August 11, 2024
The following story is an excerpt from the book “Mother Angelica’s Answers, Not Promises”
by Mother M. Angelica with Christine Allison:
A young woman once wrote to us about the death of her father. She had visited him in his hospital room the morning before he was scheduled for major surgery. At first, they spoke to each other about incidentals: the weather, her job, and the fact that her car needed new brake pads. Finally, the father got down to brass tacks.
“You’re worried, aren’t you, honey?” he said softly. Lynda started to cry. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you, Daddy,” she said, holding him close. Her father’s eyes started to well up.
He pushed her away for a moment and said, “Sweetheart, did I ever tell you about the stillborn child your grandmother gave birth to, some sixty years ago?” Lynda shook her head.
“It was a baby boy, honey. A big child, who had a hard time finding the light of day. After spanking the boy repeatedly with no response, the midwife gave him up for dead. They wrapped the boy in blankets and placed him on the table. Everyone in the family was crying. But your grandmother, in her own inimitable style, was angry. Suddenly, she pulled herself up out of bed, limped over to the table, and picked up her son. She held him by the feet and slapped him over and over, crying, ‘Come back, boy! Come back!’ Within moments there was a whimper. The whimper turned into a howl, and the howl turned into a holler. Some people say I’ve been hollering ever since,” Lynda’s father said.
“You . . . you?” Lynda said incredulously. “That was you?”
“It certainly was. And I consider every moment that I’ve lived on this earth as a gift from God. God gave me the gift of life, and then He gave me the extraordinary grace of knowing just how precious a gift it was. So if it’s my time to go, I can’t be complaining. As far as I’m concerned, my whole life has been a miracle.”
Lynda’s father died in the operating room. God called him, and through the grace of God, he was ready.
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