Bleeding Hands, Weeping Stone

Elizabeth Ficocelli

Description

Miracles are real! Popular Catholic author and speaker, Elizabeth Ficocelli reveals signs of God's loving hand in history's most magnificent miracles. In brisk, easy to read accounts, Ficocelli relates these amazing (and true!) stories. Bleeding Hands, Weeping Stone explains why God performs miracles and what our disposition should be toward them. Some miracles are quiet and simple, some are dramatic-bordering on outrageous-but all of them astound and continually inflame our hearts to greater faith and more ardent love.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology
• Mysteries
• Catholic Church
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: St. Benedict Press LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781935302933
• Langue: English

Extrait

Bleeding Hands, Weeping Stone
T RUE S TORIES OF D IVINE W ONDERS , M IRACLES, AND M ESSAGES
Bleeding Hands, Weeping Stone
T RUE S TORIES OF D IVINE W ONDERS , M IRACLES, AND M ESSAGES
Elizabeth Ficocelli
Saint Benedict Press Charlotte, North Carolina 2009
2010 Elizabeth Ficocelli
All rights reserved. With the excpetion of short excerpts used in articles and critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, printed or electronic, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-935302-93-3 ISBN:193-530-2-930
Cover design by Tony Pro
Printed and Bound in the United States of America

