My father died unexpectedly many years ago. He had a heart complaint and had had spells in hospital. I usually visited him every day when he was in hospital. The day he died, he had taken ill at home and the doctor sent him to hospital. I had a terrible headache after a rough day at work and it didn't register with me how ill he was when my sister told me that we could visit any time but visitors were restricted to family and no more than two at a time. I was the only one of his children who didn't visit him that evening. The dreaded call came in the middle of the night and when we reached the hospital, my father was dead. I will carry the guilt with me for the rest of my life and even now, after all these years, I feel the tears welling up. A few months after he died, we brought my mother for a short holiday on the coast. When we were kids, if we saw a shooting star we believed that was a sign of a soul being released from purgatory. Well, one night on the holiday I looked up and saw a shooting star. I don't often dream but that night I saw my father in my dream. He was sitting up in the hospital bed and smiled at me when I said "Dad, you aren't dead". That's all I remember about the dream except that my heart felt so much lighter next morning. I know it's silly, but I felt that my father was released from purgatory that night. I like to think that God was sending me a message. I still pray for my father and have Masses offered for him because I know that if Dad doesn't need them they will benefit some poor soul that nobody prays for.
A very nice story MMM and thanks Joe et al. I agree with what you say about masses MMM. You know one of the very good things about even modern Ireland is the number of Mass cards you get when someone dies. My mother thinks my father might have got about 400 so far and they still arrive in the post most days about 3 months later. I suspect they are a great help to him and it's absolutely lovely the way people care so much to send them, even very distant acquaintances and relatives. It makes you feel that there is still a lot of good people left in this country too.
And another great story from Dolours, thank you. It doesn't sound silly at all, I'm sure he did go to purgatory then.
A few months back, about two weeks before the birth of our fifth child, I became very anxious over one weekend because the vigorous baby movements that I had been feeling for months suddenly became weaker and less frequent. At first I told myself I was just imagining things , but as the weekend wore on, I was definitely feeling less movement. Saturday night at about 2 am I went to pray before the images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I cried and begged for my baby's good health and safety. I implored St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross for help since it was her feast day. I cried and prayed for about 1 1/2 hours before falling asleep with a third class relic of the true cross in my hand and the rosary encircling my pregnant belly. The next morning when I got up, I still didn't feel much baby movement, so I called the on call doctor who somewhat grumpily told me that doctors don't worry about decreased or faint movement, just an absence of baby movement! I walked into our bathroom and when I looked in the mirror was surprised to notice a large, salad plate size oil stain on my nightshirt above my heart, extending upward to my clavicle and shoulder. I wasn't sure what was on my shirt, so I smelled it. The scent was similar to oil of chrism, but different. I didn't remember using any holy oil the night before, so I went to double check my night stand. No holy oil bottle. I checked the bed sheets, no oil stains. I could only imagine that the oil had miraculous orgin because it was definitely mysterious. Later that morning during Mass, my baby's vigorous movements returned, and stayed strong till he was born. I still have my night shirt, unwashed and unworn in my closet. The oil stain has mostly faded in appearance and scent. I doubt I'll ever wash the shirt again. It's a keeper. Thank God for miracles, and answered prayers!!
I don't have any personal stories I can think of, but one of my friends was a chronic smoker for years and longed to quit, he had tried many times but always failed. One night he was in bed puffing away as usual and he got a thought to write a letter to Jesus asking for his help to quit. He wrote out a few lines there and then and put it on his locker and went to sleep. He never got a desire to smoke since and that was approx. 30 years ago!
So, on another thread I posted that I just received my cotton ball with the myrrh scented oil from the St. John the Forerunner icon in Chicago. I just realized that the scent of the oil on the cotton ball smells identical to the oil that I discovered on my night shirt last August! I had no idea that the fragrance was myrrh. That is a total Twilight Zone moment for me. Super cool. For me, it's a confirmation of a miracle. God is so amazing!!
My brother Sean used to work in a bank in a little seaside town and a lady in the street told him this story. Herself and a neighbour were great friends but this lady had a terrible, terrible fear of death, she could not even talk about it. But her friend got cancer of the stomache, it was terminal and since she had no family she asked her friend who was so afraid of death to sit with her for her last moments. With great courage she did so. When she got to the ward the nurse told her all she had to do was sit by the dying womans bed and let them know whent he little ball on the air machine stopped hopping up and down that the lady was already really dead , just still breathing. Relived the lady sat by the bedside o nher own and waited for the end. Suddenly right out of the blue the lady sat bolt upright on her death bed threw both arms wide open and called out the name of Jesus with great joy in her face. Then she fell back on the bed, dead. But none of the Doctors or nurses would beleive her, they said it was physically impossible, that the cancer had eaten herinsides and she could not move . But from then on the lady totally lost her fear of death.
