Transubstantiation Pt. 3

Previously I said I wanted to take an in depth look from the totality of the Bible as to how Transubstantiation is definitively supported with the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. As I mentioned Hiram Diaz seems to find no single verse of scripture from which to see a defense of the Catholic position.

Strange, because the totality of scriptures seem to me to be loaded with them. The first reference to a blessing of bread and wine comes in Genesis 14:18 when Abram meets Melchizedek. Abram is returning from battle when the priest (Melchizedek) comes out and blesses the bread and wine and gives it to him.

Fine you might say it's bread and wine. That doesn't support Transubstantiation on its own, but it helps build the house. We see in Hebrews 7 that Melchizedek is a type of Christ. He offered bread and wine to Abram, which is the same thing Christ offers to the Twelve that night in the Upper Room.

While they were held as slaves in Egypt the Israelites found someone who would lead them to freedom, Moses. God told the Israelites to celebrate a special feast, Passover. He would go through the land slaughtering the firstborn sons of Egypt, but the Jewish people would be spared because of blood from a freshly slaughtered Lamb on their doors.

The Passover feast had some special rules. Each family was to take a spotless firstborn male lamb from their flock, slaughter it and roast it. They were also told that the entire lamb had to be consumed, nothing could be left overnight. They were also to throw out all the leaven and eat only unleavened bread.

Interestingly enough especially later on anyone desiring to take part in the Passover feast had to be a Jew. It was a closed feast, that will come back up later.

I mentioned previously that Hiram Diaz refused to answer my question regarding whether the lamb was to be eaten. I think he knew where I would take him if he answered me. Revelation that great and terrible book that closes scripture. In between all of the frightful bits of prophesy Revelation is actually a great Passover liturgy.

Interestingly in chapter 5 we see Christ referred to as the lion of Judah and the root of David. However when St. John looks he sees a lamb appearing as though it has been slain Rev. 5:5-8. Why is the victorious Christ, vanquisher of death, crusher of sin, seen in His heavenly glory sitting on His throne as a newly slain lamb? Because as we learn in Hebrews 13:8 Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Since time began He has been the lamb slain for the remission of sin.

That being said, if even in his heavenly glory Christ is the newly slain lamb of the Passover. He must even during the Incarnation have still existed outside of time as humans know it, thus for Him the Law has always been fulfilled. Thus rendering any attempt to turn Transubstantiation into some sort of sin against the Law moot.

Let's go back to that Upper Room, Christ having "eagerly desired" to celebrate one last Passover with His apostles reclines at table with the Twelve Lk. 22:12.Christ then takes the bread and wine blessing them and sharing them with the apostles: Cf. Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; 1 Corinthians 11:21-25.

Curiously the institution narrative is absent in John's Gospel. However in John 6 we see the famous Bread of Life discourse in which Christ explains that for His disciples to have eternal life they must eat His flesh and drink His blood.

Some of you out there might now be saying sure but none of this says that a priest can say some words over a wafer of bread and a cup of wine and make it truly the Body of Christ or the Blood of Christ. Indeed that is never directly taught. However it is clear that Christ intends for the Apostles to be the beginning of a new ministerial priesthood. As such He implores them to repeat the blessing over the bread and wine "Do this in memory of Me."

The New Testament ministerial priesthood is perfectly foretold in the Old Testament as Malachi 1:11 shows. The prophet describes a time when God's name would be great even among the Gentiles and a "perfect offering" would be made to Him, from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Pretty sure you will find a Catholic Mass being offered somewhere in the world every hour of every day of every year. Save for Good Friday, no Mass that day, no sacraments at all in fact, except in cases of dire need.

So Communion for a Catholic is all about receiving the Lord whole and entire: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity with every reception of the sacrament. It is a closed feast like the OT Passover after all we have to protect the solemnity and dignity of such a great mystery.

The actual mechanics of what happens to transform the bread and wine are just that a mystery, part of the great exercise of faith.

For me the faith stands or falls on this one thing, that is why I go to such lengths to defend it. It's also why I get so angry about people who are so derisive about it, especially without a sound attempt at a refutation.

When a Priest Becomes a Problem

I suspect more than a few of you know the respect and admiration I once had for Fr. John Corapi (he of the many EWTN broadcasts), he has since managed to sabotage the respect I had for him, while coming close to ensuring an excommunication for himself. 

