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DAML72
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AMEN!
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EmperorNapoleon
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I take issue with some Christians’ notion that everything is a miracle and that everything good that happens to you was the result of some divine intervention. I take issue with the notion that a God has any activity in anyone’s life in general. There’s not a single “miracle” that I am aware of which requires or even suggests divine influence.
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dmelosi
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I am curious if you have ever read about any miracles the Church claims? Or are you waiting for one to hit you before you believe?I take issue with some Christians’ notion that everything is a miracle and that everything good that happens to you was the result of some divine intervention. I take issue with the notion that a God has any activity in anyone’s life in general. There’s not a single “miracle” that I am aware of which requires or even suggests divine influence.
The reason I ask is that many people are searching for reasons not to believe rather than reasons to believe.
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7_Sorrows
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EmperorNapoleon
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dmelosi
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DAML72
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That makes me so sad. God is everywhere - in every little nook and cranny of our lives. He is ALWAYS with us. He created us - He put us here on this beautiful earth with His other creations to enjoy and to sustain us. He feeds us, he clothes us - everything we have comes from Him. Why would you deny others that realization?I take issue with some Christians’ notion that everything is a miracle and that everything good that happens to you was the result of some divine intervention. I take issue with the notion that a God has any activity in anyone’s life in general. There’s not a single “miracle” that I am aware of which requires or even suggests divine influence.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11.
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EmperorNapoleon
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I work 40+ hours a week to feed, clothe, and house myself. I have never heard of any human being who is fed, clothed, or housed by the divine rather their own or another human being’s efforts.
Pick a few and I’d be happy to talk about them.
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ccmcmg
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105 miles is actually ‘close by’ to many of us in the Midwest, at least those outside of the few metro areas.While I do agree with the date connection to St. John Vianney, St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood, MO is about 105 miles away from Center, MO. A close relative attended school there and my son considered going there as well, so I know the school isn’t close to the accident site. But, that doesn’t negate the idea that St. John Vianney was involved in this lovely story and had an influence on the positive outcome.
I think it’s interesting that there are differing opinions on what the priest looked like. Perhaps what was seen was what each witness could visualize or relate to.
I also pray that it will convert hearts and the thwart the spread of atheism, which has started to touch my own family.
Yes; for them to feel the same thing in the same way at the same time, even perhaps non-believers, or people who didn’t realize what was going on, was truly an Act from God.I personally do not believe that he was an angel, as some claim. I think he is this generation’s Padre Pio (who could bi-locate). They can’t find him because he is hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
For the doubters, how do you explain everyone feeling a feeling of peace and calm? The professionals are used to this type of work. I kinda doubt that they needed someone there to “calm them down”.
Miracle. End of.
I believe in miracles as well. I’ve experienced them. I don’t need the Church to verify them, but I also think that things like Fatima and such reach more people once approved by the Church.
Very good.
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daisybee
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I see… your uncertainty about whether God exists prevents any conclusions about whether God is active in each individual’s life. At least you seem curious to try to discover the answer about whether God exists…right? Since it’s such an important question, reading would be useful, from Internet articles catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/evolution/natura.htm to writings by C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain). Finding informed people in your area to help answer the questions would be useful too. Is there a professor or clergyman you could make an appointment with? If you ever were to embrace the truth of God’s existence, you could then investigate whether He is all-good and all-powerful…those are important prerequisites to recognizing His activity in our lives. (If He’s all good and all-powerful, He’s not going to be disinterested, absent, or unconcerned about what happens to us.) You’d also need to investigate free will to learn more about why evil occurs.I take issue with some Christians’ notion that everything is a miracle and that everything good that happens to you was the result of some divine intervention. I take issue with the notion that a God has any activity in anyone’s life in general. There’s not a single “miracle” that I am aware of which requires or even suggests divine influence.
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rcwitness
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…and what will this get you in the next life? If you do not give thanks to the Lord for the things you receive now because you have faith, why will he continue to give you the greater life at that time?
He desires those who care about true brotherhood, repentance for wrong doing, doing for others what we would want, seeking His will not our own.
In the end, we cannot do what God demands. It is infinitely more than man can do,…yet we were created in His image! So He provided for us a means to be acceptable to God…the Spirit of His Son, so we can become sons.
