CLAIRE’S FAVORITE MIRACLES
StillCatholic.com
Show me a miracle and I’ll try to prove you wrong. But by
golly, the specific miracles confirmed by the Catholic Church to be true after
thousands and thousands of pages of findings and test results from scientists
and doctors of every religion, including specialists in the specific diseases -
well, any sane and rational person who examined the findings would have to say
the evidence is much stronger in favor of these miracles than of any other
explanation.
These
are the kinds of miracles
that cannot later be explained by environmental, cosmological, psychological or
medical factors.
I’m not going to bore you with the humungous
list of the blind, deaf and cripple that have been miraculously and
instantaneously healed by God through His Church and His saints. I’ll try not
to mention the late Mother Teresa’s Church-confirmed miracles, such as the overnight
disappearance of an Indian woman’s tumor, which was so big it made her look
seven months pregnant. X-rays taken by the best doctors all over India all
testify to this.
And, alas, there is no time to include all the
holy Catholic saints whose bodies have remained “incorruptible” to this day
(for eg., the body of St. Bernadette, who died in the 1800s, should be a
skeleton, but, aside from a little skin discoloration, she looks beautiful)
But I will try to mention a few miracles that
simply blow me away, like when the sun was falling down out of the sky and
zigzagging around…..all of which was witnessed by over 75,000 people in
Portugal in 1917 and was reported in secular newspapers by Christians, Jews and
atheists alike.
God performs miracles because of his loving
and healing nature. In many cases, His miracles also confirm the
truth of His doctrines to help us along in our faith.
Below are some of my favorite miracles:
MIRACLE ONE:
MIRACLE OF THE SUN IN FATIMA: Mary began
appearing to three little children in Fatima, Portugal, asking them to pray the
rosary and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. The children, Lucia,
Jacinta and Francisco, began giving up things like their lunch or water. To
show them the importance of their dedication, Mary even showed them a vision of
Hell. Young Lucia wrote that the damned souls she saw in hell were “like
transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human
forms. They were floating about in that conflagration………..amid shrieks and
groans of pain and despair.”
Anyway, Mary promised the children a miracle for
all to see on Oct. 13, 1917. People arrived from all over the country. The sun
became like a silver disk and began to dance in the sky. It whirled, then
stopped, then began to plunge down toward the crowd. People cried out in fear.
Then the sun climbed back up into the sky.
The message of Our Lady of Fatima was
conversion, prayer, sacrifice and reparation. She wasn’t joking. As for the
children, Mary told Jacinta and Francisco they’d be in heaven soon and they
soon died. Mary told Lucia she would remain on earth for many years to
establish a devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Lucia became a cloistered nun,
devoting her life to prayer. She turned 96 last year.
MIRACLE TWO:
PADRE PIO. When American bombers during WW II flew
over San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy to drop their bombs, the pilots encountered a
giant monk in the sky preventing them from completing their mission. Pilots were
unable to complete their mission, and instead would return to the US Commanding General reporting
the occurrence. Padre Pio had previously promised the town’s people that their city
would be spared. Padre Pio, recently named a saint by Pope John Paul II, also
bore the stigmata for 50 years, sharing in the suffering of Christ. He also
appeared in two places simultaneously (bilocation) on various occasions, and has literally
thousands of miracles attributed to him. He could read the hearts of people who
came for confession, knowing even their most secret sins. A most thorough book
on the saint is Padre Pio: The True Story by biographer C. Bernard
Ruffin, an initially skeptical Lutheran pastor.
The WW II event “was directly
witnessed by the general of Aeronautica Italiana Bernardo Rosini, who at that
time was part of the "United Air Command" operating out of Bari with
the Allied air forces. "Each time that the pilots returned from their
missions," General Rosini told me, "they spoke of this Friar that
appeared in the sky and diverted their airplanes, making them turn back.”
(Source: “I Miracoli d Padre
Pio”, by Renzo Allegri,199Pages
110-111. ISBN 88-04-41322-0
MIRACLE
THREE:
JUAN
DIEGO (Guadalupe,
Mexico): You’ve heard about the lowly peasant to whom Mary appeared in 1531.
