Did you ever notice that things seem to happen in threes?

There are those who say that when they have heard warnings, the warnings have come three times, or events occur several times -- sometimes events that are not so welcome, as when accidents come in threes. Sometimes, it is like Heaven trying to get our attention.

Why three? Maybe you have a theory. The number is especially associated with angels. As Jon Thurston Woodworth from Mondovi, Wisconsin, recounts:

In Scripture, Peter denied the Lord thrice before the cock crowed, and three is a portentous number in Judaism. Moses was the third child in his family, one Jewish scholar points out; the Israelites began the three-day process of preparing themselves to receive the Torah on the third of Sivan -- the third month of the Jewish calendar; and God divided the Jews into three groups (the Kohanim, the Leviites, and those of Tisrael).

So, three can be raised from Scripture, as can so many numbers. Is that actually relevant?

Let's call this "odds and ends of mysticism": Three is the hour of Divine Mercy. Many are those who wake up at the stroke of three a.m. (somehow, this doesn't seem pertinent to the Torah, but to something else), and then they struggle to get back to sleep.

Such we find to be increasingly common among Christians -- this tossing and turning at night as if insomnia is one of the struggles and even chastisements of the time.

To get back to sleep, it seems, one must get into a habit of prayer -- especially the Rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet and especially prayers for others, particularly those who are away from the Church, or who need healing. Often, prayers to the Archangel Michael are what work, prayers of deliverance.

The tossing and turning indeed can be a harassment from the dark side and so it is also wise to say strong prayers of deliverance in the home and particularly bedroom before bed. There are many ways that spirits enter our homes and we must spiritually cleanse just as we tidy ourselves physically.

A spiritually clear house is a house of slumber -- at least most of the time.

Again we ask: is there mystical significance?

One thing we can know: prayer works.

Take it from Pat Willits of Skippack, Pennsylvania. "I wanted to share our experience with you while my husband, Marty, and I witnessed outside the movie theatre where The Da Vinci Code was opening," she wrote a few weeks back. "It was Sunday, the second day at a large multiplex theatre in Oaks, Pennsylvania, and we held our Crucifix, the Holy Bible, our handmade sign, 'THIS IS MY JESUS,' and sung the Sorrowful Mysteries, the Ave Maria, and Divine Mercy -- just the two of us this day and the sky threatening to send a severe storm at any time.

"So many people who didn't seem to care, their coldness and mocking undeniable, drove by for a very long time with not even one acknowledgement for Our Lord and, as we prayed, I asked Our Lord to just send one person that loved Him soon -- it was overwhelmingly sad. We were surely on Calvary with Him as so many jeering faces passing by. One young man put his arms out and slowly 'bowed' down in mocking form while he laughed..."

"Almost immediately after that prayer, my husband motioned to me to walk back to the parking lot in back of us, as someone wanted to talk to us. In the car was a woman who was trying to tell us that there was a message in this for her that we didn't understand -- that she was meant to see us out there!

"Through tears she went on to explain that she wasn't even supposed to be on this road, but that she diverged for some strange reason -- and then drove by us quite by accident. 

"Then she further explained that a few years before, when her mother was diagnosed with cancer, they were out on the beach and she was praying to God and asking Him if He was listening when, suddenly, out of nowhere, a man came dragging a huge Cross through the sand in front of them that read 'John 6:13.'  She said at the time they thought, 'who is this crazy guy?' 

"Well, she said, her mother died just two weeks ago, and here was this Cross again -- speaking to her! She became even more tearful, saying that she knew this message was for her! I asked her name, which was Diana, and she asked mine. I said it was Pat and she looked at me in disbelief, as this was also her mother's name!  More tears. We just smiled at her at how beautiful (and familiar) that this story was, and I explained how I had just prayed for someone to come that would love Him -- and it was her.

"After that, it was as if many came out of nowhere and honked their horns, motioning 'thumbs up,' in witness to Jesus!  It really wasn't that many, but for a fleeting moment the jeering faces seemed to dissipate. He had answered my prayer within minutes!

"We will never know who else may have been touched in any way, as hundreds and hundreds of cars went by, but we can only continue to hope, trust, and pray.  Just wanted to share our story, among so many, as to how mysterious is the power of prayer, and how very powerful is this present moment.  Lord, have Mercy on us all!

Amen, Amen, and Amen, we might add -- now, forever, and in the dark of the night, particularly at three.

[resources: The God of Miracles]

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