A young man, we shall call Mike, fell from a scaffold while working on a building in a construction accident.   In the fall, his head was badly injured.   When the family arrived and all were gathered they were told that  there was no hope of recovery and that they would remove him from life support in a few days if he did not respond.  They all waited in faith but soon the hospital told them that there was no sign of significant brain activity and that they were advising that he be taken off the life support.  They were devastated, and immediately his brother called his boss, a Christian Man, who in turn called Ed.  Ed was near the hospital at the time and came immediately.  When he walked into the intensive care unit,  the family was gathered there in shock, crying and lost.  They were feeling hopeless and out of control and their faith was beginning to weaken.   Mario lay there in a comatose state with no hope of recovery or with coming out of this injury without severe brain damage.  The decision to take him off of the life support was already made by the hospital  and it was only a matter of time until it would happen.  

The Texas Ten Day Law was coming into play.  This law is also called the "futile care" law. where the family is notified that they have 2 days to see if the patient will respond and that after that it is futile care and they will remove the life support regardless of "Living Wills"  The patient and family then have 10 days to appeal to the hospital board and find another facility into which to transfer the patient. 

Ed introduced himself and began to call everyone around Mike to join in prayer.  He had brought with him a precious relic of the Crown of Thorns of Jesus and held it on Mike while they prayed. When they were finished praying, it was time to leave the unit.   Ed suggested that they all continue to pray in the hospital chapel.  Everyone agreed and they went to the chapel and began to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a simple prayer begging for God's Mercy on Mike.  There were people from many different faith backgrounds gathered as one in purpose and prayer.   After the prayer was ended, they all parted with the promise of continued prayer.  Ed returned to the room and said a final prayer with everyone after which he left and drove home.  

The next morning, when he arrived in the answering machine was beeping.  There was a message from George, Mike's brother's boss.  "Ed, this is George, call me as soon as you get this message"  Ed did, and when George answered the phone he said that he had been trying since 5:30 am to call him.  The family had called and said that Something incredible had happened. 

When the nurse entered the room to check everything, she thought she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Mike's finger move.  Shocked and bewildered, she watched for a moment and saw it again.  She rushed out to call the doctor, to which he replied, "(expletive) No way could that happen!"  He said that she must have been mistaken and to check again but the answer was that all his fingers were moving!   He said he would be right there!  By the time that he arrived Mike had begun to move more and opened his eyes as well.   His first words were, "I'm thirsty, can I have a coke?" 

Mike never knew how close to death he was, nor did he know the tremendous force of prayer that was prayed on his behalf.  All he knew was that he was alive and grateful to God.    Later when he heard the story he was so moved and his life was began to change.   He was back to work within a month, engaged to marry his girlfriend, and soon was signed up to make an ACTS Retreat in Amarillo. 

(names have been changed for privacy)
    RETURN TO HOME PAGE

 RETURN TO HOME PAGE

On one occasion when acting Spiritual Care Volunteers at a hospice, we entered a room where a woman, Joan, was lying in the bed, eyes closed and very agitated.  Her sister was standing beside her bed with a Rosary in her hands.  The Rosary, of course, was a give away that she was Roman Catholic.  We began to ask her what parish she belonged to and came to find out that she was from out of town.   The woman in the bed was her sister. 

As the story unfolded,  we found out that the family had been told that Joan was expected to have died "last Friday".   This was Friday of the following week and she was "still hanging on".  They had been praying the Rosary together all week but early Wednesday morning Joan had fallen asleep as her sister stood vigil.  She had been "grabbing for the air" and remained very agitated.  We asked her sister if she knew the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and she did not.  Ed gave a brief explanation of the Chaplet and the words of Jesus to St. Faustina. 

As we got quiet to pray, I began to hear in my head the word UNFORGIVNESS.  Oh boy,  how would I handle this without causing her to think that I was accusing her of something?  So I began very gently.

"I am so sorry," I said, "I could be off base here, but I keep hearing the word unforgivness"  Of course, her sister reacted as I was afraid she would saying that her sister was one of the most christian loving women she knew.  In the midst of her sentance, though, she quickly stopped and looked up at us.  "Well, Joan keeps saying , 'They killed Fr. John!  They've killed Fr. John!'" 

At this, we all began to pray that Jesus would give her the reassurance that Fr. John was OK.  We began a prayer of forgiviness and started the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  As we prayed, Joan grew more peaceful and finally fell asleep.  We finished the Chaplet, said our good-byes and left the room to see the next patient.

While talking to the family in the next room, the head nurse of the hospice called us out into the hall.  My heart started to beat rapidly because I was afraid that we had gone a bit too far with the ministry to joan and that the nurse was coming to let us no.  Instead she said that the family would like to see us and that Joan had just passed away in peace.  They wanted to thank us to which we said not us, Jesus in His merciful love.

( name has been changed) RETURN TO HOME PAGE