Antonio di Tommaso shared his conversion story at the 30th International Youth Festival in Medjugorje last year.
Antonio is 22 years old this year, born in a Protestant family. His childhood and adolescence were filled with suffering and fear. A drug-addicted father often takes out his anger on his wife and children. Antonio lives in fear, for him the holidays are the worst days. He said: “I remember in my primary school years, my classmates looked forward to Sunday so they could be with their families, for me on the contrary, Sunday was a day of fear and I waited with anxiety. settle. Because on Sunday my father doesn't go to work and stays at home all day with us. This means he beat my mother, and our brothers more.”
Antonio grew up in the Protestant Church, but as a child his mother's aunt told him about Our Lady. In 2011, when Antonio was 11 years old, on the 30th anniversary of the apparitions, she took him to Our Lady of Medjugorje. When he arrived, in front of the statue of Our Lady, Antonio felt an immense joy. “At that moment my heart told me this is your mother,” he said. Medjugorje became a place of my soul, a safe home to hide in when I was in trouble.”
Returning home, a year later, Antonio decided to baptize, and begged his parents, but neither of them agreed. Not only did he not give, then the father beat Antonio even more.
In Medjugorje, Antonio learned to pray the rosary, go to Mass and adoring the Blessed Sacrament. So, even though his parents did not allow him to become Catholic, he continued to pray in silence. And in order to be able to go to Mass, wanting his parents not to know, he said he was going out with his friends but actually he went to church.
Time continued to pass quickly, Antonio persevered in prayer and God's grace worked on him and supported him. On December 25, 2013, his parents allowed him to receive Baptism and Confirmation.
By 2016, God had done a miracle on the father. On New Year's Day, when he woke up, he told his family that God had touched him. On that day he resolved to give up drugs, get rid of the things that messed up his family, and become a different person.
But the challenge does not end here. When he returned to the old community where he had grown up. “This is where my cross begins,” says Antonio. My father met some people and they started telling him that I am the devil because I follow the Catholic Church and that I will bring unhappiness to the whole family. In that moment of slight confusion and crisis my father believed these men. He again began to forbid me from practicing my faith. When he saw me wearing the rosary around his neck, he immediately pulled it down. He threw away all the statues of Our Lady that I had brought back from Medjugorje. But thank God, this only lasted for a few months. The love of God made my father understand that we are all children of the same God, and since then the atmosphere in my family has changed a bit.”
After that, Antonio returned to Medjugorje again and in his heart there was still no real reconciliation with his father, and the father was not completely transformed.
In Medjugorje, Antonio attended the Way of the Cross. That hour of meditation is dedicated to praying especially for drug addicts. While walking the Way of the Cross, Antonio realized that he was still angry with his father. He realizes he still hates the person who gave him life.
Following that afternoon, there was a prayer for deliverance and healing. Antonio continued: “I went there with a heavy heart. That afternoon, Our Lady gave me a message: 'Dear children, I ask you to forgive so that you too will be forgiven'. And there I understood that I had to forgive my father.”
On the day he returned home, Antonio's soul felt a sweetness. When he arrived at the airport, he did not expect his father to pick him up. Father and son gave each other the most beautiful hugs they had never had before. A gesture of love that goes beyond apologies. Then on his 18th birthday, Antonio's father wrote him a letter, asking him to forgive him for all that he had hurt him. As for Antonio, he also asked his forgiveness for what he had not done enough with his sonship.
He ended the sharing session with confident and happy words: “Today my family is breathing God's love. Although not in the same Church, my father and I prayed together with our God. Today, my father is a hero to me. He showed me that God can make the desert bloom in one night, and there is nothing that God cannot do.”
For Antonio, the story of him and his family is a story of the cross but also a story of resurrection. A story that testifies to the power of mercy that God is always at work in our lives even when we are not aware of it.
Source: Vietnamese Catholic News