A (miraculous?) story and a question

I wanted to share with you all a quick story and also pose a related question. To give a brief backstory, my father, who is 84 years old, has never been the religious type. He had a complicated relationship with the Church (I do believe he was baptized at birth, but am not 100% sure if he made his First Communion or Confirmation.), and as a child, I had never seen him pray or do anything remotely religious. During my First Communion, he stood at the back of the church for a few minutes to watch before going back home across the street to wait for our post-Communion celebration. Over the years, he praised well-known atheists and people who taught evolution, trying to argue with teenage and adult me during car rides, slamming me for believing in God. He was obsessed with space and science. I can't count the number of times he lectured me for not seeing and continuing to believe.

That said, over the past two years, his health began to quickly decline, and I noticed a slight softening in him. He asked me out of nowhere around that time if I could print out the Our Father prayer in his native language, and my mother reported to me that she had noticed him reading it nearly every night before bed. She never asked him about it, afraid that it would embarrass him and put him off doing it. I was elated, but soon those old comments came up again, and I am ashamed to say I slacked off on my prayers, entering a period of lukewarmness for a while. Recently, I felt a huge pull to "get right" with God again, and redouble my prayers for certain people, my dad included. After he was moved to a long-term care home (he is bedbound now), I had a green scapular and miraculous medal blessed, and I hid them in his room. This was about a month ago. I included him in my intentions for the St. Joseph novena I finished today, as well. I spoke to my mother on the phone yesterday, and she told me that he very recently began crossing himself many times a day and told her that he prays for her. I was FLOORED. I do not exaggerate when I say that I have never in my life seen my father make the sign of the cross. This HAS to be the work of Our Lord, Our Lady, and St. Joseph. I feel as though I must redouble the prayers for my father and those people in my usual intentions because if grace has gotten my father this far, let's get him over the finish line, so to speak! I remember the testimony of Marino Restrepo, and how he explained that our prayers may be the thread keeping a soul from hell. I want my father to have a rope, not a thread.

Now comes my question... I have heard of people purchasing St. Benedict and miraculous medals in bulk, having them blessed, and then burying them in certain places (e.g., abortion clinics) or sewing them into the lining of their family's clothing while continuing to pray. I strongly want to do this (not superstitiously, of course), but would buying 50 medals be going overboard? Or is it better to do too much than too little?

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph, now and forever!!!

 

Buying 50 pcs is okay, you can keep the unused pieces in reserve in case you decide to use or give them...

 

What a great blessing that your father is praying, praise Jesus! I have been known to hide miraculous medals in my son's belongings, nothing wrong with that. Perhaps your father is ready to accept the miraculous medal and scapular, they may bring him much comfort. The next time you visit you could just leave them by his bedside with prayer cards. They also sell a brown scapular with a St.Benedict medal attached, he may surprise you and wear it.

 

How wonderful! Keep those prayers going! I don't think buying St. Benedict medals in bulk is overboard at all! I've done it myself, lol. I got them from the monks at Clear Creek Abbey, and they blessed them before shipping them to me. I've put them in and around the foundation of my home, my children, husband and I wear them, and I have the rest stashed away for whatever I feel drawn to use them for in the future.

 

This is amazing!!! My Dad is just like yours, but no signs of conversion yet. I have been praying hard for him for decades. This post gives me great hope!

 

Good to know we can order from them. I want to put them around our property too along with blessed salt. However I can only do the immediate environs. We have 62 acres. I will never be able to walk it.

 

This is a miracle of grace. Very comforting to those of us praying for our loved ones.

 

My goodness, that is a lot of land! A great blessing.

 

What a wonderful story. What a wonderful turnaround! The fact that he is making the Sign of the Cross shows the Holy Spirit and his guardian angel are tugging at his heart. Give the Lord an inch and He'll go the extra mile!May Our Lady cover him with her Mantle to protect him from the whispering lies of JoeJerk!. O my guardian angel join this day with Memorare's guardian angel to intercede for her Dad!

