Touched By a Saint

It was wonderful to meet the fine folks of St. Sylvester's School on Staten Island yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me the people that we meet and the stories that they tell. Yesterday was a fine example of what I like to call kismet.

A woman came to the table and was telling Tom how she used to give out Padre Pio medals and prayer cards to people who were in need of help. We started to talk about him, his gifts of healing, confession, the Stigmata he bore and the miracles attributed to him. Our conversation reminded me of a dream I had a few years back about another healer Fr. Solanus Casey and I brought him into our conversation. I had never heard of nor seen the man yet I had a dream about him. I thought he was going to hear a confession however, he grabbed and held my hands in his and listened to all of my troubles instead. We said a prayer together and then he blessed me. It wasn't until later that day or the next I was flipping through a newspaper and saw his face smiling back at me. I almost dropped the paper! Immediately I headed to the computer and Googled the name and learned of this man, who had bought peace to my head and heart. After I told the woman her face lit up and she said I met him! The woman, her sister and mom had gone to one of his healing sessions. Unbelievable! She was 20 at the time and her mom was ill with an undiagnosed illness throughout her body. When she approached him he wrapped his arms around her entire body and told her that she was going to get well. For another follower, a throat cancer patient, he placed his hands on his neck. Another man sitting close by to her had lung cancer. Fr. Casey placed his hands on his back on either side above the lungs. He knew without them telling him what each ailment was. The woman's mom did get well and the woman who had been embraced by him had issues resolved as well. Fr. Casey, although a simple priest who could not hear confession nor provide a Homily at mass, was well known as a healer in his time. People waited on line for hours to just sit and tell them their troubles or feel his healing touch. He is now being considered for Sainthood.

There are so many miracles in this life to share with each other; Stories of pious men who are faith healers and instruments of God and do wondrous deeds. The small miracles of two women meeting on a hot June day and having a man of God touch their lives in different ways with five decades between each incident. That, my friends, is what I love about meeting and talking to you. May God bless you with a small miracle today.

Happy Father's Day.