The Finger of God

30 September 1998 11:36

The following instructive letter has been provided by Javier Lopez. It is a letter from a friend in Puerto Rico.

Once again Our Lord has you asking me just the right questions — to get me talking. He did it once before with your Jubilee 2000 testimonies -that was the first time I spoke publicly about my return to the Church. And there is a lot to talk about on this subject. The physical damage done to our Island by the hurricane is but a grain of sand compared to the spiritual changes it has brought on our people. And in this sense, I have found many parallel points between what just happened to us and what has been said in the past months about warnings and chastisements on the Marian lists.

I will give you the «behind the scenes» view of Hurricane Georges. The one you won’t find in the newspapers or hear about in the Weather Channel.

The Sunday before the hurricane our church was empty. Since we sing at the 10am Mass, we thought everyone had gone to earlier services so they could start working on securing their houses — when we asked the priest, he told us all Masses had been just as empty. Sadly, people were so focused on the possible damage to their material things no one thought about going to church that day. My country, just like every other so called civilized country in the world, was suffering from acute «progress» related selfishness. One man who was in church that day told me that we were about to «have our ear pulled» by God and that we deserved every minute of it. Later, as the full force of the hurricane struck the Island, my mind kept coming back to a line of one of the characters of the movie «Twister» — when asked to describe a class five tornado, he answered it was «The Finger of God».

My people have a way of turning every experience into an impromptu party. Such was the atmosphere Monday morning, as we all got our houses ready. There was a lot of joking around between neighbors and children were celebrating the fact that there would be no school the next day. All that changed early that morning when a hurricane expert in the Weather Channel said: «If you are in Puerto Rico, get ready for the worst»

At that moment all eyes were lifted to God. Literally. You could tune into any radio station or any local TV station and every two or three minutes someone would say something like «only a miracle can save us», or «let’s have faith that God will protect us»… Radio dj’s in secular radio stations began to urge people to pray. People would call them and conversations would always end with a «God bless you» or «May God protect you and yours» (Catholics were easy to spot because they would say something like «May Our Blessed Mother keep you safe under her mantle»

One radio hostess would greet the callers she knew personally with «I haven’t told you I love you in a long time» And people from all Christian denominations called her show to pray on the air.

At around noon that day, TV anchor persons started to tell the people to go inside, secure their doors and pray. (Sound familiar?)

Because the hurricane did not reach us until after nightfall, the first few hours were spent conforting our children who were very scared. When we finally got them to go to sleep, we grabbed our rosaries and began to pray. First we said the Rosary, then we called upon St. Michael’s protection. And as the fury of the wind became more and more intense, we started to ask the protection of every single Saint we knew about. When the windows started to rattle and it looked as if they would not be strong enough, everyone was reciting a never ending litany of «God have mercy on us», «God have mercy…» Everyone, Christian or not, was at that moment aware of how helpless we were without the protection of our Creator, of how small we are, how insignificant (A miniature warning?)

We went out to inspect our surroundings as soon as it was safe. The destruction was incredible, but you would only hear people praising God because we were alive. We praised God because the trees fell away from the house and not on top of us. When we saw our fruit crops scattered all over the place we praised God because we would still have enough to feed our children. We swallowed our tears while picking up the baby birds who were too young to fly away to safety, all the while praising God for those who did manage to get away. Even those who lost their homes completelly praised the Lord because they were still here. As we got farther and farther away from the house, we realized that this was the general attitude of the whole population of the Island.

After a week of incredible deprivation (oh, we are so spoiled with our modern conveniences) Sunday came and we found all churches packed full. People who barely knew each other by sight were hugging each other on the streets. Total strangers came to me to ask about my baby, and to offer ice to keep his milk from spoiling. Neighbors who barely spoke to each other before now share whatever they can find to eat. Those who have electric generators pass extension cords to their neighbors so that they can keep their refrigerators running. When we managed to find some ice, we would divide it and share it with others. Those who had their water service restored first would open their homes to others so that they could take a shower or do some laundry.

We worked, for as long as we had light every day, in restoring things to as close to their normal state as we could. Every day we thought we had reached the end of our resources, but every night we would manage to put up a hot meal for the kids. When the last ice cube melted and we told our two year old there would be no more milk he did not complain. The next day my husband found some ice =) Every night we would go to bed bone tired but happy to be alive, thanking the Lord for whatever had been accomplished during the day. I remembered at one point a message given to one of the vissionaries by Our Lord, in which He said He would strip us of all our material things so that we would know all we needed was Him.

Even in the streets the changes have been notable. Driving here in Puerto Rico is a very dangerous thing. People don’t really respect traffic signs and lights. Now there are no lights, but people will stop and let others pass. A record low in traffic accidents has been recorded this week. Oh, and police officers who have been assigned to direct traffic on the bigger intersections have been taken care of by the people every day. People stop their

cars and give them water and food, and relay messages to their families… Brotherly love and consideration are now the order of the day.

Like a justly angered Father God chastised His children, but as all eyes turned to Him, His love for us came through. Graces have been showered upon us so that we have been able to understand the meaning of this experience, and instead of turning their backs to God in anger, people have gathered closer to Him. And as it will be after the Chastisement, my country is now being renewed. It is so sad that so many people have to suffer so much, but God in his infinite Wisdom knew that this was the only way.

God spoke to my people, loud and clear, and we all heard. He said «Love one another» and «Never forget that I am Lord»