For my Protestant friends...

[THIS POSTING IS A FOLLOW-UP TO THE PREVIOUS POST ON THE PILGRIM CRUCIFIX.]

I am what Catholics call, a Revert. I once was a cradle Catholic, converted to the Presbyterian Church (and for two decades held Fundamentalist beliefs), and then reverted back to Catholicism. These changes were not caused by confusion or resentment, but rather as a means to continue to grow in the faith. Looking back on it, I can see that my Spiritual journey, while a bit unconventional, has been a blessing.

While I will not be discussing doctrinal specifics in this posting, suffice to say that I was drawn to Protestants because of their love of Bible study. I knew that I, and many of my fellow-Catholics, did not place as much emphasis on the Scriptures as they deserved. Sure, every mass had readings from the Old and New Testaments and the Psalms, but I and my friends simply listened passively rather than actively investigating the Scriptures.

During those twenty years, I heard many comments and sermons - and read many books - that attempted to explain why Catholic beliefs are in error. So, I focused my studies more on the Bible and the history of the Church in order to arrive at my own conclusions. Over time, I became increasingly uncomfortable with those criticisms because, too often, they were either based on misunderstandings or outright misrepresentations.

I do not say this to call into question the faith of those Protestants. Many of them deserve heaven far more than I can ever claim. Their words of criticism are shared with honest intentions. But, I must say, I have never heard a priest criticize Protestant beliefs the way I have heard Preachers condemn Catholic beliefs - and many times, incorrectly. I came to believe the words of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: "There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church."

My reason for this posting is for an instructive follow-up to my previous comments on the Pilgrim Crucifix. As Father John J. Pasquini points out, Protestants often criticize Catholics for “worshiping” statues. They say it violates Exodus 20:4-5 in which we are forbidden from worshipping man-made idols. But, reading further to Exodus 25:18-22, we find that God gave specific instructions for Moses to “make two cherubim of gold.” Are they graven images? In fact, the burial grounds of the earliest Christians - the Catacombs - included visual symbols for Christ and biblical representations of him. Not only do Protestants rightly treat the Cross and the Bible with reverence but browse through any Protestant bookstore and you will find that even children’s books are illustrated with images of Jesus Christ. Are they worshiping these images and objects?

Of course, not! And neither did we worship the carved wood of the Pilgrim Crucifix.

To illustrate this point, I am reminded of what happened near the end of my first visit with the Pilgrim Crucifix and its custodians. Over the years, Myriam and Idelcy had overcome monumental obstacles in transporting the Crucifix with the respect it deserves. They had kept the carving intact after many thousands of miles of travel. Then, the next morning, we realized that a finger was missing.

I might have blown a gasket! But, to my surprise, Myriam and Idelcy were perfectly calm and accepting about damage. They just said, “Don’t worry about it.” It was clear that they were completely ready to accept God’s will, even when it is not expected.

That lesson truly reinforced for me that Protestants are wrong when they think Catholics “worship” statues. It is not wood, it is not marble, it is not even gold that we worship. We worship the one, true God! And we thank God for blessing us with miraculous manifestations of His love through this Crucifix.

Also, to my Protestant friends, we love you even when you don't understand us ;-).

[Note: For more information of Father John J. Pasquini's convincing defense of Catholic beliefs, CATHOLIC ANSWERS TO PROTESTANT QUESTIONS, please go to the following website:

http://www.verohousepublishing.com/.]

++ Preparing to go to the Cross...

I am preparing for my second trip to see El Cristo Peregrino – the Pilgrim Crucifix – in a few days.

The first time I saw it, I had travelled to the Tampa area where my good Christian brother, Jean, lives. That evening, in the large screened patio of his home, we had a very intense and emotional prayer service.

An altar had been set up with flowers, candles and the carved Pilgrim Crucifix, which stands perhaps 42” tall. As the sun set, our little congregation of about 60 people prayed the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Stations of the Cross and many other prayers. Most of us were humbly anxious to learn whether we would be blessed with the miraculous manifestations that we had heard often accompanied this Cross. So, for perhaps and hour and a half we continued our fervent prayers as we waited for the arrival of the two custodians of the Crucifix, Myriam and Idelcy.  They had insisted on attending mass at a Catholic Church that night since plans fell through at the last minute for mass to be offered at our prayer service.

Soon after they arrived, Myriam told us, in Spanish, the history of the Pilgrim Crucifix while Idelcy translated. The Cross, they said, belongs to Mileny Peña of Bogota Colombia. She was a non-believer until her 20^th birthday when she started receiving apparitions of the Blessed Mother. So, she converted and became Christian. Some time later, she adopted a teenage girl who had become entangled with prostitution and drugs. Mileny put the girl on a Christian path. One day, the two of them saw this Crucifix in a shop. Mileny was deeply moved by Christ’s passion on the Cross so the daughter secretly arranged to make small payments on it until it was paid in full. Then she gave the inspiring gift to Mileny for Mother’s Day.

