My firstborn son was healed of a heart ailment as an infant at the Marian Shrine in Lourdes, France.
I don’t talk about this often because I’ve had this nagging notion that one day I’ll wake up and realize that it didn’t really happen and my son will be scheduled again for surgery. But Stephen is 8 years old now, and the healing is real.
My wife and I may never submit the details to the medical board at Lourdes, but we only have to look at Stephen to know in our hearts that a miracle took place.
Our son is a fast runner, a Little Leaguer with a keen batting eye, a Bear Scout who can hike a mountain, and a big brother to our 4-year-old Justin.
Stephen was born more than seven weeks premature on the feast day of St. Padre Pio (who was a Blessed at the time). He spent 10 days in the neonatal ICU, where they detected a heart murmur. Tests revealed a mild coarctation. If you are like my wife and I were at the time, the word is unfamiliar and frightening. Coarctation is a narrowing of the aorta, a condition that restricts blood flow and could lead to hypertension and stroke.
We got a second opinion, with the same diagnosis, and our son was scheduled for surgery at 7 months of age. By God’s grace, we were accepted for a pilgrimage to Lourdes with the Knights of Malta, who each year charter a plane to bring sick children and their parents to the place where St. Bernadette Soubirous saw the Blessed Mother and unearthed a stream of healing water.
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