Signs from God: Science Tests Faith
Well known Investigative reporter Michael Willesee (from Australia) rediscovered his faith through his personal experience and live reporting of miracles within the Catholic Church. In 1998 he made a report entitled Signs From God about Catalina Rivas (Katya Rivas), a woman who displayed the stigmata from Bolivia among other miracles. Scientists put these miracles to the test live on TV hosted by Fox Broadcasting. This program shows the stigmata actually becoming visible on Catalina as well as other signs and miracles. This television program can be watched online below or at YouTube.com. (To watch at YouTube.com search for “Signs from God part 1” and then continue for the other 8 parts.)
Throughout history we have reports of miracles in the Bible and lives of the Saints. Miracles are still happening today and some have been investigated by scientists as this program shows.
Why does God sometimes communicate to us through miracles? One possibility might be that miracles open up our minds to new possibilities that we would not have imagined. They attest to God’s existence and to a power and reality beyond our physical senses and physical nature.
God is our creator and the creator of nature and therefore above the laws of nature. His love and goodness go beyond our understanding. He loves us so much that he became a man in the person of Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us to save us from sin and eternal death. Jesus came to give us the opportunity to have an abundant life now and eternal life and happiness in Heaven.
God and his ways are above our full understanding but we do know from the Bible that God is love. One way that God loves us is as a good parent loves their child and just as a good parent God wants us to be united with him in love for all eternity. Jesus came to make up for our sins and to offer us forgiveness of our sins as well as to give us his grace and peace and other gifts.
No sin is too great for God to forgive because Jesus is a greater Savior than we are a sinner. God desires to have mercy on us if we will only accept God and his mercy.
God is completely good, but due to free will given to the angels and humans, there is also evil in the world brought about by the free choice of God’s creatures in sins and the results of sin. God asks us to reject evil and to avoid sinful thoughts, words, and actions. God invites us to accept him and his love and grace, and he promises us the help of his grace. He calls us to repentance, to a new life in His grace and love, and to a deeper union with Him in our spiritual life.
A simple prayer to God asking for his grace, help and forgiveness is often the beginning step to union with God. One such prayer is, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
As mentioned earlier, Catalina Rivas is one person who God seems to be speaking through in our time. She claims to have received numerous messages from Jesus and Mary and has written them down as she was instructed. They reaffirm many Catholic teachings. They are “private revelations” and therefore not part of the deposit of the Catholic faith so we are free as Catholics to believe in them or not, but her messages have been reviewed by her bishop who has given his permission for them to be printed.
(As Catholics we are to accept the entire deposit of the faith, i.e. public revelation of God handed down from the twelve Apostles. Revelations to private persons and even to saints since that time are called “private revelations” and are not required to be believed, and there are some supposed private revelations that are not true and/or misleading so we have to be prayerful and careful about what we believe.)
The messages given to Catalina Rivas are available online as ebooks that can be downloaded at no charge or read online.