Thursday, September 30, 2010

Are you praying for Christopher Hitchens?

At the Cennacle Sunday talk given by Fr Bonaventure, FI at the Marian Friary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Griswold, we were reminded of the conversion story of hardened atheist Alfonse Ratisbonne. His friend who had been praying for him for some time, asked him to sit in a church while he spoke to the priest in the sacristy.
When the man emerged, Ratisbonne had undergone a radical transformation, for he said, "how this man (his friend) has prayed for me". He became an ardent Catholic from that moment on, having received the extraordinary grace of instantaneous conversion and infused knowlege (he learned the truths of the Faith instantly from God, not through study).
That is what I am interceding to God for a radical conversion to Catholicism for  Christopher Hitchens, who wrote "God is not Good" and persists in his sinful denial of God's existence.
I want him to be a sign of contradiction which will bring many more atheists to Holy Mother Church.
His heart is touched by charity, I heard from a friend who had a chance to meet him alone.
Hitchens recently told the AP that the people praying for him fall into one of three groups. The first are those who delight in his suffering and might wish to hasten his death. The second are those who want Hitchens to have a conversion experience. And the third group consists of those who are asking God to heal him.
I think we should be praying for a radical conversion, then, if God wills it, a miraculous healing so that he can spend the rest of his long life as a sign of he power of God.
Read the entire article on Renew America.
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1 comment:

PattyinCT said...

Wouldn't conversion be a spiritual form of healing for him? I know that obviously most are praying for his physical well-being, but I'm right there with you Leticia that his soul should take precedence in our prayers!

Amen!