Thanks to the Transalpine Redemptorists

As I mentioned in a previous post, The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Transalpine Redemptorists) are a relatively new Redemptorist congregation which observes the original Rule of Saint Alphonsus.  They received canonical good standing in July of 2008.  Their community is located in the Orkney Islands of northern Scotland:

My dear friend Fr. Arthur asked their community to pray for me when I was diagnosed with brain cancer, and in November of 2008 I received a kind email from Fr. Michael Mary (Superior General of the Transalpine Redemptorists) assuring me of their prayers.  He promised to remember me in his daily Masses, and in the weekly novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.

Fr. Michael Mary and I have kept in touch over the past months of radiation and chemotherapy, and he has constantly encouraged me to unite my suffering with that of Our Lord.  Recently, he promised to remember me every day in his Mass, and also promised to place my name on the altar beneath Our Lady of Perpetual Succour's image and near the tabernacle in their chapel. 

He encouraged me not to forget my middle name (Gerard) and the responsibility that St. Gerard Majella (one of the Transalpine Redemptorists' patrons) has of looking after me.  He promised to put my name under their relic of Saint Gerard and ask him to also intercede on my behalf.

Today, I received photos of these promises being fulfilled.  First, a photo of my name at the Gospel side of the tabernacle, at the feet of the Immaculate Heart's statue in the chapel on Papa Stronsay island:

A shrine of relics in the chapel of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer:

In the center, a relic of Saint Gerard Majella.  Saint Gerard joined the Redemptorists in the 18th Century at the age of 23.  The relic reads "Blessed Gerard Majella," so it pre-dates Saint Pius X, who canonized him a Saint in 1904.  Fr. Michael Mary placed my name under the relic:

Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us!