A Miracle for Mother Angelica?

In our last piece I told you about how I met Mother Angelica. I truly loved that woman. It's somewhat difficult to describe her. I had visits with her that told me what a real person she was. She had foibles like all of us, but her primary focus was always on the Lord and the spreading of His word. I could say she was smart...but she was more than just smart! She was clever! I could say she was loving, but in truth her love was in her kindness...as the Lord must've been kind! Her determination to do the Lord's work had the fire of the Holy Spirit, but unless you roused her anger, you would merely see a sparkle in her eye and just know by her smile what she was about in the joy that she spread. Her anger was something else!

One never crossed Mother without crossing himself and hoping God would see him to the other side of her wrath! I only saw her angry once or twice (thank God...not at me). Sometimes she would feign anger with me, but I knew she was only correcting a “deficit in my character!” I joked with her once about my volunteering my time to the network. She knew I was more about helping her than the network or even the Lord. When she asked me why I volunteered so much of my time to helping, I jokingly said, “I'm not a good person, Mother. Maybe I'll earn a cooler spot in hell!” That set her off! She informed me that there was no way I was going to hell! ...and that's a horrible way to think! I informed her that compared to her, I was pretty awful...and even she admitted that she would be stopping in purgatory in past conversations. She said, “If I wake up in purgatory, I'll dance a jig!” She had told me in the past that if you make it to purgatory, you're getting into heaven! She also informed me that at times in her life, she had been a tad bit naughty herself. She once asked, “Can you believe at one point I didn't like nuns? ...and now I am one!” I told her, “At one point, I didn't either!” ...and we both chuckled a little. Then she asked me to come work for her at the Network. I told her, “I'm pretty coarse! I'm not sure I'd fit in.” She said she knew, but she wanted me anyway. I said, “Thank you, but I can't. My wife would never move to Alabama. ...besides, then you'd have to pay me!” She laughed!

Perhaps the most important thing to remember about Mother, is she was just like the rest of us! Problems, maladies, concerns of the world, but she gave them all to the Lord and it gave her peace. The more I think about her, and I think she would approve...if she can get into heaven, any of us can! The only difference being that she put her implicit trust in the Lord...and therein lies her greatest lesson to the rest of us!

...but where's the miracle???

Remember those control panels she needed for her transmitters? She found the money (rumor has it one of her wealthy contributors [God bless them] came up with the funds). A few weeks later, Brother Joseph called me at work and asked if my offer was still good? “Mother found the money for the new control panels!” I said, “Of course it is! My word is good!” ...and no...the money is not the miracle, though it does come close.

A few weeks later, I saw the control panels being assembled and they looked as though they'd be done in a couple of days. I called Brother Joseph...

“Hey! The control panels are almost done! Do you want to make arrangements for me to come down next weekend and put them in?”

“Oh no! Things are really bad here!!! We may not even have the money to pay our employees!”

Further conversation elicited many items that would seem to put the network's very existence into jeopardy.

Brother Joseph said, “We're about to go to 24 hour transmissions, but we have some problems. ...and if we can't get past them, we may lose the network. ...and without those control panels we can't even guarantee our transmitters will work.”

“So what you're saying is you need the control panels, but you can't afford to bring me down to install them and make them work!?!”

“There's more than just that, but yes! ...and we need to get to 24 hour status or we won't be able to get enough donations to keep the network going!”

I said, “Well...Let's not worry about it right this second. I have to fly out to New York tonight and I'll be gone for a couple of days. Maybe something will change between now and when I get back.”

He said, “Things are really bad!!! I don't think they will!!!”

Later that evening, I arrived at the gate at O'Hare Airport. ...20 minutes before departure to check in! (ah...the good old days when people at airports didn't have to worry about crazy people causing trouble!)

“Mr. Green! We've been waiting for you!”

“I'm not late am I?”

“Oh No...but we do have a slight problem that we were hoping you could help us with!”

“I don't know what I can do for you!?!”

“Well...you see those two people sitting over there?”

“Yes...”

“Well...they're on their honeymoon!”

“Oh...that's nice!”

“They are on their way to Europe for their honeymoon. If they miss this flight, they will miss their connections and their entire honeymoon with be ruined!”

“That would be terrible...but what does that have to do with me?”

“There are two seats left on this plane and one of them is yours! You have a full fare coach ticket! We can't just give your seat away.”

“Oh...I see. You need my seat. Gee...I don't know. My boss says I have to get to NY tonight!”

“Well that's no problem if you wouldn't mind waiting about 2 hours! We have another flight leaving for New York from that gate over there.”

“Two hours? That's no big deal. (I can handle that and the boss need never know!) I waved at the couple and said, “Have a nice Honeymoon!” ...and took a seat in the other gate area while the airline rep (Should I give them a plug? Sure! Why not?) ...the United Airlines rep changed my ticket.

About an hour later, the gate rep came over with another woman who introduced herself as the gate area supervisor. She said, “Mr. Green...that was a very nice thing you did earlier.”