You are proud of the way you support yourself in this moment in time. Do you not know that many people cannot do what you are blessed to be able to do, even though they are willing to work harder and for less than you do? One day you will be asked to give an account for everything you have been given. If you say,“I worked for it” what good will it do you after you are done here on earth?
God bless you. I’m glad you are here…in the forum
May God open your heart to His goodness
Michael
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Prieldedi
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I have discussed this story with a more knowledgeable person in Church matters, and he told me these are the possibilities that can explain this “mystery” priest:
- He is a priest who arrived and left unnoticed when everyone was paying attention to the injured girl. Nothing supernatural here.
- He is a saint and a priest in heaven who was sent by God to come to this accident, perform his duties and return.
- He is a “living” saint, living somewhere else on the planet, a priest who has the gift of ubiquity or bi-location.
- The priest was not an angel. The reason is that only a priest can administer the Sacraments. The priest in the accident administered the injured girl the Anointing of the Sick sacrament. An angel can’t do that. Only a man, a man of God, a priest.
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startarrant
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I am betting this was an FSSP Priest en route to or from Lincoln NB via St Joseph city and Center, MO (summer vacation, assignment, retreat, studies, etc) who did his work then got out of the way to let others do theirs. We’re all praying for Katie – her example fo asking for the prayers of her rescue team is also a beacon of Light to all as God’s Providence is never lacking in perfect Love – so keep us posted as we learn more.
Hope this Priest lets the Light of Truth shine brightly in this matter. No room for false pride as this is a simple matter of a Priest’s simple duty.
ALL priests need to know and resolve to stop whenever there is an accident and provide the relief of this 7th Sacrament to the injured, dying, etc. No priest should ever drive anywhere without his Blessed Stole and Holy Oils in the glove compartment for such an occasion since this is why priests are ordained – to administer the Sacraments and offer the Sacrifice of the Most Holy Mass.
The example of Fr Stephen McGraw in DC when the terrorists smashed into the Pentagon is another example of how God uses His Priests “as Angels” of Mercy when we are injured or dying. (Fr McGraw was newly ordained that June 2001 and tended to “run late” for appointments. Just prior to 911, Fr McGraw passed an accident (and was running late) and later confessed that he had resolved never to pass the scene of an accident again no matter what – that moment came a few days later while Fr McGraw was driving late to another appointment past the Pentagon in DC just as the plane exploded into the Pentagon. Fr McGraw left his car, grabbed his travel Stole (made by my mother as a gift for his Ordination) and Holy Oils and made his way to the crash site where the first triage victims alive and dead were dying or being treated … when there were no more to Anoint, Fr McGraw remained praying for their souls and the responding emergency teams working at the crash scene.
There is also quite a bit of good Catholic Catechsis and Evangelization taking place on the internet and elsewhere as a result of this simple act of a Priest doing his simple duty.
I will add the text of an interview with Fr McGraw:
Hope this Priest lets the Light of Truth shine brightly in this matter. No room for false pride as this is a simple matter of a Priest’s simple duty.
ALL priests need to know and resolve to stop whenever there is an accident and provide the relief of this 7th Sacrament to the injured, dying, etc. No priest should ever drive anywhere without his Blessed Stole and Holy Oils in the glove compartment for such an occasion since this is why priests are ordained – to administer the Sacraments and offer the Sacrifice of the Most Holy Mass.
The example of Fr Stephen McGraw in DC when the terrorists smashed into the Pentagon is another example of how God uses His Priests “as Angels” of Mercy when we are injured or dying. (Fr McGraw was newly ordained that June 2001 and tended to “run late” for appointments. Just prior to 911, Fr McGraw passed an accident (and was running late) and later confessed that he had resolved never to pass the scene of an accident again no matter what – that moment came a few days later while Fr McGraw was driving late to another appointment past the Pentagon in DC just as the plane exploded into the Pentagon. Fr McGraw left his car, grabbed his travel Stole (made by my mother as a gift for his Ordination) and Holy Oils and made his way to the crash site where the first triage victims alive and dead were dying or being treated … when there were no more to Anoint, Fr McGraw remained praying for their souls and the responding emergency teams working at the crash scene.
There is also quite a bit of good Catholic Catechsis and Evangelization taking place on the internet and elsewhere as a result of this simple act of a Priest doing his simple duty.
