Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2022 i Mysterious Ways

When I was growing up, my mom told me about a miracle that happened during her childhood. It’s an incredible tale of faith and prayer that I’ve often revisited over the years. My mom was the youngest of four. After Mom’s parents divorced, my grandma made sure they stayed in the same neighborhood, which was familiar and had great schools. They downsized to a smaller house and budgeted meticulously, but money was tight. One summer evening, Grandma returned home from work looking somber. She sat the kids down. “All the bills are paid, but we don’t have enough left over for groceries this week,” she said. “We need to pray.” So they prayed that God would somehow provide them with enough to eat for the week. It seemed impossible, but it…

The more I flipped through the titles on the shelves at the mall book-store, the more depressed I got. Job Search Solution, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Getting to Yes. Why had I migrated to the self-help section? I’d come to the mall for an escape, a few moments not to have to think about the job I desperately needed, my dwindling bank account, my wife’s medical expenses. But everywhere I looked I was reminded of my troubles. I’d done everything I could. Tried every way I could think of to get my name out there, sent out dozens of résumés, made follow-up calls, haunted the job placement office. Nothing. There was no getting around it. I was in a bad way. The pressure weighed on me from the moment…

I stood next to my limousine in the gas station parking lot, enjoying my break from my job as a chauffeur, when I noticed a father and his 10-year-old son at the gas pump near me. “Go talk to them,” a voice said. Its tone was firm but loving, almost like a father figure. I recognized it as a divine voice. I’d heard it once or twice before, and I usually obeyed. But this time I hesitated. I wasn’t the type of person to strike up a conversation with strangers. “Go talk to them,” the voice repeated, and somehow I knew I needed to listen. I walked over and said the first thing that came to mind. “Hello! I’m a limo chauffeur on my break,” I said. “Would you guys…

“The first step toward finding God, who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error.” —Thomas Merton “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence.” —Mother Teresa “There are three sorts of persons: those who have found God and serve him—those who are busy in seeking him, but have not found him—and those, who, not having found him, live without seeking him. The first are rational and happy; the last are foolish and unhappy; the other class are unhappy but rational.” —Blaise Pascal PHILOSOPHER “Finding God often happens in the midst of a community—with a ‘we’ as often as an ‘I.’” —Rev. James…

Humans have long theorized that we are more than the purely physical. Ancient Indian philosophers called our spiritual aspect atman. The Greeks called it psyche; the Romans, anima. But they’re just different words for what we would refer to as the soul. The Bible explicitly references souls as our spiritual selves. In the First Epistle of Peter, Jesus is called the overseer of our souls. When the creation of man is described in Genesis, the text says that God formed man out of dust and dirt, and then he “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” “In my view, the soul can actually be decoupled from the body,” says Joshua Farris, a professor of theology of science at Missional University and author of…

The Walmart parking lot off Interstate 380 was the first place Ashley Conner was able to pull off the road to seek refuge from a dangerous windstorm. The pediatric nurse from Oelwein, Iowa, had been taking her five-year-old son to a doctor’s appointment when the storm, called a derecho, came out of nowhere. After seeing a transformer explode and watching an uprooted sign fly past her car, Conner pulled into the first parking lot she saw because it was away from trees and telephone wires. The storm had gotten too severe for them to run inside the store, so they sat in the vehicle and waited. When the storm passed, Conner spotted a semitruck overturned by the high winds in the parking lot. The driver had pulled himself out of the…

In Lourdes, France, sits the Grotto at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, which houses a spring that allegedly miraculously heals those who drink from it. Its mysterious powers were discovered in 1858 by 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous after she had a vision of the Virgin Mary in the grotto, instructing her to drink the spring waters. Over the years, hundreds, then thousands, of people have visited the site, desiring to witness the miracles and experience the curative powers of the spring. The grotto continues to draw tens of thousands of visitors per year, who come for the spring water and pray for healing. There have been 70 recognized cases of miraculous healing from people who made pilgrimages to the sanctuary, the most recent in 2018. Still others report feeling…

After almost a year of work, my first draft of my novel was complete. Still, I had a nagging feeling that something was off. Though I’d read through the manuscript several times, I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong. I decided to get some distance from it and come back for a final read in a few days. I minimized the document and turned off my computer. Two nights later, I had a dream. One of the pages of my manuscript flashed in front of my eyes. A change I’d never considered before now seemed so obvious. Words appeared as edits in the manuscript. The plot was so much better! I awoke abruptly in bed. It was early morning, still dark outside, my husband fast asleep. Inspired, I…

