A Miracle for Mom -
Spiritual Experience Of Healing & Faith
I was always close to my mom; she
was everything to me. I can describe my mom as kindhearted, caring, my best
friend. I could talk with her more than Dad, confide and ask advice of her. The
one thing I will always remember about Mom is how in her later years when I came
to visit, how sorry I felt for this woman. Sitting alone in her living room,
while Dad was off to church or running errands. She sat alone in her chair next
to her window in her housecoat, she always wore a housecoat, didn’t dress up
much, for she never had much to buy an expensive wardrobe or go anywhere outside
of church on Sundays.Depending mainly on Social Security and Meals on Wheels to
survive. I would pray to God at times to allow me to have some money so I could
do something really special for her and Dad, something memorable.
I had the opportunity in 1984 to
allow them to experience something special. I rented a shore house down the
Jersey shore, of which I split the cost with my sisters, it was the first and
only vacation they ever experienced during their four decades of marriage, an
experience Mom spoke of for years after. My desire was to do it again for them
both, but never could. Moving ahead years later my mom suffered through her last
years of life. In 1993, she entered the hospital for a valvo-plasty procedure,
which should have only kept her hospitalized for a few days. The doctor
explained to my family and me that that if she did not have the procedure
performed, she would die within a year, a painful death.
Therefore, as all good and loving
children would have it, we painstakingly convinced Mom to have the procedure
performed. We truly loved her and we wanted mom around longer than a year. As
far as I was concerned one hundred years was far too short.
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Mom entered the hospital on
October 2nd undergoing the procedure two days later and she was scheduled to be
released the day following the procedure. The doctor informed us the procedure
was mainly simple and there should be no
problem. We trusted in his word and I believe he believed every word he was
telling us.
To make a long story short, the night of the procedure mom lie comatose in the
cardiac care unit of the hospital, and as I was later told by one of my sisters
(I was currently working nights at the time and was unaware of what had
occurred.) The doctor had explained to her that whatever could have gone wrong
with my mother’s procedure did. Mom lay in a coma for three days as I prayed for
her every waking moment of everyday. On the third day after regaining
consciousness, another problem arose. Mom was unable to breathe on her own, so
she was affixed to a respirator and feeding tube. This scenario continued for
days, which then became weeks, Mom just was not improving and the news on her
condition just became worse. This is a point in my life when I can honestly say
that I started experiencing the miracles. |
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Reaching inside myself, I
prayed to God, asking him to spare my mom. I pleaded. “Let her live, God,
even if it’s only for a year. Don’t let her go this way, don’t let my family
and I feel as if we were partly responsible for her death.” I loved this
fine woman and it was tearing my heart to pieces watching her in the C.C.U.
sucking air through a respirator. As the grueling days expired, the doctors
discussed performing a tracheotomy to free Mom from the respirator, for her
condition was not improving. One Sunday before visiting Mom in the C.C.U., I
stopped at a nearby monastery. There was a small gift shop behind the
monastery, where the sold small gifts and religious articles and I thought
to myself to stop in and buy something, holy water, a small relic, something
that could bring us hope. As I said earlier, I was praying exhaustively
everyday for Mom, praying for a miracle to bring her home. While I scanned
the counter in the small shop I came upon a vial containing what appeared to
be some sort of anointing oil, the inscription read, “St. Jude’s Holy Oil.”
Picking up the vial I asked
the woman behind the counter just exactly was it. She explained to me that
it was holy oil blessed by the relic of St. Jude. (St. Jude was Apostle and
cousin to Jesus Christ.) She went on to say that people have used it widely
for the anointing of the sick. St. Jude in Catholicism was the Saint who
most Catholics would pray to in hopeless cases, when all seemed lost, and at
this point in time I would have taken a miracle anyway I could get it. The
situation with Mom seemed hopeless and was getting worse. I went to visit
with Mom later that afternoon, bringing the oil and my faith in miracles
with me. Arriving at the C.C.U. I made my way to Mom’s room. Dad, my sister,
Carol, and her fiance, Richard were all present as Mom’s respirator
continued its timely loud tick. Saying my hellos to all present I made my
way towards Mom, looking into her eyes I noticed a difference in her eyes
that I hadn’t noticed since her hospitalization, a clearness, almost like a
glow, that would catch your eye.
