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.
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 saw a vision of the apocalypse of his people and their renewal as a young boy.
The vision featured two roads - a black road that led to death and a red road that led to life. He later had a vision of a man that was not Lakota and was not white 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. As a youth, Black Elk was at the battle of the Little Bighorn / Greasy Grass and Wounded Knee.
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.
After finishing the book on vacation, there were a ton of 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 realized we were going through so many important locations for 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 if he was working on something here and let me know whether I should make the trip or not (this is not something I usually do).
Without getting into detail, I had a dream where I was talking to two elders about a number of things that confirmed the need to make the trip.
I told Katherine when we woke up on Sunday morning that we should find a Mass on the reservation and then try to 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 was showing her daughter a picture of Black Elk teaching her grandmother to pray the rosary.
Afterwards, we attended a lunch and I met the postulator for his cause for canonization.
He's the guy 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 working something here, though we don't know what yet.
Afterward, we found his grave, and Ralph 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 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, August 19 is the day he died, 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.
This article originally appeared on Facebook.