A Resurrection Story

I WAS once in Canada during one of my many trips with the Relics of St Anthony. It was nice to see people waiting in line for that special moment when they would be able to touch and venerate the Relic. It was as if each of them was putting their hand on top of St Anthony’s and confiding all their worries, problems and sufferings to him heart to heart. Some of them had tears in their eyes, others smiled, others just looked at the relic, but in actual fact their gaze was fixed at something beyond it, something that was not of this world.

Suddenly, a young woman approached me and said, “May I talk to you, Father? I would like to tell you my story. It is a resurrection story because I had lost my faith, and for a long time and I lived without God.”

Samantha (not her real name) had a twin sister and had been raised Catholic along with her sibling. Besides being twins they were also each other’s best friend and they had no secrets between themselves.

When they turned 20, Samantha’s sister fell in love with a young man whom she quickly married. During the wedding, Samantha felt as though a part of herself was being torn off and she experienced immense inner pain. She no longer wanted to remain at home with her parents, so she found work in a big city far away from her parents and sister. She then limited her dealings with them to a few occasional phone calls a year because she always felt pain whenever she talked to them. She also gave up on God because she had the impression that He didn’t care about her and had abandoned her. She threw herself into her job as an interior designer and initiated a series of one night stands so as to avoid any emotional involvement that could lead her to experience true love.

One day her sister paid Samantha a visit, but she was so shocked by the way Samantha had changed that she fled in horror: that person could not be her sister!

A few years later, in passing by a church one afternoon, Samantha saw several people going in. She was intrigued by this because it was not Sunday and there were no signs of a funeral service. She therefore decided to enter the church and after a while she understood that those people were there to celebrate the feast of St. Anthony; it was June 13.

“To tell you the truth, Father, I did not know much about St Anthony back then. As a child I saw his statue in churches, but I never prayed to him. In that church, however, I suddenly felt that St Anthony was calling me, asking me to pray before his statue, and when I did I heard a voice, I do not know if this voice was inside of me or from someone standing next to me. That voice said, ‘God wants you to be a different person.’”

“I went to a corner of the church and started to cry. I must have been crying rather visibly because at a certain point a priest came up to me, asking me if I was okay. I asked him if he could hear my confession, and after the act of contrition I felt good inside for the first time after so many years. I immediately called my sister and told her everything that had happened to me. I heard her crying at the other end, and then she told me, ‘Do you know it’s been years that I’ve been praying to St Anthony to help you? The Saint has finally heard my prayer.’”

“As the days went by I felt better and better. Every day a little piece of my inner suffering crumbled to pieces, and at the same time I began to understand more and more the greatness of the love that my sister and my parents had for me. However, thanks to St Anthony, I was able, above all, to understand that I am important to God; that he would never forsake me, and that he would continue to operate in my life and in that of my family.”

Samantha’s case is a true resurrection story because it allows us to understand that the Resurrection of Jesus is the light that follows the darkness of human failings because of sin. It is God’s loving answer: Every human being is born as a result of God’s love, just like Jesus was. We, like Jesus, must make God’s kingdom of love grow on earth, being ready also to make personal sacrifices should they prove necessary. Like Jesus, we are destined to total, eternal and infinite love. The Resurrection of Jesus is the tangible proof of this wonderful reality. We are not destined to die, but to live and love for ever.

Dear reader, I’ll say a special prayer for you on Easter Sunday. I will pray that God might richly bless your heart, your home, and your loved ones with lasting happiness. Have a blessed and joyous Easter!