Yes I think God was leading me to share my story (& my mum's story) as the thought of it just kept nagging at me till I did it. I've shared it with some Protestants too. I don't post online very often because of my social anxiety.. but I guess I feel safer in Christian groups.
Something I forgot to say but my mother told me when I was about 10 that Jesus told her that He was coming soon. As I was a child, she explained to me that "God's soon" is different to ours and that "His soon could be 50 years" because a thousand years is like a day to Him. Well, it's been almost 46 now. I've sometimes wondered because her vision happened between the 21st & 22nd, whether that meant 2021 & 2022 might be significant? And I wonder why she had that experience on 21st/22nd May 1976. I don't think it was a special day. But the 22nd May is the feast day of St Rita of Cascia and Mum seems to have a bit in common with St Rita... they were both wives & mothers, both had difficult husbands who needed conversion, and St Rita is a patron of infertility problems & my mother had infertility (till a doctor put her on Vitamin E which helped her eggs live enough to get fertilised). Plus St Rita is shown with a ray of light shining on her forehead from a Cross.
Another enjoyable post to read... if I'm like most people, some spiritual movies really talk to me...spiritual journey, it's at formed which we get in our parish: Saint Rita - Saint Rita - FORMED But it seems to be in many installments on youtube: Saint Rita of Cascia / full movie / part 1 - 1. - YouTube And battling the Black Plague is a significant part of this movie...it was like seeing it a whole different way. Philadelphia has the St. Rita Shrine: The National Shrine of Saint Rita of Cascia (saintritashrine.org) Yes, she is so sweet, St. Rita pray for us. Anna with the "Make A Mommy" blog, has an enthralling story on St. Rita, I think St. Rita pretty much made things right with her, though, the entry, if I remember correctly, included visits to a few shrines, I think St. Rita is one she really thanked. St. Rita of Cascia, Patron Saint of Infertility and Hopeless Causes - To Make a Mommy With St. Rita, I didn’t get the chance. I started to pray, “St. Rita,” and I felt I was immediately interrupted by her. I felt like I heard her say, “You’re already healed. Your baby is on her way.” I was shocked. I took a moment and tried again, “Oh, St. Rita, I . . .” and again I was interrupted. “You are healed. Your baby is on her way. You can go now.” I was unable to pray. I cried instead. Praying to St. Rita, for her intercession seems similar to when we go to St. Jude and some others, impossible cases.
Hi, can I ask you to look into the first nine holy Fridays, it's a beautiful thing to do in your lifetime.
Thanks for that, TinNM, I'll watch that St Rita movie. I hadn't heard of it before. I have seen a few Catholic movies... The Passion of the Christ, The Song of Bernadette, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952), and the Garabandal movie God Only Knows. And I've seen a few about St Francis... my mother & I watched the 1961 Francis of Assisi for the first time on Easter Sunday 1987. The scene where Francis blesses the animals always makes me cry That's how I wish we could all be with our fellow creatures.
Warm welcome DonnaMay I feel we don't just find this forum we are usually led here, may it become a safe refuge for you in times to come. God Bless.
Welcome, Donna May. My friend, now deceased, was a convert from Protestantism. In the early 1970’s, she was in surgery for her lungs and she had an NDE. She told me she saw all of her pets waiting for her and she saw the Blessed Mother. She came back from that experience and converted to Catholicism. She had many pets in her lifetime.
Welcome Donna May. I enjoyed reading about your dear mother, amazing story. St. Rita is a favorite of mine, she truly is a saint of the impossible. I was happy to see your post about St. Rita, she just helped our family through a crisis.
Welcome Donna May. Thank you for sharing with us so much of yourself and your mums beautiful encounters with the Lord. Gives hope and encouragement when hearing personal stories like that. Thanks
Yes, it would... it's always been my greatest wish. When NDE'rs talk about Heaven as having pearly gates & streets of gold etc, I get bored by that talk but when they talk about seeing trees, grass & animals, that's when I sit up and take notice. Nature & animals is how I feel closest to God. When my mother got a glimpse through the door into Heaven, she told me she saw trees & grass and it looked like a large park but she didn't see anyone or any animals... just a large hand which pushed her out the door & told her she had to come back here After she died, my sister said to me "can you imagine Mum in heaven, sitting in a deck chair surrounded by cats"... I love that image I've had some amazing pets during my life. My favourite was a grey cat named Moysee who lived from 1990 to 2008. He was so devoted to me, and he did the funniest things... including chew on his back claws every day (my Dad nicknamed him the Manicurist), and when I wasn't paying enough attention to him, he'd climb up into the apple tree just so I'd "rescue" him. I wonder if he was pretending to be stuck in the tree so I'd pick him out & he could get into my arms. Or he just wanted to get level with my face & get attention. I still miss him so much And when I was a child in the 70's, we had a pet bantam rooster which Mum named Freddie. He was given to us to eat but Mum turned him into a pet. He used to bang his water container on the side of his cage to let Mum know he'd run out of water. One Christmas Eve (I think 1975) some neighbours stole him from our yard. Mum & I had a search round the streets but couldn't find him. So Mum got up early Christmas morning to listen for his crowing, and found him in that neighbour's yard. I guess they were going to eat him for Christmas dinner. She unlocked the cage they had him in & carried him home. Best Christmas present I ever had But I guess we ruined their Christmas dinner Now I've got two cats, Madgalen & Anastasia, who were born on Easter Sunday 2011 so I gave them Easter names. I have an apricot tree in my backyard & every year Anastasia picks apricots off the tree with her mouth & either leaves them at my back door or she brings them inside.. sometimes I almost trip over them . Sadly some branches have died so it's not as easy for her to reach the apricots now.... so she has to pick up the ones which fall on the ground
Wonderful to have you on the board DonnaMay. I've really enjoyed reading your posts and I hope you feel comfort and peace here.
Hi Donna, Welcome to the home of Mary. I read a lovely answer from a Franciscan priest years ago to a little boy who had just lost his pet dog. The boy asked if he might meet his dog again in heaven? To which the priest so wisely replied, 'If it is necessary to your happiness, yes you will meet your dog again in heaven'. Just so if we love pineapple trees, then there will be pineapple trees for us in heaven. St Paul writes of heaven, 'Eye has not sen or tongue told', regarding heaven and we know from several apparitions of saints to their relatives that what is to come is so incredible it is indescribable. For instance the child Saint St Dominic Savio told his father when his father asked what heaven was like St Dominic simply could not describe it as his father simply would not understand. Regarding Catholic teachings on animals in heaven, this spring from a Doctor of the Church Saint Thomas Aquinas who taught that since animals do not have souls they could not enter heaven. However Saints do not always get things right. St Thomas for instance also taught that women were women because as babies in the womb they were boy babies but their vital part fell of because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. I don;t really know if animals get into heaven or not. I hope they do, but I don't know. However Jesus taught that in His Father's House there are many Mansions. We know from the saints and mystics that heaven has many levels. Mt guess is that in the higher levels there are no animals but in the lower ones, like Paradise there very well may be. This is explained in Scripture by the Vision of the angels ascending and descending. Genesis 28:12 Jacob's Ladder …11On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder. 13And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.… John 1:51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Hi Donna. Along the same lines as Padraig's response, I vaguely remember reading a pope's (can't remember which one) response to will our pets be in heaven. It was pretty much that we will be perfectly happy in heaven, and if our pets are needed for us to be perfectly happy then they'll be there.
Welcome! Below is a debate between a Catholic Church and a Presbyterian church. I tried to put the lot on one post but it didn't work. The reply's go for 9 posts
