After Hell, and Purgatory, priest visited Heaven
IN my previous column, I related the rare experience of an Indian priest Fr. Jose Maniyangat who was privileged to visit Heaven but made a stop in Hell and Purgatory. The latter was the subject of my previous article.
Here’s Fr. Maniyangat’s reminiscence of Heaven: “My angel escorted me to Heaven passing through a big dazzling white tunnel. I never experienced this much peace and joy in my life. Then immediately heaven opened up and I heard the most delightful music, which I never heard before.
“The angels were singing and praising God. I saw all the saints, especially the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, and many dedicated holy bishops and priests who were shining like stars. And when I appeared before the Lord, Jesus told me: “I want you to go back to the world. In your second life, you will be an instrument of peace and healing to My people. You will walk in a foreign land and you will speak in a foreign tongue. Everything is possible for you with My grace. “After these words, the Blessed Mother told me: ‘Do whatever He tells you.’” Words cannot express the beauty of heaven. There we find so much peace and happiness, which exceed a million times our imagination.
“Our Lord is far more beautiful than any image can convey. His face is radiant and luminous and more beautiful than a thousand rising suns. The pictures we see in the world are only a shadow of His magnificence. The Blessed Mother was next to Jesus. She was so beautiful and radiant. None of the images we see in this world can compare with Her real beauty.
“Heaven is our real home; we are all created to reach heaven and enjoy God forever. Then, I came back to the world with my angel. While my body was at the hospital, the doctor completed all examinations and I was pronounced dead due to profuse bleeding.
SECOND LIFE. “As they were moving my body to the morgue, my soul came back to the body. I felt an excruciating pain because of so many wounds and broken bones. I began to scream, and then the people became frightened and ran away screaming.
“The doctor came to examine my body and found that I was alive. So he said: ‘Father is alive, it is a miracle! Take him back to the hospital.’ Now, back at the hospital, they gave me blood transfusions and I was taken to surgery to repair the broken bones. My orthopedic doctor said that I would never walk again. I then said to him: ‘The Lord who gave me my life back will heal me.’
“True enough after praying for a month, the pain in my pelvis disappeared completely.
“I told my doctor of the news of my healing.
“He said: ‘Your God is the true God. I must follow your God.’ The doctor was Hindu, and he asked me to teach him about our Church. After studying the Catholic faith, I baptized him and he became a Catholic.”
Although we are not obliged to believe such private “revelation,” Fr. Maniyangat’s testimony confirms and bolsters the Catholic belief in Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
ST. JUDE. Today Thursday join our novena to St. Jude, Saint of the Impossible, at the Divine Word Shrine, Christ the King Seminary, on E. Rodriguez Boulevard, Quezon City, after the 6 p.m. Mass.
A healing prayer and anointing of the sick will follow.