his life and ministry to the healing of suffering souls and bodies. He wrote of his experiences in his best-seller from 1993, Healing Miracles. It was in the early 1970's, not long after being advised by his bishop that his role in the Church would be the healing ministry rather than parish work, that he first came to hear about Padre Pio. While he was at the home of experienced Anglican healer, Mary Rogers, in order to seek her advice, an Italian lady arrived. She often called on Mary when she visited from Italy. Noting that she was quite uncomfortable in his presence, Fr. Fisher discretely left the room for a short time. Upon his return, the Italian woman told him that her being disturbed at his presence in the room was nothing personal – she had an aversion to all priests. That is, all but one. “There is only one that I like and that is Padre Pio.”

     After that incident, Fr. Fisher was moved to read and learn more about this Padre Pio. Since then, he has come to consider Padre Pio his “brother in the spirit,” and has been aware of his assistance on many occasions during his healing sessions. Of course, Fr. Fisher understands that it is Jesus Christ that is the ultimate healer. He feels that while the healing of ailing bodies is good in itself, it is the healing of hearts and minds that is the truly important objective. 
 

     In 1980, he was part of a mission team that was sent out to Haydock, which is near Liverpool. They were each asked to visit certain people that were on the local vicar's sick list. Among those assigned to Fr. Fisher was a middle-aged school teacher named Alice Jones, who lived with her husband in a modest home near the center of town. On his first visit, he found her tearful and depressed, and in a bitter state of mind. Alice could no longer experience any sensation in her left leg. Her left foot was twisted to one side, and her spine was out of alignment. Seven years before, while lifting some tables for a school function, she tripped and fell, seriously injuring her hip. Her back hurt since that time, and she had undergone a major spinal fusion operation, whereby bone from her hip was grafted onto her spine. She could barely walk, only with great difficulty, with the aid of elbow crutches, and by means of a splint which lifted her left foot slightly off the ground. The pain was intense, and she controlled it by an excessive use of alcohol and drugs. Like some others who had undergone a fusion operation, she felt she was on her way to becoming an alcoholic. The State had assessed her as one hundred percent disabled. 

     Before this visit to Alice, Fr. Fisher said a special prayer to Padre Pio from a novena prayer card, asking for his protection and support. He had also distributed these cards after morning Mass. They featured a picture of the saint, and gave an account of his austere life of service. Although Padre Pio had already passed on, the Anglican priest frequently prayed for his assistance.
 

     Upon seeing Alice that first time, he began with a prayer for her and all the sick of the parish. Then he laid his hands on her back, running them up and down along her spine. Since her accident, her back had always felt icy cold, but surprisingly she now felt a sudden warm glow, which flowed down her spine and all around her. Fr. Fisher continued with his laying on of hands for about fifteen minutes, but then stopped. At the time he did not know why he ceased, but later became certain that it was Padre Pio protecting him from putting too much pressure on the spine, which might have affected the spinal fusion. After leaving the Jones' residence, and during a church service that evening, he asked Padre Pio for a miracle.  

     Returning to Alice's home the next day, he found her in a better state of mind and not as bitter, but she did not show any marked optimism or expectation. Fr. Fisher started again on her spine, and then began to treat her infirm left leg. He was curious as to why she had no sensation in it, since it seemed her calf muscles had not deteriorated. Then she abruptly exclaimed that she could feel “pins and needles” in a part of her leg, which also felt hot. She gradually experienced these sensations throughout the whole limb, even down to her twisted left foot. Then the priest concentrated his healing efforts on her ankle and foot, until it gradually straightened out and could rest flat on the floor. These changes were not accompanied by intense pain, although the operated part of the spine was probably affected.

     Finally it was time for her to try and walk. Father urged her to try, but she insisted that she could not walk. Finally, after a seeming eternity, she raised herself up. Sobbing with joy, she began to hobble across the room. There was a deep silence felt throughout the house, and in his book Fr. Fisher wrote that it was similar only to what he “experienced on the rare occasions when something tremendous was happening.”  

