By Stoyan Zaimov | Christian Post Contributor
Thu, Nov. 03 2011 03:33 PM EDT
From Christian Post
A Catholic friar, who was on board the plane that crash landed in Poland on Tuesday, said he prayed to God and held a lock of hair belonging to Pope John Paul II as the plane circled in turmoil above the airport.
Father Piotr Chyla said he prayed to God and said final absolutions for the passengers, some of who were saying their final goodbyes, but acknowledged the pilot had just as much to do with the survival of all 231 people as divine intervention.
The Roman friar shared his story with the Associated Press, and explained how he sees the landing from the position of a man of faith.
“We should put together the human dimension – the excellent pilot, the professional cabin crew and the ground staff – together with the Godly dimension,” said Chyla.
Chyla prayed and gripped a lock of hair belonging to the late Pope John Paul II and relics of Gianna Beretta Molla, an Italian pediatrician who was canonized in 2004 after she sacrificed her life to give birth to her child instead of choosing abortion.
The Father did not reveal how he obtained the lock of hair, but relics such as that are not uncommon possessions. Pope John Paul II, who was beatified earlier this year, is one of the most famous Polish and Catholic figures in history.
Chyla warned, however, that answers are hard to come by as to why the plane was spared: “There could have been many outside factors that could have prevented a safe landing, like wind.”
Many in Poland are calling the landing a miracle; although, the Father insisted that Capt. Tadeusz Wrona, as well as the plane crew and airport staff, should be credited as well.
Poland’s President Bronislaw Komorowski has called the pilot a hero, and the remarkable story is still making both national and global headlines.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
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Toad is sorry.
He likes and admires many of the people on CP&S and respects their intelligence – but this story is drivel. It is only demeaning to the Catholic Church and gives the impression that it is entirely the province of imbeciles.
“Many in Poland are calling the landing a miracle;” No kidding!, Poles!
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Thanks for bringing the fine article to my attention. Am presuming that the Christian Post is a non-Catholic newspaper (“the Roman friar”, ha)….
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Marc, nice to see you here again. Indeed CP is an evangelical newspaper, as far as I know. I was alerted on my facebook to this report.
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Raven reluctantly agrees with Toad.
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No comment.
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MMMmmmmm. Bless Father’s faith, but might it have had something to do with the skill of the pilot in his handling of such an emergency?
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I can’t see what the problem is here. If I am in a difficult situation which really needs my skills, especially if the safety and welfare of others is involved as well, I pray (and maybe others pray with me) for God’s help to focus myself as well as I can on what needs to be done. I believe I receive that help, particularly if the situation works out well and safely for all concerned. Isn’t that what happened here?
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Thank you, Jacquelyn TB for your sensible reply.
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And so what? When I had a life-threatening cycle accident which gave a fractured neck I called out to my Guardian Angel to save me – does this mean he should be canonised? For Heaven’s sake what is the matter with Catholics these days. Is The Faith not enough?
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No one is talking about canonising anyone here Leon! When in peril the believer calls upon his ‘helpers’ in Heaven to protect him. It is precisely Faith that sustains one at these moments.
The point of the article IMO is how God can intervene in human situations of peril through the intercession of the holy angels and the saints already in Heaven.
I was interested to hear about your life-threatening cycle accident, because I also had one just over two years ago! My serious injury was to stab the brake into my thigh and nearly bleed to death. I had to have a four hour operation, two blood transfusions and spent nine days in hospital! As I lay bleeding on the road I could only repeat the names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph over and over again. I made a full recovery – and I hope you did too – for which I can only thank the Holy Family!
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“I had to have a four hour operation, two blood transfusions and spent nine days in hospital! …
I made a full recovery – and I hope you did too – for which I can only thank the Holy Family!”
Well, on Kathleen’s behalf, Toad will take the opportunity here to thank the kind people who performed a four-hour operation on his friend and looked after her for nine days in hospital.
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Surely the Holy Spirit was present in the kindness and patience and perseverance and medical skills of the people who performed Kathleen’s operation and looked after her in hospital? Just as He surely was in the skills of the pilot who successfully landed the plane in Poland, and in the prayers of all who prayed. Why split into compartments the action of God, whether direct or through HIs angels and saints, or through his loving, caring, compassionate, competent people on earth? It’s all the same outcome, for which God be praised. That’s how I understand faith.
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“Surely the Holy Spirit was present in the kindness and patience and perseverance and medical skills of the people who performed Kathleen’s operation and looked after her in hospital?”
Says Jacquelyn. Did anyone suggest He wasn’t?
Toad is a little skeptical of miracles. He remembers when 13 miners were extracted safely after several days underground in Pennsylvania.
Miracle! was the general shout. But, nine times out of ten, miners trapped that way die.
Miracle!
Apparently not.
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K
Sorry to read of your lifethreatening accident – these things can come out of the blue to any of us. It is astonishing how a simple bicycle accident can become so serious, and not the issue of a few bruises as normal. I am glad all was well in the end. No doubt you too!!!!
Can you imagine such work day after day by those medics? I think they are marvellous.
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Thank you Friends for your kind words. Yes, I am of course happy to have recovered so well with only a large scar and just a slight lack of feeling on the inside of the injured leg to show for it. (I was disappointed to have to miss the Paris to Chartres walking pilgrimage that year though 😉 ).
I am indeed extremely grateful to the wonderful doctors and nurses who looked after me, and I agree with Jacquelyn that one cannot ‘split into compartments the action of God’ – everything is mysteriously and intricately bound together in He Who ‘holds us all in the palm of His hand’.
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“No one is talking about canonising anyone here Leon…”
Oh yes they are Kathleen. The authorities who decide no matter what these days are determined to canonise that pope at any price. This is not a simple newspaper report – it has much more context than that. After the last “miracle” that got him beatified it is evident almost anything will do to make up the next marvels favouring canonisation.
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“This is not a simple newspaper report …”
Says LeonG. Well, at ,least we can agree on that.
It is, in fact, a mind-bogglingly stupid newspaper report.
(How many guns you got, Leon? We’re doing a survey.)
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helpers in heaven and earth notwithstanding, does the Roman Friar get extra heavenly attention for having a holy hank of hair or a piece of bone to make his wish upon? I know relics are supposed to just “activate” peoples´ faith, but they are creepy and superstitious nevertheless. Eeugh.
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There are people on this blog just as superstitious as peasants from the Middle Ages.
That’s what makes it so enjoyable.
Or so Toad thinks.
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