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| Fr. John Welch & Fr. Joe Whalen |
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THE
MAILBAG: RECALLING HOW 'MYSTERIOUS STRANGER' RESCUED A PRIEST AT AIRPORT
SECURITY
Do you like angel -- and healing -- accounts as much as we
do?
From the mail we hear from an old friend, Mary Ann Wichmann, who
works in a healing ministry.
"We were at Lambert St. Louis Airport flying back to
Boston after a very fruitful weekend giving a healing retreat at Our Sorrowful Mother's
Ministry in Vandalia, Illinois, August of 2011," she
recently recalled. "There were four of us, Father Joe Whalen, Father John Welch,
Philip Rego, and myself.
"Philip and Father Joe were ahead of us and went through the security
checkpoint. Father Welch and I got to the first security guard (a woman) who
asked for our identification. I presented mine and turned back and noticed
Father Welch's face drain of all color when he opened his wallet and there was
no driver's license; it was not to be found anywhere in the wallet.
"As he was fumbling through his pockets, I
was combing through his carry-on luggage on the floor. He had kind of a frozen
in shock look and I was trying to figure out what to do next. I was thinking,
I'd let Philip and Father Joe go back to Boston and I would stay in St. Louis
with Father Welch until we could get some identification sent to us from the
priest's rectory in Connecticut.
"At that moment I heard the
most soothing, calm, strong and reassuring voice! I was kneeling on the floor
going through the suitcase and turned around, when I heard this voice say,
'Father, father please it is alright. Don't worry, look in your wallet
again.'
"I was surprised to hear him addressed as 'father' at the airport, as
most times these days priests are called 'sir' or something secular.
"I turned, and saw a tall, handsome man in his thirties, with a
starched white shirt, dark blue pants, lots of what looked like medals or pins,
very, very clean-cut and dressed immaculately. Father John just looked at him
and he said, 'Please father, look in your wallet again,' so Father John
opened his wallet again, and there was the license!
"He stared in disbelief! I
turned back to the suitcase to zip it up and then heard, 'Oh, Father, don't
forget your rosary that you placed in this bin.' I turned and looked up but
he had disappeared, and Father John said the same thing; he turned to get his
rosary and this man had just disappeared.
"He was not dressed like the other guards, he seemed to
materialize right in front of us and then disappeared. But we both say in
retrospect, that we could not get over his voice. How soothing and reassuring it
was! It was like none we had ever heard. After that we boarded the plane and had
a nice flight back to Boston. We always pray to holy Archangel Raphael to
accompany us when we travel, as he is not only the patron of healing but
traveling too. We also put his prayer cards in our luggage so it does not get
lost. Father Welch and I both have the 'knowing' now that this was an angel sent
to help us, and we feel it could very well have been Raphael our patron. I
always say you are protected in proportion to your mission, wow! What protection
priests have!"God Bless! Mary Ann Wichmann,
[Added note: "In summer of 2008 Fr. Joseph Whalen, M.S. was invited
to give a healing retreat in Vandalia. Father Whalen, myself and two other core
team members of our ministry flew out of Boston and to St. Louis and then drove
about seventy miles to Vandalia. We arrived about 8:00 p.m. and I remember it
was almost dark. We were very tired, weary travelers at this point. (Father
Whalen was 85, and had more energy than all of us put together!) We drove over
to the OSMM ministry house to see Debbie and Vanessa and I decided to set up our
table with our materials for the following day. While we was doing this, I heard
Debbie talking on her phone and she was clearly upset and distressed. She was
talking to John Frailey, a core team member of their ministry and he was
heartbroken; he told Debbie that his wife had just miscarried. John was asking
if Fr. Whalen would come to their home and pray over his wife. Father Whalen
didn't have to think about it, he jumped in the car and we were off! We followed
Debbie and Vanessa about twenty-five miles to a very remote, dark country area.
John and his wife Ann are wonderful Catholics; they lived in a rustic house, had
an amazing garden, and home-schooled their seven children. When we arrived,
John, Ann, and the seven children were very somber and in great despair. Poor
Ann was inconsolable. This was not her first miscarriage. Father Whalen spoke
with John and the children and then prayed over Ann. She was very tearful, I can
remember the last thing I said to her was not to give up hope. We left and went
back to Vandalia and finished up the weekend retreat. Not long after we returned
home we learned that Ann had gone to her doctor that week and the doctor
detected a fetal heart beat!
"Well you can imagine, Ann and everyone else was in complete shock!
Ann went on to carry the baby to full term and she was born healthy. She was
named Elizabeth, but she is fondly known as the 'miracle baby'! None of us will
ever forget that dark, dreary night of sorrow. But with God all things are truly
possible, as Fr. Whalen says so often, 'God always turns something bad into
something good.' He never takes any credit, and always stresses he is only a
humble instrument of God, that only Jesus Christ is the Divine Physician and
Healer.
"When we returned to Vandalia in 2011, Fr. Whalen and I had the great
privilege to meet this little 'miracle baby' [above, left]; no words can
describe that moment!"
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