Miracle in Missouri

Posted

On Good Friday, April 8, 1966, Time magazine published its iconic cover with three simple words: Is God Dead? Today, 57 years later, many in our society have turned away from God. They don’t believe. They can’t see God in a world filled with anger, confusion and hate.

If God was on trial for his existence, a good lawyer could present enough evidence to convince a jury — and you — that God is Alive.

On Dec. 7, 2022, I wrote about the miracle of Guadalupe. In that column, I listed six pieces of evidence of the divine.

This spring, God has given us more evidence in the small town of Gower, Missouri. Part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, with a population of just 1,526 at the 2010 census, thousands of believers are traveling there to see a modern-day miracle.

Sr. Wilhelmina, a Catholic nun of the Most Holy Rosary, died at the age of 95 four years ago on May 29, 2019. The foundress of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, was buried in a plain wooden casket. Her sisters, in the order, reportedly dug her grave by hand. Her body was not embalmed.

With the construction of a new altar, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, “decided the rightful place of our holy foundress was in the Church.”

This is not unusual.

On April 28, Sr. Wilhelmina’s body was exhumed. The sisters discovered her body in “remarkably preserved condition,” even though the top of the casket had caved in and her body was covered with dirt.

Other items that were preserved included her profession candle, crucifix and rosary and the flowers she had been buried with.

The monastery said her religious habit, “made from natural fibers,” was completely preserved. Although the lining of the coffin “was completely deteriorated and gone,” her veil, made of the same synthetic material, was “perfectly intact.”

As reported on livescience.com, “A body buried without a coffin, which doesn’t have protection from insects and other elements, typically skeletonizes within five years, according to Nicholas Passalacqua, an associate professor at the Forensic Osteology Research Station at Western Carolina University.”

This miracle is called “incorruptibility.”

Sr. Wilhelmina’s body was reinterred in its new location in the monastery’s church last Thursday.

Another miracle a lawyer would present to a jury is “stigmata.” This is where an individual suffers the wounds of Christ during his crucifixion. The stigmatic develops wounds that bleed from the hands, feet and sometimes on the side (from the spear) and the hairline (from the crown of thorns).

St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) was the first person known to suffer from stigmata. Since then, many others (mostly women) claim to have experienced Jesus’ physical torment. The Catholic Church has authenticated 12 of them.

Catalina (Katya) Rivas, a housewife and grandmother from Cochabamba, Bolivia, has been filmed live suffering from stigmata. Called “Signs from God,” the video was broadcast on Fox Network in July 1999 to over 20 million viewers.

Through a message from Jesus, she predicted the exact date two months in advance that the stigmata was to take place.

The video, according to the journalist covering the event, says it is heartbreaking and frightening as Katya’s pain, over several hours, affects everyone in the room.

The next day she was recovered with signs of her bleeding wounds almost completely healed.

Still skeptical…watch the video and listen to the journalist on youtube. Just search Catalina Rivas.

Perhaps the most famous stigmatic was Francesco Forgione (1887-1968), better known as Padre Pio or Pio of Pietrelcina. Canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002, Padre Pio bore the marks of the stigmata for 50 years before his death in 1968. Examining Padre Pio’s body, the doctor at his deathbed observed that the wounds of the stigmata were healed entirely, without any trace or scar.

After researching Padre Pio, to play him in the movie of that name, actor Shia LaBeouf, famous for his roles in the “Transformers” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” converted to Christianity and joined the Catholic church. The film, “Padre Pio,” was released in theaters on Friday.

If you are looking for more, check out the book, “Reasons to Believe.”