A Blind Priest's Case for Miracles | Fr. Robert Spitzer

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Miracles are reminders of how God breaks into our average, everyday, ordinary lives with his presence. They're also proofs that he exists. And they're great proofs to share, by the way, with your bratty atheist friends and kids and grandkids. Today we're going to talk about the miracles associated with Fatima and Lourdes. And if you're a devout Catholic, you've probably heard about Fatima and Lourdes, but never this way. This is truly going to blow your mind. Really excited today on the Chris Stefanick Show. And while you're watching that, I'll be diving into prayer for you in this beautiful church in the middle of just a meh city street. But, dude, talk about a reminder of God's presence. And speaking of reminders of God's presence blasting into our reality, while you're watching that, I'm going to be praying in this beautiful church that I just found on one of my trips for you. Thank you, Jesus. Father Spitzer, thank you so much for being here. My hand's right here. [00:01:07] Speaker B: Thanks so much. The blind guy has taken it back. [00:01:11] Speaker A: It's really. I love your joy and energy and everything. Before I dive into miracles, how are you? How has it been? I mean, you've had a serious adjustment. You went from seeing to seeing shadows to seeing absolutely nothing. How do you ride that wave? Smiling? [00:01:28] Speaker B: Well, you ride the wave trusting in the Lord that he's going to take care of you, take care of your apostolate, take care of the people that are working for your apostolate. In my case, the Magi Center. And so, you know, God does. He absolutely does. Blessed Virgin Mary is always watching out over me. So long as I keep praying, my joy just keeps elevated. Of course, if I. Yeah, yeah. If I stop praying, I would be a sorry sack in a few minutes. But I don't stop praying because first of all, I love it. And second of all, I know it's good for me what's going to happen to me if I do. So. It's like old St. Teresa of Avila used to say, a man can be sinning and praying, but not for long. Eventually, he'll have to give up one of them. And of course, prayer is the antidote, but it's also the perfect way to, you know, attain joy. And the Rosary for me is very fundamental to my prayer as well as, of course, the Divine Office, which I can't read anymore. I listen to it on the. There's various stations, you know, where I could get the Divine Office and listen to it and pray along I almost have the psalms memorized anyway, so, you know, it works out just great. And as I said, the joy comes along with it. The joy of having an apostolate. I love the joy of really helping to save a lot of souls, you know, that we work with, and we do a lot of work with young people. We have a high school, middle school program, you know, courses, elective courses, and they're awesome. [00:03:00] Speaker A: We're gonna link to that below the [email protected]. [00:03:03] Speaker B: yeah, @majicenter.com exactly. And we got Majesai now answers, Really? A million questions? [00:03:10] Speaker A: No, I mean, like, the proofs that you lay out for the faith. Praise God. And we're going to get into that. But you said you'd be a sorry SAP if you stopped praying. Do you feel like a leaky tire? Like, do you experience that? It's like, nope, got to get back to prayer and just keep. [00:03:24] Speaker B: I just don't give it up because I know, you know, if I just start now, sometimes when I'm traveling, I can slack off a little bit because schedules get weird and time zones get weird. But basically I stick with it because like I said, sorry sack, you know, if you just give it up for a little while because it's just an infusion. Just being with the Blessed Virgin Mary, just being, you know, with Jesus, with the Lord and the Holy Spirit, just being with God the Father, you know, and just connecting is great, you know, in a rosary, you don't, you know, I'm not the best meditator in the world, but to connect with the Blessed Virgin Mary, every time I say, hail Mary, full of grace, her Holy Mary, Mother of God, you know, she's there. I know she's watching. I just sense her presence. And the more I kind of, you know, prayers become habitual, the more she's just kind of present very palpably. And the same thing with saying, our Father who art in heaven, you know, he's there. And of course, just traveling, knowing their support and being with them. You know, for me, that rosary is so powerful, you know, and not only the rosary, but just the divine office is so powerful because I substitute every time it says the Lord, which of course, in the Psalms is very frequently I personalize it. I say, you, Lord, you, Lord, you know, so I make that a real prayer. Now there's some psalms, like Psalm 51, you know, which are already. It's there in the second person for you, you know, but a lot of them, it's in the third person. I Just switch it up. And so I'm talking with him, and I know he's present, and that helps me a whole lot. I'm a Jesuit, so I don't have to say my office in community. So as I'm listening to the office, you know, I'm switching the Lord to. [00:05:21] Speaker A: You couldn't see this, but I whispered [00:05:23] Speaker B: to the camera, I love this guy. [00:05:28] Speaker A: This is going to sound kind of crazy, but, like, you actually seem more. I've seen you periodically over the years. You actually seem more joyful. [00:05:34] Speaker B: I think blindness helps. [00:05:36] Speaker A: Yeah. How has blindness blessed you? There's my crazy question. When you're praying, do you actually sense the presence of God more now that you can see? [00:05:44] Speaker B: Yes, I would have to say that's true. It's kind of a second Corinthians 12 thing, too. You know, I was given a thorn in the flesh and angel of Satan to beat me, to keep me from getting proud. But now, you know, I know that in my weakness is my strength. And as I grow weaker, Christ grows stronger in me. In other words, Paul's getting saved from his pride, and he's. You know, when you're really vulnerable or, you know, like, when you're blind, you are more vulnerable than when you're not blind. And so that's the opportunity for the Holy Spirit, you know, there's a hole in your heart. The Holy Spirit is there to drive a Mack truck full of grace right into your heart. And he does. If you're open to it, if that's what you want, if you see the opportunities that are in the suffering, if you've got, like, As I said, Second Corinthians 12, you know, at your. The forefront of your heart. And, you know, you're like, being Paul, you know, accepting. Okay, I think Paul, frankly, was going blind. I really do. I mean, I can't understand the Galatians passages where, you know, I would gouge out my. I know you would gouge out your own eyes and give them to me if you could. Well, why would anybody want to do that unless there was something wrong with his eyes? And that passage in the Acts of the Apostles where, you know, he's talking to the high priest. He doesn't know it's the high priest, but the high priest comes in and Paul says, what would you have on me, you whitewashed wall? And is that any way to talk to the high priest? [00:07:18] Speaker A: Oops. [00:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Paul, who was a Pharisee, could have recognized a high priest from 200 yards if he had normal vision. But he apparently Didn't. And he calls him a whitewashed wall. I know what a whitewashed wall is. That's the way when I was going blind. You don't go blind, like instantly or most people. You know, in my case, I had RP Retinite pigmentosa. I went blind gradually. So basically, you know, people would start looking like whitewashed walls. And I said, you know, that. [00:07:48] Speaker A: Seems I've never heard that theory, but it totally fits. [00:07:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And I never thought the thorn in the flesh was really a spiritual thing. I always thought flesh, you know, it wasn't flesh in the spiritual sense. He meant something was wrong with his body, you know, so that's my theory. But I can just see it in so many different passages. You know, this is me, Paul, writing in the big print. Right. So you can see it's my, you know, writing. [00:08:19] Speaker A: But I'm going to guess maybe I'm projecting here while in prayer. Like, you can't see me right now, but you could sense my presence. Is it the same? [00:08:27] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:08:28] Speaker A: Almost make the Lord pop more. [00:08:30] Speaker B: In fact, I gotta tell you, blind people do have a sensitivity to spiritual presence. There's no doubt about that. [00:08:38] Speaker A: That's cool. [00:08:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And the Lord's presence, you know, he can be there very much in consolation, you know, and in a kind of a palpable peace. But oftentimes you just sense the presence. Wow. So when I begin my prayer, I always just say something like, you know, dear Lord, you know, I know you are here, because I do know I'm experiencing. I know you are here. I know you love me and I love you, too. So when I get started, I just kind of give a, you know, a way of making me even more hyper aware of his presence, you know, And I. I don't say that to convince myself. I say it so that I'm aware that he is there. You know, I'm opening myself to that. I mean, you know, people, you know, they walk down the street, sighted people, and they. They walk down the street and, you know, they block out things and they're conscious of things. And so you have to sort of say, I want to be conscious of X, you know, the directions, the street name or some marker that I'm supposed to look for or something of that nature. So you can sort of zero out on other things. But, you know, same thing in prayer, you know, just make yourself aware. Hey, tell the Lord I know you're here because he is there. No question about it. Tell the Blessed Virgin Mary, I am here. I know you're here. And I'm aware of it. And I know you love me and I love you. Back you go. People go, ah, you know, how can you be so sure that, you know, the Lord loves you? Because it's not dependent on my, you know, you know, you know, doing things perfectly. Doing things perfectly. Exactly. It's dependent on them being infinitely loving. So I. I have never had any thought. Even when I, you know, strayed off the path when I was a younger guy, I knew God wasn't going to abandon me. He's going to try and call me back, try and get me out of the grip of any kind of evil that I had gotten myself into. [00:10:50] Speaker A: May the Lord help us all see. Like a