IS A MONTHLY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS COLUMN BASED ON LETTERS AND E-MAIL RECEIVED BY KATHLEEN DURING THE MONTH. NOVEMBER'S COLUMN IS A CONTINUATION OF OCTOBER'S COLUMN AND IS COMPATIBLE WITH THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE IN PERCEPTIONS.

Q. Does prayer help in this terrible time? Isn't Osama Bin Laden praying at the same time as we are, but for a different outcome?

A. Yes, prayer works. Interesting question regarding Bin Laden's prayers versus ours. His are strong prayers. Very strong. They come from one with deep, deep conviction. There is power in that in the universe. Make no mistake, even though he may truly come from the evil side of the Matrix, that does not do away with power. He truly believes in what he is doing. He truly believes that Americans are satanic and must be eliminated.

Therefore, our belief must be 11 times stronger than his (refer to this month's Perceptions article). Will it work? Yes, but we must have greater convictions than he does. We must believe in ourselves, our familes, our country, our values more than he believes in his cause. We must be consistent in our prayers and never let them drop. Our prayers must live within us until they pulsate, until they become a living breathing part of us. As we breathe life into our prayers, we shall see the living essence of our prayers manifest.

There are many examples of the power of prayer during World War II. Padre Pio was an example of the high energy of deep, deep belief. His story went like this:

Padre Pio is a modern-day saint who died during the late '50s. He was a monk who, during prayer around 1900, was struck by a lightning flash of white Light, its center seeming to emanate from a crucifixion statue of Jesus. This priest was left with the stigmata in his palms and on his side (stigmatas are the semblances of Jesus' wounds when he was hung on the cross that seem to come to life in an individual).

Padre Pio's hands began to bleed, just like the wounds of Christ. For the rest of this monk's life his hands would continue to bleed without his ever suffering loss of blood. Strangely, the blood dripping from his wounds smelled not of the acrid effervescence of blood, but of the faint, sweet smell of roses in full bloom.

With the threat of Nazi invasion, the local townspeople sought Padre Pio out, beseeching him to help them. The priest began relentless prayer. His wrapped wounds bled profusely. He ignored the bleeding and prayed on. Then something happened. The Nazis came. But somehow, they bypassed that area, going in a totally different direction. The allies, however, thinking that the Germans were still heading to that particular place on the map flooded the airspace with planes, ready to bomb and strafe that area. Suddenly, they were met in mid-air by a great image of a monk, floating there, his palms turned out displaying the stigmata. The pilots were stunned. Immediately, they reversed their direction and returned to their home base without dropping a single bomb.

Padre Pio's valley went unscathed.

This story is on record in the pilots' many reports turned in to their commanders after the incident.

Prayer does have power. Let your prayers fortify those of all of us seeking peace.

***

(The following question is a complex one from last month, purposely left unanswered until now to give those of you who read it a chance to think about the questions and thoughts layed out here, digest them as I did before I attempted an answer. I respond with great respect but in the Truth as I have learned it to be, as hard as it sometimes is. I have numbered the paragraphs and answered each one of them sequentially)

Q. On September 11 2001, terror and fear struck America.

1) Why can't that other person from another country who looks different from me be loving and kind and compassionate? Why do they kill and strike out at Americans? These questions have rolled around in my head for days now.

2) I learned that the 19 hijackers on the four planes had lived in the United States for several years. They were taking commercial flying lessons so that means they were very intelligent, capable of knowing us. Then why in this number of years did they not see and understand and experience how loving, kind, and compassionate Americans are? In their four or five years here did any Americans invite them to a home cook meal? Did any Americans go by to visit or to invite them to church? Did any Americans bake them cookies, take over a basket of fresh fruit, or write them a short note? Did any Americans listen to a story they had to tell about their family back home? Did any Americans look at them and say, “You must be lonely so far away from home?” Did any Americans join them in a prayer or singing? Did any Americans wish them happy birthday with a card or cake? Could we build a relationship strong enough to reach out and hug them? If these questions were answered in a positive note could that have made a difference in what these terrorist experienced here in the United States?

3) I know it does in a prison ministry called Kairos. In three days of treating hard criminals positively and with the questions I just asked, we see dramatic change in many of them. If a white power gang leader who is in prison for ”killing a nigger and I would kill every nigger in the world if I could” can make a turn-around after experiencing such love, then maybe one of these foreigners could have changed their mind if we had treated them with love of the type used in Kairos. If a white power gang leader who made this turn-around could apologize in public to all the black people there, then reach out and hug them, maybe a would-be terrorist alone in this country could change his mind.

4) My challenge is to cross the road like the Good Samaritan to the person on the other side, that is not my kind and is hurting and alone, and say “It must be hard over here by yourself. Can I help?” This is the change I would like to see in the world and I will start with me. I know if I want to receive Love I have got to give Love. If I give out hate, anger, and fear, then that is what I receive.

5) I want the perpetrators to be caught and experience the consequences of their action. I did not want this for revenge but for the good of the world and to give them accountability. Revenge does great damage to my soul deep inside me.

