Baraga's Intercession

The Story

I had a personal reason in my life where I needed help from God. I wasn't sure what to do or how to go about it, so for the first time I pleaded for help. I asked for an intercession...and I learned that intercessions are incredibly, incredibly real.

“Heidi…look at the rose!” I had a dream two nights before. In the dream I was in my father’s apartment. It was a high-rise overlooking Lake Superior. I could see the lake in the distance and I was drawn to it. In the dream, I walked downstairs and outside and there were several people on the ground. The lake rose over the rocks and then receded. I woke up the next morning in my home and remembered the dream. I wanted so much to have that view of the Lake.

This is a close up of the picture of the rose...one week after it was left at Father Baraga's Cross on the shores of Lake Superior in the dead of the winter.

I looked up “Lake Superior High Rise” on my phone maps. Little did I know that there was a hotel not more than ten minutes away from the place that I visited once a month, Father Baraga’s Cross. That morning, I booked the tickets, found someone to watch my pups, called my mom and we were traveling north…again.

‘This one is perfect,’ I thought. It was the only rose sitting there. Each time I went to visit Father Baraga I always brought him a rose. Somehow those roses always felt like my way of having him feel more real. It was my personal connection with him. This day was no different.

It was an unplanned visit the week before. My mom and I traveled down to see the Dakota 38+2, a site where Natives gather each year to bring attention to their histories and try to create healing and reconciliation around these pasts. When we arrived we were all of 11 minutes late. Usually the riders arrived late, but this year we started to see people walking back. “Is the ride done?” “Yeah. They arrived a little bit ago. The horses are already being put away.” My mom and I looked at each other disappointed. “Well…should we head back?” I said. “Sounds good to me,” she replied. On the road I spontaneously asked if she wanted to go to the north shore. “Maybe we can drive up to the cross?” It was December 26th and we just wanted some time to get away. “That sounds good!” On the way up there I stopped at Kwik Trip. “This one is perfect.” I paid for the rose, got in my car, and soon we were on the way up to the cross.

“It’s getting dark. I was not expecting it to get dark this early.” A sadness started to sweep over me as I realized that I would not be able to see the rose in the light. I also saw this stone in my mind with a message. I wrote on it and put it on the rose and left it there. A light swept over the rose as the flash allowed the rose to be seen. I gave the cross a hug. Given the challenges that came around again, somehow, I felt a little closer to him with hugging the cross. He knew of my journey all too well. His heavenly ears have heard my prayers on too many nights counting as I sought to know how to bring forward his will in this world.

Then a week later, the dream happened. “Mom…do you want to go north again?”. I called her repeatedly, but she didn’t answer until about the fifth call. I knew that she would have to get ready, drive to my place and pack a bag if she wanted to go. When she picked up the phone she was surprised. “Sure. We can go again!” I told her that I had already booked a room with two beds. It was room on the lake.

The original picture of the rose on day bejig (one).

We unpacked our bags, tucked ourselves in and the next morning got breakfast and headed back to the cross. I was looking at the stone that I had left. The words were worn off. I picked it up and tucked it in my pocket due to its meaning. “Heidi…look at the rose.” I heard her voice. I was not paying attention to the rose at that moment. It was then that I looked. She said, “It looks perfect yet.” I looked at it. My mind was instantly in wonder. ‘Wait…how can the rose…be perfect?’ I walked around it almost afraid to touch it. I took a picture of it up close. It was perfect. The pedals had no wilt…nothing. Only the leaves on the rose appeared to have been affected by the outdoors. I was wondering if I should take it, I asked her, but we had decided to leave it there for the evening.

“Can a rose do that, mom?” “I have no idea.” We looked up pictures of roses left outside in the cold in our hotel room to see if there were any other examples of people who had preserved roses that way. There was nothing but roses inside of ice cubes…but nothing about people preserving roses outside. In fact, the web said that the freeze would actually harm the cells in the petals leading to decay. We also talked about the rock. “How can the rock have the words taken off, but the rose was not affected? It’s Lake Superior. The rose would have to be affected.” I was questioning whether the rose may have been swapped out for another. I looked at my pictures, but the roses looked identical with the exception of one petal now having a split in it. It had to be the same rose. “We’ll go back tomorrow. We have to look again. If it’s wilted, we’ll know it’s a different rose.”

