By Sheena George
Rev Fr Jose
Vettiyankal VC is truly a gift from God. He has been preaching the Word of God
and conducting healing sessions and charismatic meetings across the world for
the last 24 years. His Divine Mercy outreach programme has been a hit with
people with even non-Christians flocking to hear him and get healed. “God wants
us to be happy, healthy and wealthy. It’s satan who tries to prevent this from
happening,” he says.
Rev Fr Jose, who was
in Mumbai last week to conduct a one-day charismatic prayer service, narrated a
story to depict God’s great mercy and the necessity of us – human mortals – to
seek forgiveness and come and back to God.
This happened when
Rev Fr Jose visited Italy
many years ago. He happened to visit a parish when he went around Italy. He met
the parish priest who told him about a woman in the parish. This lady was a
catechism teacher and very close to parish and religious activities many years
ago, but turned away from God and stopped coming to the church after an
incident.
This Italian lady had
a two-year old son. One day this kid who was playing in the second floor of
their home fell from the balcony to the ground and died on the spot. This lady
actually witnessed the whole thing -- her son falling to the ground and dying
immediately thereafter in her arms.
This incident shocked
her so badly that she suffered from a stroke that led to the paralysis of her left
hand. She turned desolate and melancholic and stopped going out. She refused to
go to church or attend prayers. “Why should I pray to God? Why did God do this
to me? God didn’t want to see me happy and took away my only son. Why didn’t
God prevent this? There’s no meaning in prayers or going to the mass,” she used
to say after the incident.
The parish priest
insisted that Rev Fr Jose should meet this lady. The priest was unable to
convince her about coming back to God. The parish priest dropped Rev Fr Jose
near the lady’s house and sat in the car.
Rev Fr Jose rang the
bell. The lady opened the door and asked him, “why are you here?”
“I came to pray for
you,” he said. “I don’t want anybody’s prayer. Please leave me alone,” she
said. But Rev Fr Jose insisted, “I have come from India.” His pleas and her obstinacy
continued for some time. But finally she relented when he told her that he
wanted to pray for others, and not for her. “Let us raise our hands and pray
for others,” Rev Fr Jose said.
She raised her hands
immediately! The 20-year old paralysis on her left hand was immediately cured
and she could raise her hands. She was flabbergasted. She wondered: How this can
happen? But Rev Fr Jose continued his prayer. He prayed the Chaplet of Divine
Mercy. Then he saw a vision of her two-year old son sitting on the lap of
Jesus. When he told her about this, she asked him, “what was he doing there?”
“He was praying for
you,” he said. This really struck her. “Oh God, my son with Jesus,” she said.
She realized what was
going on. Devil had bound her in a state of bondage. The idea that God was
responsible for her son’s death came from devil. The master of all cheats knew
that she would be in devil’s bondage. She suddenly understood devil’s game
plan.
After the prayer,
she came out of all bondages and received both physical and inner healing. She
resumed her catechism teaching and started going to the church once again. She
repented and came back to God.
“What a wonderful
God we have got. He doesn’t want you to get into any physical or mental agony.
Devil is a great trickster. Be cautious about him. Seek God’s help to overcome satanic
influences,” Rev Fr Jose says.
According to him,
once you come out of the grip of satan, you will be healed of many diseases,
trials and tribulations. “You must pray deliverance prayer every day. You can
use the prayer of Pope Leo 13th to cast out the devil from your life.
Devil will try to keep you away from God. He did that to Adam and Eve,” he
says.
“However, the new
Adam – that is Jesus – salvaged us. The new Eve – St Mary – strengthens us in
our fight against devil,” he says. So walk with God all the time. Don’t come
out of His protective cover. Then you will be saved.
As I left Sacred Heart
Church, a beautiful
church in Vashi, Mumbai after attending Rev Fr Jose’s prayer meeting, I had a
silent prayer in my mind: God, strengthen Rev Fr Jose in his spiritual journey
and let hundreds and thousands of people get physical and mental healing and
come to Your Kingdom.
** Rev Fr Jose, who is currently superior of Vincentian Congregation’s
monastery in Thodupuzha, India, is getting ready to set up a Charismatic retreat
centre in Australia.