Corapi, was suspended of his priestly faculties earlier this year while an investigation was launched to determine the validity of claims made against him in a letter to the bishop of Corpus Christi. He initially professed his innocence and maintained that it would all come out in the wash. In the wake of so many scandalous events involving priests in the last decade seeing Corapi linked to scandal was a shock, but perhaps a lesser one than it might have been 15 years ago.

Recently, Fr. Corapi has resurfaced with a new website, calling himself the Black Sheep Dog and saying he can now minister more effectively to a wider audience. In his initial launch of the new domain he announces that he is renouncing his priestly vows and essentially turns around biting the hand that fed him and made his name. He suggests that certain shadowy figures in the church hierarchy want him gone, when in fact they want him merely to return to community with his priestly order, rather than his self-imposed exile in his spendy Montana compound.

Some bloggers have compared the initial speech/announcement to Richard Nixon's Checkers speech. Nah, the Checkers speech at least had some humor to it. This speech is more closely aligned to Nixon's resignation announcement, and his whole conspiracy addled mind-set at that time.

It seems that opening announcement was merely the diving off point. I wasn't able to even finish it but has released several others evidently (h/t: Mark Shea) and he apparently continues to remove himself further from the church with each one.

It is interesting that today's Gospel reading is Matt. 7:15-20. Jesus warns us of false prophets in sheep's clothing (or in this case is it sheep dog's?). Corapi's claims of wrongful persecution are in fact leading people astray, many of his fans are so wrapped up in his neat little tale of woe, that they are allowing themselves to be led away from The Way, The Truth, and the Life by this ravenous wolf.

Certainly there have been and continue to be many false prophets. Men like Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, Harold Camping and others continue to damage the Body of Christ by leading good people astray. Perhaps though the greater damage to the Body of Christ is done when it is someone who should be leading souls to Christ instead pulls them away.  

Corapi is doing a masterful job of talking out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand declaring the Magisterium to be full of honorable men, while at the same time bemoaning how he is being cheated by those in authority. Sorry Father, but it can't be both. Either nefarious men exist in the Magisterial authority of Holy Mother Church and they are evilly preventing you from using your priestly faculties or you aren't as innocent as you profess and they are merely attempting to do their job. The job you so willfully gave up; protecting the flock from wolves.

Meantime any of his comments about his suspension being somehow unfair are so patently absurd as to almost not bear mention. Many occupations that ultimately deal with caring for people have suspension stipulations during investigations into wrongdoing. So that tune falls flat as well.

Ultimately John Corapi gave up his vows willingly, and under no duress from the bishop or the diocese of Corpus Christi, his new identity as the Black Sheep Dog was trademarked more than a year ago. It all smacks of someone who knew that the defecation was perilously close to the ventilation system so he began to form an escape plan.

What is saddest in all of this to me is that I enjoyed watching Fr. Corapi, he was a gifted speaker who certainly helped to illuminate the faith in simple terms. Now he is a lost soul who threatens to take others with him. Let us all strive to keep in mind St. Paul's warning against factions from 1st Corinthians 1:12-13.

In closing I would just like to say that the Enemy holds a special hate for the people who guard Jesus' flock. So take a minute or two today and lift your priests/ministers up in prayer asking God to give them the strength they need to continue their battles.

Liberalism and Catholicism Don't Mix Pt. 2

First I would like to point out I missed a great quote from scripture on the penalty for idleness in my last post. In 2nd Thess. 3:10 St. Paul admonishes his charges in Thessalonica, if a man will not work, he gets no share of the food.

Now on to today's point:

It seems to me that to be a good liberal, you must consent to the wholesale slaughter of innocent life at the hands of the Supreme Court's disastrous Roe vs. Wade ruling. Roe was perhaps the most insidious, harmful, destructive, piece of judicial activism ever in this nation's history, I'm not even sure Dred Scott was a worse decision.

Somehow the Court found a right to privacy in the due process clause of the 14th amendment, securing legalized abortion. Mind you I think even if the Court had ruled in what should have been the correct way, send it to the states' and say you make your decisions, most states would have legalized abortions. Now I am not saying as I just pointed out that I think without the ruling we got in Roe that abortion doesn't happen here; merely that Roe turned what should have been a state-by-state issue into a big national issue.

Because it became a national issue it has become a rallying cry for feminists, and many other groups. Groups which think that their right to decide how to treat their own bodies overrides all else. Including whether a child created out of their decisions has a right to live.

