The Fruit of Faithful
Prayer of Two Mothers
By
June Klins
In June of 2012,
our pilgrimage group visited the “castle” in Medjugorje to hear the testimony of
Patrick Latta. Patrick began his testimony by introducing himself as a
businessman from Canada. He began, “I quit going to school when I was 16 to go
wash cars in a car lot….10 years later I bought the company. I was a super
salesman. I bought my own Honda dealership. I bought my own BMW dealership. We
were the top gun in Western Canada. Nobody could outsell us.”
.
Patrick’s wife,
Nancy, popped in as he was speaking. “This is my wife, Nancy – this is my
treasure." Nancy says the story he is telling is not their story, but
the fruit of 48 years of prayer by Patrick’s mother – an orphan raised by
sisters of St. Joseph – and the faithful prayer and perseverance of her own
mother, who was praying for her for 30 years. “The story you are about to hear
is a story of God's mercy and grace. We have never seen Our Lady. We have had no
mystical experiences. We have no special gifts. This story is a result of the
faithful prayer of two mothers.”
.
Patrick continued
his story. “I had nothing to do with God, church, marriage, sacraments, school.
I had a horrible time in Catholic school." One day, when Patrick was on the
football field, the head coach yelled in front of everyone, “Hey, Latta, you
can't play because you don't pay to come here." Patrick did not know he did not
pay. "That was the end of my school – that was the end in believing in God."
.
"I have four
children [from two previous marriages]. My children never saw the inside of the
church – ever." He used to say to his children, "This is god," and would hold
up money. “When you have enough of this, you have all the god you want." Patrick
lamented, “That's a father speaking to his children.” He said that one day his
youngest son came home from school and announced he had been baptized Anglican.
Patrick said to his son, “You're supposed to be Catholic." "Dad, you never took
me inside a church." Patrick again lamented, “Wasn't I a great father? And
that's how I lived – no God, no prayer, no church. But my business was
fantastic, so I have a huge successful business and I don't need God. It was I,
I, I …”
.
After his second
divorce, Patrick met Nancy. Within two months they were living together. “No
God, no prayer, no church, no marriage, no sacrament – nothing – living in
mortal sin. We lived together six years.” One day, Nancy said that they should
get married. Patrick agreed, and they got married the next day in a helicopter
on top of a mountain. He hired a JP and asked the pilot to be the best man. He
didn't even know his name. When he came home from work the next day, Nancy was
crying. She said, "I don't feel married." She wanted to get married in a church.
Patrick said, “Nancy, do you know how much that helicopter cost?" She said, “I
don't care about your helicopter. We have to get married in a church." Patrick
reminded her that he had two previous divorces.
.
Nancy went to see
the bishop, who had documentation on Patrick's annulment from his first
marriage. Patrick did not even know the marriage was annulled! The second
document said that Patrick’s second marriage was never valid. The next day Nancy
went to a church called “Immaculate Heart of Mary” to ask the priest to marry
them. The priest agreed, but said to Nancy, “You’re out of your mind to marry
this guy in church. He'll never change. He's the worst case I've ever seen. You
are not going to make a success of this marriage – there's no chance." Patrick
agreed to attend marriage preparation classes and he made many promises – go to
Mass, Confession, etc. – but admits he is a “professional promiser” since he is
a car dealer. They did get married in the church, but Patrick said it didn't
mean anything, and he broke every promise he made. That's how they lived… until
one day when Nancy's brother sent them a book of messages of Our Lady of
Medjugorje.
.
When they received
the book, Patrick was not interested, so he handed the book to Nancy, but she
gave it back to him and said, "Here, my pagan husband, you throw them away and
it's on your conscience." The word “conscience” wouldn't let Patrick throw the
book away. He opened it and looked for the shortest message in the book. It
said, “I call you to conversion for the last time." Then something
happened. The tears just started and they wouldn't stop. He asked Nancy, "Why
didn't you tell me about these messages? Why didn't you tell me they were
true?" Patrick confessed, “I saw myself for the first time – I'm Catholic and
lived in mortal sin for 30 years. And it came back to me in one second – boom!
In one minute everything changed in my life.” He warned, “The day you see
yourself as you live on this earth and you are Catholic and you are living in
mortal sin – it's the worst day of your life, because reality hits you so hard
and it's the truth."
.
Patrick began to
read the messages – they became his whole life. He and Nancy even traveled to
Oregon to attend a conference about the messages. Patrick was very touched when
a priest at the conference suggested that everyone consecrate their children to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
.
At this point in
the talk, Patrick decided to do some audience participation. There was a group
of high school boys there from Boston, so he chose three of them to role-play as
his sons. He said to the first boy that the school called and said he was
expelled for using drugs and possibly dealing drugs. Patrick said – as he held
up some money – that the principal had told him that this was the problem. “Your
kids have too much." Patrick said that his son, who had dreadlocks at the time,
replied, “This is my life. Leave me alone." Then Patrick called over the boy who
was to play another of his sons, and said this kid was a super rugby player, but
had a drinking problem. He mentioned the time that this son could not find his
yellow Barracuda in a parking lot because he was so drunk.
.
Then Patrick
called over a young woman from our group to play his 17 year-old daughter who
wanted to get married. When she was divorced at age 19, Patrick gave her his car
and his credit card and told her to go to California and find someone else.
That's exactly what she did, and two years later she was divorced again.
