Thank you dear Mother Mary Help of Christians and Don Bosco for all the favours received. N.A.E. Gomes, Bombay
Thank you dear Mother Mary and Don Bosco for all the favours granted to me. F. Fernandes
Thank you, Mother Mary, Don Bosco and Dominic Savio for curing my children and saving my sister-in-law from an accident which could have been fatal and also for saving my nephew from an accident and recovering his memory in just a few hours. I owe this all to the faithful recitation of the 3 Hail Marys. F. Fernandes, Bombay
Thank you dear Mary Help of Christians, Don Bosco and Dominic Savio for all the graces and for all the successes received. Hilda, Bombay
Thank you dear Mother Mary, Don Bosco and St. Dominic Savio for the numerous miraculous favours granted to us and especially to my mother and me for granting us good health. Riona James, Australia

God in our Bloodstream
Vincent Travers OP

When it comes to discussing divine mysteries, we are always struggling. The struggle, however, is noble.
We recite the Creed at Mass on Sunday, and in very exacting language we profess the Holy Spirit to be, “Lord and giver of life.” It’s quite a magnificent statement, but what does it mean? I remember bringing Holy Communion to an elderly parishioner of Carib descent. He was living alone in the remote mountains of northern Trinidad. I had to abandon the car and make the final leg of the journey on foot in sauna-like conditions. I would arrive at his shack, drained and saturated. He would be watching out for me. When he saw me coming, he would cut a coconut, empty the water into a glass, add cubes of ice, and serve it with a million dollar smile. That refreshing drink was a little touch of heaven. I was on cloud nine and ready for anything. We always sat on the verandah and chatted. He was full of wisdom. I asked how it felt living alone in the mountains. His answer came spontaneously, “I don’t feel that lonely because I believe God is with me and closer to me than I am to my own breathing.” He was a mystic and didn’t know it!
God, the Holy Spirit in us, is a mystery that invites us to reach beyond our grasp for the higher things of life. A painting of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper hangs on the wall behind the altar in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. On a Sunday morning, I told the story of Jesus saying to his disciples, “If you guys want to get into the picture you have to be on my side of the table.” After Mass, a prisoner said to me, “Not only am I not on his side of the table but I too am not even in the picture.” He knelt down and went to confession. When we accept the Holy Spirit as “Lord and giver of life,” we are on “his” side of the table.