blind. Like a holy blind man. Amen. [00:10:56] Speaker B: It's true. [00:10:56] Speaker A: Yeah. What's up, you guys? I'm so glad you're watching. Would you please let us inspire you every single day? Click below this video and sign up for the Daily Anchor. And this is really cool, guys. When you sign up for the Daily Anchor, you're entered into a drawing. We're going to pick a name where you can bring a friend of mine on the pilgrimage to Beauty and to Kalaupapa, where St Damian of Molokai, Marian Cope and Joseph Dutton poured out their lives serving a leper colony. Dude, this is going to be a mind blowing trip. You're going to be drawn to get a chance to win it for free. [00:11:28] Speaker B: What? [00:11:29] Speaker A: So we'll put info about the whole trip if you just want to sign up below the video. But the Daily Anchor, that's how you get daily inspiration and a chance to win that trip. Okay, back to our video. Let's talk miracles. [00:11:42] Speaker B: Sure. [00:11:43] Speaker A: I'm actually, the timing of this is providential because this will. This will air maybe a month or so from now, but I'm about to head on a pilgrimage to Portugal, to Fatima and to Lourdes. [00:11:55] Speaker B: Fantastic. [00:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And you're gonna give me a download here to miracles. And some of these miracles, man, it would take more faith and more of a leap of faith to not believe in God after hearing them. [00:12:07] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:12:08] Speaker A: They're just undeniable. [00:12:10] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I can't understand why it's not part of every single catechism class from the time of 4th grade onwards. [00:12:17] Speaker A: Isn't that wild? [00:12:19] Speaker B: You know, why aren't they talking about the miracle of Fatima? Why aren't the miracle of the Son of Fatima? Why aren't they talking about, you know, the spectacular healing miracles of Lourdes? Even Bernadette of Silver, all of her, you know, not her life. Story, but, you know, the last part of her life story, you know, where she gets this, the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and then right down to the end where, of course, her body was incorruptible, like 53 years later, etc. And then re. Exhumed and so forth. [00:12:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, let's start with Fatima. Actually, could you give us the, you know, 122nd overview of what it is, like, what happened, the historic significance. Sorry, that's maybe limiting your time too much. Give us whatever overview you want and then let's talk the miracles that kind of make this undeniable. So what happened in Fatima? [00:13:12] Speaker B: Well, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children. The principal one was Lucia, but also Jacinta, a friend of hers, and also Francisco, and these three children. And she makes three. On three occasions, she makes a prediction that, you know, coming up on October 13, 1917, you know, when the sun is at its midpoint, which you probably think was noon, but actually in Portugal it was two o' clock because they had set their clocks forward to basically be with their soldiers who were fighting in World War I. But the long and the short of it is she says, I'm going to be there and, you know, I'm going to prove things, you know. And so she comes back again, you know, from, you know, June, then July and then August, you know, they kind of get the. Some people try to arrest the children, believe it or not, so that she's not going to get another one on the 13th of the month, another, you know, prediction. And. But Lucia, you know, she keeps hammering on her message, you know, coming up in October, just get ready, there's going to be a spectacular miracle. She didn't say miracle of the sun or anything else. She just says, it's going to happen. And it's going to happen at this grotto in Fatima, you know, at the Covadi area, which is, you know, a rather large grotto which the sheep herders and things would have been aware of, but pretty small, insignificant, like a little part. When you go to Fatima, you'll. You'll see that it's, you know, typical Blessed Virgin Mary, right? She's always appealing to children, to, you know, people who don't have an agenda, you know, and so forth. So, of course, Lucia, she says, I'm going. And of course, 40,000 people show up. [00:15:10] Speaker A: Okay, wait, before we hit the miracle of the Son, sum up the message, like, what was Mary saying? [00:15:15] Speaker B: Well, she's, you know, three different things, really. There was, of course, you Know, a vision of hell that she was, that she gave. And people go, well, why would the Blessed Virgin Mary ever give a vision of hell to children? Because, of course, most people probably didn't give a vision of hell to children. But if children are saying she, you know, that they had a vision of hell, then maybe it might begin to occur to them post factum, right after the miracle of the sun, when that really happens, right then, oh, my gosh, maybe she was telling the truth about that vision of hell. Maybe there really is a hell. Maybe there, you know, we better get our acts together. What did she say about how to, you know, stay out of hell? You know, of course, follow Jesus moral teaching, of course, church participation in rosary, rosary, rosary and repentance for sins. So she's kind of emphasizing this message in all three of the appearances. The hell one was only in one of her appearances to the children. [00:16:21] Speaker A: We overlook what Jesus saved us from. I know it's part of the Jesuit spiritual exercises to actually spend serious time meditating on hell, what it might look [00:16:30] Speaker B: like for you and the evil spirit who is out there in the world. There's a dark force who's manipulating, with one sole intention to get us into hell by seducing us and having us actually choose it in our own freedom. So, you know, essentially, the Blessed Virgin Mary is giving this warning. But the warning coming through the children is, I think, you know, you just say, why would children have this agenda? Obviously, you could say, no, they were trained to do this by some church person who, you know, told them, you know, here's what you should say about the apparition. But, you know, again, the whole idea of teaching children about hell and apparitions, not very believable. But secondly, there's not a single churchman, you know, these kids didn't hang out with anybody from the church, and they were no one special. And they were certainly not the most educated people in the whole wide world, like Bernadette of Subaru right in the back of the class, you know, but she was very intelligent in her own ways, in her own way. But, you know, she was not the stellar student, you know, and so forth. [00:17:42] Speaker A: And I'm sorry, I know I asked you to rush through this, but I'm asking all these questions. What. What did the kids see when they saw hell? [00:17:49] Speaker B: Well, basically, they saw people who were in pain and people who were basically, you know, suffering from, you know, great. It could have been, you know, suffering from heat, but it looks like they were suffering from all kinds of things. Obviously, they were Wailing. And there was wailing. Not the kids, but there was wailing in hell. The. The people that were down there. And, you know, so it. It was pretty. Pretty seemingly authentic to what Jesus described hell to be in the New Testament. So, you know, a lot of people thought for a while that maybe they were making it up, but after the miracle of the sun, nobody thought they were making it up. [00:18:32] Speaker A: Okay, so we had hell. What was it? Were the other parts of the message. [00:18:36] Speaker B: Okay, then, of course, you know, how. How to stay out of hell. And of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary says, you know, the first thing, you know, church participation is important. She talks about the rosary, which, you know, of course, central to the Lord's apparition as well, you know, as being. And I can attest to that. The rosary is an incredibly good, powerful spiritual wig. Don't think it's just a repetitive prayer. It's a definite way of connecting with God that'll transform your life. Because then you start carrying around the presence of Mary and the Holy Spirit and the Father and Jesus with you, you know, because of that prayer. I'm telling you, it works. But anyway, she, of course, emphasizes that. Then she starts talking about the conversion of Russia. And, you know, not just praying the rosary for that, but some prayers for that, but basically the reparation for sins, you know, that. To pray for reparation of the sins that have been committed. And, you know, that this would help in the conversion of Russia. And, of course, I lived through the Boris Yeltsin whole thing, you know, the Gorbachev thing. And I always. I gotta tell you, I just scratch my head and this can't be happening. [00:19:57] Speaker A: My dad shared that with me, too. First, the. The fact that these peasant children would even know that Russia would become a big deal. [00:20:04] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:20:05] Speaker A: This is a prophetic thing before the revolution, that Russia's gonna spread its errors throughout the world. That's a definitive proof of this being legit, I think. [00:20:15] Speaker B: No question about it. These kids probably didn't even know where Russia was. Probably never even heard of it. [00:20:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Why would they think they should care? [00:20:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. [00:20:24] Speaker A: But my dad was dumbfounded, too. Cause he. I mean, I lived through the. Through Cold War times, and we did drills. We have to hide under your desk. Like that's going to help in a nuclear bomb. [00:20:33] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:20:34] Speaker A: Just get under your desks, kids. And that was scary times. But he remembers growing up praying after mass for the conversion of Russia every week, and he's like, wait, wait, what just happened? And no one had to fire a Gun. And the Berlin Wall just came down. [00:20:49] Speaker B: I just got a tank. [00:20:50] Speaker A: It happened. [00:20:51] Speaker B: I couldn't believe it. Seeing Boris Hilson on that tank and everything else. And Gorbachev's, you know, trying to really make detente work. And I just, I was flummoxed. I just thought, not in a million years this has got to be graced Gorbachev, you know, no matter what you think, the man, he must have been a closet Christian of some sort. He just had to