Dear Father Angelo,

I am writing to you again to bring to your knowledge, and also to some of your correspondents, the gift of my father’s conversion before rendering his soul to God. 

It was 32 years ago, but the remembrance of all that occurred has lingered indelibly in my heart. 

Well, my dear father was stricken by a malignant tumour affecting his prostate four years before his death, cancer with which he had to live very painfully and very patiently. Two days before his passing, I realised he had reached the end of his life. Now, my father did not have a great faith, he did not attend festive Mass, he did not partake of the sacraments, and with God’s help I tried to persuade him to receive the anointing of the sick, but I had to move cautiously, knowing that my father would not have wanted ‘a priest in a black habit’ at home. And he made me understand it with lively remonstrance, despite the state of great prostration which he had by then attained. 

So I ran to the church and, turning towards the tabernacle, I begged Jesus to take care of him… On the following day, since time was running out to save my father, I proposed again the ‘friendly visit’ of the parish priest of our church, and in a subdued and more convinced tone, he accepted the visit. When the parish priest arrived home, he approached the dying man’s bed and said: ‘I have come to see you, I represent Jesus at this moment in time…’. My father stretched out his arms to kiss the priest’s hand with such piety and faith, went to confession and was anointed with the holy oil. In the afternoon, the priest returned to give him the Holy Communion. 

On the night of his agony, after much suffering (he had become a shadow of himself, but still clear-headed), I made him sit up in bed, my father having me and my mother on his right and left respectively and extended his arms to both of us with much affection. Then I helped him back to the supine position and, after agonising for several hours, he asked me which saint he should turn to. Unthinkingly, I looked down at the crucifix and answered my father saying: ‘Entrust yourself to Jesus, for He knows what to do’. And so he fell asleep in the Lord, embracing the position of the Crucified One… 

With this testimony I wish to make it clear how truly the Lord never abandons us and wants our salvation, even using a poor instrument such as I am, and that by divine permission I helped my father achieve Eternal Peace.

Giovanni

Priest’s answer

Dear Giovanni, 

1. I am delighted with the beautiful testimony you have shared with us.

There are three things I wish to emphasise.

2. The first one: your father, despite the absence of the sacraments and the Church, had preserved a glimmer of faith.

When the priest came to see him, he told him: ‘I have come to see you, I am representing Jesus at this moment in time…’.

I believe that in that moment your father felt the presence of the Lord. And precisely because of this, as if by instinct, he reached out his hand to kiss it with tenderness and devotion.

In this gesture, your father’s conversion took place. Jesus said: ‘Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.’ (Mt 10,40). 

And so from Jesus Christ he received everything: the forgiveness of sins, the holy oil and his presence in his heart. With this he made a holy transit.

3. The second thing I wish to emphasise is the following: when your father asked you which saint he should entrust himself to, you told him to entrust himself to Jesus Christ.

‘Entrust himself”: even if he did not think about it, in that entrustment there was the handing over of himself and his suffering to Christ.

And he died, without knowing it, as Christ on the cross, prolonging by his death the saving death of Jesus.

How precious his death became: just like the saving death of Jesus.

4. The third thing I would like to stress is the vital importance of prayer.

From a human point of view, it seemed that the door to Jesus Christ was closed for your father.

Your persevering prayer kept it wide open.

Prayer is just like a door that opens and allows Jesus Christ to be present and to work more proximately in our lives.

Through your persevering prayer you gave your father eternal salvation.

Thus your mother was his bride and mother in grace.

And you have been his son and without thought also his father in grace.

I wish you well, bless you and remember you in prayer,

Father Angelo

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