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On today’s podcast, Deacon Steve Greco is joined in the studio by his wife, Mary Anne. The primary topic of discussion is of utmost importance: FORGIVENESS. Not long ago, Deacon Steve was inspired to write a book that he titled, “Miracles Through Forgiveness.” Listen in for some powerful reflections and stories that will surely inspire!
Originally broadcast on 8/22/21
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SAN DIEGO (CNS) — This Easter, a new film promises to tell the real-life story of a person who died and miraculously came back to life.
But it’s not the resurrection story you’re probably thinking of.
“Breakthrough,” which opens in theaters April 17, is about John Smith, a 14-year-old Missouri boy who fell through the ice on a frozen lake, was deprived of oxygen for at least 20 minutes, was without a pulse for 45 minutes, and showed no signs of life after repeated attempts to revive him at the hospital.
Perhaps more accurately, it’s the story of his mother, Joyce, whose prayer over her adopted son’s lifeless body — “Send your Holy Spirit to save my son,” she screams — received an immediate answer: The boy’s pulse registered for the first time on the hospital’s EKG machine.
It’s the story of how, against all odds, Joyce believed that God would heal her son and restore him to perfect health. This, despite the prognosis of a world-renowned physician who didn’t believe the boy would survive his first night at the hospital, and the doubts of even her husband, Brian.
For Chrissy Metz, who plays Joyce, it’s an “overwhelmingly unbelievable” true story, not only because of John’s miraculous return to life but also because of the emotional, spiritual and physical challenges that Joyce had to face throughout this ordeal.
“It’s not easy to be the only person … to believe that her son’s going to survive when everybody, including the doctors, including the entire hospital, knows that there’s just no possible way,” said Metz, best known for her role on the NBC television series “This Is Us.”
She made the comments in a phone interview with The Southern Cross, newspaper of the Diocese of San Diego.
“It’s hard to really put into words, but for me, it’s inspirational, it’s encouraging. I think it imparts hope,” Metz said of the film, which among other things shows an entire community uniting in support of the Smiths.
John’s classmates organize a prayer campaign through social media, and a candlelight vigil is held outside the hospital.
Near the beginning of the film, Joyce Smith is seen at a women’s book study at the Protestant church that she attends. Reflecting on the book they have been reading, she calls the group’s attention to a specific phrase — “to pray boldly” — and asks what they think that means.
Though the group’s meeting is interrupted before she receives an answer, the rest of the film serves to illustrate that very concept.
As Metz sees it, the book study scene reveals that Joyce had prepared herself “long before the incident even happened” by learning how to pray and to make bold requests of God. When tragedy struck, she was ready.
Joyce’s level of trust in God might seem almost superhuman — for her, it’s seemingly impossible to imagine anything short of a miraculous healing; even her family and friends seem to think she is setting herself up for disappointment – but she also has some very human faults.
For one thing, she has a rocky relationship with her new pastor, whose leadership style — and hair style — she disdains; she is unwelcoming when he arrives at the hospital to be at her family’s side. And, when she overhears the hospital’s medical staff and members of her own church community commenting on the likelihood of her son’s death, she responds with impatience and anger.
Describing her as “a force of nature,” Metz explained that Joyce feels that others are either with her or against her, and she isn’t about “to let anybody stand in her way.”
The character also eventually admits that she has a controlling nature and recognizes that she needs to surrender herself and her son’s life to God’s providence, resigning herself to His will, no matter what that entails.
Metz predicts that audiences will find this all-too-human side of Joyce to be particularly relatable.
“It’s not some pretty, wrapped-in-a-bow, faith-inspired and faith-based movie,” she said, “but it’s about a real family and a real woman” who’s “going to do whatever she feels is right, whether somebody agrees with her or not.”
For audiences, Metz hopes the film might serve as a reminder of “the power of love and the power of prayer.”
“I hope that people realize that miracles do happen and the unexplainable happens,” she said.
Today is our very special new year’s program featuring Deacon Steve Greco and a very special member of the Spirit-filled Hearts ministry team, Katie Hughes.
According to Deacon Steve, 2019 is going to be a year of MIRACLES.
Tune in and be inspired!
Originally broadcast on 1/6/19
Host Deacon Steve Greco interviews guests on a variety of topics. On this week’s program, Steve welcomes two key team members of the Spirit-Filled Hearts ministry, Katie Hughes and Michael Aimola.
Steve is even more excited than usual today, because of a very special announcement. It’s the launching of a brand-new book he’s written entitled “Overcoming Adversity Through Miracles.”
Originally broadcast on 9/9/18
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an effort to ensure transparency as well as historical and scientific accuracy, Pope Francis has approved revised norms for the Congregation for Saints’ Causes regarding medical consultations on healings alleged to be miracles.
Among the regulations published by the Vatican Sept. 23 was the requirement that the medical panel have a quorum of six experts and that a two-thirds majority is needed to approve a statement declaring a healing has no natural or scientific explanation.
Previously, the declaration — a key step in a pope’s recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of a candidate for sainthood — required the approval of a simple majority of the consultation team members present.
“The purpose of the regulation is for the good of the (saints’) causes, which can never be separated from the historical and scientific truth of the alleged miracles,” Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci, secretary of the congregation, said in a Sept. 23 statement.
Archbishop Bartolucci presided over a seven-member commission that began revising the regulations in September 2015 to update the norms established by St. John Paul II in 1983. Except in the case of martyrs, in general two miracles are needed for a person to be declared a saint — one for beatification and the second for canonization.
The new regulations, which were approved with the pope’s mandate Aug. 24 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, also state that an alleged miracle “cannot be re-examined more than three times.”
For each alleged miracle, the Medical Consultation team is comprised of a maximum of seven experts; when the promoter of a cause appeals a negative judgment, a new team of physicians and medical experts must be appointed, the new norms say. The members of each consultation will remain unknown to the postulator, as the promotor of the specific cause called.
A presumed miracle is first reviewed by two medical experts within the congregation, and with their recommendation is then sent to the Medical Consultation team.
While the medical experts receive compensation for their work, the new regulations state that they will only be paid through wire transfer. Prior to the approval of the new norms, experts were given the option to receive cash payments for their work.
Archbishop Bartolucci said the regulations will further ensure that the consultations will be carried out with “serenity, objectivity and complete security” by the medical experts.
“This regulation obviously concerns only the proper functioning of the Medical Consultation, whose task is always more delicate, demanding and, thank God, appreciated inside and outside the church,” he said.