And let us not talk falsely now, that "clump of cells," is a baby, a human life, period and nothing else. Those cells aren't going to morph into a banana plant, or a file cabinet. It is a human life.

To be fair there are liberals who don't believe in the senseless killing of unborn babies; just as there are supposed conservatives who do. There are even some who masquerade as Catholics and believe in the legality of abortion, a certain wild-eyed former Speaker of the House, comes prominently to mind.

As I mentioned awhile back the liberals seem intent on doing whatever they can to protect this right, that is to them sacrosanct. The conservatives in the House should use this to their advantage in all spending bills for the next two years. But they won't, Boehner, doesn't seem to have the stomach to stand up for his faith or principles.

I am growing less and less surprised that Holy Mother Church doesn't forbid Communion for these politicians who proclaim to be Catholic, but deny it by their voting record. After all it seems to me that they are as the rules say notorious public sinners and should be denied Communion until they are ready to hold and profess all that they are supposed to.

Canon 915 states the following: Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.

Now to be sure some arguments can be made about just what it means to obstinately persist in grave sin, but I think if Ms. Pelosi, were to be denied the Sacrament a time or two she just might understand the seriousness with which her faith disagrees with her political view. Personally I was surprised when the Holy Father had an audience with her and she didn't come out excommunicated.

I feel like it is these cafeteria Catholics in positions of power that do far more harm to the perceptions of the faith then nearly all of the other issues we face combined.

Finishing Up My Thoughts on Easter

I hope everyone enjoyed a truly blessed Easter. We had a great one here at the Musing's Mansion. Made Easter Baskets for the boys, went to Mass, a truly beautiful celebration with the full choir and a great homily from Fr. Brian. Just when I decry the lack of good Catholic homilies all three times I made it to Mass during Holy Week we had exceptional ones.

Alleluia He is Risen!!! I think that the Mass is beautiful every time but there sure is something special about the Liturgies during Holy Week, particularly Easter.

For it is on Easter Sunday that we can truly say we no longer need fear anything. Our Lord has conquered death and sin and in his dying has united us unto himself as Sons and Daughters of the Living God. There is a passage in the Exsultet which is sung at the Easter Vigil that always gives me chills:

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Watching The Passion of the Christ on Saturday, I was struck as I always am by the notion that He suffered that terrible pain all for my failings and my faults.  That in itself is always enough to make me weep, but it's when I realize, even if I were the only one who needed saving He would have endured all that pain just the same.

Watching the opening scenes of the Agony in the Garden and seeing Jesus just about choking under the weight of all He is about to bear. You can't help but be struck by the fact that Jesus is probably feeling the burden of the sins of the world for all time on his shoulders. He that knew not sin, was made sin so that we might experience the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

During this Holy Week every year Holy Mother Church celebrates Her birth, Her true calling (evangelization and bringing people to the knowledge of Christ) and the beginnings of Her great Sacrament.

For on Holy Thursday we celebrate the night Christ "Carried and held Himself in His own hands," as St. Augustine said.

It was on that night that Christ gave his Apostles Himself in a future tense showing them what they were to do and instructing them to do it always ..."in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19, 1 Cor. 11:24-25).

As I have mentioned before it is worth noting that St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians was one of the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament and he seems to plainly believe in a Catholic interpretation of the Eucharist from the words of institution to the Real Presence, warning the Corinthians not to eat the sacrifice unworthily (1 Cor. 11:29).

It was special this year to get to the Liturgy on Good Friday and to walk up the aisle and kneel before the Cross, venerating the "Wood...on which hung the Savior of the World." Always moving, but this year it just seemed especially more so.

I hope you all had a blessed Holy Week and Easter. I love this time of year because most of my favorite Gospel readings are clustered into it. The story of Thomas, The road to Emmaus, The post-Resurrection Jesus seems more like he is drawing everyone into himself.

He is risen Alleluia, Alleluia!!!!

A Few Links For Maundy Thursday

So a trip to Spokane for Tommy's doctors kept me from getting to Mass tonight and pulling together my own thoughts on the importance of the day. Remember according to the ancient Jewish Calendar, Jesus effectively shared his last meal with the apostles and died on the same day. Today in our modern calendar marks the beginning of the Lord's Passion, with the institution of the Eucharist and a hint toward the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Anyway on to the Links:

• Today's Readings for the Mass of the Lord's Supper.
• A great post from Joe over at Shameless Popery on the meaning of Holy Thursday
• The Holy Father's Homily from the Mass at St. Peter's. Benedict XVI had two important days this last week, his 84th birthday and the sixth anniversary of his election.
• Fr. Z has some thoughts for you on Holy Thursday as well...If you are sniffing around his site be sure to look at his take on the pope's sermon from the Mass as well.
• A great blog from Dr. Scott Hahn's website on whether there was a Paschal Lamb at the Last Supper.

