I've got an amazing story to tell.
Last week, I was on vacation in Wyoming with my family.
On the drive out, I bought a book on Nicholas Black Elk in Rapid City to read on the trip. We created a Tiny Saint for him about a year ago, and I wanted to learn more about his life. After reading the book, I felt him calling to me from Heaven. This resulted in a providential journey to the Pine Ridge reservation where Nicholas Black Elk led me to him.
Who is Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk?
For those who don't know, Nicholas Black Elk was a Lakota holy man, medicine man, and visionary who received a vision as a young boy of the apocalypse of his people, the breaking of their sacred hoop and their ultimate renewal.
The vision featured two roads - a black road that led to death and a red road that led to life. He later had another vision of a man that was not Lakota and was not white shinning with beautiful, multi-colored light with holes in his hands standing before the sacred tree (tree of life). He instructed Black Elk that the Father had given all creation to Him and called to Black Elk.
Prior to this vision, Black Elk (who was the cousin of Crazy Horse) was at a number of pivotal moments in history - the battle of the Little Bighorn / Greasy Grass and the massacre at Wounded Knee. He also travelled with Buffalo Bill Cody and the famous Chief Sitting Bull to England, performing for Queen Victoria.
He later converted to Catholicism and became a catechist for the rest of his life, helping thousands of his people walk the red road to God. To the end of his life, he was fully Lakota and fully Catholic.
Similar to the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Black Elk was able to synthesize many Lakota beliefs and rituals with his Catholicism, giving them new meaning and elevating them to Christ. It is this unique gift that made him such a powerful evangelist.
After finishing the book on vacation, there were numerous signs similar to his story that caused me to realize he was calling me from Heaven to draw closer to him.
As we drove back to Rapid City, I noticed we were going through so many important locations to him and his people. I had the strong desire on my heart to visit his grave and pray, which would be a 3+ hour detour on our drive home.
That night, I asked God to give me a dream to confirm whether I should make the trip or not (this is not something I usually do). Without going into detail, I had a dream where I was talking to two elders who confirmed the need to make the trip.
I told Katherine (my wife) when we woke up on Sunday morning that we should find a Mass on the reservation and visit Black Elk's grave and pray.
We attended Mass at Holy Rosary Mission and providentially, the Mass was honoring Nicholas Black Elk, with the Bishop celebrating the Mass. It was beautiful.
In the narthex after Mass, I listened in as a mother showed a picture to her daughter of Black Elk teaching her grandmother (a little girl at the time) to pray the rosary.
Afterward, we attended a lunch at the parish and I met the postulator for his cause for canonization.
He's the person responsible for conducting the research to send to Rome to determine if he is a saint. We talked, and he let me know he loves the Black Elk Tiny Saint and wants to stay in touch. We both acknowledged that God is doing something in us meeting each other, though we don't know what yet.
Following lunch we found his grave, and Ralph (my son) and I went and prayed a rosary.
(Please note that I took a picture here, not as a tourist, but as a reminder for my son to reflect on this pilgrimage and to draw closer to this soon-to-be saint. I hope I have shown no disrespect in doing so.)
I wept many times on the trip for the historical and current evils that have been perpetrated against the Lakota and all native people.
I got to know a beautiful Christian witness in Nicholas Black Elk, who has a lot to teach us all about what we are blind to or choose not to see.
I saw in his people a vision of something that we are sorely missing and, in fact, need to understand in order to be fully human. And perhaps this is what God is doing in making his name known to so many at this moment in time.
I pray he is elevated to a saint and an example to all the peoples of the world on how to walk the red road.
Coincidentally, this week is the anniversary of the day he died (August 19), which would be the day he entered Heaven.
It was observed that a great Aurora Borealis danced in the night sky the night of his death - a confirmation of his entrance into Heaven that he foretold through a vision.
May the Servant of God, Nicholas Black Elk, continue to intercede for his people before the throne of God and for us all, that we can work with God and each other to build a better world.
Grow Closer to Black Elk
If you are looking to grow closer to this new Servant of God on the path to sainthood, check out this wonderful book on Nicholas Black Elk and carry his Tiny Saint at your side as a reminder to pray for his cause, for the Lakota and all people of God's good earth. In addition, the new book, Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy, beautifully details how Our Lady showed Juan Diego a vision of the heavenly world rich in Native symbols that led to the conversion of millions.
Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Catechist, Saint - $19.95
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Nicholas Black Elk Tiny Saint -$6.99
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Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy - $18.95
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