A little more progress...

...with the friend I post about every now and then, like here and here, whom I am trying to to help come back to the Church, and for whom I request prayers. I got another e-mail from him. Here's part of it:

You know my mother kept reminding me a few days before ash Wednesday, that it was coming, and that during the forty days before the passover, I should not eat meat on Fridays and I should fast and pray.It is good to be reminded sometimes, specially during these darker of days...

We should be in constant vigilance praying,to be ready when our day comes,at least that's what my mother keeps telling me. I know it sounds very weird but we never know.

For those of you who have prayed for my friend, thank you, they are working. We also have a powerful ally working with us, namely his mother.

I've been helping this guy for about two years now. It is slow work, but others- Augustine, for example- took longer. I feel we are close. All that is left is to get him to start going to church and eventually to confession and communion. He's talking about going to Mass during Holy Week. This would be fantastic, but it would be even more fantastic if he were to return every Sunday. If I thought showing up at his door on Sunday, grabbing him by the ear and dragging him into church would work, I would do it. But it most likely would not. Among other things, the guy is heavily into the martial arts and can beat me to a pulp if I tried anything like that. I feel that slowness is the way to work, even if it takes another two years, or another four, or so on. And what is any number of years compared to eternity? Talking to him and leaving him alone for a time to think about things is bearing fruit, though it can be nerve wracking.

So, I am going to ask for- you guessed it- more prayers. Pray for our absent brother, who has wandered for a time, but whose true home is and always shall be with us in Our Father's house.