A TRUE MIRACLE

A True Miracle

Eileen Renders

PART ONE

   A young child, just before entering First grade, developed a severe reaction to her vaccines. Because she was so frail, the school doctor injected her with one of the 2-3 vaccines she received in her left thigh. An infection began to fester in her left thigh and grew to the size of a half-dollar coin. A high fever accompanied this infection, and she was confined to bed.

Her mother, a nurse, called their family doctor, and he came for a house visit, which was common in those days. However, after examining the wound area and taking her temperature, he confirmed she had a high fever, as well as a severe infection. Doctor Steinberg could not offer much help because this occurred in 1945. A time, unfortunately, when antibiotics were unavailable to the public. Her mother kept her in bed, tried to use cool compresses on her to bring down the fever, but she was not eating.

This child remained in bed for nearly two weeks, and the doctor visited again, but still had nothing to offer to heal the infection. A couple of days later, the little girl’s friend who lived just next door was at school, but her mother came over to visit her daughter’s playmate. After her brief visit, as she and little Theresa’s mom descended the flight of stairs, she heard the woman, Anne, say to her mom, “Kathleen, is she going to be alright?”  Then, her mother replied, “I hope to God she will be alright.” These words scared little Theresa; she thought, “God?” What does God have to do with this?

Little Theresa’s mother had spent some time in the Convent in England because of her parents' urging. She did not do well in the cloistered life, and before taking her final vows, she left the convent. Kathleen, her mom, decided on a career in Nursing, and she pursued that and received her Graduate degree there in England. However, she always kept rosary beads on the bedpost of each bed in the house. Kathleen had 4 other children at the time, and Theresa was the youngest.

Theresa felt anxious and felt she wanted to speak to God. She had learned one prayer through her mother and four older siblings, and Therese felt that through this prayer she might be able to open up a conversation with Jesus. Little Therese picked up the rosaries that were hanging on the bedpost where they always were, and began to say the only prayer she knew, saying, “The Our Father.”

With sincerity and concern, Therese began to pray saying, “Our Father, who art in…” and she did not get any farther when suddenly, in a small corner of her bedroom, next to a small closet, she saw a cloud of bright light appearing that immediately drew her attention.

Look for A TRUE MIRACLE       PART TWO