He no longer looked human!! Paulo Roberto’s story is absolutely incredible. I will let Father Enrico tell it to you… (PS1) “In our Alliance of Mercy community in Brazil (Alleanza di Misericordia), we received the grace to help victims of mercy. Those are people with chronic and even fatal diseases, who offer up and consecrate their sufferings for the conversion of sinners. One of our first victims was a young man, Paulo Roberto, who had skin cancer from the age of 1 and died at the age of 19. In other words, he suffered for 18 years. |
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| “I came to know him under very special circumstances: a priest had gone to take him Holy Communion, but he was not prepared for the shock that awaited him: Paulo Roberto’s face was completely disfigured by the illness and was covered with a veil. He had to remove this veil to receive Communion. But the priest, seeing this face, that no longer looked human at all, fainted. Because I was working with lepers, I was called to bring Communion to this young man. I went, and was faced with a child who, from a young age, had offered his suffering to Jesus for the conversion of sinners.
“From then on, as a priest, I accompanied him on his spiritual journey. He told me that when he was little, around the age of 10, he had a very special experience. He saw Jesus, who asked him the following: ‘Paulo Roberto, if you were born again, would you want to be healthy, or sick as you are now?’- Paulo answered: ‘Jesus, I would like to be reborn as You wanted me, because then I would be sure to do only Your will. And if my body was healthy, I would run the risk of losing the health of my soul. So, I’m happy to live the way you wanted.’ “He also had other mystical experiences. I am certain that I was in the presence of a saint, a saint whom I was able to provide support to until his death. He would preach to young people who were getting lost in drugs, sex and all sorts of vices, and he would say to them, ‘Look at me! For my entire life, I have never been in good health. But you who have healthy bodies, you cannot despise that, you can’t destroy your body! Look! So many young people like you can’t even live as young people anymore!’ |
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| “Many drug addicts converted after listening to his testimony. It should be added that when he was preaching, his body smelled like a corpse. Flies would often land on his wounds, and he would have to go to the hospital to remove the worms that appeared in his wounds. Nevertheless, out of love for these young people, he would take advantage of any and every opportunity to evangelize to them. He wrote many letters, inviting the youth to climb on the mountains, to embrace nature, to play… while he himself could never leave his home! And he would add, ‘I know, I will go to the Lord soon, then I will fly over the mountains and I will go higher than the birds!’
“On the day of his death, in 2002, his mother told me: ‘Paolo Roberto asked for you to put a veil on his face and write the words that God will inspire you with.’ He didn’t want anyone to feel bad or be scared in front of his completely disfigured face. The Lord inspired me with these words: The face of man disfigured by pain; the face of God transfigured by love. Indeed, his face beamed with this wonderful love that he conveyed to everyone, and that gave life to those he met. |
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| We cannot but think of the Suffering Servant described by the prophet Isaiah: “Just as there were many who were appalled at him – his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness -” … “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces…” “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied…” Isaiah (52:14 and 53:3 and 11).
“When I opened the coffin – with a great deal of trepidation because, if he already smelled like a corpse in his lifetime, I was afraid that people would feel sick. But it was my duty to do it. I had no idea of the surprise that awaited me: I had barely opened the coffin when we could all smell a very intense fragrance of roses! I started weeping … Then I placed the veil over his face. I was certain that I was standing before a saint, a saint from next door, as Pope Francis said, a saint who had given his life so that we, we who have health, can therefore make good use of every moment of our lives. As the Little Flower of Lisieux said: ‘A simple sigh of love can save a soul’. May the Lord grant us this grace through the intercession of Paulo Roberto! |