Sacred Heart of Jesus, stop the fire at your feet

Lac-Megantic:

On July 6, 2013, a train accident occurred in Lac-Megantic, a municipality in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, Canada. The accident occurred on the night of July 6, 2013 at 1:14 am. The derailment of a runaway convoy of 72 tank cars containing 7.7 million liters of light crude oil caused explosions and a fire that destroyed, in the downtown area, about 40 buildings in an area of 2 square km, killing 47 people. Two thousand other people had to be evacuated from their homes.

The parish priest implores divine help:

According to Father Steve Lemay, pastor of St. Agnes Parish, the church was miraculously preserved by divine intervention. In fact, within minutes of the explosion, as the downtown area disintegrated under the extreme fire, the 35-year-old parish priest came out of the rectory, walked down to the lawn next to the statue and implored the Sacred Heart to manifest itself to protect the church and stop the whole mess. With his arms crossed, he begged his Creator to exorcise the city of its evil spell. “I was alone and it was the prayer that came out,” says the parish priest. It wasn’t to attract attention, but for me the statue was a symbol. I didn’t want this devastating fire to cross the threshold of the statue. The Lord heard me and I believe he also heard a crowd of parishioners who had made the same request.

The Sacred Heart Park served as a firewall to the giant flames, saving the church from disappearing, even though the church is about 100 meters from the railroad. A few more meters, and the century-old church would be gone. “Our parish priest was granted his wish. Call it what you want, but for me it’s a miracle,” mentions Fabrique president Gérard Fortier.

50 flower pots:

Outside, employees of Serres Saint-Élie were busy placing the symbolic number of 50 pots of flowers on the church square, as well as on the Sacred Heart square. This garden is dominated by an enormous statue of Jesus, with his arms open, and at the foot of which, on the base, one can read a premonitory message: “Heart of Jesus, save us”.

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