be. [00:21:19] Speaker A: Or moved by actual grace. [00:21:20] Speaker B: Or moved by actual grace. Absolutely. And then of course, the Yeltsin deal, you know, and, you know, every. Basically just the toppling of the old regime, you know, just like that, you know, 1, 2, 3. [00:21:36] Speaker A: It's absolutely incredible. [00:21:37] Speaker B: It really was. [00:21:38] Speaker A: And at the church, I mean, this could be a whole other show, but the church was center stage in that John Paul II solidarity movement. John Paul Reagan wouldn't have happened without him. [00:21:45] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely. John Paul II very much part of it, of course, Ronald Reagan very much instrumental, you know, as well. But John Paul II certainly preparing, you know, at that time was called Soviet Union, you know, because it encompassed not just Russia, but all kinds of satellite countries that were, you know, integrated in. The Soviet Union, of course, doesn't really exist today. But the main thing, of course, Poland was a part of that. John Paul II was very instrumental in the, like, Wolensa movement, etc. And not only that, but in other Eastern European countries and satellites of the Soviet Union. But he was causing a lot of things. Reagan. Ronald Reagan, President Reagan was causing a lot of things. And, you know, it's not just those two, though. It's palpable grace. Nothing would have happened if Gorbachev was not, you know, inured. Just wanting detente of some kind or another and wanting an end to the tyranny that had besieged Russia. Not just Lenin and Stalin, but even Khrushchev and so forth. So essentially there was a desire there to improve life for these poor Russian people who are tyrannically treated. I mean, I'm not saying we didn't return a little bit to that with Putin, but for all intents and purposes, I think there was real miracle there, real grace there. [00:23:23] Speaker A: And they never returned to the old, to the space it had been in. [00:23:27] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, Magnificent conspiracy of divine providence. I mean, it's just unbelievable. [00:23:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So the basic message is to pray for conversion to save you from hell and to save you from hell on earth by a lot of people who are on their way to hell, turning earth into hell. [00:23:41] Speaker B: Now yeah, that's right. Right, that's right. [00:23:43] Speaker A: That kind of sums her up. But so what kind of sums up the whole work of the gospel? [00:23:48] Speaker B: Right, that's right, that's right. [00:23:49] Speaker A: That's what Mary's doing. [00:23:49] Speaker B: It's like all these operations reflecting her son's message. Exactly. [00:23:54] Speaker A: Okay, so why should I believe these crazy Catholics who think this actually happened? Well, God's stamp of approval is the miracle. And tell us about the miracle that so many people are not paying attention to, even still. [00:24:05] Speaker B: So on October 13, 1917, of course, about two hours before the, no, about one hour before the actual miracle of the sun happened, you know, 40,000 people are gathered there. It had been raining. People were coming from all over Portugal. I'm not kidding. There are scientists there, there are lawyers there, there are media people there. I mean, even the person who is chief editor for the biggest Masonic newspaper was there. They were all there to show that the Catholic Church was demonstrably stupid. So they all come into the Kobadi area and. Well, I won't finish the story in a second, but there's this huge group of people, 40,000 people are there. They have been gathering all night long. It's been raining, the water's been seeping into the ground, their clothes are soaking wet, except for people who had vehicles. And that was, you know, just like maybe 5% of them had some shelter and, you know, vehicles and so forth. The rest of them are out there in the rain, they're waiting for high. Well, in this case, high two o'. Clock. So, but essentially Lucy comes out and she's riding on the shoulders of a big guy, you know, and so, you know, she, everybody's, you know, sort of cheering this little girl, you know, little 70 year old peasant, right? And so she comes out and finally after, you know, it's still the rain starts, you know, stopping and gradually it stops altogether, but everything's still sopping wet. It's everything stopping wet that'll become more important in a second. So she points to the sun, she says, look, look at the sun. Now this is a very bad idea because of course if you look directly at the sun for any amount of time, and by the way, this miracle of the sun lasted 10 minutes and people could not take their eyes off the sun. Was there one instance of scarring of the retina, one instance of blindness or a semi blindness being caused by people looking at this, at the sun taking place for 10 minutes? Not one? Nope. I mean, all I'm telling you is they are all protected by this massive thing, okay? So the people start looking up at the sun, and you can just see suddenly the sun is appearing, but it's appearing in a form that's not hurting their eyes, with a big silver rim around the sun, and the sun starts twirling on its own axis. So, you know, you know, you look at that and you go, that's impossible. Now, I'll just give you terrifying. It's terrifying. Now, of course, people thought it was the actual sun at the time. Today we know, because there was no, you know, none of the big astronomical observatory saw any strange phenomena of the sun happening at that time. So it had to be an atmospheric phenomena. I'll just for the moment, give you a brief thought, and that is that, you know, think of about a big, huge lens about one mile in diameter. But it's not a lens that's visible to anybody, but it's a lens that can refract light, reflect light, and even magnify light of the sun. You know, in its, you know, capacity. You know, it's somehow the lens is carved out so that it can refract light at various frequencies. So basically, as the sun starts twirling, as I said, with a silver rim, and then it starts twirling on its own axis, it's kind of going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, you know, and that would be the lens really going back and forth and back and forth. The lens is probably suspended 3, 4 miles above the COVID d area. And it has to be, because people that were about 10 miles away could also see what was going on in the COVID area. But once you start getting more than 20 miles away from that region, people didn't see it anymore. So it probably may be suspended up there. This lens, I'm going to call it a supernatural lens for a second. [00:28:24] Speaker A: What the heck else would it be? [00:28:26] Speaker B: Well, it has to be some kind of a supernatural lens, because if the sun's not doing it, certainly something is happening that 40,000 people are seeing, and not, just, as I said, in the cova, but, you know, 10 miles away from the cova. So the sun starts, you know, rotating on its own axis and starts throwing out individual rays from different spots. So one ray is kind of orange and another ray is red and another one is purple. [00:28:55] Speaker A: All these people are seeing the same [00:28:56] Speaker B: thing, and they're all seeing the same thing. Well, they could see it because when the rays are shooting out, as each ray came toward the section that you were, you turn yellow or blue or red or Whatever too. So I mean, it was very obvious, you know, that these colors were actually hitting all of these people. [00:29:16] Speaker A: That would be so cool to be there. I just didn't say that. [00:29:19] Speaker B: And it starts kind of going, you know, going back and forth and back and forth. And then finally after about 2, 3 minutes of this with the rays, then the sun, the lens, of course, not the sun, but seems like the sun detaches itself or the lens detaches itself from being about three, four miles out there and comes rushing toward the cova. So you know, as it rushes toward the cova, you know, people are, they, you can see these pictures, there's photographs where these people are just, boom, they're all kneeling down and oh, they thought they were, they were terrified. They thought it was the end of the world and they're all crying out and people were literally confessing their sins in public. They were so scared, you know, and you know, the, the sun comes down and starts drying off. So you can see that there's good deal of heat that was being magnified by this lens from the sun and it literally is drying the clothing of the people, drying the ground that had been soaking up the water all night long. So, you know, there's obviously physical signs that this is actually happening, not just people's witness testimony, by the way, mass hysteria can't be the explanation anyway because mass hysteria doesn't go over 10 miles. And you know, people. [00:30:41] Speaker A: Right, that's one of the, and that's one of the best arguments that the atheists have about this is mass hysteria and crowd psychology and people seven miles away. Ten miles away. Square, that one. [00:30:52] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly. But of course, how do you. Mass hypnosis is not going to produce drying of the ground after a thorough soaking or drying of the people's clothes or no scarring of the retinal tissue. And people have been looking at the sun for 10 minutes, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, these are physical signs and manifestations. Something very, very strange going on. [00:31:14] Speaker A: That's so cool. [00:31:16] Speaker B: So it is really cool. And then suddenly the sun just returns right back to where it was and back into the, you know, be the lens that's right up above there. And then of course the sun starts, stops orbiting, rotating around on its own axis. And then the lens, as it were, disappears. So the phenomenon ends at about 10 minutes after it starts. Now this poor Masonic guy who's there, he's the editor and chief, he came there to make fun of the Catholic Church and the so called apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And he was editor of this paper, which was, you know, kind of the radical Masonic, anti Catholic paper. And basically his headline was the Sun Danced at Fatima. Basically, I saw it. Not a hoax, not a myth, by the way. The scientists were there, they saw it. Very good. Physicians were there, they saw it. Reporters, attorneys, academics were there, they saw it. Lots and lots of people saw it. Everybody hitting the dirt, kneeling down or prostrating themselves. Right as the sun is coming down, they're seeing something