Well that should be some good reading for you on why we celebrate Holy Thursday. Have a blessed Good Friday everyone...

Bless Me Father, For I Have Sinned....

Even if you know nothing about the way Catholics practice reconciliation you have surely heard the title phrase in movies and TV. I didn't use to be a fan of the Sacrament of Confession, but that has changed lately. There is something to be said for the squeaky clean feeling of one's soul after receiving the grace of the sacrament.

Protestants think Catholics are almost sacrilegious in how we make our confession, but in truth the whole process is soundly rooted in the Bible. Perhaps the best one stop shopping answer as to why Catholics go to confession is found in John 20:19-23. Jesus appears to the apostles after the Resurrection and sends them forth as the Father has sent Himself. We know from Matt. 9:6 and Mark 2:5 that the Son of Man was given the power to forgive others their sins, ergo it follows that Jesus is giving the apostles that same power.

And how will they know whose sins to forgive if those sins aren't told to them? Many times in the Gospels as Jesus works his healing he starts by forgiving people's sins, often that in itself is the necessary cure for the person freeing them from their malady.

Jesus gave that same power to his apostles. In addition to commissioning them to preach the Gospel (Matt. 10:5-10), govern the church (Matt. 16:16-20, Luke 22:29-30) and make it holy through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist (John 6:54, 1st Cor. 11:24-29).

Let's take a look at some Old Testament passages that seem to contradict Catholic teaching and see how they in fact compliment it nicely. In Isaiah 43:25, we see that it is God that forgives sins, as an aside Catholics don't deny that God is the efficient cause of forgiveness we just see that he is merely working through his priests to do so. Evidence of God using a priest in the cause of forgiveness can be seen in another Old Testament passage Leviticus 19:20-22 shows a penitent sinner seeking forgiveness by the priest sanctifying his offering.

Jesus is the High Priest of the New Covenant (Heb. 7:22-27) you say. The one mediator between God and man (1st Tim. 2:5). Indeed He is those things. But are we not all called to mediate in Him to one another. When we share the Gospel are we not mediating in the one true Mediator. Now 1st Peter 2:5,9 demonstrates that we are all by virtue of our baptisms called to be "A Royal Priesthood," but that doesn't remove the ability that Jesus gave to his priests, the apostles, that they in turn handed down to others perform the sacraments.

But what about James 5:16, it merely says to confess your sins to one another, why do we need to go through a priest? First off to take just that one verse removes the context of that which came before it. Let's look at James 5:14-16 as a whole.

St. James implores his readers if they are sick to call on the elders of the church to receive laying on of hands and prayers (Extreme Unction or the Anointing of the Sick). Now he says if he has committed sins they will be forgiven. He starts verse 16 with the word therefore, linguistically tying it back to the verses preceding it and thus making the idea of confessing your sins to one another mean that you should confess them to the elders (presbyters, from which we get the word priest).

Perhaps the most interesting point regarding the sacrament of reconciliation come from St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. in 2 Cor. 2:10 we see him say "What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake, in the presence of Christ."

A packed statement to be sure. It gets even more packed when you unpack it and look to the Greek. The Greek word used for presence is prosopon, the Latin word persona comes from it. Interestingly the KJV Bible usually translates the passage as "In the person of Christ," or in Latin In Persona Christi. That is important insofar as that is how a Catholic describes the work of a priest. They act in the Person of Christ.

Now if you are Catholic you have a few days before Easter to examine your conscience and follow the Church's guidelines by confessing your sins during the Lenten season. Do it. It will make you feel better. If you need an examination of conscience to get started check this one out.

If you aren't Catholic I hope this post has helped you to see the very Biblical basis for the sacrament.

Do Catholics Still Get It?

Let me preface this post by saying that I have only attended a Non-Catholic worship service four times in my life two weddings and two funerals. So keep that in mind as you read.

