Santiago, Chile, August 2004
AIR PLANE ACCIDENT
Dear friends:
We want to share with you the air accident we suffered on August 1st., at 3 p.m. The expressions of affection received by so many friends were profoundly moving.
This was an unrepeatable experience. That Sunday, Patricio, Rosita and Jorge the pilot, were flying towards Santiago on a quiet and luminous afternoon. Patricio in command of the airplane and the pilot beside him. Rosita in the back sits was writing away some thoughts and prayers dedicated to St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as Therese of the Child Jesus, a carmelite nun, for which we have professed an enormous faith for years. The Pope named her, in 1997, Doctor of Love. On this occasion, we had had a very special experience as we had come across, on that Saturday, with her image at the Church in Caldera and on Sunday at St. Francis Church. In Copiapó. It is very unusual to find this French saint in the northern part of Chile.
During our air crossings, it is frequent that Rosita meditates and writes down on her notebook. And so it was, that on that day, she had said the rosary and some Evening Prayers. The magnificent mountain with its intense blue, green, yellow and orange colorings inspired her, so we can read in her notebook - also miraculously saved - the following words:
IN FLIGHT FROM COPIAPÓ TO SANTIAGO
August 1st. 2004, 2:15 p.m.
From the break of dawn
voices roar
from the hill
the mountains tear
the atmosphere
to receive
my cornered
screams
I am one with
the cliff
and the fire
in the horizon
From the earth
shout
locked anguishes
The mountains
withdraw
contemplating
eternity
Echoes are kept
in volcanoes
awaiting
the signal
Everything comes to
the mountains
to resurrect.
Without the slightest augury of what was to happen minutes later, Rosita continued to invoke St. Therese of Lisieux, so that with her LOVE she would compensate the evil that howls in this world "like a roaring lion in search of someone to devour".
TO ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX
From Copiapó to Santiago
August 1st., 2:30 p.m.
Therese´s flowers
cover us
with their petals
Her shadow
sneaks away
and reappears
carrying
our eyes
to her light
of LOVE
Therese...sister
Therese...small
of the Child Jesus
As we approached Santiago, a strong cloudiness was observed, which made Patricio dubious to try to land under these conditions, as we had the alternative of doing so in "Loma Larga", Casablanca, which was cloudless. Yet, we received from Tobalaba Airport the authorization to make a VFR approximation and the pilot - flight instructor, qualified commercial pilot for instrumental flights - took the command of the airplane and assured us that he could land with no risk at all.
Once the approximation started, a thick fog covered us and suddenly, within 2 seconds time, we saw branches and hills. The plane stopped almost floating, and in that instant we remained stunned awaiting the impact. It never came. The cabin was in perfect conditions, without a single scratch.
Everything was silent as if time had stopped to exist; they were 2 seconds of eternity.
We evacuated the plane right away, only the wings showed the friction. The fuel spilled, the flames started, followed by explosions and the fire wrapped the plane totally. We turned speechless when verifying the geography of the hill. Trees, bushes, rocks, downhills. The plane had landed on the only spot that was covered by weak bushes, on a smooth opening. After walking downhill for almost 3 hours, we met with the rescue squad, thanks to a very brief instant in which the sky opened to a blue light, which allowed us to inform them that we were right under that luminous opening.
We felt we had lived a miracle. Something occured that surpasses all logic. A plane landing at more than 200 km. an hour, stops as if held by angels and settles softly on the hillside. St. Therese of Lisieux promised to send many roses and petals to the world as a symbol of her intercession. The crib that received us could well have been Therese´s flowers.
We wish to share with you the peace and wonder we felt with this event, and ask you to help us, through your prayers, to discover its meaning. Right now we are impelled to say, that the force of goodness is powerful and that we must invoke it through the Virgin Mary, the saints and the angels, so that Jesus can continue to redeem the world through the force of the Love of God Himself. Our will and desires are indispensable so that our Creator can intervene, as he made us free and only through our wishes and decisions can kindness, life and unity be restored on this earth tortured by fear, lies and deceit.
This is a testimony of faith and hope. The God of Love is involved with us. Jesus, his Beloved Son, inspired St. Therese of Lisieux in her path of surrender and love for humanity. Today, after this miracle occured in our flight from Copiapó to Santiago, we are also summoned. We believe that this experience must also touch our friends, all of whom we have in our hearts, so that they will feel, just like us, that we are not alone and that we have powerful intercessors ready to hold us every moment of our existence and to support us in our desire to become better persons.
With all our love and gratitude,
PATRICIO DÍAZ QUIROGA ROSITA SANTELICES ERRÁZURIZ
patriciodiazq@disan.cl rosita@casablancawines.com
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