Kudos to Fr. Ron Rolheiser on his fine March 7 article (We Need to Re-romanticize Faith).

Heaven has, in the past two millennia, favoured Catholics, much more than it has all others, with divine manifestations of Eucharistic miracles, the dead being raised to life, incorruptible bodies and visitations from Jesus and Mary.

Catholics not only celebrate God's love and mercy as others do; they acknowledge His justice as well. An un-righted trespass against a neighbour, who is also a child of God, incurs a penalty that has to be paid for either on earth, like the Good Thief's crucifixion, or in Purgatory. Catholicism provides and promotes a treasury of prayers, Masses and good works that go a long way in reducing and even cancelling this purgatorial debt. And these means can also merit our Father's reward - Matthew Chapter 6.

Catholics need to be taught anew from the pulpits and the classrooms how to count their blessings.

* This note was published in the Catholic Register on May 30^th, 2004. For further reading, please consult Joan Carroll Cruz's books such as Eucharistic Miracles and The Incorruptibles. Also read Fr. Albert J. Herbert's book Raised from the Dead and Michael H. Brown's The Final Hour. For your information, the 450-year-old incorruptible body of St. Francis Xavier is available for public viewing in Goa, India at the end of 2004.