I explained to her that I was going to bless her with the oil I had
purchased earlier that day. Needless to say, I probably blessed a hundred
times over with the oil, so many times Richard jokingly replied, “Hey, Dan,
don’t bless her too much, you might just bless her to death.” When it was
time to leave, I had such a strong feeling of hope within myself that my mom
was going to be alright, that St. Jude was there for both of us. The last to
leave the room, I spoke to Mom announcing with great faith, “Don’t worry,
Mom, tomorrow you’ll be doing fine.” All I recall is Mom’s eyes following me
out the room, and feeling in my heart how much I truly loved her. Hours
later, stopping by Mom’s house, my wife Kathy and I dropped my dad off at
the moment pulling to the curb what seemed to be an inner voice passed
through my soul to my thoughts telling me, “Don’t worry your mom will be all
right.” This voice just filled me with so much comfort.
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Exiting the car to see my dad
into the house, I replied to him knowing he was still very worried about Mom and
her prospects, “Dad, you watch. Don’t worry, Mom is going to be okay, believe
me.” I could tell my words truly lifted my father’s spirits. My wife and I left
for home and when I arrived I picked up the phone calling my sister Joan to
speak with her about my experience and the oil. As I spoke with Joan I knew she
wasn’t buying it, but I knew in her heart she hoped for a miracle as much as I
did. The night passed quickly as they always do and I awoke the next morning,
beginning my relentless preparation for work that afternoon. My phone rang, my
heart skipped because at that very moment, I was thinking of mom and the phone
ringing did instill a slight wave of panic. |
It’s only human nature that when
we have a loved one gravely ill, or injured, that we pray the phone doesn’t ring
at home, or at work, human nature always leaves us inclined to think the worst.
I picked up the phone and Joan my sister was on the other end. She was ecstatic,
overjoyed, her first response was, “Danny!…it worked.” “The St. Jude’s Holy Oil,
the oil you blessed Mommy with yesterday. It worked, she’s off the respirator
and she ate her first meal in sixteen days."
I was consumed by the moment. It was a miracle and I just thought of the words
quoted by Jesus Christ in the Bible, “With faith you can move mountains.” I had
experienced a true miracle in my life. Mom was saved. Going further into detail,
this miracle occurred near or on the date of October 29th which is the day all
Catholics celebrate the feast of St. Jude. This fact blew my mind. My reverence
for his divine intervention increased greatly. To further continue this story,
my Mom was released from the hospital on November 2nd 1993, sadly she passed
away November 5, 1994 just three weeks after finding out she had advanced breast
cancer. My thoughts drifted back to the previous year when she was in intensive
care, when I pleaded to God to spare her for us and how in my pleas, “God!
Please spare her, even it’s only a year.”
I remember the look in Mom’s eyes when she returned home, the clearness, the
brightness, almost as if she was touched with something heavenly. In this day
and age when so many are seeking help, so often they seek in the wrong places
and in the world’s worldliness many have forgotten there truly are things
outside the realm of human existence that exist. Like God, and those so special
to him he has entrusted with spiritual power, which surpasses anything humanely.
Actor Danny Thomas had developed such a true devotion to St. Jude he started a
hospital in St. Jude’s namesake. A hospital for who else, but the children, the
ones Christ cherished so dearly And as I said before, “With faith we can move
mountains.”
Contributed By: Daniel Jay Mc Shane I
have been published in many newspapers in the New York Metro Area. I am author
of a book entitled "Voices From A Wounded Soul" 2002 Vantage Press New York,
Poetry and Essay related to social justice, Written several stories in the past
"SureFire" 1998 no longer in publication. Enjoy writing, and enjoy sharing my
ideas. I felt this short story would spark some interest with readers. The
closest I can come to a near death experience through my research.
katie163@verizon.net
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