Antonietta Pray for Katie

 To Christians, when someone dies, it is not the end of life.  It is the beginning of a new life--eternal life.   If Jesus' Resurrection doesn't convince you, there are these scripture verses.  

Christians often ask for prayers for this or that, and even for one another.  Presently, I am soliciting prayers for a friend's wife, who is in dire condition in ICU.  Her name is Katie Field. Please pray for Katie Field, her seven children, and husband, Brandon this morning at your worship service. Her condition is dire, she needs a miracle, and your prayers make such a difference.

 In addition to asking for your prayers, Catholics also ask Mary and the saints to join in our prayers.  Remember, Mary and the saints, living in eternal life, are more alive than we are, and will pray too.

The family has also asked that when we pray, we specifically ask for the intercession of Venerable Antoinietta Meo.  Antoinietta died when she was seven and is considered venerable.

Every one dies and in heaven is considered a saint.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: 

 In the communion of saints, “a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.”

In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin (CCC1475).

In other words, we pray for those in purgatory and heaven and they pray for us--communion of saints.  But how do we know whether someone is in Purgatory, heaven or hell?  The church has a process to determine without a doubt whether or not someone is definitely in heaven.  This is the canonization process.  

The process to prove sainthood requires a lot of paperwork and investigations.  If miracles have incurred through a saint's intercession, the Vatican investigates.  

Antonietta is interceding for Katie Field.  Everyone is asking for Antonietta's intercession. Hopefully, through God's grace, Katie will be healed and the Vatican will add that miracle to Antonietta's canonization process.  This is why, I ask you to pray for a miracle to heal Katie, through the intercession of Antonietta Meo.

The Butterfly Garden

 Today is Good Friday.  To teach my grandchildren about the Resurrection, I brought them to a Butterfly Garden.

A caterpillar dies as a caterpillar and goes into a tomb-like chrysalis.  See the picture.  Eventually, he will start a new life as a beautiful butterfly.

The lesson was successful, even if I do say so, myself!

Proof of Life After Death

 Here are some pictures of a trail near where I live.

The other night we had a terrific thunderstorm and downpour.  Lightening must have struck and knocked down this tree.  The path is almost unpassable.  And there's evidence of fires, here and there.

But you know what.  Nature comes back.  Resurrection!  Change is intrinsic in nature.  Life comes back.  And if God takes that much care with trees and grass, etc., why wouldn't He do the same for Man.

Why Christians believe in Resurrection, Not Reincarnation

Why Christians believe in resurrection, not reincarnation: Denver, Colo., Apr 12, 2020 CNA.- Every time Christians recite the Apostles’ Creed, they affirm their belief in what will happen to them after death: “'I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting."

National Geographic

Whew! I was afraid I'd come back as a dung beetle.

We are the Children of Apostolic Witnesses

Scott Hann has an article in the Boston Pilot about the Resurrection.  It is quite compelling.  Please click on the link and read it.

Noël Coypel / Public Domain

Reaction of Jews and Romans to Resurrection of Christ

Reaction of Jews and Romans to resurrection of Christ: Q. I have always been puzzled by the lack of reaction to Christ's resurrection from Jewish citizens and Roman officials.

Oh, there was a reaction all right.  Read Matthew 28: 11-15.



What convinces me is the reaction of the Apostles.  Why would they all insist that Jesus rose from the dead?



There was no money in it.

There were no fame and glory in it.  In fact, they were persecuted.

What was in it for them except persecution and tortured to death? (John was exiled.)

And they all told the same story.



Read Father's Doyle in the link above.

Quiet but Earth Shattering

All day today I've been thinking about Jesus' Resurrection.  Isn't it amazing how a life changing, a world changing, and a history changing event, was known to only a few?  Most of the world had no idea what was going on.  That fact just boggles my mind.

It was known only to those whom loved Him.  

All are Alive Before God

Looking over the Readings for Sunday, the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, I am reminded of my post from yesterday, on the Communion of Saints.  My point, yesterday, was the spiritual bond that exists among those living presently, those in Purgatory, and those in heaven.  This Sunday's Readings, 2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14 and the Gospel of Luke 20: 27-38, mention this.

In Maccabees, seven sons were tortured to death.  They went willingly, rather than disdain Yahweh.  The fourth son said, while dying,

One cannot but choose to die at the hands of mortals and to cherish the hope God gives of being raised again by him...

In Luke's Gospel, the Sadducees, who don't believe in the resurrection, tried to trick Jesus by asking him a question about the widow of brothers.  Whose wife is she?  Jesus told them that our understanding of civil states of union won't matter in heaven.  It is so different.  In fact, Jesus says,

...He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to Him, all of them are alive.

That's the Communion of Saints.  The dead aren't dead.  They are living their eternal lives with God.

Even John Lennon said, death is like getting out of one car and into the next.

Amena Brown

Sweet!  I love this.  It's called Word Poetry.  The poet reading her poem Resurrection is Amena Brown.

Controversy

An incident happened yesterday at work, that required my defense of my faith. It surprised me.

It was not about the Pope and what he knew and didn't know about Fr. Murphy. It was not about the sex scandal, or pedophile priests, or the Eucharist, or anything else that its news.

It was about the Shroud of Turin.

The people I work with are all non practicing Catholics. One is a practicing Wiccan. So they all assume that they know all about the Catholic Church. IOW, you can't tell them anything because they all went to Catholic schools and were taught the erroneous ideas that they know hold.

The Wiccan happened to say that it was interesting to see how old the Shroud of Turin is and how they can determine how the person died and how old it was, etc. Well, it just so happens that I have my doubts that that shroud is Jesus'. I base my opinion on 1Corinthians 11:14. "For a man to wear his hair long is degrading."

St. Paul is a contemporary of Jesus. No, they did not know each other, but they lived at the same time, i.e., same fashions. No man, especially one not married would wear his hair long, because homosexuals did that. Jesus would not have wanted to take the chance of being labeled homosexual, especially if He were unmarried, which was unusual for a man at that time. Holy men married and had lots of children.

Anyway, that's why I have my doubts that the shroud is Jesus'. Well, the Wiccan said "I believe Jesus was married to Mary Magdalen." Another said "How can you believe that nails were hammered..." I retorted that their objections were historical facts, not religious. They finally settled on the Resurrection. They all agreed that the story of the Resurrection was just that, a story.

I did my best, but this is a matter of faith. Of course, now 24 hours after the fact, I'm going over what I should have said. What would Patrick Madrid have said?