SAINT BENEDICT PRESS, LLC Charlotte, North Carolina 2010
Publisher s Note
Some of the miraculous phenomena related in this book are hundreds of years old; some of them are modern-day, and involve persons still living or events still alleged to be occurring. We believe that God didn t stop working miracles long ago, in some more-credulous age, but that he continues working them in the world today, even (or especially) in our age of widespread unbelief. For this reason we think it s important at least to report on some of the more-reputable miraculous claims of our time.
The Church may condemn alleged miracles, or declare them to be non-supernatural, at any time, but it will never give its approval until after -sometimes long after-they have ceased, so that they might be evaluated in their entirety. Some recent phenomena included in this book, therefore, may not have yet received Church approval; some, perhaps, never will. Saint Benedict Press makes no claims as to their authenticity. But at the time of publication, none of them have been condemned, and each bears at least the primary mark that all authentic miracles must bear: they humbly point the way to Christ and his Church.
For Father Samuel Leonard, God s special miracle to our family
E.F .
C ONTENTS
Publisher s Note
Preface
Introduction: Welcome to the Age of Miracles
Chapter 1. Jesus, in the Flesh: Eucharistic Miracles
Chapter 2. Pierced by the Spirit: Stigmata
Chapter 3. A Well-Preserved Secret: Incorrupt Bodies
Chapter 4. Defying Logic, Reason-Even Gravity! Supernatural Saints
Chapter 5. Visions, Visitors, and Voices: Apparitions
Chapter 6. A Far Cry From the Ordinary: Weeping Statues and Images
Chapter 7. Where Do We Go from Here?
Additional Reading
About the Author
P REFACE
S everal years ago, I had the pleasure of taking two of my teenage sons to hear Catholic speaker Jason Evert at a local parish. Jason s an accomplished author and speaker best known for his lively and engaging presentations on chastity for teen audiences. This particular evening, however, his talk was titled, What s So Great about Being Catholic?
For the next hour or so, in his animated and humorous style, Jason named plenty of terrific reasons for being Catholic. He talked about the sacraments, the Pope, the universality of the Church; but it was when he began to touch upon the mystical side of the Faith that I noticed the greatest reaction from his teenage audience. As he tantalized them with stories of consecrated hosts that have actually bled during Mass, dead bodies that have never rotted, and saints that could fly, the audience was drawn in immediately. The more he talked, the more they listened. I watched as they leaned further and further on the edges of their seats. Their mouths dropped open in astonishment, and they turned to look at their neighbors with shaking heads and widened eyes.
I knew exactly how these young people were feeling that night. These were precisely the kinds of stories that sparked my own interest when I entered the Catholic Church as a young adult in the early 80s. I remember reading about miracles like these and being completely blown away, because such things were never talked about in my Protestant upbringing. Discovering how God reveals himself to his people in such extraordinary and wonderful ways was like stumbling upon a hidden treasure that would forever leave an impression on me. It made my new Catholic faith even more mysterious, intriguing, attractive, and respectable.
A quick poke of my neighbor s elbow interrupted my thoughts. It was a good friend I had invited to hear Jason speak. Elizabeth, she whispered insistently in my ear. I ve been a Catholic all my life. Why have I never heard these things before? I didn t have an answer for my friend that night, but her question would rattle around my brain long after. That evening, a seed was planted. It had become clear to me that there was a real need and a ready audience-young and not so young, Catholic and even non-Catholic-to hear once again the stories of our mystical faith that in recent decades have stopped being told.
My thinking is this: if God has gone through all this trouble to get our attention in such creative and marvelous ways, the least we can do is sit up and take notice.
I NTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Age of Miracles
Thanks to the explosion of computer technology in the past fifteen years or so, we are living in a pretty amazing time. If our great, great, great, great grandparents could have seen how computers would absolutely revolutionize human existence in the modern age, they probably would have called it miraculous.
For those who have grown up with it, computer technology seems perfectly normal and even hum-drum. We take for granted how it has affected almost every aspect of our lives: how we communicate, how we work, how we drive, how we shop, how we eat-and even how we are entertained. Thanks to the magic of computer-generated special effects, for example, most anything a screen-writer or director dreams up can be made to appear on a TV or movie screen. And the audiences eat it up faster than they eat their buckets of popcorn! Just look at the top grossing movies of all time-the real blockbusters. You won t find quiet films about two lovers in the countryside on the list. The big winners are movies packed with space ships and dragons and magic and monsters and super-human strength and mind powers. The more fantastic the idea and the more outlandish the effects, the more movie critics and audiences alike rave, Awesome! Mind-Boggling! Unreal!
And you know what? That s exactly what it is. Unreal .
Now, I can t blame people for being drawn to things that are unreal. After all, reality can be pretty discouraging, even downright scary at times. That s a fact. But what if I were to tell you there are lots of amazing, unexplainable, out-of-this-world phenomena that have happened in the past-and continue to happen today-all without the help of computer technology and special effects? Things that are beyond belief and yet one hundred percent real ? That s exactly the kind of stories you ll find in this book.
Now, these aren t the kinds of stories we usually hear at Sunday Mass, or in religion class. Many of them are like hidden treasures, stored away in the attic of the Faith. But that doesn t mean they re not important. Fact is, our Catholic Faith is full of fantastic and mystical (and true) tales. If you don t believe me, crack open the Bible and start reading. I guarantee it won t be long before you stumble upon something supernatural, like Abraham and the burning bush that talks. Or the prophet Elijah being served his dinner in the desert by ravens. Or a small shepherd boy named David taking out a giant with a stone and a leather strap. Then there s the matter of seas parting, bread falling from heaven, city walls crumbling at the sound of horns and voices...and we haven t even gotten to the New Testament yet. That s when things really get interesting! Like a young girl named Mary getting pregnant by the Holy Spirit in order to bear the Son of God. Or a star leading wise men from the east to a little town called Bethlehem, many countries away. Or the awesome signs and wonders Jesus and his apostles performed, such as healing the sick, multiplying food, and even raising the dead.
Certainly, God s becoming one of us and walking around the earth to show us how much he loves has to be the most amazing miracle of all. But it wasn t the last. God is still here with us. Maybe he s not as visible as Jesus was to people of Israel, but he s still very active and present in the world. Through his living word, the Bible, and the sacraments of the Church, he continues to teach and sanctify us. And every now and then, at times when our faith needs an extra push, he steps in and really catches our attention with something so awesome, so mind-boggling, that it seems unreal .
How exactly does God do this? Here are a few of his attention-grabbing techniques:
Real human flesh or blood appearing right on the altar in the middle of Mass
Raw, open sores that look just like the wounds of Jesus, mysteriously popping up on a person s hands, feet, head, and side
The body of a holy person refusing to rot-even hundreds of years after death
Saints demonstrating astonishing abilities to heal, read hearts, predict the future, glow, or even levitate like a magician
Visions of Jesus, Mary, the angels, or saints giving the world messages of encouragement and warning
Statues and other artwork actually weeping tears of oil, water, and blood
Sound more like a ghost story than religion? I can assure you, it s not. These are true and incredible gifts that God has been giving us for centuries. The Church painstakingly evaluates such occurrences before carefully giving its stamp of approval, as a way to protect and nurture the faithful. Authenticated miracles like the ones listed above have helped many people regain their faith at times when the world was working hard to lure them away with lies and empty promises. And, because the world is still doing this, perhaps more than ever, such remarkable events are still happening today, often to the surprise and confusion of modern scientists. So dare no