Saturday, May 30, 2009

Role of Divine Mercy on success of Pilot Chesley Sully Sullenberger and the rest of the Flight 1549 crew?

"Mercy on the Hudson"

How Divine Mercy and a book
changed the life of a passenger on Flight 1549


Adapted from this article by Felix Carroll in the Marian Helper magazine . Summer 2009 . www.marian.org


"A banker on a business trip in New York City, Fred Merretta had just checked into his hotel room.

"For some reason, he decided to clean out his briefcase.

"As he emptied it out, he came across a booklet on The Divine Mercy message and devotion that included how to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

"He recalls having prayed it a few times years ago.

"But by Jan. 14, 2009, it was a good intention mislaid -- among spreadsheets and quarterly reports.

"He decided to follow along in the booklet and prayed the chaplet, a prayer our Lord gave to St. Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s.

"The time happened to be 3 p.m., known as the Hour of Great Mercy, when Jesus died on the cross.

"Fred would consider that detail the following day -- as he was preparing to die.

"Miracle on the Hudson

"He would be among the 155 people to board a jet airliner at La Guardia Airport bound for Charlotte, N.C., his hometown.

"Ninety seconds after takeoff, the jet would apparently hit a flock of geese, the engines would explode, and the plane would lose power at 3,200 feet.

"It would lose thrust and altitude.

"Everything would become eerily quiet.

"Fred would think about his family -- his wife and four young children.

"He would think about God, about death, about trust, about an extraordinary promise made by Jesus that he read the previous day in that booklet...."

Man, this story just keeps getting better! :)


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