Seven members jumped and pointed their guns at the priest and nuns who were inside the church. Then the bandits started searching all over the church. Three or four of the people approached the Tabernacle. All on a sudden, those who approached the Tabernacle turned back as if they were frightened by something.
Fr. Vipin George Muriyankeril CMI, a priest from Kerala in Ecuador, shares the experience of the moment when the Holy Eucharist saved them.
Fr. Vipin George is a missionary who works in Ecuador, Latin America. He shares a wonderful Eucharistic experience in his life. He likes to believe that it was truly a miracle of Divine Mercy that he and his companions were saved from the hands of the bandits. It took place in the church named after Hyacinth of Poland, who had great love for the Holy Eucharist and Holy Mary.
This event took place on 30th August 2017. The priest has been serving at the church named after Hyacinth of Poland in the Latin American country of Ecuador. On the 30th of August, they were slowly returning from the church after the Holy Mass and other prayers. By 9.30 in the night, the priest, Sisters, and the parish clerk were locking the doors of the church. As the parish clerk went to close the main gate of the church, unexpectedly a man came towards him with pointed a gun. Immediately a group of seven, who might have been hiding, jumped out and pointed their guns at the nuns and the priest who were terribly scared, not knowing what to do. They felt their death was imminent. They couldn’t even make a cry, no voice would come out of their mouth. They felt like being freaked out.
They couldn’t guess what could be the intention of those people. For a while, they ransacked the church and its surroundings. Soon the priest noticed a couple of them approaching the altar. He noticed that they were looking for something on the Tabernacle. The man standing in front of the priest has been pointing his gun at the priest and asking for something.
For a moment the priest and the nuns seemed terrified, as if face to face with death. But in the next moment, they took courage and started praying in a low tone, ‘Oh God, save me’.
Suddenly they saw that the three or four people who had approached the altar were terribly scared as if they were seeing something very strange. They called out, “let’s escape; hurry up!” They opened the door and ran out into the forest. The priest and the nuns couldn’t guess what had happened. They went and made a search around the altar area. They didn’t find anything strange around there.
Later, the gang robbers were arrested by the police. During the query, the police asked them, “What made them to run away in fear?” Their reply was that they heard a loud voice from the side of the altar.
“We believe to this day that it was the Holy Eucharist,” with deep faith the priest declared.
The people who came to know of the incident confirmed that it was an intercession of Saint Hyacinth, a great devotee of the Holy Eucharist.
Fr. Vipin George Muriyankeril CMI, hails from Kudavachur, Kottayam district of Kerala, India. He was ordained priest in 2011 for the Sacred Heart Province, Kalamassery. He has been a missionary for the last ten years. He says that this has been a never-to-be-forgotten experience in his priestly and missionary life!
(This article is translated into English and written by Fr. Chacko Vadakkethalakkal MCBS and published in www.lifeday.in the sister publication of Catholicnews.in)