I will add the text of an interview with Fr McGraw:
Code:
On the morning of Sept. 11, after celebrating 8:30 a.m. Mass with the children of Corpus Christi School, I headed toward Arlington National Cemetery to preside at a 10 a.m. graveside service. Already running late and unsure of my route, I mistakenly took the Pentagon exit and found myself in standstill traffic, in front of a huge building that I later learned was the Pentagon. (Fr McGraw was lost and disoriented as a result of a "wrong turn" -- calk one up for God's Providence.)
I put my hands to my head in dismay, anticipating my late arrival for the prayer service. I had no awareness of the incoming plane until it was above our cars, having knocked over the street lamp at the edge of the road. After seeing the plane crash a split-second later, I assumed that it was a terrible accident, and, with my holy oil and stole and manual of care for the sick, I left my car, crossed over the other lanes of traffic, which remained at a standstill, and onto the lawn of the Pentagon.
During the next half hour, I was able to minister to a few of the injured victims, praying near them, speaking words of consolation...
[catholicherald.com/articles/02a.../mcgraw0905.htm](http://www.catholicherald.com/articles/02a.../mcgraw0905.htm)
"The traffic was very slow moving, and at one point just about at a standstill," said McGraw, a Catholic priest at St. Anthony Parish in Falls Church.
"I was in the left hand lane with my windows closed. I did not hear anything at all until the plane was just right above our cars." McGraw estimates that the plane passed about 20 feet over his car, as he waited in the left hand lane of the road, on the side closest to the Pentagon.
"The plane clipped the top of a light pole just before it got to us, injuring a taxi driver, whose taxi was just a few feet away from my car.
"I saw it crash into the building," he said. "My only memories really were that it looked like a plane coming in for a landing. I mean in the sense that it was controlled and sort of straight. That was my impression," he said.
"I hadn't heard about the World Trade Center at that point, and so I was thinking this was an accident. I figured it was just an accident.
"There was an explosion and a loud noise and I felt the impact. I remember seeing a fireball come out of two windows (of the Pentagon). I saw an explosion of fire billowing through those two windows.
"I remember hearing a gasp or scream from one of the other cars near me. Almost a collective gasp it seemed. I just knew right away what I needed to do."
[dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/6...ws/10772-1.html](http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/6...ws/10772-1.html)
[Another eyewitness -- Dick Eastman -- who saw Fr McGraw anointing the dying states: ]
I was at the Navy Annex, up the hill from the Pentagon when I heard the explosion. I always keep a digital camera in my backpack briefcase just as a matter of habit. When the explosion happened I ran down the hill to the site and arrived there approximately *10 minutes* after the explosion.
[groups.yahoo.com/group/frameup/message/1254](http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frameup/message/1254)
[Another eyewitness -- Mark Faram -- states:]
"He [Fr Stephen McGraw] literally had the stole in one hand and a prayer book in the other and in one fluid motion crossed the guardrail," said Mark Faram, a reporter from the Navy Times who witnessed McGraw in the first moments after the crash.
Within 45 seconds, McGraw was on the lawn of the Pentagon to provide spiritual comfort to the injured.
[dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/6...ws/10772-1.html](http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/6...ws/10772-1.html)
[Fr. Stephen McGraw is a former US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT attorney, now an Opus Dei Priest. Fr McGraw was also on Northbound Rt 27, in the left hand lane, a few feet from the Taxi Driver.]
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Secret_Square
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It leaves us asking, why. For Protestants, it’s,“Why a Priest?” And for Catholics, its…well, why not?
One possible answer was posed by someone who described himself/herself as a cousin of the injured young woman; he/she posted comments to this effect at one of the British newspaper websites (yes, it made news “across the pond”): This figure was an angel who appeared as a priest in clerical dress because it was the best way to gain admittance to the accident site. If he had appeared in street clothes, the police would have assumed he was just some morbidly curious gawker and turned him away.
Having once been involved in the charismatic movement, I know that there are Protestant churches that practice anointing with oil for healing and strength, since it is specificially mentioned in the Bible (the Epistle of James). It may not be quite the same as our sacrament of Anointing of the Sick – just as their Lord’s Supper is not exactly the same as our Eucharist – but it is not completely foreign to them either.