I was home alone one night, kneeling in front of my mother’s living room window, struggling to breathe. I was having a full-blown panic attack, and there was nothing I wanted more than to go back to drugs, to get some relief. I desperately needed help to continue to stay sober. But who could help me now? Ever since I’d been a young girl, I had struggled with crippling anxiety. The first time I got drunk, it was like the volume on my anxious thoughts was temporarily turned down. This must be what it feels like to be normal, I thought. From then on, I relied on alcohol to cope. When I had my kids, I quit drinking. But as my two sons grew up, I worried about them constantly.…

Tammy McCarthy entered the classroom at the Catholic high school where I teach, fighting back tears. That was strange. Tammy was normally such a bubbly, happy girl. Instead of taking her usual seat, she approached my desk. “Sister Josephine,” she said, her voice wavering, “would you pray for my mother? She went to the hospital with chest pains this morning.” “Of course, I will!” I said. “Which hospital? Can she have visitors?” Tammy perked up a bit. “Oh, it would be great if you stopped by,” she said. “Mom would appreciate that. She’s at Moses Taylor Hospital.” “Then I’ll be there.” That evening, my friend Sister Angeline and I arrived at the hospital. I carried a card I’d drawn myself—a picture of a smiling nun. “Dear Mrs. McCarthy,” I’d written…

In November 2021, the 14 boys on the freshman basketball team at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Pontiac, Michigan, created a group chat to organize practice times. “Y’all meant to add me to this?” one of the numbers texted back. According to the Washington Post, the owner of the number told them he was Sean Murphy-Bunting, an NFL cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The boys thought it was just their teammate joking around until Murphy-Bunting FaceTimed with them. It was actually him! He gave the boys a virtual tour of the Bucs locker room and even introduced them to quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. Brady chatted about playing football at the University of Michigan, less than an hour from the boys’ home. As it turns out,…

“Mom, why do I have two grand-mothers but only one grandfather?” asked my five-year-old son, Andrew, focusing carefully on each word. Andrew was born with TAPVR, or total anomalous pulmonary venous return; his oxygen levels had been dangerously low. At only five days old, he’d undergone open-heart surgery. The procedure was a success, but those few days without enough oxygen affected his development. He was always playing catchup with the mile-stones of childhood, and he worked hard with speech therapists. His question brought back some sad memories. “Just one week before you were born, your other grandfather—my father—went to heaven. That’s why you never got to meet him.” Dad had been the best grandfather. My older children adored him, and the feeling was mutual. We tried to visit him a couple…

It was Mother’s Day, 1986. I didn’t feel like celebrating. It was the first Mother’s Day since my youngest son, Merton, had been killed in a car accident at just 24 years old. Every day since his passing had been difficult, but today was particularly hard. My three other children had already called to wish me a happy Mother’s Day, but it did little to raise my spirits. I was standing in the kitchen, when my husband, George, returned from his trip into town to pick up a copy of the Sunday paper, a curious look on his face. “Honey, there’s something out in the yard,” he said. “I’d go get it, but my multiple sclerosis is acting up.” “It’s okay, I’ll do it,” I said. Outside, I spotted something colorful…

Patti Watson-Mullins Last year, my husband and I had to put down our beloved Labrador, Dasey Jane. Even though she’d been sick for a while, we were devastated. We missed having a dog, but Dasey Jane was irreplaceable. Dear God, I prayed one night before bed, if we are going to welcome another pup into our lives, he must be house-trained, friendly, low-energy and a Labrador—just like Dasey Jane. The next day, my daughter called. She’d seen an ad for a dog for adoption, a black Lab named Hendrixx. “I think he’d be perfect, Mom,” she said. Even though there wasn’t a lot of information about his personality on the ad, I had the feeling I needed to reach out. I called the number, and a woman answered. “I need…

“…a state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart.” –CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY Charles Grandison Finney (1792–1875) was an American minister, theologian and president of Oberlin College. As a young man, he planned to become a lawyer. That all changed one night when he resolved to give his heart to God. While alone in the office where he was a law apprentice, Jesus appeared. “He said nothing,” Finney recalled, “but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at his feet.” After this experience, Finney became a preacher and an advocate for abolitionism. During his presidency at Oberlin College, faculty and students continued their abolitionist activity, assisting enslaved people on their way to freedom on the Underground Railroad.…