Critical Mick

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The Everyday Miracles of Divine Mercy and Selected Stories
by Val Conlon
Divine Mercy Publications, 2007

Make Your Own Decision

After reading devil stories like Stingy Jack and The Devil and Miss Prym, Critical Mick figured he'd better recharge his spiritual batteries with a selection from Divine Mercy Publications.
 
(Yeah, a religious title. Don't mock it. I love beer and The Big O. But there's more to a bloke than that.)

Do miracles happen today? Every day?

I find my one-year-old son miraculous. It takes me fifteen million years to build a cabinet unit or a simple webpage, and yet somehow my wife and I have created this extraordinary little person who runs around chewing everything. But what about miracles like in the Bible? Loaves from stones, wine from water, beams of light shooting down from Heaven to circle a halo around the head of some bearded guy?

As all profits from Divine Mercy Publications go to a worthy charity, I purchased The Everyday Miracles of Divine Mercy to find out.

This short collection by Val Conlon open with an essay on the life of his uncle, Hugh. There follow three brief stories about trees, graduations and empty eggs, parables just like the priest often tells for his Sunday homily. Beauty is there with a kernel of inspirational truth, but so far no miracles.

The next short selection may be an actual instance of divine intervention or another parable, insufficient time-and-place specifics are provided to tell which. "A Friend In Deed" relates the story of a five-year-old boy undergoing an operation to remove a brain tumor. His mother is of course distraught, imagining how frightened her son must be, and tearfully prays for assistance. After recovering from the wonderfully successful procedure, the lad tells his mother that he was not scared at all, as his hand was held the whole while by a beautiful nun fitting the description of the saint to whom his mother had prayed.

"A Friend In Deed" introduces Sister Maria Faustina of the most blessed Sacrament, who was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II on 30 April 2000. St. Faustina was a Polish nun in the early part of the 20th century, a member of the order Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose life and writings help many Catholics form a special devotion to Divine Mercy. I must confess, I had known that Divine Mercy is the name of a church in the town where I live, but had always just thought that a was nice name.

Most of the remaining chapters concern how St. Faustina and prayers for Divine Mercy have changed lives. There are specifics on several miraculous healings in recent years- Maureen Digan, Fr. Ron Pytel, Ugo Festa- that modern medicine could not explain. Val Conlon also includes a short chapter on Angels, several personal stories about his own world travels spreading the word, and a "Divine Mercy Rap" through which he attempted to reach teens in Louisiana. (It is not as ridiculous as it at first sounds.)

The Everyday Miracles of Divine Mercy concludes with an account of Val Conlon's visit to Rome for St. Faustina's canonization, during which he witnessed a young nun place her hand on the shoulder of Pope John Paul II. When he inquired about this incident later, others present had seen nothing. Further, they swore that no nun had been present. A vision?

Critical Mick says: The quality of this book is not the greatest, but I was able to approach it charitably. As the purpose of Divine Mercy Publications is to generate funds for Help Us Dry the Tears, it's hard not to recommend purchasing a title like The Everyday Miracles of Divine Mercy and asking readers to make their own decision. Aiding street children in Romania and getting a spiritual recharge? That's not so bad a deal for a few bucks.

Merry Christmas 2007, Critical Mick fans!!

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2007 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

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This Page Was Last Updated On 21 December, 2007.