Mary
told him to tell the bishop to build a church in her name at the site so that all
could come to glorify God and learn about Christ, the Savior. The bishop wanted
some proof from Juan Diego, so Juan Diego returned to the site and visited the
Virgin, who directed him to beautiful red roses that were growing despite the
fact the region was a frozen tundra in December. Juan Diego wrapped them in his
tilma, or cloak, and brought them to the bishop. As the roses fell out of the
tilma, the bishop was astonished to see on the cloak a sharp image of Mary,
dressed in a flowing Aztec dress. The tilma has since been analyzed by
countless scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, and said to be of
supernatural origins, not able to be reproduced by human hands. No trace of
paint or animal or mineral colorings,
or any treatment at all, can be detected.
Here’s what is even more incredible: Much later, in the 20th century, new
microscopes were used to magnify the Virgin’s eyes many times. In 1951, it was discovered that imprinted in the
pupils are the reflections of Juan Diego, the bishop, and the interpreter.
There is a photographic image of what occurred in the room when Juan Diego
unveiled the cloak. In 1979, engineer Jose Aste Tonsmann of the Mexican Center
of Guadalupan Studies who has his PhD from Cornell was able to magnify the eyes
2,500 times and discovered other human figures, at an even more reduced scale,
in the reflection. It appeared to be an Indian family, with a mother, father
and children. The news of Juan Diego’s encounter with Mary led millions of
native Indians across Mexico to convert from their Aztec religion to
Christianity.
MIRACLE FOUR:
Eucharistic Miracle (Lanciano, Italy): Guys, this one is
cool, especially if you like science. The miracle continues today and people
can see it. In 700 AD, a priest in
Lanciano, Italy was doubting the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the
Eucharist. During Mass, just after he said the consecration, the bread turned
into a circle of flesh and the wine became visible blood. Everyone in the
church saw and was amazed. The miracle was verified as authentic again and
again by doctors and scientists over the centuries.
Then,
in 1971, a scientific investigation confirmed the flesh was real human flesh
and the blood was real human blood. It was determined that the flesh was from
the human heart, expertly dissected. Despite being over a thousand years old,
the blood from the specimen tested to be fresh blood from a living human being
in an analysis of the blood's proteins. Present in the live flesh was myocardium,
endocardium, the vagus nerve and the left ventricle of the heart. The flesh and
the blood both had the same blood-type (AB) and were from the same person.
Coincidentally
(or not so coincidentally), the rare blood type AB was also detected on
the Shroud of Turin. Another relic, the Sudarium of Oviedo, which is believed to be the burial face
cloth of Jesus, was also confirmed to have type AB blood on it.
Anyway,
despite being exposed to the air for 1200 years, the Eucharist from Lanciano
was and is not affected. The miracle can still be seen today at a church in
Lanciano, Italy. For info or to order beautiful
color brochures picturing the Lanciano miracle, contact the Sanctuario del
Miracolo Eucaristico, Frati Minori Conventuali, 66034 Lanciano (CH) Italy. Their
telephone and fax number is (0872) 713189.
But
wait, there’s more to this story. Listen up for another stumper…..the condensed
blood is coagulated into five pellets of different sizes. For the first 700
years after the miracle, no matter which pellets were placed on one scale, the
pellets on the other scale would weigh the same! One pellet on one scale was weighing the same as two pellets on the other scale.
One pellet also weighed the same as all five pellets weighed together. Also, the smallest pellet
had the same weight as the largest one. It showed that
Christ’s body could not be divided. He is fully with us, not partly with us, when
we receive the Eucharist. The miracle of the equal weights completely harmonizes with the Church’s
teaching that even if just one crumb of Communion is left in your mouth, Jesus is
entirely present, just as present as if he were standing in front of the
apostles in the year 33 A.D. The phenomenon was last observed by reputable
witnesses in 1574, at which time the findings were etched into a plaque, which
is still on display at the Church.
