Do you know anyone who could very well, at some point in the future, be an official blessed or canonized? In my case, in the old scout group there was a priest who I think was concealing all his gifts or depth of understanding. For him the afterlife was an ever-present reality and Im sad back then I was a rather bad person and couldn't learn from him properly. He mentioned some stuff about exorcisms but didn't want to disclose too much, I suspect he partook in exorcism or at least has personally seen and fought a demonic entity he was also part of an Order so that means extra graces too? i think alphonsus liguori said order-members have the highest responsibility and spiritual gain out of all religious people
I don't know him personnally but I would say Bishop Alvarez in Nicauagua is a martyr, therefore a saint.
I would not know in a personal way anyone that would be officially canonized. I have been blessed though to have been in presence ( usually in big crowds ) of declared saints, including Popes John Paul II and Benedict, and Mother Theresa. I’ve also been in presence of a few who may one day be declared saints including Cardinals Cooke and O’Connor. But, I would say in my heart , there have been people I’ve been close to including my mother and mother in law who while never being declared official saints, in my heart they are. They lived heroic and virtuous lives.
Wow I am blessed to know, have known two! The first is Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was the Bishop of my diocese when I came back to the Church and who I had the honor of having a casual family dinner with some friends who invited him. We all sat outside on the patio after dinner and although I was a little in awe simply because he was our Bishop, he was so down to earth and just felt so manly yet so HOLY! Like an Angel warrior type. The second is a priest I have known practically all my life, Father Edmund Klimek, who basically ran our local Catholic Hospitals. He was there for every single dying person in our area no matter their faith, or non faith, and even had a well know miracle to my husbands friend, who was even on Oprah! My husband's friend was blinded at work when an explosion blew out his eyes. He went to school to become a physical therapist and ended up working blind at Father Klimek's hospital. One day after Father prayed for him and blessed him, he said he walked outside to go home and he saw Jesus! However, it was the huge statue of Jesus that Father had put at the entrance of the Hospital. Suddenly he could see, yet he had no eyes!! It was proclaimed a miracle and his doctors were of course stumped. Anyway, Father Klimek was involved in Catholic Medical Ethics throughout the US and an extremely holy man known to all not just in my area but the Church and the Pope, which is why I think it might be likely he is pronounced a Saint at some point. Rev. Msgr. Edmund J. Klimek (chausa.org) There is also a short video Lifetime Achievement - Rev. Msgr. Edmund J. Klimek - YouTube that shows the huge white statue of Jesus for a second. He died shortly after this award but if you talked to anyone in our area, they loved him and said he was there for someone they loved at some point.
I don't think I've truly known anyone I think is a saint, but I did feel compelled to go to Cardinal Burke after Mass when he was visiting and ask him to pray for me to be able to have children. He took my hands and prayed for me, and it didn't feel like any ordinary encounter. He looked right into my eyes like we knew each other, and I felt profound holiness and fatherliness from him. He told me he would continue to pray for me, and he said it with such sincerity like he really truly cared. Then there were the two Medjugorje visionaries I believe are saints. Vicka and Mirjana. When Vicka took my hand I felt a powerful bolt of electricity go through me. I didn't even know at the time, but she suffers such horrific pain it puts her into comas, even though she has the most joyful smile of anyone I've ever seen. She bilocates and has obtained healing for many people. She's one of those big saints but I don't think most people realize. Mirjana is so humble and down-to-earth but you can tell she greatly suffers without talking about it. When I was staying in her building with my 4 year old son, she was very drawn to him and would serve him at the breakfast and dinner table very specially and personally. Her face would light up with joy when she saw him and once took his face in her hands and thanked me for bringing him. I watched her once as a woman wanted to take her picture, and she was so uncomfortable with it, she kept shying away and not allowing it. She would allow people to take a picture with her, but she would never allow herself to be the center of attention. Oh...perhaps my favorite priest growing up is a saint! His name is Fr. Dennis. He is Irish and was an opera singer before he left that career path to be a priest. He is the sweetest, humblest, wisest person I've ever known. A man of deep prayer with a twinkle in his eye.