     Later that same evening Alice Jones told Father something that, unknown to him, was occurring during the healing process. She said that when she looked down upon him, she saw superimposed upon his face, the visage of an older man with a beard. Thinking it was a hallucination, she tried opening and closing her eyes, but the strange old personage was still there. Then she saw the old man, dressed in a monk's habit, standing by her side. He seemed to take over. She could hear Fr. Fisher's voice, but she also heard the older man speaking in a foreign language. He blessed her twice with the sign of the Cross, while repeating “Gesu`, Maria; Gesu`, Maria.” With a great feeling of love and warmth, he took her arm, telling her to get up and walk in the name of Jesus. When she heard the voice commanding her to walk, her old fears of falling returned. But the word “walk” reverberated around in her head, and as it did, she gained a sense of confidence and faith, and overcame her fear of failure. She was utterly amazed that she could walk across the room to the door, and return to her chair! By then the old man had disappeared from her view; her pain and discomfort were gone, and once again she saw the face of Fr. Fisher.

     Everyone was in an emotional state, and her daughter Lesley was in tears. Lesley has become aware of a strong smell of perfume. Her baby son had been having sleeping problems since birth, and she felt compelled to stand with him behind her mother's chair. She experienced the sensation of being wrapped in a warm, comforting blanket. After Alice promised to attend a healing session that evening in the church, Fr. Fisher left, in order to take in what had happened. Hearing the news that she could walk, her husband Frank returned home from work early. She ran down the drive to meet him and they hugged each other with joy in their hearts. That night they went as a family to give thanks in the church. The parishioners gasped in amazement when they saw that Alice was walking. But she still had no idea who the “old man” was. Back home, she became emotional and told Frank that she had seen Moses. She slept well that night, without having to take any tablets or sleeping pills, but her husband was worried that this was all a dream, and he kept a vigil by the bed.
 

     Frank was concerned that her previous condition might return, which would be a sad disappointment. But instead he was about to witness a further miracle. Every morning Frank dutifully packed an ulcer that had left a gaping hole in her left heel. That night he had readied the bandages that would be needed for dressing the wound. He warned Alice that it might be painful now that sensation in her left leg had returned. The next morning he prepared to dress the wound as usual, but the ulcer was no longer there! At first Frank thought she had given him the wrong leg. But there was no sign of the ulcer, not even a mark. They found the dressing rolled up in the bed. Frank wept, saying that it was a miracle.

 

     That evening Alice returned to the church again to receive Holy Communion in thanksgiving. She felt that she was seeing everything with new eyes. The words of the liturgy became real, and it seemed that she was truly participating at the Last Supper. As she left the service, Fr. Fisher handed her one of the Padre Pio novena prayer cards. She realized at once that Padre Pio was the old man at the healing. She was relieved to find that he was a real person and not imaginary. But she was shocked to learn that he had died in 1968. And so began her quest to find out “Who is Padre Pio?”

Padre Pio Blesses

Note:  Comments from sedevacantists who question, doubt, or are offended that Padre Pio assisted a non-Catholic Anglican in his healing ministry will not be approved.  Sedevacantism is a dead end, see my prior post on this topic.


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A Church Frozen in Time

A Church Frozen in Time - my discussion with a sedevacantist.

A certain sedevacantist site, which I will not mention, posted an article about the alleged rebuke of St. Peter by St. Paul. I commented that many reliable sources contend that the Peter that was rebuked was not St. Peter, but another person by that name. I provided a link to a blog post article on my web site. This led to a series of back and forth responses by myself and the moderator. At some point he decided to take a close look at my websites, and wrote a comment bewailing my books on Luisa Piccarreta since some of her writings had been placed on the Index. He wrote that the “Divine Will cult is condemned by the Church.”

I responded that the Indexed works were some of her ancillary writings that were highly edited by others, and that the first nineteen of her books received the Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat. I added that Her "cult" is certainly NOT condemned by the Church, but is rather encouraged by the current Ordinary, who is promoting her Cause and is preparing a critical edition of her writings. All of the objections have been thoroughly answered by competent theologians. A good summary of the situation is at the EWTN  website. 

His answer was that I was citing Novus Ordo sources. “That the Novus Ordo Sect would approve these works or revelations, is not surprising.” In other words, what EWTN says does not count, it is Novus Ordo. What the current Ordinary of Luisa's Diocese says is irrelevant since he is Novus Ordo. I replied, and he replied back, and so on.

