Beholding a Miracle?

This week a man from the Philippines named Carmelo Cortez came to visit our local prayer group. This particular prayer group was started by our local priest a few years ago who had met Carmelo and felt called to start a prayer group for Catholic families based on what God has done in Carmelo's life, so first I better share some of Carmelo's history:

Carmelo is currently 42, married, and has 6 children. But on August 15th, 1991, something happend to forever change his life. On that day the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Carmelo in the Philippines and she described herself as the Mother of the Eucharist and Grace. She was dressed in white and bathed in brilliant light. Her heart was visible with the Eucharist in the center, surrounded by 12 golden stars. Her right hand held a rosary and her left a scapular. She has appeared to Carmelo over 100 times since that first apparition, and her message is always the same: believe in Jesus, receive the Sacraments, pray for priests and the Church, pray the rosary daily, realize the miracle you receive each time you receive the Eucharist. Aside from the miraculous appearance of Mary herself, Carmelo has received other miracles from God to help bring about his own conversion and the conversion of others back to the faith. A picture of Mary and Jesus has shed real tears, miraculous physical healings have occurred when Carmelo has prayed over people (including his very own bishop who was healed of a heart condition), and rose petals that suddenly have religious images appear on them or even turn into manna.

Yes, it seems hard to believe. But I guess most miracles are. Our family was given the opportunity to meet Carmelo and attend 2 prayer services with him last week. I went to both gatherings with a lot of skepticism in my heart. I departed the gatherings with very little skepticism left. However, I still believe one has to be very careful when discerning things of the supernatural. Sure, God can do anything, but the evil one, the father of lies, also tries to mislead souls constantly. This is why the Church is always extremely careful about approving apparitions of this nature. Carmelo's bishop has given his approval of the apparitions and the messages that Our Lady has shared, but the Vatican cannot give it's official blessing upon these apparitions until they have completely stopped and a detailed investigation has been conducted. Mary continues to apear to Carmelo and various miracles are still occuring, so for now, one must prayerfully, privately discern and look at the fruits. So far I think the fruits look good...

Carmelo seems extremely humble. He shares Mary's messages very simply. And what impressed me the most was that the focus of his message was not about himself, or about Mary, or about healings, or about rose petals...it was about Jesus. He said that he doesn't know why Mary chose to appear to him, nor does he know why God is allowing such beautiful images to appear on simple rose petals, but he does know that we can all receive the greatest miracle on earth each time we go to Mass and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. He said Mary's appearances and the images on the rose petals are all just "nice gifts"----but the Eucharist is a real miracle.

Below are some photos of our "nice gifts" which my family received at the prayer gatherings. Each of us received a rose petal with an image: Paul and Michael received an image of St. Anthony holding the child Jesus in his arms, Dominic and Joseph received an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and I received an image of Blessed Padre Pio and also the image of Jesus as a young boy. Many of our friends received images of Our Lady of Fatima, The Last Supper, St. Therese of Lisieux, or the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Some of our close friends had rose petals that even turned into manna, just like the bread that God miraculously provided for the Jews in the Old Testament! It really is unbelievable, and part of me is still a doubting Thomas, so I want to keep my focus us Christ instead of all the miracles because, like Carmelo said, I believe the miracles are simply nice gifts meant to point us to the Ultimate Gift of all...our Savior Jesus Christ.

If you're still curious, I found this YouTube clip that interviews some people and shows Carmelo speaking and giving out the roses at a prayer gathering in California:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDF5jb82KA&feature=related