Please pray for Michael R.

Michael is the son of our sponsors and godparents of all three of our children. They have six kids of their own, ranging from 29 (I think) to 6. Michael is their third child, and he's in his early 20s. He was attacked Saturday night by five men who tried to crash a small party he was having. One of his guests said she was going to go invite these guys, and he told her not to, since he just wanted to have a few friends over. She left and returned with the men, who insisted on being let into the house. Michael went outside to talke to them, intending to stand his ground -- his house, his rules, and they weren't welcome. Near as anybody can figure at this point, they smashed a beer bottle over his head and then kicked and/or stomped him repeatedly, leaving him with severe head injuries. Michael is in a coma and on a ventilator in ICU at a local hospital. He has already received Last Rites, although the doctor was hopeful that his injuries were not life-threatening. Nothing can be said about the long-term effect of his injuries and whether or not he will be able to make a full recovery at this point. We're almost upon the 48-hour mark, and the first 72 hours are most critical. Yesterday, he was responding to commands accurately. Today, he did not, which the medical staff attributed to some additional swelling in his brain.

Michael is an industrious and hard-working young man who comes from a really great Cathoic family. Please pray for him, I beg you. And if you have a blog and wouldn't mind posting this prayer request, I would much appreciate it.

--Sparki