In thinking about this, it occurs to me that should the Church beatify her, or officially approve the writings of Luisa Piccarreta, it will mean nothing to him, since this would all be “Novus Ordo.” That is, his views are based on a Church that is frozen in time. It marched on only until the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. Nothing that happened after that in the Vatican matters to the sedevacantist.  They have no obedience to the hierarchy, and either ignore or mock whatever the recent Popes have said.  Nothing that the living Catholic Church now says or does has any meaning to them, since it is not part of their leaderless religion. Theirs is a lifeless church with no one at the helm and which cannot grow.  It cannot issue authoritative documents, and has no formal jurisdiction.  It is a religion frozen in time.  

Since they have separated themselves from the pope, they are no longer part of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. The church that they recognize until 1958 is not experienced by them from within, but is seen from the outside. It is just a historical event, a fixed snapshot, it is not “living.” That is why for the sedevacantist it is a church frozen in time. But for those within the Mystical Body, the Church from the time of Christ, with all its saints and teachings, remains a living reality throughout its history, since they experience it from within.

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Our Lady of Good Success and the Divine Designs

Our Lady of Good Success Teaches Us How to Respond to the Crisis in the Church.

 

     An article written for the website Rosary to the Interior: For the Purification of the Church discusses the fourth Joyful Rosary mystery, the Presentation of Jesus / Purification of Mary, in the light of the prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success (OLGS). These Church-approved apparitions and revelations were made to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (1563-1635), a Conceptionist religious in Quito, Ecuador. 
   
     Unlike many of the recent articles on OLGS, it's primary focus is not on the dramatic prophecies that describe the current crisis in the Church. Rather the emphasis is on the hope for final victory, and God's “Secret Designs” on how attain it, as indicated by Our Lady. The lengthy article provides an excellent overview, with appropriate details, of the entire drama of the Conceptionist Nuns of that era, interwoven with the apparitions, teachings and messages of Jesus and Mary. 
   
     The basic principle of God’s “Secret Designs” according to the article is this: “God’s promise of Our Lady’s Triumph (and thus the Church’s) will be fulfilled through the formation of souls who, with the graces which make this possible, will live a profound victimhood in imitation of Christ – a victimhood which they will suffer at the hands of both good and evil persons.” The laity are called to participate in this victimhood, and the key to this victimhood is remaining truly and fully united with the Church no matter what sufferings or deprivations this may bring.
   

Apostolate of Our Lady of Good Success

     From a study of the OLGS apparitions, the author states that rendering full obedience to the Vicar of Christ, after understanding the limits placed upon the powers of the Papacy, “is not at all inconsistent with criticism of a Pope’s personal errors in regard to doctrines and their implications, nor is it inconsistent with refusing to follow these errors and policies if they are contrary to the Gospel.” He bases his conclusion on the way the Conceptionist Nuns offered their “victimhood” that was suffered at the hands of their Superiors, who wanted to mitigate, weaken, and relax the Rules of the convent. Rather than rebelling, the observant nuns accepted the lawful jurisdiction of those over them, however unjust it was, even to the point of being cast into the convent prison. “For those who choose not to abandon the Cross, however, it is within the depths of this suffering that is to be found the grace of victory.”

Instead of Despair, there is Hope.

     Applying this to the Church of today, he writes: that “the rejection of obedience to the Pope in his government and discipline of the Church entails the loss of that grace which is the very life-blood of the Church. Such is the position in which such groups as the SSPX and the Sedevacantists find themselves. They are depriving both themselves and the Church of the grace whereby Our Lady’s Triumph will be achieved.” These choices and others which revolve around defiance of the pope, the validity of his election, or plotting to depose him, assert at least implicitly that “God does not know what He is doing, that God is not trustworthy in his promises, or that God has failed.” The jurisdiction of the Church hierarchy must be accepted, we must remain within the fold, but we should not be silent in the face of Modernist fantasies that are taught or proposed, which seek to mitigate and relax our obligation to follow the teachings of Christ. 

   “If, on the other hand, we unite ourselves to the Heart of Mary, now pierced with the sword of sorrows and suffering necessary for the purification of the Church and the triumphal re-entry of the Light of Christ into his temple, then our Lady’s Immaculate Heart will not only be our refuge and the way that will lead us to God, but the means by which we also may become true vessels of merciful love and full participants in God’s “secret designs” of mercy for a suffering, sinful world. Unquestionably, the primary means which Our Lady has given us to effect this spiritual childhood in service to Her Triumph is the Rosary.” 

