Miracles and You. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

The Canonical Defender Ed Peters has been asking for prayers and even the intercession of God with a miracle for his injured son, blogger and good Catholic activist Thomas Peters.  Thom is doing better but he has a long way to go.  And what father would not ask these things?  And who of us would not generously respond, especially in gratitude for how much they have done to help us all in learning and defending our Catholic faith and identity?

Since the issue of miracles came up, I repost here what I have written before about miracles HERE. The original post was about the 2nd authenticated miracle for St. Gianna Beretta Molla.

  1. Saints are presented to us by Holy Mother Church for “the two I’s”: imitation and intercession.
  2. As all Christians are called to imitate Christ, we also must experience self-emptying and the Cross, abandonment to providence and self-donation. We must be willing to lose everything.
  3. We are not alone: the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant are closely knit, interwoven in charity. We on earth must intercede for each other and believe and ask for the intercession of the saints.
  4. God makes use of the weak to demonstrate His might and love.
  5. If we do not believe in miracles, we do not ask for them. If we do not ask for them, they will not be granted. [!]
  6. Our life of faith is noticed by non-believers and they are not unaffected.
  7. What a difference a bishop can make.
  8. How often do you invoke the help of the saints and holy angels?
  9. God’s ways are not our ways.
  10. No one is too small to be an occasion of grace for others.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, PRAYER REQUEST, Saints: Stories & Symbols, Wherein Fr. Z Rants and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Comments

  1. BTurner says:

    Dr. Peters is asking for prayers in particular through the intercession of Felix Capello, SJ.

    See his blog for details.

  2. Chiara says:

    Father –

    Thank you so much for this post. I am praying for Tom Peters, and I am asking for a miracle for my own personal intention as well.

    This listing really clarifies a great deal of our mission as Christians. We ARE vessels of Our Lord, and we have a duty to our fellow humans to live our lives in the joyful, caring imitation of Christ. God knows us so well, and it doesn’t matter that others abandon us – He will never give up on us.

    You are very correct in your comment about good bishops. My own bishop, Bishop Lennon of Cleveland, is a very fine shepherd, IMHO. He has been attacked by his own people of this Diocese publicly, but he carries on in faithful service to the Church and his people. I admire him greatly and pray for him daily, and I am certain he prays daily for us, the Catholics in his care, as well.

    As for the saints, I have only recently become aware that St. Francis has been yanking my chain for years. Every time I have some kind of turmoil in my life for the last 30 years, a Franciscan shows up out of nowhere and gives me encouragement and guidance. This happens to me, although there are no Franciscan priests or sisters for at least a 40 mile radius where I live. This past Lent, I was lamenting to a friend on my cell phone that God was not listening to my prayers. The house phone rang at the table next to me, and when I laid down my cell and answered the land line, there was a Franciscan conventual sister from the monastery 100 miles away. She told me she noticed my name on a list of donors, and that she was going to make a holy hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament and wanted to know if there was anything she could pray about for me. (We have donated for decades, and the sisters have NEVER called the house for any reason.)

    I finally started remembering all the times something odd like this had happened when times were bad, and how it seemed Our Lord and St. Francis would send a Franciscan to me to snap me out of my troubles and give me encouragement. I know this all sounds insane, but it really happened. I am now in formation with the Secular Franciscans, and I hope this is what God wants of me.

  3. StJude says:

    I ask for a miracle’s daily. I am praying for Mr Peters.

    St Jude interceded for me years ago.. not a ‘cure of cancer’ miracle but for me it was huge. Changed my life… I became Catholic afterwards. Pretty humbling to imagine St Jude asking our Lord for help for me. Me? a person who at that point in my life did nothing to deserve it.

    Thank God for our Saints!

  4. Supertradmum says:

    If miracles did not happen in my life all the time, I would be dead by now.

  5. Suburbanbanshee says:

    Given how many non-Catholics who don’t believe in saints have still received favors through their kind intercession, and how many atheists have been given miracles by God, it’s pretty sad if Catholics don’t even bother to ask.

    I will add that the only guy I know who thought asking for his needs from God was presumptuous, is the same guy who ended up becoming a pagan and then an atheist. So, yeah, it doesn’t hurt to ask, and it might hurt not to ask.

Comments are closed.