6) This tragedy has brought our world people together in love and compassion as never before seen. I do not want 6000 people to have given their lives in vain. I will be the change I want to see in the world. I know what my challenge is...Gerry 9/19/01

A. #1) There are many people from other countries who look different from you and who are loving and kind and compassionate. Don't judge all others, including Muslims, by these tyrants. There are many groups born, raised, and living right in this country, who are fair-haired and in a police line up would look not so very different from you who would just as soon slit your throat than to look at you. They have nearly as much distaste for American government and American values as do the Taliban. Are you aware that in the Koran (the equivalent to a Christian Bible) there is strict doctrine that the greatest sin is suicide and homicide? That to kill one person is to kill all people because we are one?

You ask why do they kill and strike out at Americans? Because they have been taught that Americans are the root of all evil. Bin Laden has openly stated that we are Satanic and we must be removed from this Earth. They truly and deeply believe it. If you truly and deeply believed, with this same fervor and conviction, that something was that terrible, that evil, would you want it around your family? bin Laden saw Americans, the great Satanic force, as moving too close to his homeland during the Gulf War. That is when he became adamant that we were to be removed. He is relentless.

This same deep belief and conviction was present in the Catholic Church (I am Catholic) during the Spanish Inquisition where hundreds of thousands of innocent people were burned at the stake. I refer you to this month's Perceptions article where I make the comment that the energy in the Middle East hasn't changed for over 2000 years - that is the actual problem.

A. 2) Why in the number of years that the hijackers lived here did they not see how kind, compassionate and loving Americans are?

Check the statistics, Gerry: every 30 seconds someone is raped in this country. Every 30 seconds someone is murdered or beaten and robbed. Perhaps those were the things these people saw, a very American reality that I am sure you would like to see changed, as would I. Ultimately, love is the answer...but if the other party is not at such a level to receive and give love, and hasn't been for over 2000 years, first the old energy has to break before the new can come in. We are in the process of breaking that now through action and setting strong boundaries. Gerry, this is the same kind of energy that crucified Christ.

You ask if any Americans went by and fed them, prayed with them, invited them to their churches, sung with them? They must be lonely so far away from home. Perhaps you have some good points here, after all respect and kindness are the hallmarks of true spirituality; but aren't these precepts you speak of American values, not theirs?

Most of these men were raised in armed camps, no women in sight, who value male children and horses greater than the female. Do you think walking into our homes would have caused their hearts to suddenly melt? Understand this: If you had been taught from birth that a certain building containing certain people was a hellfire and brimstone place of satanic proportions and someone stepped out of that building with a nice smile and invited you in, would you go?

Also, you asked what if Americans invited these men into their churches? What an insult to the Muslim. Would you cast aside your Christianity and jump right into the Muslim faith because someone showed you compassion, a nice family and a warm meal?

Europeans came to America, basically to get away from Europe. We became an isolated country. Whereas 100% of European adults hold passports, only 7-10% of Americans hold passports. We are still, by and large, isolated from the world and that needs to change. In my travels to other countries, I have felt the terrible sting of prejudice, of Europeans seeing us as arrogant,ignorant and self serving with only materialism in mind. Many countries are fighting "globalization" brought on by us fast moving Americans. Middle Easterners and Europeans alike see us as thinking that because we give food we should be accepted. I am not defending this, on the contrary, but it was a wake up call to me when I felt the slap of prejudice hit me in the face in my travels, when all along I thought I would be so respected as an American.

A. #3) You mention your prison ministry called Kairos wherein after three days of treating hardened criminals in a positive manner that you have seen dramatic changes in them, and why can't such a thing happen with people like the hijackers?

Perhaps it might work for one, if you were fortunate. However, that hardened white criminal in prison apologizing to his black kindred spirit in your example cannot be compared to the hijacker from another country who has been indoctrinated that we are satanic.

This prisoner you speak of, whether or not he as abided by the laws of the land, has nonetheless been raised in this culture. He has been indoctrinated by his family, or lack thereof, but within the framework of American culture and its many subcultures. There is, in his mindset, a certain belief in this system, whether he obeys its laws or not. He can, with love, be brought back into it.

I have yet to know or meet a prisoner or ex-prisoner who has not been inculturated in our society in some way or another. I have yet to meet one who is not creative (now there is some uncharted territory for prison reform). I have not yet met one who has not been a product of a bad environment in youth. I have not yet met one who had, in childhood, been properly channeled in the right direction. Somewhere, somehow, someone let this person down.

In Kairos, you are acting in spirit for the ones who this prisoner down. You are giving them hope once more. Gerry, you are doing something here that is putting the prisoner back in touch with himself and with the values of an American society with its many subcultures. This is completely different than the kind of society and precepts these hijackers are borne from! They were raised and channelled in the direction of seeing us as a blight upon the world.

Do you know that 4 and 5 year-old children over there right this minute are being raised to do fine and glorious things such as strap themselves with explosives to kill an American? Many of their fathers have waited for the day that an American steps on their soil so that in the name of Allah, the American can be destroyed? The fathers jump around with joy and brag to their friends when their child dies in such a way that we find so dreadful. This again, is an example of an energy that has not changed in over 2000 years and as the energy shifts and moves toward change they fight even harder against the change and it gets worse.

Theirs is a deep, deep belief and conviction and we must be soberly aware of this.

You are correct when you say that you know what your challenge is. I am proud to see you write that "you will be the change you want to see in the world". For that is the only true answer. We each must be the change, right where we live, eat and sleep. You are doing marvelous work in the prisons. Keep going there. Keep giving of yourself. But Gerry, don't invite any hijackers into your home with a prayer and some good home cooking. Instead, lift up your sword of Light against them, set your strong boundaries and keep on keeping on.

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