“Nah...it was no big deal! I was happy to help!”

“No sir...it was a very big deal! Some of our customers would not have been so gracious! We'd like to do something for you. We'd like to give you a voucher!”

Now...keep in mind that I was still quite young (early 30s) and a 'newbie' in the airline travel game. I thought everyone behaved themselves and dressed nicely to travel and was polite. I had no idea about what a 'voucher' was, or what the airline's policies were.

“What's a voucher? (...first time I think I ever heard that word!)”

“Well...it's kind of like an airplane ticket. You can fly anywhere United flies in the continental United States anytime you like!”

“Oh! I know what this is for!!!! Do you fly to Birmingham?”

“Why yes...3 times a day!”

“Thank you very much!!!”

When I returned, from that job, I called Brother Joseph...

“Hi...Good News! I can come down this weekend if you'd like to put in those control panels!”

“Oh NO! Things are even worse than before! We're being sued!”

“WHAT? Who would sue a nun?”

Now...Brother Joseph was not specific, and I cannot vouch for the reliability of what is to follow as it comes from several sources...mostly engineers, but the gist is as follows:

(Please keep in mind that these were the early days of Analog Satellite Broadcasting. Satellite transponder space [like the channels on your TV] were not only broken up into bandwidth segments, but to dual utilize the space, transmissions are polarized both vertically and horizontally. This means you could put more signals into the same space by overlapping them with signals on the opposite polarities.)

1. Mother was broadcasting her religious education programming.

2. On the opposite side of her transponder (or channel), a triple 'X' cable network was broadcasting as well. (Mother didn't know this.)

3. The triple 'X' broadcasters thought they'd have a little fun with the EWTN broadcast (and the nun) by rotating their Satellite Dish feed slightly so that their signal would 'bleed' over into the opposite polarity on top of Mother's Signal!!! ...thus very lewd and crude images would fade into Mother's broadcast.

4. When Mother found out, she was obviously outraged and told her lawyer to “GET ME OFF OF THAT SATELLITE...NOW!!!!!!!”

5. EWTN broke their contract with the satellite company. (we're talking millions of dollars here)

6. EWTN was sued!

As I said...much of this came from multiple sources and I cannot vouch for the accuracy in its entirety. I never dared to breech the topic with Mother! ...but back to Brother Joseph.

“We're being sued! We don't have the money to get you a plane ticket to come down here! I don't know what we're going to do now!?!”

I told him how the Lord had provided a plane ticket on their behalf! He said, “No...that's your ticket!”

I said, “No...it was given to me for a reason. You need to get those new control panels installed or the network will be in trouble! You said so yourself!!!”

Needless to say, I went down that weekend and Brother Joseph helped me install the control panels (which is a story I may not tell as Father Joseph would likely yell at me...and he's not a yelling man!). However...when we were done, Mother came down to inspect our work. She was pleased and blessed the four of us! Brother Joseph, myself, and the two transmitters!

I asked that no one make a big deal about my coming down to help them and not to call my company and squeal on me. I was assured they wouldn't. However...Monday morning I was called into the Vice President's office and he requested my time sheet and my expense sheet. When I asked for what? He said, “You know what!!!”

I said, “I have no idea!”

He said, “...for that job you did over the weekend!”

“What job?”

“Bob...you can't do side jobs on the weekends! We won't permit it!”

“I have no idea what you're talking about?!? I didn't do a side job! I helped out my Church a little bit on Saturday and Sunday!”

“I know...they called me. (oh crap) I need your time sheet and expenses for the weekend so we can bill them!”

“I don't have them...there were no expenses! ...and any 'time' I donate to my Church is my business!”

“How could you not have any expenses?”

“I flew down using a ticket that I had purchased (with my time and you might say the Lord's discretionary funds) and they put me up and fed me! My wife dropped me off at the airport and picked me up! NO EXPENSES! As for what I was doing, as far as you're concerned, I could have been washing windows or painting walls! What are you going to do the next time the Knights of Columbus has a BBQ at my parish and I offer to help out? Bill them because I flip hamburgers good? ...and from now on...EWTN is off of your Billable list as far as getting help is concerned! They are now...MY PET CHARITY!” ...and I walked out! ...and for the next 5 years they tolerated my weekend servicing of the Network's transmitters when necessary. (Now...that could be construed as a miracle!)

The real miracle for Mother was not the money...not the ticket...not my time and effort or her overcoming a law suit...or even my company's tolerance of my insubordination. The real miracle is that the Network got off the ground and has become the gem of Catholic Education Worldwide! The miracle is in each of us when we open our hearts to doing the Lord's will. Mother knew this and she has inspired millions to trust in the Lord. Trust me now when I say she watches over her network and in her heart she loves each and every one of us!!!

...and some day...perhaps... she'll welcome the likes of me into heaven! (Now "THAT"...would be a REAL miracle!)