Modern Miracles (Part 1): Heaven Speaks

If ever you've been bored and apathetically decided to browse the data highway for anything at all more interesting to do than repeatedly left-clicking and dragging boxes over icons on your desktop background, then vague phrases like "Heaven Speaks" could more than likely remind you of some really bizarre things you've found on the internet...

Some REALLY bizarre things...

The internet is a strange, strange place, people.

In any event, no, that is not how Heaven speaks and that certainly does not constitute a miracle. Although, it does leave you wondering, doesn't it? What could you possibly mean by "Heaven Speaks"?

Well, if you want the story in full and without embellishment, the link is here: http://www.directionforourtimes.org/about/history-of-mission/. But if you like a bit of swag attached to the story-telling, stick around.

It all starts with a girl named Anne. Anne happens to be fairly religious. She prays upon rising and before retiring; she goes to confession at least a dozen times a year; she attends Adoration once a week at minimum; and she comes to daily Mass. Y'know, fairly religious.

This is Anne. Wave at her and say, "Hi!"

Now, around 2003, Anne started having these... I guess you could call them visions. And depending on your perspective, I guess you could call them "voices in your head" too, but anyway! Anne reports that when she prayed to God, she would actually hear God respond to her in kind. With real concrete words. At first, she dismissed them as her mind playing tricks on her, but as time went on, she would actually be able to hold full conversations with Jesus throughout her day. Sometimes they would be profound and enlightening, and sometimes they would be as mundane as telling her that she should take the day off from work. (Not that getting the day off because the Boss said so is a mundane thing)

Eventually, the God voice would just... happen... on its own! She could be in the car, in her house, in the grocery store, and Jesus would without warning go, "Hey! Let's talk." Not only that, but then more people wanted to join in the conversation too. Months later, Anne was holding conversations with the Blessed Mother, St. Augustine, St. Francis, St. Dymphna, St. Dominic, St. Padre Pio, you name them!

Can you imagine having all those voices in your head?

Thank God that they all had the courtesy to speak one at a time, though. As it turns out, Heaven wanted to speak to the world through Anne. At the direction of Jesus' voice, Anne approached her local bishop saying that a voice in her head told her she needed to talk to her bishop because it wanted her to internationally publicize various religious messages it was going to give her for the sake of the Kingdom and in the name of Our Lord Jesus.

The face the bishop probably made afterwards

I mean, how often are "voices in the head" considered a reliable source of instruction? However, after a thorough initial examination of her case, her claims, and her character, Anne's bishop found that she was without fault and completely sincere about her petition. Faced with the prospect of a genuine modern visionary, the bishop brought the case up with the Holy Father himself; the Pope responded by placing Anne's inner locutions under Vatican investigation and meanwhile granting Anne permission for the widespread publications she wanted to do.

Henceforth, she founded the organization called Direction for Our Times, whose primary purpose is to publish little booklets like these whose titles begin with "Heaven Speaks...":

"Heaven Speaks" . . . do you get it now?

Each of these baby booklets contain messages specifically dictated to Anne by Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and the Saints she keeps in touch with, and they address a HUGE variety of moral topics today such as abortion, rejection of God, suicide, divorce, etc. Through Anne and her ministry, Heaven speaks to those who need help or healing with these issues. The Church is still investigating how authentic Anne's inner locutions are, but everyone who has ever met her claims she is entirely sincere and genuine. Her bishop, His Excellency Leo O'Reilly, marks that Anne is faithful to her Christian duties and obligations, has been fully compliant with his guidance, and that he has no reason to suspect the character of her claims. And if you ever find yourself reading one of her Heaven Speaks booklets, I'm sure you would too.

Now, for those of you who still may not get how big a deal this whole shebang is:

Let me spell it out for ya

You know how in the Bible, like thousands of years ago, you have these prophet dudes and prophet dude-ettes who could hear God speaking to them and telling them to do this or to do that, or to pray here or to pray there? And you know how some people today complain that it's a shame that we don't have that anymore so more people could believe in God, the Church, and the Resurrection?

SURPRISE!!!