One possible answer was posed by someone who described himself/herself as a cousin of the injured young woman; he/she posted comments to this effect at one of the British newspaper websites (yes, it made news “across the pond”): This figure was an angel who appeared as a priest in clerical dress because it was the best way to gain admittance to the accident site. If he had appeared in street clothes, the police would have assumed he was just some morbidly curious gawker and turned him away.
Having once been involved in the charismatic movement, I know that there are Protestant churches that practice anointing with oil for healing and strength, since it is specificially mentioned in the Bible (the Epistle of James). It may not be quite the same as our sacrament of Anointing of the Sick – just as their Lord’s Supper is not exactly the same as our Eucharist – but it is not completely foreign to them either.
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alfaman2000
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yes…very true…wonder why someone has not got a composite based on actual eye witness…it’s also disturbing that very little mention of priest doing the rosary while on location
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alfaman2000
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yes, but this priest was praying the rosary as well… is there a protestant church
that does that along with anointing oil?
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SwizzleStick
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Okay. I grew up in the Midwest, in rural Missouri and I still live here in Missouri. I don’t consider 105 miles close, but that is just my personal opinion, though that has probably changed over the years since I moved to the suburbs.105 miles is actually ‘close by’ to many of us in the Midwest, at least those outside of the few metro areas.
Before I married and moved, I used to drive 100 miles a day to get to and from work in St. Louis and never considered that anything but routine, though not close. Last year I drove 100 miles a day to get my kids to and from their schools and to get myself to and from work. Again, that was routine, but not close in my mind.Anyway, I do see a date connection to St. John Vianney.
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migueltojose
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To somebody in the area, 105 miles is pretty far… To somebody in England or Europe, or Brazil or even Texas… 105, miles is pretty darn close, given the circumstances, the fact that the Saint of the Day on Aug 4th was St John Vianney, patron of Priests… it’s pretty cool any way you look at it. I’m waiting for more answers but they haven’t been forthcoming… meanwhile we can only speculate…Okay. I grew up in the Midwest, in rural Missouri and I still live here in Missouri. I don’t consider 105 miles close, but that is just my personal opinion, though that has probably changed over the years since I moved to the suburbs.
Anyway, I do see a date connection to St. John Vianney.
I’m actually skeptical by nature. I like statistics. The other night I rolled a large straight in YAHTZEE three times in a row (Same numbers, one thru five,) What are the odds. 1 out of 64, times 64, times 64… or 64 cubed or 1 out of 262,144 (if I did my math right, it could be a lot higher.). I think maybe I’ve played YAHTZEE maybe 50 times in my life.
What are the odds of this occurence with the mysterious Priest? Doesn’t really matter… it happened. One in a gazillion. Doesn’t matter it happened. That’s what happens in life all the time. I belive in miracles. I believe in statistics and probabalities. I am amazed by both. I’m curious but it really doesn’t matter… much.
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RACJ
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Napoleon, as an agnostic, you come here to ostensibly discover whether there is or is not objective truth. But you arrive with a closed mind, and you are something of a contrarian who rejects sincere attempts to persuade out of hand. It seems to me that you enjoy being a foil.I take issue with some Christians’ notion that everything is a miracle and that everything good that happens to you was the result of some divine intervention. I take issue with the notion that a God has any activity in anyone’s life in general. There’s not a single “miracle” that I am aware of which requires or even suggests divine influence.
I will say one thing: Evidence is abundant in nature, and only those who choose to ignore the forest and see only the trees of suffering can fail to see it. Human brain synapses can fire an unimaginable ten million billion times per second, Sir. This phenomenon cannot be due to chance, clearly. Hopefully, you will one day reach the point when you can accept that human wisdom is finite, and that there are many mysteries which belong in God’s domain alone, whether or not we like that fact. Blessings, Rob
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Lasting_faith
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Did a miracle happen? Yes. Still, you need to belive in The RCC more and not in miracle. Wait until The Holy See give a statement. It is very important that we follow Church rules in a miracle that is as huge as this. The Catholic Church have many [good] reasons to be careful before declare a genuine miracle has happen. And keep on praying for the victim, you seem to have totally forget her, and she is the one in need of our prayers. Still, do not forget to thank God for this one.
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