Last night Mike, Faustina and I had a long car ride so I popped in one of the 'Lighthouse Catholic Media' cd's that we get in the mail each month. I have come to look forward to seeing who the speaker is and listening to the talk; often I view the time as a mini little retreat. The speakers are people like Mother Teresa, Father Corapi, Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins, and other inspiring, bright individuals.
The title of this cd is 'The Power of a Mother's Prayer' by Father Isaac Reylea. This guy was absolutely unbelievable. He was Rocky Balboa from Philly with the deep voice, the slur, the lingo, everything was Sylvester Stallone's character from the Rocky series. Not only did he sound like Rocky, but he also had a similar life. He was a street fighter; he was a 'good' person, but he quickly earned the reputation of someone you did not want to mess with. From the cd he seemed to be a person you just had to like, a regular guy with quite an amazing testimony.
He grew up in a Catholic family with 5 siblings, his father who only converted to Catholicism at the end of his life died when Isaac was 20, and his mother who was the rock of his life was incredibly devoted to the Church and to Mary. Isaac was an altar boy, prayed the rosary every evening with his family, went to daily mass with his mother, and at the age of 5 the Lord planted a seed of desire in him to be a priest.
Well, similar to St. Augustine, Isaac spent the next 17 years saying 'no' to God. He was very successful in the (shady) business world, he was a well-known street fighter, he almost became part of the mafia (the only thing that kept him away was the thought of disgracing his mother), he loved women, he was a very popular man with everything going for him. But above all, he had a deep love for his mom. He took her out to eat, to her to plays, visited her often and was able to conceal his more shameful deeds from her and the rest of the family.
When he was 25 years old his mother had him over for dinner along with an older woman Barbara who was a mystic. At the end of the meal Isaac's mother begged him to let Barbara pray over him. Thoroughly annoyed, Isaac gave in and told the woman to make it quick. Well, this mystic revealed things about Isaac's childhood that absolutely no one but he could possibly know. Barbara's insights had him shaking in his chair but he was able to keep his cool front. At the end Barbara said she had a message from God: God wanted Isaac to be his priest. Isaac's response was "Tell God to forget it. And you are a sick lady."
Five years later, God moved in Isaac's life and he surrendered. A man witnessed to him at work and invited him to a "Life in the Spirit" meeting. It took Isaac awhile, but the Lord slowly wooed him. He gave up his worldly life, instead of holding a supervisor position he was down the ranks (since previously his hands were in dirty business), he started going to prayer meetings, and his life turned around. After his first prayer meeting he went to his Mom's house in the middle of the night. Then he stayed up all night praying and reading the Bible. At one point he went to Fatima and was discerning the vocation of priesthood. He asked for very clear signs. For the next three days, while he was dressed in lay people's clothes the whole time, dozens of people kept coming up to him and assumed he was a priest asking him questions, asking him if he could hear their Confession! He was amazed. Isaac told Mary he would apply to the priesthood; at the same time he was not worried about having to become a priest because he was sure he would not be accepted due to his sinful past. Well, of course, he was accepted. He tracked down the mystic Barbara and she said she had been waiting for his phone call. She didn't know how many years it would take, but she was expecting to hear from him.
The second half of his testimony was about the faithfulness of his mother. When Isaac told his mother, Anne, that he was becoming a priest she told him that she had consecrated him to the Blessed Virgin Mary when he was in her womb. His mother became ill and she suffered terribly for 6 years in and out of the hospital. But she continued to be a witness as she constantly had a rosary in her hand and befriended hospital staff. She continued to pray for her other children and she told Isaac that this was her call: To suffer for the sake of others' souls. She told her son that she prayed everyday to do the Lord's will, not her own. Toward the end, she was unable to pray and was deeply saddened, but Isaac reminded her that she was now on the cross like Christ, and that was the greatest prayer of all. In her suffering, like Christ's, she would witness to her family and she was suffering for their sake. Father Isaac ended his talk with the message that we all need to pray incessantly and as Christians we need to be willing to suffer for others. He admonished to never give up praying for others who we care about, no matter how they have fallen from grace or faith (he and his mother, like St. Augustine and his mother, Monica, are great witnesses of this); he reminded listeners Mary's message to St. Lucia at Fatima: that people go to hell because there is not one to pray for them. We need to consecrate ourselves to the immaculate heart of Mary and offer ourselves up for others in the imitation of Christ, our Lord and Savior.
It was a wonderful story. You have to hear him for yourself because he tells it very well.
Check it out.
Here's a link to his Lent retreats (audio).
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