“Drugs, alcohol,
divorce – a fourth kid I can't even talk about. His immorality is so
off-the-wall. Why that lifestyle?” His son told him, “Because I never had a
father.” Patrick looked at the young people who were playing his kids. “These
are my four children that I never baptized. I never said a prayer with you from
the day you were born. I never took you inside a church… You had everything
money could buy. Your cars were $70,000.”
.
Referring to the
priest at the conference, Patrick said, “And the priest said to consecrate these
kids to the Mother of God. Well, they’re the most helpless situation you could
have with four children. These words ‘consecrate them to the Mother of God’ hit
me so hard.” Patrick didn't know how to do the consecration. So he looked at the
statue of Our Lady at the conference and said, "Blessed Mother, take my kids,
and, Blessed Mother, You be the parent that I never was, because I'm a total
failure.”
Patrick and Nancy
spent two days at this conference and learned all about the messages. He said
the number one message of Our Lady is to pray the Rosary, because when you do,
you’ll see miracles in your family. The second message of Our Lady is to go to
Mass – minimum of Sunday. Patrick started to say the Rosary and go to Mass.
.
The third message
Patrick said is the most difficult. Our Lady said She wants us to fast on
Wednesdays and Fridays. Patrick looked up all the messages on fasting, and found
that Our lady said, "When you pray and fast you can stop wars." Patrick
thought, “What war am I going to stop?” Then the light went on – “I got a war
on drugs, I got a war on alcohol, I got a war with divorces, I got a war on
immorality you can't even talk about. My house is a war zone!” He repeated,
“Fasting stops wars." So they learned to fast every Wednesday and Friday. “When
you fast you have no fear of the future.” Patrick admitted he had a hard time
fasting. “It's the hardest message because we think fasting is for somebody
else, but if you don't listen to the coach he can’t help you.”
.
The next message
is reading the Bible. They didn't even own a Bible, so Nancy had to buy one.
Patrick said the fifth message is the big message of Medjugorje. “You can't
start conversion without Confession.” Patrick had not been to Confession for 30
years and had lots to confess." You know what the priest did? He said, ‘I
absolve you.’ I broke into tears. ‘I absolve you.’ Who can say that? Nobody has
that power – only a priest. I'm shocked at the mercy of God and I'm shocked at
the power the priest has in Confession. 30 years of mortal sin went down the
drain in one Confession!”
Speaking about the
“castle” Patrick and Nancy built, Patrick said, “This is why this is a house of
prayer for priests – because the priest in Confession saved my life. Everything
changed with that Confession.” They have 300-400 priests a year come there, and
also look after the religious, sisters, and seminarians and young men looking
for vocations.
.
Patrick went back
to talking about his kids. He asked the youngest son if he’d like to pray a
Rosary with them and he declined for months before he finally agreed. Today, 19
years later, that son is a Catholic, married, with two beautiful kids. He is a
teacher at a Catholic high school, and one year he even took 52 kids from his
school to Medjugorje.
.
The second son
went to Medjugorje once, and Patrick gave him a rosary. He went back to Canada
and later called Patrick to tell him he quit drinking, quit rugby, and became a
fireman. Patrick said, “How is that possible?” And the son said, "The rosary
you gave me in Medjugorje." Today he is married and has two beautiful kids.
Patrick paraphrased, “Our Lady said if you do this (holding up the rosary), I'll
show you miracles in your family.”
.
For 10 years,
Patrick did not hear from his daughter. In February of 2012, he got a phone call
from her. She said she was in Canada and wanted to come to Medjugorje."Daddy, I
want to start again. Daddy, I don't want to be separated from the family
anymore." At this point, she had been through three divorces. She came for two
weeks to Medjugorje. She got a healing of her problem with alcohol and went back
to the University for a nursing degree. Her life completely changed. “The
divorce is gone – the alcohol is gone – the drugs are gone – from someone who
started to pray.” Patrick asked for prayers for his oldest son who still lives
an immoral lifestyle. Our Lady said that when you consecrate your kids to the
Immaculate Heart, they will be saved. For 48 years, as Patrick's mother prayed,
she saw nothing; but then he went home to Canada one time, and took his mother
to Mass. She cried, "The black sheep is home; the prodigal son has come
home!"
.
This year Patrick
and Nancy will celebrate their 25th anniversary. Patrick held up his rosary as
he recalled how the priest said their marriage would not work. Patrick sold his
car dealerships, boat, house, cars, and everything to move to Medjugorje without
even knowing where it was. Why? He quipped, “The Mother of God lives here and I
want to be Her neighbor.” Patrick said that Our lady appeared 17 times on their
property, since Marija lives next door. During an apparition, Marija consecrated
their property to Our Lady and Her Son. Our Lady smiled and said, "I'm joyful
that you consecrated this place to me. Those who come here I will bless and
protect." Patrick beams, “A real message from the Mother of God to a guy who
did everything wrong – 30 years of mortal sin. Can you imagine the mercy of
God?” Holding up a rosary, he concluded, “This is the answer to every problem.
This is the answer to your marriage. This is the answer to your
kids."
The statue of Virgin Mary at the Church of St More in Subang Jaya is said to have transmogrified from polyresin to porcelain and to have grown three inches taller. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, October 15, 2015.A parishioner avers that he saw the statue of the Virgin Mary at the Church of St Thomas More in Subang Jaya shed tears and smile.