     I highly recommend reading this very important article in its entirety.

 Tradition in Action

My books on the Blessed Mother, Padre Pio, and others may be viewed Here.


 

 

 

Daily Prayer to the Blessed Virgin for the Month of May

Prayer to the Celestial Queen for each day of the month of May
 

Immaculate Queen, my Celestial Mother, I come onto your maternal knees to abandon myself in your arms as your dear child, and to ask of You, with the most ardent sighs, in this month consecrated to You, the greatest of graces: that You admit me to live in the Kingdom of the Divine Will.

Holy Mother, You who are the Queen of this Kingdom, admit me to live in It as your child, that It may no longer be deserted, but populated by your children. Therefore, Sovereign Queen, I entrust myself to You, that You may lead my steps in the Kingdom of the Divine Will; and as I cling to your maternal hand, You will lead all my being to live perennial life in the Divine Will. 
 

You will be my Mother, and to You, as my Mother, I deliver my will, that You may exchange it with the Divine Will, and so I may be sure I will not go out of Its Kingdom. Therefore I pray You to illumine me in order to make me comprehend what ‘Will of God’ means.

(Hail Mary)

Combine this prayer from the book The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will with its daily meditations on the Heavenly Queen for the month of May, available at this Link.

Quoting from the Doctoral Thesis of Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi, approved by the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, and authorized by the Holy See, " . . . Luisa wrote The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will that Mary dictated to her for mankind's sanctification in the Divine Will."  (p. 26.) 

     

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Padre Pio on Modesty, the Forgotten Virtue

      

     Nothing reflects the good or bad qualities of the soul more than modesty. Compare Padre Pio's teaching shown below, to St. Paul's description of the behavior of persons in the last days, and discern where we are in salvation history.

     The Apostle Paul warns: “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid.” [2 Tim. 3:1-5.]

     Did someone say “selfie?” 


     From a letter of Padre Pio to one of his spiritual daughters: 

    

     Once you leave church, be as every follower of the Nazarene should be.  Above all, be extremely modest in everything, as this is the virtue which, more than any other, reveals the affections of the heart.  Nothing represents an object more faithfully or clearly than a mirror.  In the same way, nothing more widely represents the good or bad qualities of a soul than the greater or lesser regulation of the exterior, as when one appears more or less modest.  You must be modest in speech, modest in laughter, modest in your bearing, modest in walking.   All this must be practiced, not out of vanity in order to display one's self, nor out of hypocrisy in order to appear to be good to the eyes of others, but rather, for the internal virtue of modesty, which regulates the external workings of the body.

  

 

     Therefore, be humble of heart, circumspect in words, prudent in your resolutions.  Always be sparing in your speech, assiduous in good reading, attentive in your work, modest in your conversation.  Don't be disgusting to anybody but be benevolent towards all and respectful towards your elders.   May any sinister glance be far from you, may no daring word escape your lips, may you never carry out any immodest or somewhat free action; never a rather free action or a petulant tone of voice.

     In short let your whole exterior be a vivid image of the composure of your soul.

     Always keep the modesty of the divine Master before your eyes, as an example; this Master who, according to the words of the Apostle to the Corinthians, placing the modesty of Jesus Christ on an equal footing with meekness, which was his one particular virtue and almost his characteristic:  "Now I Paul myself beseech you, by the mildness and modesty of Christ" [2 Cor. 10:1], and according to such a perfect model reform all your external operations, which should be faithful reflections revealing the affections of your interior.

     Never forget this divine model. Try to see a certain lovable majesty in his presence, a certain pleasant authority in his manner of speaking, a certain pleasant dignity in walking, in contemplating, speaking, conversing; a certain sweet serenity of face.  Imagine that extremely composed and sweet expression with which he drew the crowds, making them leave cities and castles, leading them to the mountains, the forests, to the solitude and deserted beaches of the sea, totally forgetting food, drink and their domestic duties.

     Thus let us try to imitate, as far as we possibly can, such modest and dignified actions.  And let us do our utmost to be, as far as possible, similar to him on this earth, in order that we might be more perfect and more similar to him for the whole of eternity in the heavenly Jerusalem.

