Lourdes

I believe in miracles. I have to because they have happened so frequently in my life. Nevertheless, this one caught me by surprise. A couple of years ago my mother gave me a small bottle of Lourdes' water and i gave it to my friend who was having trouble passing her medicals with Immigration. I didn't take much notice of the results, but, two years later she is still here in New Zealand.

This year, 2011, my mother informed me that my niece was once again expecting a baby and doctors had discovered a "lump" of some sort in her stomach. Over the last few years she has had several mysterious medical problems and had decided that she has had enough of invasive and painful tests. We were all praying hard for her. My mother, on the other hand, gave her some Lourdes water to drink.

Why do I dismiss my mother's wisdom when I so much hate my kids doing the same to me?

This Monday, 18th April, I visited a friend in a Catholic Rest Home and chanced upon a priest who has been a part of our family for almost three decades (I had intended visiting him later this week). Last year he had a tracheotomy due to a mysterious growth on his vocal chords and still has the tube in place and still prays for healing. I told my mother that evening, as he hadf asked after her, and she told me to give him the Lourdes water to drink. Then she informed me that my niece had been told that the lump had disappeared!

The next evening, Tuesday night, having struggled with asthma for two or three days due to a head cold, I remembered the Lourdes water and decided to give it a try. I said a prayer, put a teaspoonful in a glass with a little tap water, and drank it. My head cold went, I didn't spend the night blowing my nose, and I am not resorting to using my inhaler. 

Tuesday afternoon I was considering going to the Emergency with the difficulty I was experiencing in breathing.. I drank water from the shrine at Lourdes, and I have stopped needing to use my Ventolin. 

On Easter Sunday I will visit this priest and offer him this water. It is up to him whether or not he accepts it.