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"In line
with St. Joseph Cafasso (Don Bosco's confessor) I am going to tell you dear
people, what have been my joys as a priest. Joys
that are beyond your imagination, intimate joys."
"I
have originally been assigned to India, but as it was
impossible to obtain the visa, I was sent to the
Philippines and this also gave me joy."
"I have been
with the Filipino boys and people for 50 years, and I am
still alive. Also this has given me joy."
"Some asked
me, do you like to be in the Philippines? What a
question! Do you asked me that? How can one stay
in a place for 50 years without loving the place and the
people!"
"In these 50
years there were many things which gave me joy and the
feeling of being at home."
"Mrs. Luisa
Montinola from Negros, Mrs. Letizia Ferrera and other
people here present whose names I do not mention
for fear of omitting someone, who made me experience the
exquisite Filipino kindness. They gave me the
impression of being treated like their son. I feel
the motherly love in all of you."
"There is
one especially, whose name I would like to mention, but
I know she would not like it. She had treated me very,
very motherly, with medicines, with money in my
undertakings in charities, paying the press for the printing
of my books, with very delicate attention. I like to
express here my great gratitude, she very often reminds me
of my mother for the care she has for me."
"This is a
great joy to be loved by the people for whom one is
working."
"The
greatest joy ever is to spend hours forgiving sins.
How many sins! And God uses me. What a joy!"
"What a joy
when I can tell you 'My dear, now, after this general
confession, you can die and go to heaven!'"
"What a joy
when I can do something to please you or to tell you a
word that brings peace to you: "ONE DAY YOU WILL BE IN
PARADISE!"
"Once I
managed to do some good to an American married to a
Filipina Lady. By God's grace I managed to take him
out of trouble and convince him to go back to his
wife. Now every time he calls me he tells me with
great joy: 'Father, you have saved me! Father you
have saved me!' What a joy to hear these words and what a joy to
realize that God used me for this which I truly don't
deserve."
"What a joy
when I can do an act of charity. I felt pity for the little five
year old girl, begging, dirty, with no shoes, sitting on the
sidewalk with her old grandmother. I decided to take
her to the nearby Walter Mart. To my surprise, she
began crying, making efforts to escape for she was afraid
we would do something wrong to her. We bought her
all the clothes she needed, several pairs of slippers and
when finally she tried the shoes I was buying for her to
use to go to school, her face finally shown with a
beautiful
SMILE."
"What a joy
when I hear these words: 'Father, I pray to God that you
may live until you are a hundred years old, so I can go to
confession.'"
"One day the
body of an old woman in a coffin was brought to our
chapel. I could not recognize her. I heard she was the mother of a Salesian
priest working in Papua. The son could not come immediately
to see his mother. Knowing this, I said mass for
this poor woman every morning until the son came.
What a joy it was for me to say mass, unknowingly, for the
mother of the priest, who had helped me in the hospital for
many years. Every time I went with children to the
Orthopedic for an operation, she would help me in finding
a place for the child in a ward. She took care of
the child - with food, medicine and kindness. I would give her
money for the expenses. I fully trusted her. This
went on for years when I was in Canlubang. God paid
her for her charitable acts and what a joy to realize that
God had chosen me to recompense the woman for her charity
through the daily masses I said for her."
"What
a joy when in Padre Pio place in Italy, I hear the
confession of all the pilgrims of our group. Among
them there was a doctor. I heard his confession
questioning him on the ten commandments. At the end
of the general confession, he exclaimed: 'Father, thank
you, thank you, Father I never felt so well as now that I
am free from my sins.'"
"What a joy
when in Israel, at the River Jordan, the first to come to
me for confession was a person who, after a very grave sin,
came to confession after more than twenty years."
"What a joy
to spend an hour in meditation before the Blessed
Sacrament, a never equal joy."
"What
joy it gave me when a lady died a few seconds after
celebrating
Mass and giving Holy Communion to her."
"What joy it
gave me when a Chinese lady of about 82 years old died a
few days after I baptized her!"
"What joy
when in the playground of Tarlac, boys would approach me
and ask me, 'Father, will you hear my confession?'"
"I cannot
fail mentioning Dra. Ramona Ozaeta and Dra. Thelma
Crisostomo for the care they take of my health.
Every time I go to their office, I don't meet a serious,
learned, sophisticated doctor, but a simple kind mother."
"Finally, I
got to finish my talk, giving thanks to all of you and
assuring you that I have you all in my heart."
"However, I
must end with a sad thought. Though it is nice to
hear, 'Father, you are a saint!' Indeed it will be nice
to hear that if I were a real saint and coming from God.
(The judgments of God are very different from ours.) Here
is the sad
thought, if you really believe that I am a saint, you will
never pray for me after my death and consequently you will
leave me in purgatory for ages on end. So my dear
people, believe that I am a sinner so that you will be
moved, out of charity, to pray for me until you die, and I
will pray for you from purgatory until we meet in heaven."
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