  + + +

Pietrelcina, July 25, 1915, from a letter to Annita Rodote, in Volume III of his Letters – used with permission. To read the entire letter, click Here.

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The Real Life of Jesus in the Divine Will and the Eucharist

Newest Book: 

 Padre Pio said the world would be astonished at the greatness of Luisa Piccarreta.  You will be too after you read this book!     

Learn how the Real Life of Jesus in the Eucharist also exists in souls who live in the Divine Will. In fact, the souls who live in the Divine Will are living Hosts, since the Divine Volition is a continuous Communion. Learn why Jesus is not bound by His own Sacraments, and how He entrusted His Sacramental Life to the Heart of His Mother. Find out why Jesus gave Communion to Himself at the Last Supper, and how His sacrificial life continues in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Learn why living in the Divine Will has Primacy, and surpasses all the other Sacraments. This book is a detailed report and compendium of almost 150 separate teachings on the Lord's Real Life as it exists in the Divine Will and the Eucharist, taken from Luisa Piccarreta's 36-volume opus on the Divine Will revelations.

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Paul VI Said He had Abolished the Traditional Mass

In a discourse to twenty new cardinals, nominated in a 1976 consistory, Paul VI explicitly declared that the new Mass (Novus Ordo) was promulgated to replace the old Mass (Tridentine), in accordance with the norms of Vatican II.  Further, the adoption of the new Mass is not optional, and only infirm or elderly priests are permitted to say the old Mass, provided no one else is in attendance. 

". . . . and they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice, and they shall place there the abomination unto desolation."
[Daniel 11:31] 

English translation below of relevant part of Concistoro Segreto del Santo Padre Paolo VI per la Nomina di Venti Cardinali. Link to full text Here. 
   

"It is in the name of Tradition that we ask all our children, all Catholic communities, to celebrate, in dignity and fervor, the renewed Liturgy. The adoption of the new "Ordo Missae" is certainly not left to the will of the priests or of the faithful: and the Instruction of June 14, 1971 provided for the celebration of Mass in the ancient form, with the authorization of the ordinary, only for elderly or infirm priests who offer the Divine Sacrifice sine populo. The Novus Ordo was promulgated to replace the old, after mature deliberation, following the requests of the Second Vatican Council. Similarly, our holy predecessor Pius V had made mandatory the Missal reformed under his authority, following the Council of Trent." 

The Italian and Latin follow, from Vatican web site:

È nel nome della Tradizione che noi domandiamo a tutti i nostri figli, a tutte le comunità cattoliche, di celebrare, in dignità e fervore la Liturgia rinnovata. L’adozione del nuovo «Ordo Missae» non è lasciata certo all’arbitrio dei sacerdoti o dei fedeli: e l’Istruzione del 14 giugno 1971 ha previsto la celebrazione della Messa nell’antica forma, con l’autorizzazione dell’ordinario, solo per sacerdoti anziani o infermi, che offrono il Divin Sacrificio sine populo. Il nuovo Ordo è stato promulgato perché si sostituisse all’antico, dopo matura deliberazione, in seguito alle istanze del Concilio Vaticano II. Non diversamente il nostro santo Predecessore Pio V aveva reso obbligatorio il Messale riformato sotto la sua autorità, in seguito al Concilio Tridentino.

At vero, nomine ipsius Traditionis Nos ab omnibus filiis Nostris atque ab omnibus catholicis communitatibus postulamus, ut cum dignitate pietatisque fervore renovatae Liturgiae ritus celebrentur. Usus novi Ordinis Missae minime quidem sacerdotum vel christifidelium arbitrio permittitur. Instructione autem edita die quarto decimo mensis Iunii anno millesimo nongentesimo septuagesimo primo provisum est, ut Missae celebratio antiquo ritu sineretur, facultate data ab Ordinario, tantummodo sacerdotibus aetate provectis vel infirmis, qui Divinum Sacrificium sine populo offerrent. Novus Ordo promulgatus est, ut in locum veteris substitueretur post maturam deliberationem, atque ad exsequendas normas quae a Concilio Vaticano II impertitae sunt. Haud dissimili ratione, Decessor Noster S. Pius V post Concilium Tridentinum Missale auctoritate sua recognitum adhiberi iusserat.

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