in common, you know, that's got them going. And of course, they were all looking up at the sun after Lucy said, there, look at the sun. [00:32:48] Speaker A: I love the intense drama of the whole thing. I just think of people kneeling down and confessing their sins. It's like it fits the visions of hell, the call to conversion. It's like, no, no, no, now, don't convert later. Now, right now the sun's about to eat you. I mean, it didn't. But sometimes it takes something dramatic to jolt us out of our complacency and we forget the drama of the faith. Some people who, I think, pride themselves on being more mature Christians, like, oh, the emotionalism is for the kids. But then you see the statue of Our lady of Fatima who looks like a weeping mom, and you think of the drama of the cross. The whole thing is drama that we're caught up in here. [00:33:25] Speaker B: Oh, yes, there's plenty of drama. And these are good emotions. And of course, God gave us emotions because they do manifest what's going on in our heart. And it's all right to feel something. Of course, as a scientist, if you're going to become scientific, you have to try and divorce yourself from emotion and subjectivity. Take on an objective lens. But, you know, 40,000 witnesses should be enough. The fact that of course, the phenomenon. There was a very good priest physicist by the name of Stanley Yaake, who has written many, many fine articles and books. The Metaphysics of Modern Science is one of his terrific works. But there's many others that he has written. He had a PhD in physics as well as theology, and so he wrote a book called God and the sun at Fatima. Excellent book. If you want to look at the phenomena. He tries to describe it naturalistically. He said, could this be possible? Does it have to be a supernatural lens that's three miles, I mean, one mile in diameter, three, four miles from the COVID area? He said, well, there could be a naturalistic lens, but you would have to put together so many totally unusual things to get what's Called basically a natural ice lens that puts together that can move downward and upward and so forth. So if you try and say, okay, what are the odds that all of These unusual phenomena, 12 of them, occur simultaneously and perfectly to produce the phenomenon that Stanley Yaake, you know, is talking about at the very time when Mary said it's going to be October 13th, it's going to be at the Covetee area, it's going to be when the sun reaches the high point in the sky. What are the odds? It's about 2, 10 raised to the 12, 73 to 1. That's one chance in a trillion trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion and keep going until you've got almost about 80 trillions. So all I can tell you is that's not going to happen. [00:35:38] Speaker A: It just happens to be at the time that they said to come see it. [00:35:41] Speaker B: So of course, you know, when you put it all together, it's the same odds. It's supernatural one way or another. It's the only way you can explain the occurrence of this thing. [00:35:52] Speaker A: I love thinking too like that lens. Honestly. I knew about the miracle so I never heard the lens. But the first thing that comes to my mind is angelic beings that were told to go ahead and do this thing and how God, I mean it could all be a direct apparition of Jesus, God the Father, but the Lord, just like he uses us, seems to delight in using and letting us be partakers in what he's doing, using angels and Our lady of the Saints, like even on the other side. Oh yeah, tell us about the angel of Peace with Fatima. There's another whole apparition thing there. [00:36:25] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I'm less familiar with, you know, following through on that. But of course the whole, I'm going [00:36:31] Speaker A: to Google that as soon as we're done talking though, that's cool. [00:36:34] Speaker B: But you know. Oh yeah, but with respect to, you know, I don't know if the angel was necessarily causing the supernatural lens. [00:36:40] Speaker A: That's just my personal opinion. [00:36:41] Speaker B: Yeah, Our lady might have done that herself because of course you look at all the cosmic, you know, significance of the, you know, the science behind Our Lady Guadalupe, you know, the Tilma Guadalupe and boy there's all kinds of cosmic, you know, implications of that. But, but she's got, she's of course the gentle hearted mother that can tell. Juan Diego, Juanito, don't you know, I'm your mother, I'm going to take care of you don't have to worry about your Uncle. He's going to be okay. You know, she's that gentle mother. Yet at the same time, when you look at the perspective of the stars on her mantle and you look at the positioning of them and you see, you know, as the Lagrangian astronomers, you know, in Mexico, you know, put together the stars at the time in the southern sky. It's not that you're seeing the stars in the southern sky as they were from the perspective of the Earth looking out, but it's like our lady is actually beyond, you know, our galaxy or something. And she's looking down. [00:37:51] Speaker A: Oh, man. From the perspective in a massive can of worms. And it's awesome. It's got some chairs. [00:37:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. You just. It's like the whole scene turns 90 degrees on its axis to the right, which is the perspective from the outside looking down in. [00:38:05] Speaker A: We gotta have you come back and just talk about Guadalupe. [00:38:07] Speaker B: Oh, sure. [00:38:08] Speaker A: We're gonna catch some Guadalupitis. Let's jump into Lourdes. [00:38:13] Speaker B: Sure. [00:38:14] Speaker A: This is a not so scary apparition, comparatively. [00:38:16] Speaker B: No, it is not a scary apparition, [00:38:19] Speaker A: but the miracles are no less mind blowing. And they're still happening. [00:38:22] Speaker B: Oh, yes. [00:38:23] Speaker A: I mean, give us a summary of the story before we jump into the mirror. [00:38:26] Speaker B: So, Bernadette, there's a very fine book. It's now in a very fine audible book, too, called the Song of Bernadette. And I would recommend it to anyone. It's just written by a fellow, Franz Verfel. He was a Jewish fellow who actually promised that he would write the story of Lourdes and the miracle of Lourdes. But anyway, that book, the Song of Bernadette, is worth the read. It's a sort of a long one, but it gives you the whole history. But I'm going to cut to the chase in the very short message. Okay, so our lady comes to Bernadette Soubirous, and of course, she says, you know, ultimately, please come back here 15 times in a row. And Bernadette is in ecstasy. So much so that when Dr. De Zeus, he's a kind of central figure in this whole drama, you know, he goes out there and, you know, tries to validate that, you know, her ecstasy is authentic. And of course, you can see that her face is completely drawn back. She's, you know, you can basically hit her and she's not going to feel anything. [00:39:31] Speaker A: She's having a vision. She's out of this world. [00:39:34] Speaker B: That's right. And she's. Real ecstasy, real joy, very much in love with the blessed Virgin Mary, who's very much in love with her. So the main thing, of course, is as she's sitting there, she's holding this candle and she's got the candle like this and the wick is actually burning her fingers. And do. Zeus is. You know, the people are going, get the candle away. She'll burn herself. And do. Zeus goes, no, let her hold it. I'm interested. And so they didn't take the candle from her and the flame is licking her fingers and so forth. [00:40:06] Speaker A: Was she scarred by that or just. [00:40:08] Speaker B: No, Scarlet. No, she did not feel any pain whatsoever. No scarring afterwards. D' Zeus was so shocked. This is before any of the miracles happened. You know, he basically goes, there's something very, very strange again going on here. So he tells this Dean Paramal, you know, who's kind of. At first, he's a real skeptic and he. And he's kind of mean to Bernadette, you know, of Subaru, these big, tall, huge, very articulate, you know, priest. He's monsignor, actually a dean of. In. Of the Lourdes area. And he is kind of antithetical to the whole thing. He thinks it's just a child, you know, playing tricks and things like that. Well, of course, d' Zeus comes to him and says, I wasn't so sure about that, you know, and slowly but surely, you know, well, let me just give you two more incidents and you'll get the picture. So at the time, there is absolutely no manifestation of, you know, some kind of a dry well or creek or a source of water or anything there at this cave area, which was actually a filthy area. [00:41:30] Speaker A: It was a dump. [00:41:31] Speaker B: It was a dump, just like the [00:41:33] Speaker A: Lord does with us. He turned a dump into a healing spring. [00:41:36] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:41:37] Speaker A: It's the story of our lives, right? [00:41:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And so I think on the fourth apparition, I could be wrong, might be the fifth time. Anyway, our lady says to Bernadette, oh, go over there and drink from the water. And you know, Bernadette, she goes down toward the river Gov. No, not there. You know, so she go inside there, you know, into the cave area. So she goes in there and she can't see any water. And she says, you know, drink, drink, you know. And of course, Bernadette finally digs down deep enough and finds some. A little bit of water kind of saturated in the ground there. So she tries to drink that and of course she vomits, you know, and everybody goes, she's a fraud. So of course, Everybody, you know, 2,000, 3,000 people are there. They all write off Bernadette, of course. [00:42:26] Speaker A: Well, there's a painful day for a teenage kid. [00:42:28] Speaker B: Painful day. Crosses happened. But there's remnant of about 25, 30 people where she said, I'm coming back the next day, you know. And so she did. They tried to prevent her from coming. And of course, the authorities were always trying to play tricks on her and get her to do things that, you know, honestly, you know, putting gold coins down on a bench in her house. And then the little brother goes, oh, gold coin. Puts it in his pocket. Then, of course, they drag her before the authorities and her parents, you know, you stole money, you know, and so forth. And Bernadette goes, I don't know what you're talking about. So finally they say, well, who was there? You know? Well, my little brother was there and of course. Did you take the gold coin? Yeah, I thought mommy would like it. [00:43:19] Speaker A: People are so dang