I am just curious as to whether any of you have ever experienced any miracles, great or small, in your life, or whether you have ever seen a heavenly sign...or a heavenly being...or if a loved one who died came and visited you...or whether anything out of the ordinary ever happened to you.
And don't you ever talk about it to the people you care about? I am not talking about full-scale "apparitions" with warnings to mankind--I am talking about things like when Mary appeared to a 30 year old friend with a poor cancer prognosis and told her she would survive....
So if you've had experiences like that, I just want you to know that it really helps me to hear them....so if you're dying to tell someone and are afraid of not following the rules, you can tell me. I will be an appreciative audience and I won't tattle.
When my mother died her father was already very sick and dying (They were even in the hospital at the same time) and he was not in possession of all of his normal faculties. My grandmother made the decision that she would not tell him about my mothers death because it would be too difficult at the time for a number of reasons. But he would ask for her because there was never a day she would not come to visit him, no matter how sick she was herself. So even in a state not fully aware it stood out.
He did not last very long after my mother died. We brought him home to take care of him. The day he died was difficult. He was not awake and breathing badly. Doctors were in and out...and we knew it was only a matter of time. My sister was passing by his bed when he sat up with perfect clarity and looked to the empty space at the bottom of the bed. It was obvious he was fully in possession of himself for the first time in a long time. He smiled looked at the empty area and said my mothers name, and "There you are honey." And he died.
Another thing...not really apparition or vision but I consider it a miracle.
After I was accepted at the seminary my pastor asked if I would assist him on last rite calls if the family and person in question didn't mind. I said I was fine with that.
A few things from those moments and others I assisted on in Philadelphia have stuck with me. Some of them, usually the ones in emergency rooms in Philly are more memories of the physical. The nature of the wounds and such and the varying mental states of people in those moments can be hard to forget.
But one, in my small home town, is of a different nature. It is, to me, a miracle of compassion and mercy and a glimpse of the power of the sacraments.
We went to the hospital because the doctors said it was time for this old woman. She was in her eighties. We met with the family and the doctors first. The doctors told us not to expect too much on her end because she was very much out of it. The family echoed that thought. She has been suffering from Alzheimers for years and it had been difficult on them all.
The daughter told us that the woman did not even recognize any family anymore and didn't remember the words to any prayers. She did not recognize any of the priests who she had seen over the last two years and had not been able to identify a doctor or a nurse for even longer.
So, we did not expect much on her end.
When we entered the room she turned her head. It's tough to explain the look that a person in that state has unless you've seen it. They just are not there. There is no comprehension, or , if there is, the comprehension is somewhere else, but not on what the eyes are seeing. With their minds, they are not in the room with you. This was what it was like when she first turned her head.
Until her eyes passed over his collar. She paused and a light of dawning comprehension came over her. She sat up and started going through the drawers in the table for something. After a moment or two of frustration she found her rosary.
She asked what day it was and what time of year. We told her a Friday and in March. She shook her head, "not what month...church year." We told her it was lent. She started her rosary. She didn't miss a beat. Not a prayer. Not a mystery. Her love for Christ was obvious in her prayer.
We prayed it with her. The whole family did.
Us praying in a bit of shock.
The family in confusion.
And the woman in total confidence.
"Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death"
Those words were never stronger in their meaning and efficacy.
Father gave the last rites and she answered and gave a strong response whenever necessary.
She spent the night recognizing her children for the first time in years and talking to them. She died early in the morning, fully right with the Lord. Fully there with her family.
I will never doubt that the Lord takes care of us in those last moments. I learned not to worry about the end moments then. In those last moments, He will always make sure we have what we need. What Father would not.
Both of those are, I believe, revealed to me or my family because I have had a lot of death. My sister and I were late children and there are very few people left. It is difficult to count the number of people I buried before age 20.
Both of those things, as well as my own faith, have helped me to not fear death and to be able to come out of sorrow and help others out of it somewhat.
I believe that most private revelations of our lives are not apparitions or locutions...but God giving us what we need when we need it. Sometimes...He does it so well we never see it or notice it is different, it just heals us.
God reveals Himself, public and private, in earth shattering miracles like Lourdes...but also in daily graces beyond count. Of course there are other situations like St. Faustina and hundreds of people we don't even know. But for me...my experiences of what I would call miracles have been lovingly crafted personal reassurances that God has a plan.
especially since it doesn't have the protection of the Holy Spirit as the Church does.
