I want to share with you 2 miracles that happened to people that I know. They were both very recently and Our Blessed Mother, Mary, was Heaven’s instrument of loving mercy in both of them.
The first story involves a woman of advanced years. She has a number of health issues but her difficulty in breathing is the worst. She has been on oxygen for a while. For the last few weeks, she has been complaining of rapidly failing health - especially very bad breathing - and was becoming very concerned about her future. Even after taking a lot of oxygen, she said she was still out of breath and could not walk up or down her stairs, etc.
Then, on the morning of August 18, 2014, this elderly woman called a mutual friend, with extraordinary news. Earlier that morning, she had noticed that she was not wearing her Brown Scapular. Looking for it, she found that she had taken it off for a shower about 3 weeks before. She then realized that not only had she never put the scapular back on, but that it was about that same time when her health had started to fail. Having rediscovered it, she immediately put the Brown Scapular on again. Very soon afterwards, she felt a very significant improvement in her breathing. It was so improved that she was even able to go up and down the stairs twice that same morning!
This woman ended her wonderful story by telling her friend how the Brown Scapular was the reason for her improved health and that her fears had now gone away.
The next story comes from one of my very good friends. For the sake of discretion and privacy, the names of the people involved are simply represented by their first initial.
My good friend M. lives next door to a little restaurant. An employee named A., who does most of the work at the restaurant, lives alone in an apartment attached to it. A part-time employee named D. lives nearby as well, on the other side of my friend’s house. My friend knows both of these men fairly well and was intimately involved in the event that follows.
On the morning of August 10, 2014, D. had gone early to visit his friend and fellow employee A.. He had written a song for A. and was going to play it this morning on his guitar. The restaurant opens at 7:30 AM but he knew that A. would be up earlier, so he went at 7:00 AM. All was dark and there were no signs of activity, so D. waited in the parking lot until 7:30 AM. When no one opened the restaurant, D. went around to the window of the apartment and knocked to try to wake A. up. There was no answer. So around 7:45 AM, D. went to the landlord’s house nearby to let him know that something was wrong. With the landlord’s key, they both went in and found A. curled up in his bed. He was totally non-responsive. He had had a heart attack and D. was afraid that he may even already be dead. D. called 911. The local ambulance was coming from a distance of only about 2 miles, but it took them 25 minutes to arrive. D. was quite frantic by the time they got there. Then his anxiety only increased when he found the emergency men to be very slow and lax about tending to his friend.
Finally, they rushed A. to the hospital. D. was not able to go with them in the ambulance and so he went to my friend M.’s house around 8:30 AM. D. wanted M. to take him to the hospital. He was told that my friend was at Mass but would be back in about 10 minutes. And so the anxious man waited. My friend now will continue with the story from his perspective:
"I had just come back from early Mass on Sunday and found my neighbor, from two houses down, D., at the door. He was very distraught and said that earlier when he went over to see A. next door to me on the other side, to help him start work, he had not gotten up. He was always up by that time. He called the manager and they went in and found him on his bed. It seemed that he had had a heart-attack during the night. They called the ambulance and A. was taken to the hospital.
"D. asked me to take him to the hospital to visit A., as he still was not sure if A. was alive or not. I brought him there and the front desk said that A., in fact, was in the emergency room and was alive. D. went in to see him and brought the Green Scapular I had given him earlier. They visited for a while and when he came out, I went in to see the patient for a minute. He was very scared and was crying, saying, ‘I don’t want to die.’ I reassured him and told him to keep the Green Scapular and ask Jesus’ Mother for help, and She would always protect him.
"Later that day, D. stopped by my house and said, ‘You’re not going to believe this.’ He proceeded to tell me how he talked to the doctor that afternoon and the doctor said that about 20 minutes after we left, A.’s spirits picked up and he seemed better. They checked his heart functions and after having had a massive heart attack the night before, his heart was now fine. The doctor was perplexed. D. said it was a miracle."
What you have just read are two miracles that happened this very month. There are a few points that I would like to add.
First of all, the man who had the heart attack has no religion and no relationship with Mary or Jesus. In the case of the elderly woman, she falls into the category of those people (and there are sadly so many like this today), who were raised Catholic but do not say many prayers or have any real kind of spiritual life. They are very much focused on their natural lives and do not give God much of their time or attention unless they are faced with an absolute emergency and natural means cannot solve their problem.
And yet Mary came to the aid of both of these people - not to prolong their lives for the sake of living longer, but to lovingly show them that Heaven is real and God is merciful. But it was also to show them how life is short and they need to spend some of the time that they have left focusing energy and attention on saving their souls.
In both cases, Mary’s healing power was shown through Her scapulars. In both cases, there are family, friends and strangers who have been praying for the conversion and salvation of these two people. I know, because I am one of those who have been praying to Mary for them.
So the message I want to show you in these two stories is this: It does not matter how much of a mess anyone’s life has become. God desires everyone to be saved. Jesus paid the price for the salvation of all people. And Our Blessed Mother Mary can obtain all from Her Divine Son.
But we have to ask! And we must keep asking with confident hope. God sent His Mother to Fatima, Portugal in 1917 with messages for the world. Part of that message was to show hell, filled with countless lost souls, to three young children, ages 10, 9 and 7 years old. Mary told them: "You have seen hell, where poor sinners go because they have no one to pray and offer sacrifices for them!" Mary encourages us to offer many prayers and sacrifices to Her so that She can obtain the conversion and salvation of many souls. If enough prayers and sacrifices are given to Her, She could save everyone. What a wonderful thought!
But it’s up to us. So pray to Mary for those you love and for those you don’t - for those you know and for complete strangers. We do not know or love everyone personally, but God does and we cannot please God more than by working hard to help Heaven save all souls!
Also be sure to use and promote the scapulars of our Heavenly Queen. She very much needs your help. If you saw someone drowning would you just ignore them and walk along minding your own business? Of course not! You would do everything you could to save them. Well, so very many people are drowning in their sins and if they die in them they will not be saved.
Our most sweet Jesus and Mary suffered so horribly so that you and I and everyone else could be truly happy forever in Heaven with Them.
For Their sakes, won’t you help?
Most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us - and all sinners everywhere - now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