I recently linked to a story about Archbishop Sheehan's pastoral letter concerning cohabitation. In it he urges his flock to consider the gravity of sin. Respectfully, Excellency, perhaps it is because for too long the clergy have been: afraid, cowed, bullied, or abused by: parishioners, governments, media, fellow clergy, for preaching on the gravity of sin that has gotten us into this mess.

Now mind you my only point of reference to Protestant preaching stems from Hollywood, but they sure seem to have the Hellfire and Brimstone down, don't they. John Lithgow in Footloose, railing against dancing, rock music and drugs. Tom Skerrit's quiet, homespun, frontier-fisherman preacher in A River Runs Through It, teaching his sons all about the evils of the world outside their Montana homefront.

Now, Catholics on the other hand, are treated to mostly mealy-mouthed, watered down, sometimes outright heretical homilies on a weekly basis. Occasionally we get good homilies but most of the time if it's good it has little to do with doctrine or a call to avoid sin and more to do with a good explanation of the culture or history in question.

However, this was one thing that Fr. John Corapi is quite good at. I know he has been involved in a bit of a scandal lately but his lecture/sermon on giving a good confession should be required viewing for all who hold and teach the Catholic faith.

At the recent mission for my parish, St. Mary's, we had a brilliant priest from the Fathers of Mercy who spent the mission talking of the need for healing, especially spiritual. He was quite good and his discussion, seemingly tangentially touched on the need for understanding the damages of sin. In reality he spent his whole time teaching about the damage of sin.

After all why else would we need healing were it not for the effects of sin. But rarely do we see any real meaty discussions on the topic during a weekly homily. In fact Fr. Crotty, who led the mission told us of a priest he knew who had been stripped of his duties for merely mentioning the potential damage from Harry Potter.

So if those are the kind of things Catholic clergy are up against in warning of the dangers of sin, then of course they will shy away from it. It seems to me that good homilies were one of the cruelest victims of the curse of Vatican II. Priests began to turn to pop psychology and other things as part of their teaching and increasingly left the Truth behind.

Forgetting Hellfire and Brimstone when was the last time you heard a homily about Jesus. Not just one that mentioned him but one that really delved into the Incarnate Word and showed you a new way of thinking.

As the Church has become scandalized by errant priests and politicians who profess Catholicism with their mouths to win votes, only to avoid it in their own voting record, and a media that turns every minor Catholic slip into a massive crisis, the people are led further away from Truth.

The liberal wing of the Catholic Church would love to remake Holy Mother Church in their own image, fortunately we have had two amazing popes that have done all they can to stem that tide. One of these two men will be beatified in about two weeks time.

Unfortunately their hard work hasn't flowed downhill quite the way it should. But alas, we carry on and we defend Her.

Tough To Swallow

Today was an interesting day here at the Musing's Mansion. After a bunch of discussion on the benefits and many false starts at getting one done, Tommy finally had a rehab swallow study.

To catch you up, if you need it, basically because of his craniofacial issues Tommy's ability/ease of swallowing things in his mouth has long been questioned and worried over. He had been working at school with his speech therapist getting small tastes of certain foods (yogurt, pudding, things of that consistency).

Daddy was left out of the actual exam, because I had to stay in the waiting room with Matty, but it wasn't to long before I got to go back and watch the video of the x-ray as he was fed. After a couple of nice successful swallows, there it was: one very bad, swallow that gulped the barium laced pudding down into his wind pipe.

Tommy had aspirated. He didn't even try to clear his windpipe or cough as the stuff went down. That is not good. So he officially has an uncoordinated/unsafe swallow. All is not lost to be sure. While the result was a disappointment, it isn't the end, it doesn't mean he can never eat it just means we need to back it off and work a little slower and perhaps train his swallow.

Perhaps the bad news is that the little goon is a silent aspirator. That might not be the best thing. But knowing he does aspirate perhaps alot of the times he has been "sick" have been aspiration related and not a real sickness.

It's another piece of the Tommy puzzle in place, another part of the present unwrapped, but I am not sure I liked the gift. So now we go back to square one and we work in little tiny tastes that he won't have to swallow and we build from there.

Meanwhile this evening Matty mowed down Cheerios like they were going out of style, ate a jar and a half of baby food, had a cookie, and his first piece of cooked pasta. It comes so easy for the little booger and Tommy has to work so hard at everything. Sometimes I wonder if big brother gets a little jealous of everything little brother can do already. I wonder if Tommy even understands jealousy.