MIRACLE FIVE
This
one’s not a miracle. It’s a book….about 400 miracles…..all people who were
raised from the dead, some after being reduced to skeletons. It’s got the
imprimatur seal of the Catholic Church, which means that none of its
claims contradict doctrines or morals of the Church. It's called Raised
From the Dead: True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles. Here's the
official description of the book:
“Fr. Albert J. Hebert, S.M. Jesus told His Apostles to raise the dead (Matt. 10:8). This magnificent book covers Saints who raised from the dead persons who drowned, persons with mutilated bodies, persons who had been hanged, whose bodies had already decayed, been reduced to skeletons, or been buried for several years. They include children, unbaptized infants, unborn babies still in their mother's womb who needed to be baptized, persons executed for crimes, persons raised to testify in criminal cases or to testify to some religious truth, and persons who would have been condemned to Hell had they not been called back to earth for another chance. Also included are descriptions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory given by temporarily dead persons who had been privileged to see those regions. Analyzes the authenticity of resurrection miracles according to the teaching of the Church - plus it describes other bodily wonders of the Saints, such as levitation, bilocation, and total abstinence from natural food and drink. Includes a critique of "post clinical death" experiences in the light of Catholic teaching. Contains over 60 pictures, which alone are worth the price of the book. 335pp. PB. Imprimatur. ITEM #10623 $18.50 Can be bought at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0895552515/102-0213362-1122519?v=glance or http://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/253/
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MORE INFO ON THE MIRACLES LISTED ABOVE
PADRE
PIO: http://members.aol.com/fmrega4/Flymonk.htm, http://www.ewtn.com/padrepio/man/index.htm, http://members.aol.com/goodyburk/padrepio.html, http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/stp27comv.htm, http://www.padrepio.it/ing/vita.htm
MIRACLE
OF THE SUN: http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/1998-05-06/fatima.html, http://www.fatima.org/miracle.html, http://www.fatima.org/library/sc01pg16.html, http://hesemann.watchers.ca/fatimasun.html,
http://www.fatima.org/hell.html
(vision of hell), http://www.mess-s-antonio.it/MSAHOME/Ing/riviste/rivest/a2000/Mar/Art/lucia.htm
ALSO SEE THE FAMOUS WARNER BROTHERS PRODUCTION “The Miracle of Our Lady of
Fatima” 102 minutes. www.ignatius.com
JUAN DIEGO: http://www.queenofpeace.ca/Guadalupan_Image.htm, http://www.cin.org/guadchro.html
(timeline)
http://www.sancta.org/eyes.html
(secret of the eyes), http://www.archatl.com/archbishops/donoghue/20011211.html,
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a632ecd59e5.htm (the eyes) http://www.credopub.com/archives/2000/iss20001225/20001225p06.htm, http://www.geocities.com/franciscanhistory/OLOG.html http://home.inreach.com/bstanley/eye.htm,
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/guad_bib.html http://www.sancta.org/
http://www.virgendeguadalupe.org.mx/
(official Guadalupe web site: EN ESPANOL)
EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE in Lanciano: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html,
http://www.acfp2000.com/Miracles/eucharistic.html http://www.frtommylane.com/stories/eucharist/miracles.htm, http://www.youthapostles.com/newsletters/2001-08.html, http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html, http://www.thedivinemercy.org/devotions/euchmiracles.htm, http://www.acfp2000.com/Miracles/eucharistic.html,
Recommended book: Eucharistic Miracles by Joan Carroll
Cruz
Also, if you
are a science buff, you might check out the book “The
DNA of God” by microbiologist Dr. Leoncio A. Garza-Valdes, about the Shroud
of Turin, the DNA on it, and the reasons the carbon dating tests, which led
some to believe the shroud did not date back to Christ’s time, were wrong.
NINE
APPROVED APPARITIONS
OF MARY: http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/appdisce/nineapps.html
BRIEF
SUMMARY OF 64 MIRACLES AT LOURDES, FRANCE (RECOGNIZED BY CHURCH) http://www.theworkofgod.org/Aparitns/Lourdes/Lourdes1.htm http://www.lourdes-france.org/upload/pdf/en_guerison.pdf?target=0 http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/ZLOURDES.HTM (the most
recent Lourdes healing) http://avemaria.bravepages.com/articles/mar/alex.html
(Nobel Prize winner witnesses healing at Lourdes)
LOURDES
VISITOR SITE http://www.lourdes-france.com/index.php?page=menu&texte=1&old=&langage=en
Books on miracles: http://www.discountcatholicstore.com/new_page_6.htm, http://www.marianland.com/miracle.html,
http://www.christianity-books.com/Raised_from_the_Dead_True_Stories_of_400_Resurrection_Miracles_0895552515.html
Info on miracles: http://www.barronseduc.com/0764154583.html
Please note: Belief in the miracles that have occurred since the
time of the apostles is not binding on a
Catholic. Only public revelation (revealed while Jesus and the apostles
were alive) is binding. On the other hand, a Catholic cannot go wrong believing
the miracles that have been officially approved and confirmed by the Catholic
Church, because there is no possibility they did not occur.
