You know I may not believe in saints or miracles anymore. But I can't explain everything. Like Fr. Solanus Casey (1870-1957). He was a living saint, a modern Saint Anthony. But unlike St. Anthony, you don't have to go to Padua to see him. We have him right in Detroit, where I grew up and live. Seeing him is still a beautiful experience though. You only have to be Catholic to receive communion. All other faiths are welcomed. In fact Fr. Solanus probably would've anyways. He healed all races and religions. In fact the symbol of the Fr. Solanus Guild is the Star of David, because Mary was herself Jewish. A lot of people didn't know that. If you go there, you might get "healed". But either way I think you'll find it a beautiful experience.
Here in Oklahoma, Blessed Fr. Stanley Rother was the first U.S. martyr, and the the first martyr from the United States, the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified. He devoted his life to working to improve the lives of the Tz’utujil in Guatemala, appeared on a hit list of right-wing death squads, and returned to Guatemala anyway because "the shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger." He was one of ten priests to be murdered in Guatemala in 1981. His heart was buried in his church in Guatemala and his body is buried in his home town of Okarche here. He was beautified in 2017--one verified miracle away from canonized sainthood. I don't believe in miracles, but he still was a good guy--so I hope they come up with one.
(The St. Jude shrine is also in Detroit. Read the Danny Thomas story. It doesn't involve a miracle. But it's still interesting.)
Did you hope that Donald Trump was going to survive all the fake news, long enough to tax imports from China and allow Detroit to rise from the ashes. Being in the UK, the moment that I heard about his proposed tax, I knew that was that for him. Sometimes, people cannot see what is staring them in the face.
Donald Trump and his cohorts are the font of fake news. Obviously, you read too much of it if you think he'll save us from one of his heros, Xi.
Okay, one last question: My uncle (1923-2006) was healed by Fr. Solanus as a baby. He would've been blind, deaf and profoundly retarded. And he made a full recovery. What are the chances of a baby making a full recovery in a situation like that? Any doctors on these boards?
We don't have enough info to determine what the chances are. I'm not a doctor, nor a mathematician, so I wouldn't be able to answer your question about probabilities. To calculate the probabilities, wouldn't we need know how many babies in similar circumstances around the world didn't make a full recovery? Too bad Fr. Solanus couldn't be everywhere. So you're saying that any highly improbable event that can't otherwise be explained is due to, what...a miracle? And you can attribute it to a particular priest? Miracles are extraordinary events. I have no doubt that the event in question happened, but you'd need an extraordinary amount of evidence to attribute it to Blessed Fr. Solanus. You haven't shared that with us. Did you witness the event? (that, in itself, would be kind of a miracle, since you'd be well-over 100 years old.) Or did you it second hand from your uncle, who must have gotten it from somebody else. Perhaps a story handed down in your family. Was your uncle getting any medical treatment, or were his folks just relying on a faith healer? My best friend appeared to be on the verge of death. He had bladder cancer, which was operated on; but he still has bone cancer. The surgeon who operated on him told him he was asking himself during surgery why he was bothering, cuz my friend didn't stand a chance. He got through it, but was totally bedridden for months and looked like something out of the Walking Dead. His physician told him he could die of cancer in a few months, and that no treatment was likely to help. Then he was transferred to a skilled nursing facility in a remote part of rural Oklahoma. (If you drove 5 mi. farther, you might fall of the edge of the earth). There he began to make progress, under the care of a dedicated rehab team. He's now back on his feet, living independently and pretty much his old self. He still has the bone cancer, a ticking time bomb, but so far seems back almost to normal, is enjoying life, and serving as the cantor in his church. His doctor keeps saying: "I can't believe it. A miracle? My friend thinks so, and says he doesn't know why God brought him back. I joke God probably thought it would be good advertising to have Lazarus singing in church every week. My friend is deeply religious, so I certainly wouldn't rule out God and miracles, since everybody in town seemed to be praying for him. But I'd also give lots of credit, as he does, to those therapists, and to his determined attitude and hard work to get back on his feet. And to his stepdaughter he adopted when she was a kid (smart move on his part), a nurse who has been his primary caregiver. She was expected to die as an infant, and her recovery was widely attributed in the community to a miracle. The marriage didn't work out, but the girl remained loyal to her stepdad. So God must really be watchin' over my friend. Anyhow, life may be stranger than we think. The whole thing (life, that is) seems like a miracle to me. BTW. Has your uncle's case been brought to the attention of the Catholic Church? Fr. Solanus is up for canonization, and another miracle might help!