Hawaii Ballistic Missile Threat Alert – A Lesson in Trust
On January 13, 2018 Saturday at 8:07 am, I was awakened by a loud siren or alarm on my cell phone. The text message spelled all in capital letters “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
I told my husband, who was still sleeping, about the message and he dismissed as being caused by “hackers.” So I went back to bed again, it was still early for me.
Then at 8:15 am, my adult children called me to tell me about the alert and asked me where they should go. Not panicking, I told my son in a joking tone to “Go to Church.” I thought that that was a timely moment to tell my adult children to go back to the Sacraments. But I dismissed their concerns by telling them “Dad said it’s the hackers.” I did not take the warning seriously and even asked my son if he was going to Sunday’s birthday dinner for a friend’s grandson.
Then at 8:45 am, the false alert was issued, “There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii. Repeat. False Alarm.” Now, being awakened by the loud alert sound coming from my phone for the second time, I got up to read it and swiped off the message and started making breakfast. We have previously received similar alerts when the threat of a flash flood was imminent for a certain area of the island during a storm. But I found out later, that this false alarm caused by “human error” made many Hawaii residents and visiting tourists to become anxious, confused, and scared by this warning.
While I thought that the emergency phone lines would be inundated with so many phone calls from panicked-stricken individuals, I was calm because I trusted in the Lord. I thought that if that threat was real, I trust in Jesus so much that even if I was to die at that moment, I am not afraid to meet my Creator.
But later in the afternoon, after some members of the Divine Mercy cenacle exchanged their comments about the recent threat, everyone had the same sentiment about their families needing to turn to God’s Mercy. One member said, “The people were so scared and confused including my own family… Oh how I pray for our families to surrender to God now. Although God’s mercy is infinite, our time to turn to God’s mercy is not. I understood this to be “we must run (not walk) to receive the graces from confession now.”
I added with my comment: “What I forgot to tell my adult children earlier was that there was no need to go anywhere during the threat. In one of the rooms in the house they are residing in, there is a life-size image of the Divine Mercy.”
I shared with everyone about the little-known promise of protection of the Divine Mercy image. There was nothing to be fearful about if you trust in God’s mercy and protection. Today’s incident was truly a lesson in trust in which we can cry out “Jesus, I Trust in You.”
A Little-known Promise of Protection Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, former vice-postulator for the cause of St. Faustina in North America, shared these comments in a talk given in Florida on Oct. 13, 2003:
“In one of the first booklets that St. Faustina’s confessor, Father Sopocko, published, he mentioned a promise made by Jesus regarding the veneration of the Image of Himself that He told Faustina to paint, that we cannot find neither in the diary nor in her letters. Before St. Faustina was told by her spiritual director to keep a diary of her spiritual experiences, she used to record those, about which she thought she ought to inform him, on pieces of paper and give them to him.”
The Sister who was the vice-postulator for Poland knew that there was a collection of these which ultimately must have been given to the investigatory tribunal that was to inspect her writings, and it’s possible that this promise was mentioned among those papers. Anyway, Father Sopocko knew about it and I’m sure that if it wasn’t true, he would not have included it in that booklet.
It was a promise that Jesus made.
“I will save those cities and houses in which this Image will be found.” He also said: “I will likewise protect the persons who will honor and trust in My Mercy.”
There were many reports of incidents sent to us by people who said they believed this promise, and enthroned an Image of The Divine Mercy in their homes and summer camps, and on numerous occasions their places were miraculously preserved from damage.”
Do you have an image of The Divine Mercy in your homes? Do you trust in Jesus?
Submitted by Rose Balayan
EADM Hawaii
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