mean. [00:43:20] Speaker B: Oh, oh. They wanted to disprove her. Anyway, she goes back. Well, first, before she goes back, you know, they. These minor guys. Well, first of all, there was this Bruyet, you know, he was a kind of an ex minor fellow, you know, who was. Was blinded a little bit from a mining accident. But anyway, he's the first kind of believer. And so they get the little daughter, takes a handkerchief full of the soil that Bernadette was there, and he's trying to squeeze it into his blind eye. And he got some relief. [00:44:07] Speaker A: So Mary said to dig for this spring. So it was known in the front end this was going to be a healing spring. [00:44:13] Speaker B: Well, that's basically. [00:44:15] Speaker A: Or did he just take a gamble? [00:44:16] Speaker B: It was a gamble on his part. [00:44:18] Speaker A: So he didn't know. He just. [00:44:19] Speaker B: No, he just figured, hey, Blessed Virgin Mary is talking to Bernadette. I'm going to go with it. Maybe it'll help my eye. [00:44:25] Speaker A: Wow. [00:44:25] Speaker B: So that's the first thing that happens, but, you know, kind of independent. Then some people start noticing that there is water trickling out of the cave toward the spot where the Blessed Virgin Mary was having, you know, Bernadette. So essentially, the water is following these rills, you know, and it's kind of, you know, making a little track. And you know, this guy who is really kind of Bernadette's champion, Antoine. Monsieur Antoine. I forget his last name. But anyway, he. He comes out, he owns a big mill, you know, because these guys are looking at it, and he goes, what are you guys doing? And he said, you know, there's some water trickling out of the place, you Know, nearby where Bernadette was digging. And he goes, sure enough. So of course, these mill owners, yeah, they know water. That's their deal. [00:45:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:45:23] Speaker B: So he starts following the water along the rills there, and he sees a little common source. So he says, I'm just gonna puncture this a little bit. And out gushes a totally unknown spring [00:45:38] Speaker A: of water just right under the surface. [00:45:41] Speaker B: Well, it's just literally coming almost out of the rock behind there. And so he kind of, you know, drills it out. Nobody knew about this for hundreds of years. I mean, it was there and, you know, and of course, this guy had all these water gathering devices because he's a mill owner. So he takes these things and he starts, you know, directing the water coming out of this hole right out of the cave to a big huge, you know, font that, you know, these miners built this huge font on the spot. These miners come over and they go, what are you guys doing? We need you guys to help out. And of course, these guys, for our lady, we'll help out. So of course they build this big, you know, kind of pool. You know, it's like a font almost, where they've got these little, you know, they're kind of half pipes that are capturing the water and pouring it into the font. [00:46:43] Speaker A: So anyway, dunk in that water today. Actually, I'm going to dunk myself in that water. [00:46:47] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. [00:46:48] Speaker A: I'm taking a dive. [00:46:50] Speaker B: I think it's great. Now it's much bigger than it was back then, of course, and the water has kept coming. [00:46:56] Speaker A: You got millions of pilgrims coming through there. [00:46:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And I mean, the first miracle happens almost instantaneously. [00:47:02] Speaker A: Tell us about some of these miracles. And there's very few of them that have been thoroughly investigated by the church and then approved as official miracles, but there's countless ones that people aren't even reporting. I've met people who like. I met this one guy not long ago who's son had the skin disorder and looked like. He said it looked like a rhino's skin. He was bleeding on his sheets, and at the age of five, he couldn't walk because his skin was so dry. And he dunked him in the water and then the Blessed Sacrament came by in adoration. He said his son's skin instantly in his arms became like a baby's skin. [00:47:34] Speaker B: About 30, about a third of the time. It's a combination of the water and a blessing by the Holy Eucharist. I'll tell you some stories about that, some really interesting miracle stories about that. [00:47:49] Speaker A: Yeah, blow Our minds here. [00:47:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, well, I'll just give you a few of them. I mean, here's Pierre de Ruder. He is a man who, you know, he had been working on this Aristocrats farm and a tree literally fell on his leg, severed the tibia, fibula, just severed them. And of course, all he had left were the. Some ligaments, some, you know, tendons of, you know, the muscle was gone. The leg could literally turn 180 degrees each way. [00:48:21] Speaker A: That's not good. [00:48:23] Speaker B: So it's hanging freely, really. [00:48:25] Speaker A: Wow. [00:48:26] Speaker B: So the poor guy had to walk with a walker. He had been examined by several actually quite famous orthopedists and so forth and specialists who had looked at him and just said, well, this guy is incurable because he's basically missing a good inch and a half of bone to connect the two. You know, the lower part and the upper part. He is missing about an inch and a half of bone. And then on top of it, the two edges which would have connected were necrosed. They were dead anyway. And so they won't connect once the cells are dead. Once the bone is dead, the tissue dead, it's all over. Right. So, you know, the guy went to Lourdes because he, you know, his condition was so debilitating. His wife was very patient. So he didn't go to Lourdes. He went to a place where they had the Lourdes water. It was in Belgium. And he couldn't have made it to Lourdes Lord's if he wanted to. But they had a replica of the Lourdes, you know, shrine. [00:49:34] Speaker A: It's good to know he didn't even make it to Lourdes. [00:49:36] Speaker B: That's going to become important in a [00:49:38] Speaker A: second because you don't always have to make it. [00:49:40] Speaker B: That's right. It's not just, you know, the Lourdes thing, but the water itself was transported up. And then not only that, but of course, Our lady was. There was a kind of a replica. So he makes it down to Belgium and so, I mean, down to the. The shrine. He's getting off the bus and the bus driver is making fun of him because his leg is, you know, turning around and so forth. His wife has to help him. [00:50:08] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, you know, he's not getting his tip. [00:50:10] Speaker B: No, he's not getting a tip. So anyway, the long. He gets out of there and he finally makes it, you know, in his own hobbling way, you know, hopping practically with the help of his wife down to the section where the chairs are nearby the grotto. So he, you know, he's sitting there and of course, which is all he can do since standing and kneelings, of course out of the question. So he basically is sitting there and all of a sudden he says to his wife, you know, I think I'm feeling okay and I can stand up. You can't stand up, it's impossible, you know, he goes, but, but I can, I think I'm feeling fine, you know. So he stands up and his wife faints dead out. She can't believe what she's seeing. And of course he's so happy, you know, for getting cured that he goes zooming down to right in front of the grotto, you know, kneeling down, thanking, you know. So I mean, all these right muscles that had basically been atrophied, totally, right. All of a sudden they're back, they're all connected correctly, you know, in this guy, the bone, inch and a half of bone. You don't even have enough elements in your body to produce an inch and a half of bone instantaneously, let alone over the course of a month. So I mean, that was absolutely, you know, wow. No question about it. This instantaneous miracle happened. So long and short of it is he goes back home and so he thought, I better contact these scientists, you know, and doctors who had, you know, checked me out previously and taken the X rays and done all the various things. So anyway, he, he gets back home and he gets, you know, contacts him and he says, you know, I can walk now and I can jump now and so on. And this giant is the doctor, of course, is a big specialist in Germany. Goes you, there's no way you can do this. He goes, oh yes I can. He says, okay, I'm coming over and if I come all the way over there, you better not be lying. So of course the guy comes ding dong, you know, Pierre de Reuter opens up the door, there's the doctor and he starts jumping up and down. Dr. Faints. He just can't believe what he's seeing. Is that really Pierre de Rooter? It's really Pierre de Ruder. The X rays prove it's the same guy. But of course his bone is totally healed. Everything about him is 100% okay. And the doctor actually converted. He was former atheist, converted right on the spot to Christianity, died, right, yeah, duh. [00:53:02] Speaker A: There's really, there's countless miracles like this. There's crutches lining the walls, people who left them there, and then back rooms of crutches because people, you know, it became overwhelmed. [00:53:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Even though there's only about 74 miracles that have been approved by the, you know, completely approved by the Lord's medical commission. There are actually 7,000 naturalistically inexplicable miracles. But you know, our lady, 7,000. 