[5] Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him. [6] And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
[7] And behold an angel of the Lord stood by him: and a light shined in the room: and he striking Peter on the side, raised him up, saying: Arise quickly. And the chains fell off from his hands. [8] And the angel said to him: Gird thyself, and put on thy sandals. And he did so. And he said to him: Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. [9] And going out, he followed him, and he knew not that it was true which was done by the angel: but thought he saw a vision. [10] And passing through the first and the second ward, they came to the iron gate that leadeth to the city, which of itself opened to them. And going out, they passed on through one street: and immediately the angel departed from him.
-- Acts of the Apostles 12:5-10
Padre Pio
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| Padre Pio |
Padre Pio
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| Padre Pio |
Have you seen this story?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2387984/Was-angel-Highway-19-saint-Padre-Pio-Catholics-suggest-priest-whos-dead-35-years-appeared-crash-scene-bless-save-life-teen-victim.html
Dear Anon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I had not heard that people have been speculating that the angel may have been Padre Pio. Immediately after I wrote the article I did a quick search and did not find any articles suggesting that possibility. I suppose that most of the media was expecting to soon discover the true identity of the priest.
God answers prayers. This is the divine message of this story and of the narrative from Acts of the Apostles about Peter being released from prison by an angel. (Shame on the Jesuit priest mentioned in the article who immediately discounted a supernatural explanation.)
I thought of Padre Pio because of an account of him appearing to someone at a distance. This was while he was still alive and is referred to as bilocation. For a long time I was convinced that Padre Pio was alive during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. I was dumbfounded when I discovered that Padre Pio died in 1968.
Recently, the daughter of a friend of mine was tragically shot in the head. We gathered at the hospital to pray for her. Not only did she survive, but after only 5 months she joined us at a celebration and was dancing as if her critical injury had never occurred. This is a miracle that I am a personal witness to.
And yet every time that something like this occurs the supernatural explanation is reflexively rejected by most people. I am as reasonable a person as anyone, but reason must be willing to accept that there is a God that created the world and hears our prayers.
I was also reminded of a previous article that I posted about a similar miracle.
"The miraculous rescue of 9/11"
http://publicvigil.blogspot.com/2011/09/miraculous-rescue-of-911.html
The woman was the last person pulled out alive from the World Trade Center. When she was trapped she prayed to God and "Paul" appeared and held her hand until the rescuers came. But afterwards "Paul" was never found.
Let us continue to pray for Katie Lentz. That with God's help she can make a full and miraculous recovery.
I have heard that her family is Catholic and that they have always begun each day with prayer.
Dear Anon,
ReplyDeleteI revisited the story of Genelle Guzman-McMillan, the woman that was saved from the rubble of the World Trade Center. At the end of her account she says that she now believes that "Paul" was her Guardian Angel.
The Catholic Church has always taught us that we each have a personal Guardian Angel. I doubt that any of the Protestant churches would accept this belief since they preach that we have no need of the intercession of saints and angels.
I have always felt protected. Even when I defied God and went against His will.
We forget that we have so much to be thankful for. The article tells us that Katie was hit by a drunk driver. It could have happened to any one of us.
May God bless you,
Michael