Da Mihi Animas: Atheist Dies and Meets Jesus

Monday, December 19, 2011

Atheist Dies and Meets Jesus

20 comments:

Gerry said...: The experience of this man, awesome as it is, confuses me as all his sins were forgiven through 1 prayer - The Lord's Prayer. Yes, The Lord's Prayer said fervently is indeed very powerful. But, how will protestants take this? Can they not use this to say that the sacrament of confession is not needed for the forgiveness of sins? I was waiting for the mention of purgatory and there was none. The mention of Our Lady and there was none.; December 20, 2011 at 12:39 AM
ThickMick said...: great points. I was thinking the same. It always confuses me when we hear from, obviously, such dedicated Christians, yet they seem to deny the things you mention or ignore them. Ian was so moved by being in the presence of our Lord and it was touching to hear. But Ian! Don't you realize that Our Lord established Holy Mother Church so you can actually be with him here, on Earth, through the sacraments. It makes me wonder sometimes what's going on here with these guys? There's so much more, yet they don't see it. It drives me crazy sometimes, lol!; December 20, 2011 at 9:22 AM
Glenn Olsen said...: His sins were forgiven, however he did not recieve absolutions as happens in confession.; December 20, 2011 at 10:02 AM
justin said...: Gerry, catholics also believe if you make a perfect contrition your sins are forgiven you, this sounds a lot like what this man was able to do.; December 20, 2011 at 11:10 AM
justin said...: Gerry this man obviouslt was able to make a perfect contriton which os in line with catholic teaching.; December 20, 2011 at 11:11 AM
wrobelkat said...: Jesus meets people where they are... This man wasn't even aware that he needed God until he was gifted with this extraordinary experience... I believe that Jesus gave him what he needed to know at that moment in order to experience a true conversion of heart... Heaven offers ongoing knowledge and awareness and had he remained there... would have gained an even deeper knowledge of God and His means to salvation...; December 20, 2011 at 1:44 PM
gloireàdieu said...: thank You Lord Jesus for this man, saved by your Eternal Love.
thank you for this beautiful testimony that will help many people to believe in You Jesus, Son of the Living God, Light of the World.; December 20, 2011 at 3:44 PM
gloireàdieu said...: Thank You Lord Jesus for this man savec by your almighty Love. thank you for this testimony that will bring lots of people to believe in Jesus, son of the Living God and Light of the World.; December 20, 2011 at 3:46 PM
john laperuta said...: This mans experiance was a wake up call for him..not his actual time.It appears to be Gods way of revealing that there is a God and an afterlife.It was a great gift of mercy to him and then he was sent back to live his new life and to tell his story for others.; December 21, 2011 at 7:21 AM
john laperuta said...: This mans experiance was a wake up call for him..not his actual time.It appears to be Gods way of revealing that there is a God and an afterlife.It was a great gift of mercy to him and then he was sent back to live his new life and to tell his story for others.; December 21, 2011 at 7:21 AM
MarkieMark said...: A very nice story. Jesus tells St. Faustina (Divine Mercy) that every soul, every person in the world, even the greatest sinner, is is given several opportunities to repent and be saved at the moment of their death. As Jesus says in the diary, the worse the sinner, the greater recourse they have to His mercy at the moment of their death. Hard for many of us to understand. A person's weakness is greatest at the moment of death, because they acknowledge, like this man, they deserve eternal punishement. Jesus says many will reject His mercy, which causes him great pain, because He died for them on the cross.

Mother Angelica years ago use this Divine Mercy passage from St. Faustina's diary many years ago on her show.

I would not worry that stories like this do not include the knowledge of purgatory, our Blessed Mother in heaven, etc. God speaks to all these people in the capacity that they have to understand. In due time, they will understand completely about God's Church.

All I know is that based on the diary that inspired our new annual Feast Day, Divine Mercy Sunday, Jesus says every person, no matter their faith or background, even great sinners like Bin La Den, who died on Divine Mercy Sunday, can be saved, if they accept him at the moment of their death. As the Catechism teaches, even people outside the Catholic faith can be saved.

