"I am a deacon at Holy Family parish in the Tucson diocese and during our nine o’clock mass last Sunday as the priest was consuming the Precious Blood a female-sounding voice came through the sound system singing, 'Praise to the Holy One,'" relates Burt Nehmer of Tucson, Arizona.

"Our choir is not miked and [the priest’s] mike was off, so no one was wearing an active microphone -- yet a voice was unmistakably coming through the speakers.

"When [the priest] turned to give me the cup, he was smiling and I asked him what he thought that was and he said an angel," went on the deacon. "Most of the congregation heard it and thought the choir had made a mistake and started singing, but I told those people that they do not have a microphone!"

Angels help us, and so do the deceased. The Church itself teaches that we should implore prayers from those in both Heaven and purgatory.

This week, let us pray for the Pope on his trip to the U.S.

Our Church leaders need protection. On a trip to Baltimore in 1995, a reflection that looked like a towering luminous angel [left] was seen above John Paul II's plane when it landed.

One time when Benedict visited New York (in 1984, as Cardinal Ratzinger), his car was rear-ended just after he got out at the airport. We thus see the need to plead the Blood over him and each other -- invoking too those huge angels.

One might surmise that those who were holy in life may be given special intercessory privileges. Ask John Paul II to protect Benedict! Do priests have a special role in intercession after death?

"We have quite a bit of phenomena since our pastor died suddenly in 2007," wrote the same Deacon Nehmer of Arizona. "There have been missing objects found the next day in the spot they were missing from the day before. And at the funeral Mass and since then with different people being baptized or priests celebrating Mass who were friends of his the lights that shine on the tabernacle flicker on and off; during a Mass said for him one month after he died the flickering was in groups of three. We changed the light bulbs and had the wiring checked and everything is fine, then something happens and they will start flickering again."

Signs. Indications. We both pray for the help of deceased loved ones and also, at such moments, pray for them.

At Medjugorje, the Blessed Mother said that on occasion God allows souls of the departed to manifest. 

Of course, saints are also close. With angels, they orchestrate events.

"I wanted to tell you how I found out about Sister Faustina," wrote Christine Eadon of Canton, Ohio. "It was 1990 or 1991. I had a dream one night. 

"In the dream, it was night. I was standing, looking at a building which was about three stories high. The building was dark but for one window on the top floor which had a light on. 

"As I looked at the lighted window, I knew that someone had 'healed someone's mother.' And that was the end of the dream. 

"I woke up -- wondering who had cured the person's mother, as I made my way to the bathroom. The entire time I was wondering.  I got back into bed, closed my eyes, and a priest appeared before my inner eyes. 

"This was quite a shock to me! He was an older man, a slim man, wearing a cassock, and he looked at me and said, 'That was Sister Faustina,' and he disappeared! 

"I was very astounded by this occurrence, so I wrote the name down, later discovering I had spelled it correctly (miracle of miracles). Anyway, at work the next day, I called the Catholic bookstore. I was very embarrassed, but asked if they had ever heard of a Sister Faustina. 

"The woman said that, yes, she had! And that she had just one of her diaries left. She said that it had some pages loose, and because of that she would give me a big discount. Did I want the book? 

"Wonderful things happened after that. My little boys and I prayed it during a horrific storm and the storm stopped, as if by the snapping of fingers; the children were amazed. It was a dazzling example of praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Once at a church, while they were praying the Rosary, I was so excited about her possible canonization, and I thought, 'oh, how I wish I could announce the fifth Glorious Mystery!' 

"A woman turned around to me, immediately, and said, 'Would you like to announce the fifth Glorious Mystery?' 

"These are, perhaps, little things, to others, but a person does not forget the gifts that are given. When you love, as meager as you think it is, beautiful things happen. Surprises of love!  Because Love loves." 

[resources: The God of Miracles]