Daily Thought For December 31, 2019

Redemptive Suffering And A Miracle

Some people call her the Mother Teresa of Mexico. Madre Ines Valdivia Gonzalez is in her late eighties but still runs an orphanage for children with mental and physical disabilities, Casa Hogar La Divina Providencia, near Mexico City. Despite the poverty and suffering within its walls, the Casa is a place of joy, laughter and peace. Among the many miracles that have taken place there is the following, which Madre Ines recounted to a missionary friend of mine who often visits the orphanage. 
     A man visited the Casa who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He shared with Madre that since he did not have much time left on earth, he realized he had better get, right with God. He decided to visit the orphanage as a way of doing a good deed. She gave him a tour of the facility, including the upper floor where the most severely handicapped children live. Madre Ines considers these her most precious charges, believing that their souls are already in some way in God's presence. Most of them simply lie on cots, drooling, incapable of movement or speech. 

     As the visitor walked through the room, the limp hand of one boy brushed against him, so he sat down and held the boy's hand for a few minutes as the child gazed intently into his eyes. He felt good reaching out to this profoundly disadvantaged person. After a few minutes he smiled and walked on. 
     The next day he woke up feeling better than he had in some time. The next day he felt even better, and the next day better still. He went back to his doctor, and after some tests was informed that his body was completely cancer-free. When he called Madre Ines to share the good news, she told him that shortly after his visit, the boy whose hand he had held had passed away. 

from Healing − Bringing the Gift of God's Mercy to the World by Mary Healy pp.125-126