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NO MORE MIRACLES???
A Christian of another denomination told me he was taught
that miracles cannot happen after the death of the apostles. Hmm….What I found
out is that a small group of people started this rumor in the 16th century.
Catholic Answers
puts its this way: “The original sixteenth century Protestant Reformers denied
all private revelation—they had to, for all the miracles that had occurred and
all the private revelations that had been received over the previous fifteen
hundred years had confirmed rather than attacked the Catholic faith. The
original Reformers’ actions were in direct disobedience to the binding command
of the New Testament: "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic
utterances. Test everything; retain what is good" (1 Thess. 5:19–21).
[Source: http://www.catholic.com/library/Private_Revelation.asp)
St. Augustine, the greatest of the Church
Fathers, revered by Catholics and Protestants alike, is just one of the many
great theologians that tell us that miracles and private revelation certainly
did continue in the Church after the apostles were gone. St. Augustine, who
lived from 354 to 430 A.D , wrote:
"In
the same city of Carthage lived Innocentia, a very devout woman of the highest
rank in the state. She had cancer in one of her breasts, a disease which, as
physicians say, is incurable. . . . This lady we speak of had been advised by a
skillful physician, who was intimate with her family, and she betook herself to
God alone in prayer. On the approach of Easter, she was instructed in a dream
to wait for the first woman that came out of the baptistery after being
baptized and to have her make the sign of Christ upon the sore. She did so, and
was immediately cured" (The City
of God 22:8 [A.D. 419]).
"For even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ, whether by his
sacraments or by the prayers or relics of his saints. . . . But who but a very
small number are aware of the cure which was wrought upon Innocentius . . . a
cure wrought at Carthage, in my presence, and under my own eyes? . . . For he
and all his household were devotedly pious. He was being treated by medical men
for fistulae, of which he had a large number. . . . He had already undergone an
operation but clearly needed another. . . . [H]e cast himself down . . . and
began to pray; but in what a manner, with what earnestness and emotion, with
what a flood of tears, with what groans and sobs, that shook his whole body and
almost prevented him speaking. . . . [And when the] surgeons arrived, all that
the circumstances required was ready; the frightful instruments were produced;
all look on in wonder and suspense. . . . [But the surgeon] finds a perfectly
firm scar! No words of mine can describe the joy, and praise, and thanksgiving
to the merciful and almighty God, which was poured from the lips of all with
tears of gladness. Let the scene [of rejoicing] be imagined rather than
described!" (ibid.).
"A gouty doctor of the same city, when he had given his name for baptism
and had been forbidden the day before his baptism from being baptized that year
by black woolly-haired boys who appeared to him in his dreams (and whom he
understood to be devils), and when . . . he refused to obey them but overcame
them and would not defer being washed in the laver of regeneration, was
relieved in the very act of baptism, not only of the extraordinary pain he was
tortured with, but also of the disease itself" (ibid.).
"What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work
that I cannot record all the miracles I know, and doubtless several of our
adherents, when they read what I have narrated, will regret that I have omitted
many which they, as well as I, certainly know. Even now I beg these persons to
excuse me and to consider how long it would take me to relate all those
miracles, which the necessity of finishing the work I have undertaken forces me
to omit. . . . Even now, therefore, many miracles are wrought, the same God who
wrought those we read of [in the Bible is] still performing them, by whom he
will and as he will" (ibid.).
[Quotes
were compiled by Catholic Answers. For more quotes on more early miracles in
the Catholic Church, reported by other Church Fathers, see: http://www.catholic.com/library/Do_Miracles_Still_Occur.asp
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