Mark - www.divinemercydevotion.com; December 21, 2011 at 7:51 AM
rook said...: This is so beautiful. It sounds just like the Divine Mercy of Jesus-- it is! The floods of radiant light and love, coming forth from His sacred face, out to Ian, immersing Ian, and forgiving him completely. This shows how easily God forgives. God sees the heart, no doubt-- that's what he wants our hearts. How important it is to forgive, to learn to see how Jesus sees, with the heart. Then we can change the world, one heart at a time. Holy Spirit come to our aid. Baby Jesus be born in all hearts anew this Christmas. Thank you Jesus. Come to us. Emmanuel.; December 21, 2011 at 5:12 PM
Terri said...: I believe the reason that we don't hear of people who have had near death experiences that they need to be Catholic or do they seem to encounter what we know to be fully Catholic here in the earthly city, is because God reveals the truth to us who are still alive in our bodies through the Church. He is not going to circumvent the role the Church has to bring the truth about Him while the Church still has that role in this life. If He tells everyone who has a near death experience they should be Catholic then He wouldn't need the Church would He? He established the Church to help us find the fullness of living the Christian life, not near death experiences. If this man doesn't discover this principle then we, the members of Christ's Body haven't done our job in evangelization.; December 22, 2011 at 7:40 AM
kathleen said...: Jesus ALWAYS meets us where we are! Please, Roman Catholics, Learn Your Faith!!! Nowhere will you find it said that a person must be Catholic to get to heaven!! We are responsible for the Grace given to us. We are responsible to know WHY we believe what we practice! Sorry that the past 40 yrs in the Catholic Church has been a Dessert Wasteland as far as teaching the Doctrines of our faith. But a lot of you are "grown ups" now, you need to do some reading. The riches are going unclaimed for lack of knowledge!!!; December 22, 2011 at 3:34 PM
Gerry said...: I prayed about this and got an answer from a story I read just now. So, I figured I'd update my post and to my surprise found all your comments and read them all. The answer I got is very similar to Mark's comments about the Divine Mercy. The mercy of Jesus is just surpassing, beyond my if not, all our understanding - "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways." I'm still learning.; December 22, 2011 at 5:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Gerry, Thickmick,
there is no conflict in his confessing to Jesus and not a Catholic priest, because Jesus is "the" High Priest.
On earth we confess to his representatives - if anything it confirms the importance of the confessional.
Jesus can read hearts, and so can Holy confessors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit - Jesus knew this man's heart.
The Our Father or Lord's prayer are the words given us by Jesus when asked how should we (disciples) pray; so it follows that their excellence is unsurpassed.
Remember St. Dismas the " good theif" at the crucifixion.
Jesus promised him paradise that day- (no purgatory) because of his perfect repentance.
Jesus took compassion on this guy for the sake of his mothers intecession, (affirming the communion of saints as taught in the Catholic Church rather than veneration of "Heroes" as in the Anglican for example.) - just as he did in scripture when he brought the widow's only son back to life.; December 23, 2011 at 8:14 AM
Charles Fears said...: Life after Death WEB SITES

http://filpsydivinemercy.blogspot.com/2008/01/divine-mercy-testimony-stanley.html
http://ourdivinemercy.webs.com/stanleyvillavicencio.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KugVm83k_Fw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg7qDR3BE_g
http://www.gloriapolo.net/
http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/
http://gloriapolo.neuevangelisierung.org/indexeng.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smKKCZLiCi0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-zUDCGnLM0
http://www.frtommylane.com/homilies/year_c/lent3.htm#fr_steven_scheier

or if you go to http://sanctepater.blogspot.com/2009/03/father-steven-scheier.html

http://gloria.tv/?media=57262
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/life_after_death.htm
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/life_after_death.htm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1535210/posts; December 24, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Gerry said...: I guess my struggle with this was not much on the mercy of Jesus, but more on the standpoint of non-catholics and other catholics alike who do not practice or believe in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What do I say to them?

Just now, I found the answer to my question in the video. Looking closely in Ian's testimony, he did exercise "confession" by pouring out all his sins, with a contrite heart to not only a priest, but to a high priest in Jesus Christ as sylvanus said, making the Sacrament of Reconciliation valid and indeed a way to reconcile as with Jesus through His priests in the Catholic church.; December 24, 2011 at 1:12 PM
Gerry said...: I just reread the comments of sylvanus and it says it all and more. You were probably saying, "that is what I just said!" :)

Thank you!; December 24, 2011 at 1:17 PM
Blackswan said...: This just goes to show the goodness of God. He was dead and restored to life and then healed by God so as to walk out of hospital the very next day. I think indeed a very big wake up call to all atheists. Our Lord new in advance that he would choose to come back as an unselfish act to let his mother know that he was OK.

I see the love of God in him when he speaks of his encounter, and I believe because of that love he will love the truth.

The Truth which I believe he will end up seeking out and most likely find is that Our Lord has built his Church upon the Rock of St Peter ....The Holy Catholic Church.

Then once again he will be faced with a question which will require a choice (as we all are in one way or another)..... to believe that or not to believe....as he once did when he was Atheist!; December 28, 2011 at 6:23 AM

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