The Bible is full of passages declaring God's promises such as, "His mercy endures forever; His love endures forever," or "Trust in me and in your distress, I will answer you." We also find the promise, "Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you," and the lines, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is my refuge, of whom should I be afraid?" I often quote Isaiah 35:3-4 which says,"Strengthen the hands that are feeble. Make firm the knees that are weak. Say to those whose hearts are frightened, " Fear not, take courage. Here is your God! He comes with vindication and recompense. He comes to save you!"
One of the precious gifts of the elderly, like me, is the luxury of time. We have the time to spend according to our whims and caprices. We can wake up in the morning at the hour that pleases us or just spend the whole afternoon on our hobby, be it gardening, reading, listening to old-time favorites or enjoying the laughter of memories of yester-years as we thumb through our family photo albums. Like one who is aware of the constant need to know Jesus through His Word, I try to devote some time, often daily, to meditate on His teachings and His promises. And one that has become so deeply ingrained in my being is God's ever-loving presence which was dramatically highlighted in a happening that occurred last October 12th, the Feast of our Lady of the Pillar.
I woke up before 10 o'clock in the morning. I took my usual almost two glasses of water to drink and began my prayers at the start of the day. Water makes me feel satisfied such that sometimes my morning prayers go far beyond the usual 20 or 30 minutes. As I often did, I alternated kneeling and sitting down while bending low touching my toes at prayer.
I heard a great crushing sound. I assumed it was the neighbors' gardener who used to be so noisy with some tools, etc. in the outdoor shed which was near my window. I continued to pray. After a long while, as I started to stretch my arms up in prayer, I heard shouts of...Dong..Dong...Dong...right at the top of the staircase which was just across the "doorless bonus room" which I occupy. In some models of the same house, the bonus room was a complete apartment by itself. So, the bonus room I use is on the second floor with a wide opening directly leading to the staircase. Again, when I heard the shouts, I thought it was Brian, Cielo's husband, who sometimes works at night and is therefore home during the day. My mind did not question why he would be shouting at all! I continued to pray until almost noon when I took my cell phone and my medicine bottle and trekked down the stairs. I held on to the banisters and kept my eyes on my feet so that I failed to see the open entrance door. I went to the family room and opened the patio door. As I turned around, I saw the broken pieces of glass window and immediately called Brian since he works nearer home than Cielo. While doing so, I looked at the garage and the extra BMW car was still there and the computer in the computer room, too.
My heart was acclaiming thanksgiving and praise in unison to God Whose mighty Presence caused the thieves to leave in haste. I surmised that when they went into the master's bedroom, I was bent low in prayer. My prayer mat (yes, I have a lambskin area rug) was partially hidden from view by a sofa. I also guess, that one of them must have seen me slowly lift up my arms in prayer so that he shouted something like "Dong..Dong...Dong," a language I could not understand. My Lord must have "instilled" fear in the hearts of those men upon seeing my outstretched arms in prayer! God made His Presence felt!
Upon investigation, the master bedroom had been ransacked. The king-size mattress had been moved possibly in search for hidden money, a custom among Asians. The cabinet drawers were wide open and jewelry boxes missing. They had stayed for some time in the room and just close by, I was continually praying! I offered my litany of thanksgiving and praise to our Lord, our Blessed Mother and my heavenly friends- the saints, angels and archangels, I pondered over the whole scenario and remembered one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 91, " God will send His angels to hold you up lest you hurt your feet against the stone," and in another psalm, " The angels will encamp around you to protect you!"
This is my testimony of God's Presence in our lives! Among my daily Litany of Praise to God is "Jehovah Shanah- God is Ever Present. praise you, Jesus!"
What happened that night of October 12, 2012 was a fitting finale to an important episode in my life.
I attended the 9 PM Mass at the EWTN Catholic TV Channel. After dinner, I was before my laptop around 11 in the evening checking the emails and adding a few paragraphs to my autobiography. Suddenly, a coin dropped on the table near my right hand and started to spin round for a fraction of a minute. What was mind-boggling to me was the fact that the tingling sound of the coin as it dropped on the wooden table in the stillness of the night did not alarm me at all and that my eyes were glued to the coin as it was spinning for a considerable number of seconds. When it stopped, I looked at the golden coin, a little bit bigger than a quarter. It had an imprint of an Angel! I was happy! With the coin resting on my palm, I looked up and said, "Oh, my guardian angel, you helped me. You protected me. Thank you, thank you! You want me to know that you are always with me!"
My mother used to remind us, especially when we were children , to pray to our Guardian Angels. I have echoed this advise to my children and grandchildren time and time again. In fact, the Morning Prayers I printed for them when they were small included the Prayer to My Guardian Angel. Now, I constantly remind them of this prayer to be said often during the day and also at night.
There is a reason for it and I know why!
