It happened a few years ago to close, personal friends of mine. A young, Catholic couple that lives just outside of Washington, D.C. The husband works for a Pro-life organization and upholding the sanctity of human life has always been a cause close to their hearts.
And one day God asked them to “practice what they preached” in a most amazing way.
Pregnant with their fifth child, Mary eagerly awaited that first ultrasound. She had already been blessed with four boys. Four. Boys. Would this be the little girl she has longed for?
No. It was another boy!
That’s o.k., as long as he’s healthy …
Several days later when Mary and Tom met with their doctor to go over the ultrasound, he looked rather grave. He gently told them that their unborn baby had a rare anomaly called “anencephaly.” Anencephaly is a serious birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull. It is incurable.
Their doctor explained that, while their baby would grow quite happily in the safety of Mary’s womb, he would not be able to live more than a short time after birth.
At that moment, Mary felt fear, like a living thing, wrap around and grip her heart.
After much prayer and many tears, the clouds began to part; they would go to Lourdes!
Everyone – myself included! – prayed that the innocent little baby, whom they named Stephen, would be miraculously healed at Lourdes.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” (Isiah 55:8)
But God has other plans. Better plans.
Here I share with you Mary’s experience in her own words:
“It was the water. As soon as my toe touched the water it was as though electricity went through me. It was hot and cold, but not uncomfortable. Immediately, I became aware – without a doubt – that someone had been cured and that it was not Stephen. But I felt overwhelming peace, like nothing I had ever felt before. I came out of the water confused; how could I feel so peaceful, yet so sure that my baby would NOT be healed?
“It was at Adoration that night that I got my answer. Kneeling there, I realized that the fear was gone – completely gone. I was no longer afraid of what would happen.”
Months later, Stephen was born. – a picture perfect beautiful boy, just born without part of his skull. He looked all around the room and up into his mother’s eyes, so full of trust and wonder! Moments after delivery, he received the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Then he quietly, painlessly slipped away to heaven.
One perfect soul – unblemished by the things of this world – entered the celestial court. He went from his mother’s arms into Our Mother’s arms.
And that is the most marvelous miracle of all.
“This is the deeper reason that Our Lady performs cures at Lourdes: to produce these spiritual and moral miracles that lead souls to Heaven.” (Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)
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Here is just one more quote from the article that really inspired me:
“Analyzing the matter, we conclude that suffering and spiritual trials are the very means of most souls’ sanctification. These are necessary, because most souls only develop detachment and love of God through suffering. Saint Francis de Sales expressed this well when he called suffering the “eighth sacrament.”
The rest of the story: Mary and Tom did get their little girl. And they named her Bernadette!
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