The next day…the rose was exactly the same. It was now Friday, January 2nd, exactly seven days after I had initially left the rose. The rose still looked perfect. I was mystified. I had no idea how it could do that! That evening we went back home and left the rose after wondering if I should bring it back with us, but I couldn’t take my mind off of it. I had to work again the next day and I knew a ride up and back in one day wouldn’t allow for my work to take place. The only thing I could think to do was to reserve a hotel again for one night, drive up on Saturday and come back Sunday morning…so that’s what I did. I arrived again on Saturday night…now day 8…to see the rose. Someone had picked it up and moved it to another side of the cross. The petals had finally started to drop. I felt them for the first time. They were hard on the outside and the middle started to feel like it was a little wet. I was grateful, because I was starting to wonder if it was a real rose!! I thought I might have purchased a fake one by accident. But this was proof that indeed it was real!!

I talked to my mom about it afterwards. “Well…I did ask for an intercession.” I had mentioned it to her briefly on the way up to the cross the first time around, but this was before anything happened with the rose. She pressed me a little bit and I told her about my request. She said, “Ohhhh my goodness! Now it makes perfect sense!” She talked to me about her experiences in asking for intercessions previously. She said, “Miracles do happen that way! It really does work!”

So, this rose is evidence…for everyone…that Baraga hears and answers prayers. “Baraga, I want a….” and then I went to his dictionary to look up the word intercession in Ojibwe “gaganodamagewin”. There was an accent over the fourth ‘a’. I said it again. “GaganodamAgewin”. I then said it out loud feeling a little more confident about my pronunciation. “Baraga…I want a gaganodamAgewin. I want bejig gaganodamAgewin.” A day later I was in front of his picture in my office. “Baraga…I want an…” I struggled to find the word. “Intercession”. It was my first time asking…ever asking…for an intercession.

But what this taught me is this. Ask and you shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. I wanted to show the world in some way that he was there…that I was being honest…and then my rose, the one rose that I put on his cross, after asking for an intercession…did not wilt or decay for a week straight. I still do not know how that works, but that is for God to discern. All I know is that Baraga heard me…and continues to watch over me. He knew what I asked…and he provided what was needed for me to know that my prayers were answered.

If you have a prayer request or wish to share of an intercession you are requesting or have experienced, please contact the Bishop Baraga Association. Baraga is in need of one more intercession for him to become beatified and be one step closer to becoming a Saint. Intercessions work… they are real. Please do not hesitate to ask for an intercession today.

How to Request Intercessions/Prayers

You can request that the Bishop Baraga Association (specifically the Bishop Baraga Association Office, which manages the Cause for Canonization) pray for a specific intention through the intercession of Bishop Frederic Baraga.

To Request Prayer

You can request that the Bishop Baraga Association place a private prayer intention in the Baraga Chapel located at St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette, MI by sending your prayer request via email to the Executive Director of the Bishop Baraga Association, Lenora McKeen at lmckeen@bishopbaraga.org. Learn more about the Barga Chapel here.

To Request a Private Blessing

Contact the Executive Director of the Bishop Baraga Association to discuss the options available to receive a private blessing with an artifact used by Bishop Baraga.

To Report a Favor

To report a favor you believe you received through Bishop Baraga's intercession, please report it the Bishop Baraga Association, the official organization for Bishop Baraga's Cause for Canonization one of two ways below:

Online at www.bishopbaraga.org under the tab "Report a favor"
Written requests can be sent to:

Bishop Baraga Association

615 S. Fourth Street

Marquette, MI 49855

For additional information please contact the Bishop Baraga Association

Email: lmckeen@bishopbaraga.org

Mail: Bishop Baraga Association

615 S. Fourth Street

Marquette, MI 49855

Phone: 906-227-9117