As I've mentioned in the revert thread above I grew up as a devout (more or less) Catholic. Catholics honor saints & beata and when I converted I had enough statues to fill up a box to take down off shelves, mantles etc in my house. One of those statues is of the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a Native American woman in the 1600s who lived a chaste Christian lifestyle and is honored in Canada and in the United States as the only Native to hold such a position within the church. As my mother is part Native herself we kept statues of Kateri around often.
Last year on March 20 when I was heavily into the Catholic faith I put a bid on what was to end up being my house. I signed the final documents on 04/30. During that time I kept asking Kateri to intercede for me. On my first night sleeping in my new house I had a dream... in this dream I was in a church dedicated to Tekakwitha. It was made of rough hewn wood, the priest had Native designs on his vestments, there were a couple Native women kneeling in the pews and (oddly enough) in the background was the Gregorian chant being done to the beat of a Native drum.
When I woke up I interpreted this dream to mean that I had to do a pilgrimage to a shrine or a church that has been dedicated to her. I knew her shrine was in eastern Canada near the New York state border. So I did a search on Google for "Church Kateri Tekakwitha". Well, I found one here in California about 5 hours drive south of me (near Los Angeles). However it was under construction... the odd thing though is it was started on 03/20 and the floor was laid on 04/30 - same dates as above. When I called my mother and told her this she got goosebumps.
Well... move on ahead several months later and I become Muslim. A couple months ago, mom brought this up. I tried- with patience - to explain to her that all things come from Allah and she made one reply: "Kateri is weeping". And that hurt. I don't know why but it hurt and set of a pang of guilt. She went on to say "She's been so good to you!" and that's where I decided to change the subject.
She later apologized for it, saying she had no right to say that to me but in the whole time since my conversion that was the only time I had any regret, even if it was just a small pang...
Last year on March 20 when I was heavily into the Catholic faith I put a bid on what was to end up being my house. I signed the final documents on 04/30. During that time I kept asking Kateri to intercede for me. On my first night sleeping in my new house I had a dream... in this dream I was in a church dedicated to Tekakwitha. It was made of rough hewn wood, the priest had Native designs on his vestments, there were a couple Native women kneeling in the pews and (oddly enough) in the background was the Gregorian chant being done to the beat of a Native drum.
When I woke up I interpreted this dream to mean that I had to do a pilgrimage to a shrine or a church that has been dedicated to her. I knew her shrine was in eastern Canada near the New York state border. So I did a search on Google for "Church Kateri Tekakwitha". Well, I found one here in California about 5 hours drive south of me (near Los Angeles). However it was under construction... the odd thing though is it was started on 03/20 and the floor was laid on 04/30 - same dates as above. When I called my mother and told her this she got goosebumps.
Well... move on ahead several months later and I become Muslim. A couple months ago, mom brought this up. I tried- with patience - to explain to her that all things come from Allah and she made one reply: "Kateri is weeping". And that hurt. I don't know why but it hurt and set of a pang of guilt. She went on to say "She's been so good to you!" and that's where I decided to change the subject.
She later apologized for it, saying she had no right to say that to me but in the whole time since my conversion that was the only time I had any regret, even if it was just a small pang...
There are some peoples who have not been reached by the message of the Prophet of Islam (Allah bless him and give him peace) that we must worship the One God alone, associating nothing else with Him. Such people are innocent, and will not be punished no matter what they do. Allah says in surat al-Isra',