Sunday, July 31, 2011

The lady next to me...

...on the bus sighed rather heavily and seemed distressed. I tentatively made sympathetic noises. We got chatting.She was on her way back from hospital - she had something wrong with one arm, and it had given her trouble in the night so she had hurried there and now, after treatment, was on her way home. She had a number of other worries. She spoke with a foreign accent. I wondered if she was perhaps a Catholic. When I said I'd remember her in my prayers she responded very nicely and said yes, she believed very much in prayer. I hesitated for a moment and then said "Why not ask Blessed John Paul to pray for you?" She looked interested "Who is he?" she said. Oh dear, evidently not a Catholic. It turned out she was a Moslem. "But I understand" she said "A good man, with a pure heart. You say to him: take this message to Allah, and he does? That's what we do, too." We talked a bit more "Yes, I will ask this John to pray for me to Allah" she said "And it is so good that we met and spoke like this.I feel better already." And we parted like close friends, although we hadn't even exchanged names, and the whole morning felt brighter somehow.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A most uplifting post indeed!!!

God bless.
Lola

Anonymous said...

Such a lovely story! It is also an answer to something I have prayed about, so thank you for sharing and letting the Holy Spirit speak through you!!

In Christ,
Stacy

Tim said...

At Ladyewell last weekend I met a group of women from Sunderland who told me they go on pilgrimage to Our Lady's medieval shrine at Jesmond Dene in Newcastle together with a group of Muslim women who have a profound devotion to her.

Felix said...

Frank Duff (the founder of the Legion of Mary) speculated that that Islam will be converted through devotion to Mary.

He was particularly struck with the title "Our Lady of Fatima", given the devotion that many Muslims (especially the Shiites)have to Fatima, Mohammed's daughter.

Anonymous said...

Have just read this post following all the awful news on the BBC regarding the civil unrest throughout the country. It was just the ticket to lift my spirits again.