7,000 that have been examined by the Lord's medical committee. But there's something, you know, it wasn't instantaneous enough. Or in the case of John Trainor, you know, a little bump was left where he had a hole in his skull and the hole was completely filled. There was a little dent left that was excluded. Oh my gosh. No, I'm not kidding. [00:53:52] Speaker A: Because the hardest people to convince are the official miracle. [00:53:55] Speaker B: Well, they wanted it to be beyond the shadow of a doubt. And so even if you could say, oh, maybe, you know, this could have happened or that could have happened, which is a one in a million chance ruled out because of the seven criteria that are used, but basically 7,000 of these healings are naturalistically inexplicable. And the vast majority of people never go to the Lord's medical observation Lords Medical bureau because, you know, you've got to present all your records from 10 years beforehand. Then of course, you have to submit yourself to an examination by, you know, sometimes up to 60 scientists. Like in the case of Gabriel Gargam, there's 60 people, doctors and scientists, they're constantly examining them for hours. And then after that, you know, 10 years after the fact, you know, to make sure that this is a permanent cure and so forth, it has to be, you know, validated that, you know, that you, you know, you, your cure was, you know, couldn't be explicable in any other way. Amazing by looking at all the records. So I figured they figure between five, five to ten times the number of miracles that are reported actually occur. So in other words, if you say there's 7,000 naturalistically inexplicable miracles, well, five times the number not reporting that, you can say about 35,000 miracles if 10 times the number are not reporting. And nobody knows because they're not reporting, you know, but the vast majority. [00:55:31] Speaker A: 7,000. [00:55:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, right, yeah. [00:55:34] Speaker A: And then you have Bernadette's incorrupt body. [00:55:36] Speaker B: Oh, that after the fact. Oh, the whole thing with Bernadette is just unbelievable. I won't get into it. But there's miracles that happen right. During the lifetime and of course the incorrupt body, definitely. But I mean, the whole reason for reopening the grotto, it's such a great story because, you know, basically the bishop did not want to convene the Scientific mission. Because the emperor, you know, Louis Napoleon had basically closed the grotto by his own fiat. And because he did that, essentially the bishop said, until he opens it up himself, I'm not convening the scientific. But, you know, everybody's saying, we already have these seven spectacular miracles, you know, blind people seeing. We've got now this young kid who, you know, totally going to die and, you know, put into the water and all of his atrophy. He never walked in his life, had terrible respiratory. He dunked it into the water, and of course, he completely cured one miracle after the next, after the next. So people were saying, we need the scientific commission. We got to get it going. And he goes, not until the emperor, you know, waves it off. [00:56:53] Speaker A: Wow. [00:56:53] Speaker B: So they got soldiers around this thing, policemen around these things. Oh, my gosh, so forth and so on. [00:56:59] Speaker A: People are so stupid. Humanity is like, really, like, really. [00:57:03] Speaker B: Well, it's, you know, the whole liberal movement in France couldn't conceive of it. And of course, you had two big literary writers who are essentially lying through their teeth about what was going on in Lourdes. [00:57:14] Speaker A: Well, they're fundamentalist, dogmatic, leftist atheists out there. [00:57:19] Speaker B: They were. [00:57:19] Speaker A: And they don't believe your lying eyes. [00:57:22] Speaker B: Believe what I say. Right, exactly. So. So this is exactly what had a miracle. [00:57:30] Speaker A: It's true. It shouldn't be. [00:57:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. That's right. Exactly. So anyway, basically, the. The emperor's son gets sick. Our lady is a good match for the Emperor. So, of course, remember, son got sick, his emperor's son gets sick, and his wife. [00:57:46] Speaker A: Late 1800s. [00:57:47] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, you know. Right, right at the time, you know, Napoleon III basically, you know, and so Louis Napoleon. And so he basically, you know, his wife Eugenie basically says, you know, Louis, you know, you know, our son is sick. You know, maybe he has smallpox and, you know, scarlet fever or whatever. And of course he goes. She goes, now there's this Lord's miracle, you know, I need some of the water. Of course, he strictly has forbidden anybody to take any water from that spring, you know, that comes from that spring for healing purposes or any other purpose. So, of course, you get arrested if you. If you take the water. So of course, she says, I just want, you know, our son to have, you know, this. This water. So anyway, so the, you know, she gets the. The. This person. This lady who's babysitting the sun is actually the wife of the. The admiral who's in charge of the admiralty of France. And, you know, so she comes over and she takes the water, and they arrest her. And then they find out, ooh, oops. You know, you're the wife of. Of the admiral, you know, in charge of the whole French Navy. Yes, I am. You know. And so, of course, they give her back the water, you know, charge her 50 francs fine or whatever. So she comes back with the water, and the boy takes the water and is cured. Wow. Well, Eugenie is convinced it's the water. [00:59:31] Speaker A: Wow. [00:59:31] Speaker B: So she says, louis, this would be very indignant of you if you did not somehow thank our blessed mother for helping out. And of course, she's going, no, I can't do that. I'll be finished if I do that, you know. Well, finally, of course, she just won't, you know, she gets the silent treatment in the doghouse, you know. So finally, of course, he relents, and he goes, okay, you know, I'll open the thing. She goes, you should do it by your own signature. So he does. And of course, the grotto, the spring is reopened. Everything is rectified, and of course, at this time, Dean Paramal is completely convinced of the authenticity of Bernadette Subaru. So he comes over to the bishop and he goes, you gotta convene the scientific commission. And that's how the whole thing got started. But her body was completely incorrupt after 57 years. [01:00:36] Speaker A: And I've seen pictures. Looks beautiful, like she's just asleep. Is there a wax over her now? Can you still see the inch flesh or. [01:00:43] Speaker B: Sometimes they cover waxed her, but maybe they did. I'm not sure about that, but it's still incorrect. She was triply exhumed, and each time she was, you know, before the actual canonization, she was really perfectly intact without any. [01:01:00] Speaker A: We'll show some pictures on the screen there. John, that's absolutely incredible. What do all these say to you, all these miracles say to me like that God is alive and interacting with humanity and bring us into a communion of saints. [01:01:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:11] Speaker A: And that in our daily lives, he wants to do that, too. It wants us to be his intervention in people's lives. Like it's active. This is not a historic thing. [01:01:17] Speaker B: Oh, and he does. You know, I mean, could I tell one more story? [01:01:21] Speaker A: Yeah, please. [01:01:21] Speaker B: I mean, this Marine. [01:01:22] Speaker A: I'm not gonna stop you from telling stories. I'll sit here all day. I don't care if you're all watching anymore. I want to hear about the Spitzer stories. No, no. [01:01:28] Speaker B: Well, this one is a really good one because it involves a Nobel Prize winner, Alexis Carroll, and essentially Alexis Carroll is like one of the big young upcoming superstars in medicine at the. In France. You know, so he's at the medical school at Lyon, and so, very agnostic, you know, raised a Catholic but, you know, got into the whole scientific, you know, milieu, you know, very agnostic. Well, borderline atheist, really. And, you know, so he. His friend, though, talks him into, you know, going on, you know, a little pilgrimage to Lourdes. Journey to Lourdes, where, you know, he could witness for himself what's going on. And of course, you know, Alexis Carroll being who he was, very bright guy, goes, I'll take that bet. And I'm going to go over there and I'm going to prove that this is just all psychodynamic. This is just nothing more than, you [01:02:32] Speaker A: know, I love when the Lord takes a gamble like that. [01:02:34] Speaker B: Oh, exactly. [01:02:35] Speaker A: He doesn't always respond to those kinds of things. If every time you do, it would be so awesome. [01:02:40] Speaker B: Oh, so. Exactly. Well, the friend can't go because some patient needed something going on, and so he was called away at the last minute. And so Alexis Carroll had to go. Of course, he wasn't a Nobel Prize winner at this time. He's just a young medical professor. But anyway, so he. He goes on the train and of course, they stop off at this place or Marie Bailey, I guess, pronounce her name, but everybody calls her Bailey because, you know, B, A, L, L, E. You know, the. So Marie Bailey gets on the train and she is literally, you know, completely paralyzed by tuberculosis. She has a distended abdomen that is protruding, you know, six, seven inches, you know, distended, like, with solid masses and liquid masses in the abdomen. Lots of scarring from, you know, tuberculosis, which, of course, as you know, just devastates and scars the body. And she's damaged to the health, and she. Her abdomen so distended, she's breathing exceedingly heavily, right? And she, you know, and Alexis Carroll says, get her off the train. She'll never make it to Lourdes. And this nun who was kind of her nurse, said, she's going to Lourdes. That's what she wants. And even if she dies on the train, so what, you know, she wants to go to Lourdes and get cured. So, you know, Alexis Kerr goes fine. Of course, Marie Bailey comes within an inch of death on the train, you know, going up and, you know, he just thinks this is absolute silliness. But they get her. You know, when she gets there to the train station, they can see she's in extremists, dire Straits. And so they put her on these gurneys. A lot of the people who are there are volunteers. What do they call them, Carte Daniers or something like the Knights of Malta, they volunteer. But anyway, the main thing is they get her on the cart, they bring her right up to the spring where she can be dipped into the bath. But unfortunately, she is way too. You know, if they dipped her in that cold water, instant death. So Alexis Carroll said, no way can you do that. You know, what we can do, though, is take a jug of water and then pour it on her abdomen, if you want to do that. It may not kill her instantly, but she's going to die very soon. You know, I mean, the heart rate is way up, you know, the blood pressure is through the ceiling, the respiration rate is very abnormal, etc. So she's really an extremist. And they start pouring the water on her. And of course, the abdomen, you know, the distinction of the abdomen starts going down and then the second pour goes down more, and then that after the third pore goes down even more. So that after, I think it was maybe 35 minutes, 40 minutes, it wasn't completely instantaneous, although each of the pores was clearly doing something. You could see that she was completely restored to normal. Her abdomen was normal, her breathing rate