MIRACULOUS HEALING WITH THE HELP OF THE HOLY SOULS

Irish architect, Pat Murnahan was enjoying a lot of richly deserved success and good fortune. In the mid-90s he was flying home to Ireland after a business trip to New York had gone extremely well. The plane was very noisy with passengers chatting and stowing luggage, but Pat managed to fall asleep, but suddenly he woke up and found that a hush had fallen over the entire cabin. Pat found the silence shocking. Then, however, he saw the serene saint causing it: Mother Teresa was walking up the aisle with another sister accompanying her. They both had their white saris with blue stripes on and their presence had inspired a whole airplane to be in respectful quiet. 

Lo and behold, Mother Teresa sat next to Pat and he felt humbled. Divine Providence had led to them sitting side by side on a plane going over the Atlantic Ocean. Then he saw her open an unusual rosary, pictured below, that had a different color for every decade. It was the rosary for the holy souls; the shades are metaphorical reminders that they move from darkness into the light of God. Mother Teresa said 3 rosaries and then enquired of Pat as to whether he was Irish. He readily said yes, and Mother Teresa warmed to him - she had gone to Dublin as an 18 teen year old in 1928 - she was filled with fond memories of her time as a postulant and then as a young nun in the leafy suburb of Rathfarnham. 

She nurtured a lifelong friendship with Ireland; I remember, too, that when I grew up in Ireland and while it was not the most virtuous, prayerful place, there were people who were regularly going to Calcutta to help Mother Teresa and doing their utmost by her without asking for a penny, or a rupee in return. There were also a few characters who seemed jealous of her fame and made unfair criticisms to me because they felt she had people under her sway. 

But Mother Teresa did not let a few mean-spirited individuals poison her against the Irish as a nation, and she said to Pat, "well, you being Irish, you must of course be Catholic and very prayerful." This made Pat feel embarrassed, he had fallen away from the Faith for some time, but he didn't tell the little nun that he wasn't as she'd presumed. Pat blushed. Then Mother Teresa invited him to say a rosary with her, that was for his intentions, and she asked, "Is there anyone in particular you wish to keep in prayer?" Pat said his grandmother was deathly ill, and so they prayed Ave Marias in gentle tones for her. Mother explained the great efficacy of praying for the dearly departed, "When you pray for the souls in Purgatory, God will be so pleased with your unselfish prayers for those you don't even know, that He will grant you your dearest wish". Then Mother gave him a gift of her rosary beads. 

Pat was perhaps amazed at what ensued; the next day his grandmother recovered completely and was out of bed. Another miracle happened when a close friend of his was found with a vicious cancer and only given a tiny time to live. Pat gave her the rosary Mother had given him, and invited her to pray for the holy souls. She was not Catholic, but people had been praying for her tumor to disappear. When she asked the intercession of the holy souls, the tumor inexplicably vanished. Then, the lady converted to Catholicism. 

There are miracles of healing that may be sought through the intercession of the holy souls. Healings of all types of bodily and mental ills may be given if prayer is offered for them and if their prayers are asked. It bears repeating that the holy souls cannot pray for themselves; the charity they did in this life when they were flesh and blood is that which was their passport to Purgatory; without charity we cannot be saved, and they have a heart for us who are living that is hard for us to grasp because, unlike them, we do not see behind the veil. They do. 

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This post was informed by Val Conlon's In the Friendship of God. Divine Mercy Publications, Dublin, 2009, pages 131 - 141. Pat Murnahan is a friend of Val and told her his story. The rosary beads may be bought here.  Gustave Doré executed the painting of Dante's Purgatorio and it is in the public domain.

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