Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Prayers work even for the grouchy

Father Peter Fennessey of the Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan tells this funny story of an answered prayer… a migraine headache is instantly cured, with extra benefits. 

One day, former retreat house director James S. was unable to sleep for hours because of a migraine headache.  So he went down to the gathering room to watch some TV, no matter what was on.  He hoped that any noise and motion would distract him from the pain. Surprisingly, despite it being the middle of the night, another priest was already there, watching TV.  This guy was a grouchy old fella, and  Father James was a bit afraid of him, so he took a seat several feet away,...


(Read the rest at Wtness.org)


Sunday, January 20, 2013

Virgin Mary appearing to Chaldean Woman in Southeastern Michigan


(this blog has grown up and is now a full website.  Please go instead to www.wtness.org.)
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Yes, this title has the sound of a bad tabloid article, doesn’t it?  But today I spoke to a man named William who has been in her house and believes this is true.  William told me at a retreat at the Manresa Retreat Center in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan that he saw oil oozing from a crucifix, a painting of the Suffering Christ, a painting of the Virgin Mother, and from other Christian artifacts in this woman’s home.  It is this phenomenon
See the oil oozing from the far left of the painting.
Tray beneath picture is full of oil
that first draws people's interest to this story, so I'll say a bit about that, before talking about the Virgin Mary's words. The source of the oil has no scientific explanation.  For example, the painting is on a thin canvas, there are no hoses or tubes attached to it, and the reverse side of the painting is completely dry.  Over the course of the past four years (since Aug. 2008), over three hundred and fifty pounds of oil has emerged from these and other artifacts in this house.

While the oil is a very puzzling (and convincing) physical phenomenon, when I hear of something like this that is real (and I’m strongly leaning in this direction based on having met William and knowing the priest who informed him, and seen the video… link below), I don’t get caught up in the physical miracle.  When God makes things like this happen, it’s not stand-alone.  It is done to help people believe in some sort of message.  

Some of the jars of oil collected in three years.
Other oil has been given away to visitors.
In this case, the message is being spoken by an apparition of the Virgin Mary.  She is heard audibly by the Chaldean woman. 
 

(Read the rest of the story at Wtness.org)