was normal, her blood pressure and heart rate were normal. Now, literally, Alexis Carroll is right there doing all these things, taking all of his notes, and of course, he's. There's no remnant from these solid and liquid masses, right? Where did the masses go? There's no liquid or anything. Where did you know all of this? The scarring from the tuberculosis and everything, all the damage that was done to the organs is all seemingly completely rectified. And after examination, it was completely rectified. [01:06:41] Speaker A: Convinced him, I'm sure. [01:06:42] Speaker B: Oh, it totally. Well, at least, you know, it convinced him enough so that he had courage to go back to the university, to the medical school at Lyon. So he goes back there and one day, some professor, this is like two, three weeks later, during a faculty meeting, is ranting and raving, you know, about all this stuff, you know, miracles and all these stupid people that believe in the supernatural. And Alexis Carol goes, well, you know, maybe a miracle could be possible. I witnessed this phenomenon when I was at Lourdes. I went there to disprove it, and I found myself completely perplexed. And as he wrote about it later, he almost converted on the spot. [01:07:32] Speaker A: But he just did convert later. [01:07:34] Speaker B: Oh, yes, he did, like full on. But the main thing, though, is he's trying to keep it cool. Right. So he basically is trying to explain what he saw. This guy stands up and says, this medical school has no place in it for a person like you. [01:07:50] Speaker A: Wow. [01:07:51] Speaker B: And so of course he said, okay. So of course he heads on out. [01:07:55] Speaker A: Well, Rockefeller University, again, there's a set of dogmas for the atheist, right? [01:08:02] Speaker B: Exactly. [01:08:02] Speaker A: It's as if you were teaching at Franciscan University and became a Muslim professor in the school of theology, you know, like, okay, you just went against our dogmas. You can't teach theology at Steubenville anymore. [01:08:14] Speaker B: That's right. [01:08:14] Speaker A: It's crazy that the secular sciences have that going on. [01:08:17] Speaker B: Exactly. No place for you. Well, Rockefeller University didn't care that he had witnessed a miracle. So he said, you're a young, upcoming, super bright, you know, medical guy. Why don't you come, you know, over here and work for us, you know, and we'll give you a big research lab, everything you have and more, you know. And so he goes, sure. So he goes over to Rockefeller University and of course, he is the guy who basically invented and perfected the technique that we still use today for vascular surgery to save thousands upon thousands of lives for which he got the Nobel Prize later. Wow. [01:08:58] Speaker A: So, I mean, converted by a Lord's miracle. [01:09:00] Speaker B: Yep. And I have to tell you that. That the University of Leon Medical School has the unique distinction of having thrown out a Nobel Prize winner from its faculty simply because he attested to the possibility in your face. [01:09:18] Speaker A: There it is. [01:09:19] Speaker B: Oh, God, there's so many stories I could tell you where you just, you gotta laugh because it's like, you know, instant. [01:09:29] Speaker A: One thing that strikes me, I'm sure you've had Lord's water poured in your eyes. [01:09:33] Speaker B: Yep. [01:09:33] Speaker A: Right. And you didn't get the miracle. [01:09:35] Speaker B: Nope. [01:09:36] Speaker A: And yet you delight in these miracles. [01:09:38] Speaker B: I do. Because, of course, I love to see God's supernatural power evidenced so perfectly. [01:09:45] Speaker A: So the miracle is not about the miracles. It's about the Lord loving us. [01:09:48] Speaker B: Loving us and manifesting it. But what it does do is, you know, for me, that, you know, I didn't get the miracle. All that means to me is there's a reason why God didn't do it. Now, I mean, I do, I think I know the reason. Yes. For me, it's the St. Paul reason, you know, you know, an angel of Satan to beat me, to keep me from getting proud. And, you know, Paul had gifts. Writing gifts, obviously. You know, preaching and teaching gifts. He clearly was a very articulate, theoretical, abstract, smart guy, you know, and of course, he could have been full of himself if he wanted to. He also had very big spiritual gifts of, you know, elation and so forth. So he, you know, I mean, he could have been a proud guy. But instead, you know, Paul says, I asked three times. That doesn't just mean literally three. It means over and over and over again, like countless number of times for the Lord to take this away from me. But he saw fit not to. So now I know that in my weakness is my strength. Because as I grow weaker, Christ grows stronger in me. Is that true for me and my blindness? Yes, it is. But you have to have that trust. You have to, you know, I said to myself, okay, Lord, if you're doing this, I'm assuming you do not want me to cut back one iota on any apostolic work I'm doing. I assume you want me to keep using the brain that you gave me to do as much as I can do, to write 20 books or whatever, to, you know, to do a module or whatever. I assume you're going to, you know, going to help me and going to get me the resources I need to do it. And look, I mean, I became a university president for 11 years. I, you know, I've written those books. I've, you know, developed a. But it's not me. I mean, it's Christ who's, you know, like I said, conspiracies of divine providence I gotta trust. But now, as you put it already, I got this wonderful miracle of in my own prayer. I'm the most cognizant guy in the world. I'm not distracted by a single visual image in my prayer. I'm totally and purely connected with the Lord. Blind guys have a lot of advantages, and blind guys have a lot of advantages for humility. And humility is the number one thing in the spiritual life. And I don't think I could have ever brought that about myself. I'm just telling you, I just don't think it's possible. I just think I needed it. And I think, you know, you take a. Just one more story, please. [01:12:34] Speaker A: By the way, you sound grateful that you didn't get the miracles. [01:12:37] Speaker B: I am, because in my own way, it's really caused me to have a very different kind of priesthood. Now. Some of my staff members. He's not that humble, but I am much more humble than I was in my old days, you know, where people would write in my, you know, in my yearbook, you know, does not suffer fools gladly, you know. And so I am, you know, a changed person. And Very much a changed person. And especially in terms of empathy for people who also have challenges. I mean, there's nothing like getting a challenge to empathize with somebody who has a challenge. So for me anyway, that's been one of the high points. But more than that, as I said, the way to get a deepened faith life is to become vulnerable and then have the Lord make up for your vulnerability in some graced way. That's how the Holy Spirit works. And that happened in my life. He used that blindness to not only bring me humbleness of heart and gentleness of heart, but also to an awareness that I've got to pay it. Just can't pay attention to big shots. Just can't write books for, you know, smart people. I, you know, he basically was saying, your apostolate is for everybody. And, you know, and so there's so many blessings, I can't possibly begin to elucidate them. [01:14:14] Speaker A: I got to tell you, I mean, a miracle is a sign of grace, a reminder of God's presence. For me talking to you right now, a bigger miracle and sign of his grace and presence is your joy and acceptance with your blindness. And to see your gratitude even for it, that is a proof. That's a proof for me. Peace that surpasses understanding makes no sense apart from God. [01:14:37] Speaker B: Oh yeah, I lived the great American myth. I could be stoically self sufficient. Don't need anybody. Talk to you later. You know, I'm just the opposite now. Start bumping into a few things in an airport. As you gradually lose your sight, you stop losing the self sufficiency myth in a hurry. [01:14:58] Speaker A: Would you take the miracle right now if you can get it? [01:15:01] Speaker B: Oh, sure. You know, if it was. [01:15:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:15:05] Speaker B: I just want it to be God's will. But, you know, I mean, if God wanted to do that, I'd be happy to see faces again for sure. And to see nature. I do miss seeing faces in nature. I also, you know, the autonomy thing, I've overcome it. I'm dependent on people and I'm happy to be dependent on people. I have just one story about that, just really quickly. But the main thing is when I got to Seattle U. Obviously I lost my driver's license when I started going blind at 31, so. And, you know, the Lord's thing didn't work. So, you know, I basically had to ask for rides to go, you know, from Seattle U. Down to parish. Worked in a parish every weekend. And so one day I was coming into the car and I said to this lady, thank you so much for coming and picking me up. I know it's a 35, 40 minute drive, you know, to get here and then 35, 40 minute drive to get me back and somebody else has to do it. And I said, thank you for doing this. She goes, really? She said, it's no inconvenience for me whatsoever. I actually like driving. And by the way, there's a sign up list to drive you and it's completely filled because everybody wants to have you for at least 45 minutes in the car and so forth. So I said, really? You want to do this? She goes, everybody wants to do this. And for the first time in my life, I thought, hey, maybe it's not so bad to be dependent. You know, maybe there's a way in which when somebody's helping you, the best is coming out for them. And of course, the time they have with you in that vulnerable state is also good for them and certainly good for me. And so, you know, I just can see how the Lord works in this space. [01:17:05] Speaker A: You become a space where people can meet Jesus in Matthew 25. Whatever you did for, you know, when I was blind, you drove me. [01:17:11] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. [01:17:12] Speaker A: You're Jesus. [01:17:13] Speaker B: You are correct. That's exactly right. That's exactly, exactly right. [01:17:18] Speaker A: We're cashing in the heavenly credits, thanks to you. But you're just the blessing of sitting with you. I'm sure, I'm sure anyone watching would be like, I'll drive that guy. I want to hear stories. [01:17:29] Speaker B: I know, that's right, that's right. So, but anyway, it was just great. But that's, that's how it works in my life. I just tell you this one