++ The miracle of weeping statues

I have been blessed to visit, on a couple of occasions, a very modest but amazing home in New York state. I have personally witnessed the spiritual manifestations I will describe but, out of respect for the privacy of the deeply spiritual homeowners, I will not use their names or address.

My strong Christian friends, Ruth and Fabian Werkowski, arranged for my invitations. They had previously experienced miraculous events at this home and graciously wanted to share the experience with me. In fact, there are so many stories to tell here that I will only be able to touch on a few in this blog posting.

Both of my visits were similar. We said the rosary on the drive over and then a mass was said in the small, packed living room of the house. The standing-room-only crowd became so dense that people flowed out the front door and onto the front deck. We had to open the windows for the people on the deck to hear the mass.

In fact, my first mass there was the most moving one I have ever attended. I don't usually like to admit something like this, but the overwhelming spiritual experience made me cry. Perhaps this was the reason why: In that small room, standing next to the altar, I was surrounded by a wide variety of Catholic statues and pictures... and all of them were weeping. The tears consisted of a fragrant holy oil. They flowed down the statues and were collected in silver platters below them. One statue of the Blessed Mother exuded the most oil and a large cotton ball was placed above her folded hands to soak up the tears. Even the wall pictures of Jesus, saints and angels were all wet under the glass from the oil.

For my Catholic friends...

Some of you may believe that Catholics are asked to refrain from publishing reports of miraculous phenomena until the Church has investigated. That is a mistaken belief.

Since the abolition of Canons 1399 and 2318 of the former Canonical Code, publications about new appearances, revelations, prophecies, miracles, etc., have been allowed to be distributed and read by the faithful without the express permission of the Church, providing they contain nothing that contravenes faith and morals. Consequently, no imprimatur is necessary for distributing information on apparent miracles prior to Church investigation.

As Saint Paul advises, "Test everything. Hold on to the good." 1 Thessalonians 5:21

++ A rose by another name...

Recently, I flew to New York for the purpose of investigating and experiencing a surprising phenomenon. For a few years, some of my most devout Christian friends have shown me various rose petals that display marvelous Christian images. By now, I have probably seen close to a hundred of them and each one is detailed and almost always unique.

Carmelo Cortez, an inconspicuous Filipino, is the man who is responsible for these images. However, he insists they are from or Lord Jesus Christ, through the intercession of His Blessed Mother. He claims he first started seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1991. At one point, Blessed Mother told him to go in front of the church and dig. Instead of finding a spring of water, holy oil began to flow out of the ground. I have a small vial of this beautifully fragrant liquid.

The night I met Carmelo, at a Catholic Church on Staten Island, we started the evening with a rosary. But because a wedding was being rehearsed in the main church, only some of us could participate in the small room in which the rosary was being said. But there, in the room, I saw dozens of beautiful white roses that we had all brought to the service, as instructed.

Soon, three priests conducted a mass, with at least one deacon assisting, while Carmelo sat quietly to the side. When the mass ended, Carmelo came before the altar and asked the priests to assist him. First he asked them to unscrew a few containers of bottled water and take a sip of each. I assume he wanted to show that the bottles were not previously opened and that they were just water. Then he poured the water in a vase and a bowl and asked a particularly holy priest - Fr. Johannes Tan -  to put his rosary in the water. Immediately, the water turned into fragrant oil. They brought it through the congregation for each of us to dip our rosaries into it and to feel and smell the holy oil.

Soon... soon... soon...

This is my first day with a live blog site. Soon, I will be blogging about Christian miracles in modern times, many of which I have personally witnessed. For the moment, however,  my time is consumed by the obligations of bringing my new spiritual thriller to readers by November 16. For more information on UNTIL I RETURN: DAWN OF THE SHINING DARKNESS,  please see http://www.VeroHousePublishing.com/.

Also, Vero House has a few more books nearing release: Ruth Werkowski's lovingly faithful memoir, TRANSFORMED BY TROUBLE: FROM MISFORTUNE TO MIRACLES, and Father John J. Pasquini's convincing defense of Catholic beliefs, CATHOLIC ANSWERS TO PROTESTANT QUESTIONS. Finally, for now, I am looking forward to the eventual release of book 2 in the UNTIL I RETURN trilogy, DAY OF THE SHINING DARKNESS. Again, this work of Christian fiction will be based on prophecies of saints, and it is completely written... but only in my head.

I look forward to sharing with you some amazing stories and pictures!

Keep holy, happy and healthy!

Ken