During the recitation of the Angelus in Saint Peter's Square at noon on Sunday, October 14, 2021, while reflecting on the passage from the Gospel of Saint Mark, which tells the story of Bartimaeus, blind since birth, Bartimaeus prayed and was healed by God. Once healed, Pope Francis recounted how a girl who was gravely ill, had no hope of healing and was about to die, was healed through her father's perseverance, fervent prayer to Our Lady. The Roma Observer newspaper published an article by the Argentine female journalist, Virginia Bonard.
A dying baby girl was saved through her father's prayer: this is the story told by Pope Francis at the midday Angelus reading Sunday, October 24. The Holy Father spoke of the passage in the Gospel that recounts the story of Bartimaeus, a man blind from birth who recognized the Messiah, invoked His mercy, and asked Him to have mercy on him, have mercy on his person. . The blind man begged loudly, with faith he cried out. Pope Francis analyzed the interior of the blind beggar recounted by Saint Mark, and he reflected:
“Brother Bartimaeus does not use many words,” the pope said. He says what is necessary and entrusts himself to God's love, which can make his life fruitful again by doing what humans cannot. This is why he does not ask God for alms, but reveals everything – his blindness and suffering, which is more painful than his inability to see. His blindness was the tip of the iceberg; but surely in his heart there were wounds, humiliations, broken dreams, mistakes, regrets. He prayed with his heart. What about us? When we ask God for a favor, do we put in prayer our history, our wounds, our humiliation, our broken dreams, our mistakes and our regrets?"
But the Pope reflected even more deeply; he returned to his own treasure trove of memories and back one summer night in 2005 or 2006, at the gates of the shrine of Our Lady of Luján, patroness of Argentina, in his beloved homeland:
“A lot of us, when we pray, we don't believe that God can work miracles,” the pope said. I recall the story - which I witnessed - of the father who was told by the doctors that his nine-year-old daughter would not make it through the night; The girl is in the hospital. And he took a bus and traveled seventy kilometers to the Shrine of Our Lady. When he arrived, the temple was closed. He clung to the shrine gate and stood there all night praying: “Lord, save my daughter! God, give my daughter life!" He prayed to Our Lady, all night long; he cried to God, crying from the bottom of his heart. Then, when morning came, he returned to the hospital. He saw his wife crying. And he thought, "She's dead." But his wife said: "No one understands, no one understands, the doctors say it's a miracle, she seems to have been healed." It was the Lord, who had given him all things, who heard the man's cry for all things. This is not a story: I have seen this myself, in another diocese. Do we have this kind of courage when we pray?”
What happened that night in Luján? We want to enjoy that grace and know it, savor it to continue to experience the Mercy of God and His Mother, of His presence and action in our lives and in history. . An Argentinian priest – who chose to be small in the face of miracles and therefore remained anonymous – told us in detail about what happened that summer night:
“I am a witness to that miracle. When I told this to the Pope, when he was bishop in Buenos Aires, I told him to always tell it in the first person, please don't name me. He was amazed at this miracle because I told him so much about it.
“One summer night, I was returning from the house of my relatives in Luján, I thought we were having a party, and walking across the square in the middle of the night, I met a young man who was railing and holding a bouquet of roses in her hand. I approached him and asked what was the matter. The man told me that his little daughter was at the hospital. He had walked from the capital to Luján, and a bouquet of roses had been given to him by friends traveling in the car; he placed the bouquet at the Virgin's place.
“I told him, 'Let's enter the basilica'. It was probably twelve o'clock at night. 'Only you, your friends can't enter, I will be responsible for you alone. We entered the basilica from the back alley, past the house; I told the guard that I was responsible for that man; If anything happens, I have to take responsibility. This father left the bouquet in the vase that we [the priests and custodians] always kept, and knelt before the sanctuary, while I sat on the first chair and began to pray. He knelt down quietly and I sat down, praying the rosary for his young daughter. After I finished praying, twenty minutes later the man came out, I blessed him and we said our goodbyes. It happened on a Sunday.
“Next Saturday, when I was hearing confessions, this man came to see me – I did not recognize him … with all the people who passed through the basilica and in the summer, and moreover – himself and her his little blonde daughter, about 8 or 9 years old. He said to me, 'Father, do you know me?' I replied, 'Who are you?'
“[He replied], I am the man who prayed to you the other day. This is my little girl! Our Lady has done miracles for me! When I prayed with you at 12 o'clock at night for my little girl, my little girl got up and asked for food. After the trip, at dawn, I came to visit her. I asked in the intensive care unit and they told me my daughter was no longer there. I thought she was dead, but no, she's with her mother in a block."
“Let us look at the Gospel: when Jesus Christ healed the centurion's servant while at a distance. The Gospel remains alive, it repeats itself and [does so] through Mary. This is what I want to tell. This is the true story, and there are other stories I told Pope Francis when I was in Buenos Aires. He asked me to write these things down, and that's what I'm doing, but very, very slowly."
In this story, there are no names, but there are events. The priest, who chose to remain anonymous, had never heard of the family whose daughter was healed. Clearly before us is a powerful witness of a humble commitment to the faith. The Gospel made in these repeated wonders brings us face to face with the mystery of God and His works of all times. Our priest friend recalled these words in the sanctuary, “the miracles given by Our Lady are like turning from page to page of the Gospel. I never took the names of those who received miracles; I can only thank and praise God. With the Virgin Mary, my experience is living the Gospel point by point.”