 

Yes. It is a blessing. A great blessing. St Joseph brought us to it 37 years ago in a miraculous series of events. Its mostly woods but lots of garden space and lots of springs.

 

I’m moving right now

 

Wonderful .

In the Sacristy of our Traditional Church I see the truckloads of stuff to be blessed, candles, rosaries. Medals, candles, salt , oil statues, pictures. , scapular, and often these bags of little medals. I used to wonder what they did with them .

Now I know. There is no harm in it, maybe much good . But I wouldn't be particularly drawn to it myself .

Maybe were there is evidence of Diabolical activity. But apart from tha it would not be my thing .

 

But there's no harm in it .

I wouldn't be enthusiastic, unless the devil is involved.

My own home is like a holy shop

 

Beautiful story. Personally I have purchased quite a few religious items over the years. Many I have placed in church baskets for others to take as they need, and others I give to people when feel moved, but I still like to keep my own personal inventory of them in case they are needed to be given to others in the future. I am not one though to put them in places unbeknownst to others except when I put them into the church baskets or place a green scapular under my children's mattresses.

My father of late is struggling in the other direction. He spends so much time watching the news that he is just so upset with the state of the world. He is a veteran so this is especially troubling to him what he sees. Just a few days ago he was so upset with God because he is tired of hearing of women and children being kidnapped and raped. He simply said the same line that many do and said I have a hard time believing in God when women and children suffer so much and don't say to me it is free will because that doesn't make it any better to me. To which I said well dad it is free will but maybe in a way you aren't thinking. Why is it God's job to stop this suffering? It is good people like yourself who should be stopping this suffering and unfortunately we are at a point where there are many fighting but there are countless more who do nothing. That is the real question to be asking. Not why God let's this happen, why are so many silent right now and not fighting to stop all this. He said well it sure seems like evil is winning. I said yes, that is what the enemy wants you to believe but it is also quite biblical. It was spoken often in the bible that the end of an era would would as bad as it was in the days of Noah. In fact even Jesus said that when he returns will he even find faith in the world. So please keep you faith. Keep praying and keep believing. I don't think he loved my answer but he did at least listen to it and will think on it. My father has had a hard hard religious life. He was one of the many abused by priests when he was a little boy so his faith and disdain for the church is real sadly.

 

I find the greatest consolation at the minute when buried in so much evil in considering the Passion, especially in the Stations of the Cross .

They remind me that were we walk Jesus walked before .

 

God love your Da ~

Someone once asked Fulton Sheen why God allowed such suffering in the world. It was said he pointed straight to a Crucifix and said "remember, the Innocent always suffer for the guilty" ~

 

People should remember that the Church was founded in disaster.

Fulton Sheen.

..the disaster of the Cross.

 

Yes I have lots on hand .we never know when we will want to help others.

 

O Mary conceived without sin, through your intercession may Jesus heal the wounds of the heart of Andy's Dad and may the Holy Spirit fill him with joy and peace! May he rout the enemy by forgiving his abusers!

 

Many forget that Christianity is a religion of hope, not of negativism and pessimism. We believe in a God who condescended to the insignificance of man, persecuted from birth to death, finally tortured and crucified.

Only the Catholic faith does not rest on the death of Good Friday, but on the hope (resurrection ) of Easter Sunday. However, you can't get to Easter if Friday doesn't pass before that, and that's where many stumble. First you have to carry the cross, and then comes the glory. That's life, God has shown us the way, it's up to us to decide.

After all, why dwell on negativism when there are so many beautiful and positive things in the world and around us, we are just overloaded with the bad that we have lost all the good around us. When a person gets up, isn't that already something positive, when he sees nice weather outside, when someone smiles at us, opens the door, when you find a parking lot when it's crowded... How many little things we can do for others.
What a person feeds on, that is what he becomes. Buy him biographies of Padre Pio type saints with life stories. It pulls it out from the deepest depths. Stay positive )))