I have to think he does. The other night his old care attendant came by with her daughter and baby daddy. Now, before the baby daddy, his care attendant was all his. Well he got us to give him to her and he climbed in her lap and stared her baby daddy down like "Whatchu gonna do about it...?" It was so cute, he knew exactly who to look at with a big old turd-eatin' grin plastered on his face like he was saying "Haha I showed you."


So the Church has patron saints for everything right, well, St. Blaise is the closest I can find for Tommy's issue. Anyone else got another...??

Saint Blaise, pray for us that we may not suffer from illnesses of the throat and pray that all who are suffering be healed by God's love. Amen.

Jesus...Miracles...and...Tommy

I've been thinking a lot lately about miracles and how they pertain to Tommy. Recently the Lord has opened my eyes to a particular passage, one I had heard countless times and never applied to Tommy's situation. John 9: 2-5 tells the story of the man born blind. Jesus' disciples ask him whose sin caused his blindness, the man's or his parents. Jesus, of course, tells them it happened so that people might see the glory of God.

As I said I have heard this scripture many times before but never attempted to view it concerning Tommy.

While in the fog of trying to accept and adjust to the reality of Tommy, I sometimes felt as if my in-laws thought Tommy wasn't acceptable or good enough without a miraculous healing. I know they didn't feel that way, but almost immediately they started praying for and talking about how he was going to have a miracle. I'm all for miracles and as a card-carrying Catholic, fully believe in many from the Dancing Sun at Fatima; to the waters of Lourdes; to Padre Pio's many miraculous doings.  Not to mention the one I most often referenced to assure people I believed in miracles, transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.

But in that fog I couldn't quite voice my feeling that perhaps God had a greater purpose in Tommy's having been born the way he was. I felt like my in-laws and I were talking past each other and my tongue kept betraying my argument in its inability to voice accurately what I felt in my head and heart.

I realize that in the very story I mentioned Jesus cures the blind man via a miracle, so perhaps it doesn't best describe how I felt then, but I think it does. I also heard that I was limiting God, which aggravated me because God created everything "Seen and unseen," so how was me saying maybe he doesn't want to heal Tommy limiting him. He called a universe into being merely by thinking it. He has no limits, again it was as if my tongue couldn't articulate the argument I had, which I felt and still feel was theologically sound. Which is to say my argument was at the time, if God chooses to heal him I am just fine and dandy with that, but if he doesn't I am ok with that too.

In the last several months as I get Tommy ready for bed it has become part of our ritual to say a handful of prayers: the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be start us off. We follow those with prayers to St. Michael, Tommy's guardian angels, and our big finish is a prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes and one to St. Rita.

If you don't know St. Rita, she is the patroness of the impossible. Tommy and I ask her to pray for Tommy's miracle as fervently as she can. Sometimes I even include a prayer to John Paul the Great, since I figure he probably understood a lot of what Tommy goes through, being trapped inside your own body.

In Hebrews 11:1 we are told that "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen." I believe Tommy has that faith. I know I do. I believe God can heal Tommy, I just wonder if it is to His purposes to do so. In my own prayers at night I routinely ask God to see Tommy even if just once, even if it's only a dream, through His perfect eyes.

During a trip to our local healing room, one of the guys had a bit of a vision or prophecy for me. He told me that he saw Tommy as my ministry in a way that he could see me talking to a room full of folks and saying you think your kids are hard cases let me tell you about mine. I often wonder if that was God's way of saying "be ready when I do my work so you can carry the message." Or is it the other way, insofar as Tommy's story is a story of survival all it's own with or without miraculous trappings.

Knowing the odds Tommy has already overcome and that he continues to overcome, make me so proud of him. Sometimes I see Matty moving and doing things so effortlessly that his big brother still struggles with after three and a half years and I almost get mad at him. Sometimes I look at Tommy and wonder what I ever did to deserve him, because I am unworthy. I know that God has entrusted Traci and I with one of the best pieces of his work and I have yet to understand why. I just pray for the strength to be what he needs me to be. And I pray for the understanding of what God needs me to be, for my family. 

Over the winter we prayed at Mass for a local nun to be healed. There was a note from her convent in the bulletin this weekend, saying she didn't get the miracle healing. The nuns noted sometimes when we pray we don't get the miracle we want, but we always get the miracle we need.

That's the thing we don't always understand, God but he knows better than we do. Hard knowledge to swallow sometimes. Almost as hard, if not harder, is that just because we get told "No" doesn't mean God didn't answer our prayer.