CHURCH OF ‘ST THOMAS MORE’ GATHERING CROWD FOLLOWING “MIRACLE” CLAIMS

Catholics are gathering at a church in Subang Jaya to witness claims that a statue of Virgin Mary is growing taller, smiling, and at times, shedding tears.

Video above: Church of St. Thomas More

Parishioners turned up at the Church of St Thomas More were awed by the phenomenon that has become the talk of the community. 

Image above: Virgin Mary statue at Church of St Thomas More in Subang Jaya

 

 Image above: Virgin Mary statue at Church of St Thomas More in Subang Jaya

 Image above:Virgin Mary statue at Church of St Thomas More in Subang Jaya

 The images above are also making its rounds at the Facebook.

According to a WhatsApp message that has been circulating, the church had a grotto built with the statue of the Virgin Mary who is the mother of Jesus Christ.  

However, for some of the parishioners, the statue was too small for the grotto. It was then placed into a box.  
When it was due to be blessed last Wednesday, they said a parish priest noticed an unusual occurrence - the statue made of polyresin had turned to porcelain and grew taller by three inches (7.2cm). 
 
In a three-minute video clip believed to be taken during Sunday Mass at the church, a parishioner was seen addressing the congregation where he claimed to have witnessed the “miracle". 

“Her eyes were moving very slowly, all of us were there and we saw it. 
“The father (the priest) was saying, ‘look at her, she’s looking at us. She was full of life, she had a lot of tears in her eyes.' “When we started singing ‘Ave Maria’, she started smiling and her lips were moving. 
“It has touched all of us,” the man said, adding that parishioners started taking photographs of the statute during the incident.  

“The father had told us that he actually spoke to her. She will come more often, she also told father that she wants all of us to pray to her,” he claimed in the video. 

Father Raymond Pereira was unavailable for comment.

This message first appeared on facebook of St. Thomas More:

Dear Catholic friends,
 
I took these pictures on Wednesday, 7th October 2015 after the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was installed in the new grotto together with the statue of St Bernadette. It seemed to me that Our Lady's eyes were downcast in the first picture, but in the second picture she appears to be looking up. I put it down to a slight difference in angles.
 
Today after mass, we heard testimonies from a parishioner as well as from our parish priest, Rev Fr Raymond Pereira, of how they, together with a group of other parishioners, had witnessed Our Lady turning & tilting her head to look at them & smiling with tear-filled eyes.
 
Please pray the Rosary daily & pray for Our Lady to intercede for us, for justice & peace in our community, our country & in the world. Amen.

The following 2 photos accompanied the post above:

 

 

 

Contribution: 

The Staronline

Church of St Thomas More

STIGMATA OF TERESA NEUMANN.

Stigmata...What is it?

Stigmata are bodily marks, sores or sensations of pain in locations which corresponds to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus. These are called visible stigmata. There is another form of stigmata that does not have any marks that can be seen but only sensation of pain that the stigmatic alone endures. This is called the invisible stigmata. Witnesses can't see any trace or marks that is normally expected of a stigmata phenomenon.


Stigmata are mainly associated with the Roman Catholic Church. This might pose as a problem to some who might question as to why the Protestants don't experience the same phenomenon since they too are believers of Jesus Christ??

The Ratio of stigmata...
Most of the Stigmata reports shows a large number of them are women who are members of the Catholic religious orders. The ratio of reported stigmatics are largely women as compared to men.

The Invisible Stigmatics...
St. Catherine of Sienna had visible stigmata in the beginning but later through humility, she asked that it be invisible for she did not want the marks to scare those who may view it. And her prayers were heard. Those visible signs were transformed into invisible where only she alone may sense & endure. Another invisible stigmatic was also by the same name, St Catherine de' Ricci, a Florentine Dominican from the 16th Century. There were many others as well.

Dr. Imbert's research on this subject...
Dr. Imbert Gourbeyre undertook an extensive research on this subject where he investigated a total number of 321 cases out of which only 41 turns out to be male. He describes this phenomenon to strike mostly pious and fervently religious women.

Roman Catholics versus the common doctor's view...
Most Roman Catholic theologians accept many cases of stigmata as being genuine. However, some doctors share an opposing view to that. They explain that this phenomenon was being caused by the effects of a subdued form of hysteria with wound mark differences as to how they imagine Jesus Christ was crucified.

What are these good doctors suggesting? Are they suggesting that the stigmata occurs as a result of auto-suggestion of the mind of the person wanting to display Christ like symptoms of crucifixion? Are they saying that this is fake?

Case of the Stigmata
1. Teresa Neumann
Teresa Neumann is a 20 yr old German girl who was blind and paralysed. On a Good Friday in 1926, she experienced a vision of St Therese of Lisleux. Following that, she was cured of her afflictions which she has underwent for the last 6 yrs. But then, every Friday, for 24 hours each time for the next 36 yrs until her death in 1962 she has been exhibiting marks of stigmata (as can be seen in the video below).

She usually falls into a trance and exhibit deep rectangular wounds to her hands which heals as quickly as it develops. Eye-witnesses have described her shedding tearlets of blood from her feet, her side & her forehead.

Video of Teresa Neumann:



Whether stigmata is fake or not does not matter to me. From a religious perspective, I see that it reinforces the belief system & faith of a person in religion. Therefore, it does no harm to the society or the world unlike some claims by a certain people that their dogma allows them to kill in the name of religion...and that they will be rewarded with God knows how many virgins waiting for them. And THAT....needs to be investigated. Period.