story of Gabriel Gargam. [01:17:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:17:38] Speaker B: Because I promised you a eucharistic blessing. So, of course, Gabriel Gargantuan, he's basically a mail sorter on a train. Very agnostic. This is God's whole thing, you know, kind of the borderline atheist, you know, don't talk to me about God. Miracles, you know, I've heard it all, you know, and so of course, one day, old Gabriel Gargam is sitting there in the front of this train, sorting his mail. And somehow the tracks obviously got mixed up. Another train comes moving at him. You know, they're going 50. Then other trains going 50. Kawlamo, huge collision. This guy flies out of the train, not good. 70ft, lens flat on his face, completely paralyzed, atrophied. You know, he couldn't eat a thing for two years. He couldn't speak for two years. He was Fed by, you know, throat tubes, stomach tubes, etc. He Definitely, you know, completely atrophy, couldn't move. So of course, all of his muscles atrophied, not to mention the fact that he had breaks and several bones and, you know, atrophied nerves and also severed nerves. And the guy was a basket case. And again, he was going to die. The best part was, though, he was a federal worker on the train, so he got the best medical attention with all the big X rays and the big shot medical guys that are working with him. So anyway, Gargames, he's got all these things going in or it's very clear this guy is a basket case. He's going to die soon. It's not remediable in any manner whatsoever. He's a goner. So of course he's got these aunts who are saying, just go to Lourdes. What do you have to lose? You're going to die anyway. You're a basket case that's being fed with tubes. And you, you, you know, you can't talk. You know, just, just nod so, you know, we can get permission to take you to Lourdes. So finally, the old stubborn guy, this takes him two years to come to this conclusion. So he says okay. You know, he didn't say okay, but he just go to Lourdes. So they get him on the train, same thing. So they get old Gabriel up there to the baths and they lower him down into the baths. He comes out, no healing, so they say, you know, doesn't happen all the time. In fact, you're lucky if half percent of the time, you know, there's a cure. But it does occur. There's nothing like lures. How can you have 35,000 miracles happening in one spot, you know, and 7,000 of which we're pretty sure are naturalistically inexplicable. Something was going on. Blessed Virgin Mary is for real. So the main thing is he comes out and they're wheeling him back on the thing. He's totally passed out and unconscious. A bishop sees him in a Eucharistic procession, you know, of course, takes pity on him and stops the procession and gives him a Eucharistic blessing. After he gets the Eucharistic blessing, this guy already has the napkin on his face, you know, like dead o dere. So of course he's got the napkin on his face and he turns right around. I mean, this is like Lazarus comes right off the cart and he stands up on his own, which he hasn't done in two years. And Talks. And everybody's going instant. Instantly talks. [01:21:21] Speaker A: Like actually the apostles stuff. [01:21:22] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly, exactly. So he starts talking and he goes, could I have a hearty meal? I'm not kidding. So he goes back. He hasn't eaten anything for two years. This whole stomach is atrophy. We've been getting too bad. Everything this guy eats big, huge, hearty meal, and he goes, gotta thank the Blessed Virgin Mary. So it goes zooming off down to the grotto on his own power. People are looking at this guy. This is impossible. So, of course, immediately this gets reported to the Lourdes Medical Bureau. And so the. They convened because they had all the X rays and just knew this guy's dead. Basket case on arrival, right? So they got 66 doctors and scientists convened to, you know, literally cross examine this guy. And he patiently goes through this, and they're looking at him and they're trying to find out. Of course, it can't be, you know, psychodynamic or, you know, anything like that, because you can't have instantaneous mending of severed nerves and bones and atrophied muscles and, you know, you know, literally unconscious, you know, coming back, you know, to full health standing up. Impossible. So, of course, after, you know, being examined over the course of several days by these 66. Six guys, they basically had to say, there is no naturalistic explanation for this miracle. But I tell it because Gabriel Gargam turned from the atheistic, agnostic kind of guy he turns into. He decides, I'm going to use my newfound health. I'm going to become one of these carne. I think is what they call bringing people the waters they're going to. Every single year he's there, I think, for four or five months every year, helping out. Of course, I think now, of course, he's too old to do that or probably deceased now, but nevertheless, of course, he's deceased now. But the main thing, though, is he did that for the longest time. And Marie Bailey, too. She joined one of the strictest orders of sisters. Whoa. That served people like in the real slums of Paris and, you know, these conversions. Alexis Carroll, of course, you know, he goes all the way. He witnessed the second miracle of a blind young man who had no possibility of getting vision back, instantaneously recovering his [01:24:02] Speaker A: sight, you know, going back to Fatima. The biggest miracle is conversion itself. You know, when you think about the people who saw these miracles and wanted to deny them and hold on to atheism, I'm thinking, like, wait, just give in. Because we all kind of hope there's a heaven. Why don't you go ahead and just let yourself do. Well, pride's the answer. Yeah, because. No, because this is the guy I'm known as. I am the hardened atheist and I have to let go of my entire identity. [01:24:28] Speaker B: That's right. It's my identity being the hard atheist and not being dependent on God. All I can say is these guys, several of them, lied their heads off. And provably, these doctors who are part of the Lourdes Medical Commission, they all have become Christians, Every single one of them. There's just too much. You read these things and these doctors are disputing these literary people who have 1/1,000th the medical knowledge that these super experts who are in charge of the medical commission have. And yet they continue to tell, you know, lies and continue to deny the fact, you know, that these things happen. [01:25:13] Speaker A: If you're a non believer watching, just you can go to magicenter.com youm can keep digging into all this, all the evidence, all these miracles, like give in. We know you want this stuff to be true. Everybody does. No one's satisfied with the idea that I'm a bag of bones destined to become worm food and dust and there's really nothing and I came from nothing, going to. No one's happy with that. Like, just give in. God's making it. He's giving you slow pitches. [01:25:36] Speaker B: Yeah. If you want to be God for everybody else and pretend like you're the big shot atheist who, you know, tell you what to do, okay, you can, you know, have your, you know, little, you know, I'm going to call it play acting where you try to, you know, dramatically portray your super sufficiency or the ubermensch of Nietzsche, you know, the superman there who, you know, kill God. You can, you can play the game, but at the end of the day, you're going to regret it. Oh yeah, because of course, I think you may be destined for the very death that, you know, that darkness that you tried to convince other people to go into while you were trying to prove your super, you know, man, you know, caricature. So anyway, I have to say that my point of view, you know, this Lourdes just radiates Our Lady's miraculous power. And Fatima, how do you deny the witness value of 40,000 people? With all kinds of scientific experts and even, you know, the most hostile of people like this editor of Osakolo, you know, who comes on board, you know, to validate the fact that the sun danced at Fatima. All I can tell you is this is pretty Funny, you know, that she does this in her own way. It still allows people freedom and so forth. She uses all these kids who are at the back of the class, as it were, little shepherd children. But, boy, does the message come out loud and clear. You don't have to be a scientist. I mean, if you are, there's plenty of evidence for you, plenty of books. If you just go to Majesty. I just look up, just put Miracles of Lourdes. You can go down that rabbit hole as much as you want. And starting next month, all of our footnotes will be in place for every single thing I'm saying. [01:27:41] Speaker A: Nice. [01:27:41] Speaker B: All the studies will be there. And so all I can say is the proof is there. [01:27:46] Speaker A: Would you lead us in prayer for people who are praying for miracles? For them to get it, but also to get the kind of acceptance I see in you if they don't get it and have the miracle of grace and the miracle conversion? [01:27:57] Speaker B: Yes. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, you are the Lord of miracles. You give us so much in our lives that are little miracles that sometimes we don't even take notice of. But they're so frequent that it's hard to deny. Help us to keep our eyes open not just to the spectacular miracles of Lourdes and Fatima, but also to the little miracles in our lives, the lives of our children and friends. Help us to keep our eyes open to the providential care that shows your guidance above all, Lord. Help us to put our trust in. In you. That if we don't get the miracle we ask for, that you have a reason. A reason that will humanize us, that will spiritualize us, that will bring us closer to you. That as we grow weaker, you grow stronger in us. That this is going to help not only our salvation, but lead to the salvation of those we touch. We ask all of these things through Jesus our Lord. Amen. [01:29:06] Speaker A: Amen. [01:29:07] Speaker B: And Mary, seat of wisdom. Pray for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. [01:29:14] Speaker A: Father, I just. I just love you. This is a grace to be with you. Thank you so much. [01:29:19] Speaker B: Grace is mine. [01:29:20] Speaker A: Handshake right here. [01:29:21] Speaker B: Thank you, Chris. God bless you. [01:29:22] Speaker A: You too. Thank you so much. I love you guys. Thanks for soaking in the love of God and Our lady with us for the past. I don't know what we got. An hour and a half. We just rocked out that the time flies. Love you guys. We'll see you next time.