Mailbag: About Coincidence

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   I read in a book by Rabbi Daniel Lapin that there is no word in Hebrew for coincidence. There is no such thing.  I do believe it.   I attribute my conversion to those “godincidences” as they are often called.  However, try as I might, I can’t seem to remember the ones that made me realize God was knocking on the door of my soul.  But when I converted, He seemed to shower me with love.  I remember complaining to a colleague about the childish music that passed for liturgical music in my parish, and what I wouldn’t give to hear a good old standard like “How Great Thou Art.”  The next Sunday when I walked in the Church, the choir was singing “How Great Thou Art.”  But just so I’d know he really heard me, when I got home later I flipped on the TV, and “Touched by and Angel” was on.  I came in just as Della Reese started singing “How Great Thou Art.”  And later (possibly the same day) I was in San Marco to do Christmas shopping, and the Methodist Church across the street started playing “How Great Thou Art” on the Church bells.  I felt loved.
There are other coincidences I attribute to my Guardian Angel—little favors he does for me.  I went into Belk a number of years ago with my mother (RIP) and I told her on the way I wanted to look for a thick red sweater to wear with my jeans.  I walked in, turned to 2:00 o’clock, there was a sale rack right there, I walked up to it, and without even having to look, there was my sweater right in front of me-in my size!  The same thing happened a couple of years ago when I went into Cracker Barrell looking for one of those cute decorated sweat shirts, a gray one.  It was late in the season, and I knew it was a long shot, but I asked, and the lady said they’d sold all the sweat shirts.  Well I decided to look around anyway, and there was one stack of sweat shirts left—gray, with “Faith, Hope, and Love” on the front of the shirt.
Those “coincidences” are a convincing reminder that God hears. and loves, and responds.  And I suppose He uses coincidences to warn us as well.
God bless,
Alisa Craddock
Jacksonville, Florida
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This article is from the online magazine ”The Spirit of Medjugorje” and it was in the July, 2019 issue  (www.spiritofmedjugorje.org).  See Editor’s note at the end…

My Special Miracle in Medjugorje

By a Friend in Jesus, Mary and Joseph

My last trip to Medjugorje was approximately seven years ago, at the end of October, and what a blessed and miraculous trip it was for me! I was able to stay four weeks, and how thankful I am that I was able to do this. When I left the U.S., I felt like I was carrying a 100-pound weight on my back, and I couldn’t wait to find a very special priest to help me figure out how to handle these crosses. I am very comfortable going by myself now, since I have been privileged to go a number of times. I am so comfortable staying with Nada at Nada’s Pansion, right down the street from the church and Victor’s and the same distance the other way to the vineyard and Apparition Hill. It’s perfect for me. Nada is just like a mother to me, and I love her dearly!
This trip was probably one of the most important trips I had ever taken. As Fr. Svet says, “Always pray your Rosary on Mt. Podbrdo, and Jesus will honestly talk to your heart and you will hear Him.” And hear Him I most certainly did. It frightened me a little bit, because I was hoping for something different.

There are so many details to this story, and it’s so very, very important that I portray this correctly, but I’m trying to keep it short and sweet. I have told very few people about this miraculous happening because it is just that! So I will begin my story about the most miraculous event that ever happened to me in Medjugorje.
This was my very last night before flying to the US. So even though it was pouring down raining and cold, I thought I would go to church and Confession – my very last chance to go to Confession before flying out. I took off running from my room to the church, and by the time I got to the confessionals, there were only two English priests hearing confessions. It was not crowded at all, so I just popped in the first box that was available. I started saying the opening prayer of my confession and all of a sudden, I looked up at my confessor and, lo and behold, it was one of my most favorite people in the world (saint now) – it was John Paul II! I started stuttering and crying and even laughed a little bit. I said, “I’m sorry I called you ‘Father’. I mean I should call you ‘Your Eminence’ or ‘Pope John Paul II’. I mean ‘Bl. John Paul II’.”
I finally just stopped talking all together and just looked at this beautiful saint in those crystal blue eyes! I got the most wonderful feeling and I felt so calm all of a sudden. He said, “Oh my dear, people say that all the time to me.” But that was all he said about his identity. He did not have his Parkinson’s Disease, and he was glowing and healthy and so happy. He told me things about myself that no one could have ever known about me. He helped me figure out the crosses that I had brought over with me. He spoke so eloquently and softly and gently, just like Jesus! He made me understand so much. I didn’t want to leave the confessional, but knew that I had been with him a long time, and it was time to go. With that, I started crying, and he stood up in the confessional and embraced me and his vestments draped all the way around me.
I felt like I was in a cocoon. He gave me this very special blessing like I had never heard before. I felt like he was dubbing me, like a king would do to one of his fighting soldiers getting ready to go to battle. And that’s exactly what we do every day of our lives – we battle evil and Satan!
How very, very blessed we are to have the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I told Pope John Paul II that I had prayed every day for him to become a saint and here he was on the way to sainthood. I knew how much he loved Medjugorje before he died and how much he loved being there now that he had died. He loved being in Medjugorje. I heard that people in Bikovici have seen John Paul walking through the village, but I never dreamed I would be granted such a beautiful miracle! I just floated out of the confessional and floated on home to Nada’s. I wanted to be alone so I could comprehend everything that had happened to me.

St. Louis de Montfort once said that when you hear these miraculous stories about the saints, believe them. The worldly find them difficult to believe, but to the faithful, it is not surprising that God does great things for those who truly follow Him.

The visionaries have said that when they have gone to Heaven, that all the people look to be in their 30s and very happy and beautiful. Well John Paul looked just like that. He looked about 35 years old, healthy, no Parkinson’s Disease, and just as bright and happy as can be.
As I’ve said, I have told hardly anyone about this, but I felt like it was time to do so. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about St. John Paul II, and how I hope he prays for me and looks after me. One day I hope to go to Heaven and see him just walking by and stopping to say, “Welcome! It’s so good to see you again.”

Editor’s note: I have known the author of this story for about 15 years. She is a credible witness. She shared this miracle with me soon after she returned from Medjugorje. However, she was reluctant to write or even talk about it because she did not think anyone would believe her. After many years of my urging her to write it, she agreed, with the condition that she be anonymous.