The Child Who Walked

 

Dear Diary,


This morning after Holy Mass, Father LeRoy invited everyone to gather beneath the big apple tree behind St. Mary’s Church for our Reading Club meeting. The weather was beautiful, with a gentle breeze moving through the branches overhead. Sister Mary Claire spread out a blanket, and several folding chairs were placed in the shade. Mini found a comfortable spot beside me and seemed perfectly happy to spend the morning outdoors.

When everyone was settled, Father LeRoy offered a prayer, and then Sister Mary Claire asked if I was ready to read my summary of Part Eight.

I stood up with my paper in hand and told everyone about a little boy named Justin who lived in Lourdes. Justin was only about two years old, but he had been sick nearly his whole life. He was very weak and thin. He had never been able to walk, and his poor parents had watched him grow weaker month after month.

One day Justin became so ill that everyone believed he was dying. His breathing was barely noticeable, and his little body lay completely still. Even his father thought the end had come. A neighbor had already begun preparing a burial cloth for him.

But Justin’s mother, Croisine, refused to give up hope.

She had heard about the Grotto where Our Lady had appeared to Bernadette and about the spring that had begun flowing there. Taking her child into her arms, she hurried to Massabielle, determined to place him under the care of the Blessed Virgin.

When she arrived, she prayed with all her heart. Then she carried Justin to the spring. The water was icy cold. The people gathered there were horrified when they saw her lower her child into it.

Some shouted for her to stop.

Others thought grief had made her lose her senses.

But Croisine kept praying. She believed that God and Our Lady would care for her little boy.

After a long time, she carried Justin home. His body felt cold, and everyone around her believed he was gone. Yet Croisine never stopped trusting.

Then, a short while later, she bent over the cradle and suddenly cried out, “He’s breathing!”

Justin slept peacefully through the night. By morning there was color in his cheeks. Soon afterward, he wanted to leave his cradle and walk.

The next day, when his mother returned home, she found the cradle empty.

Little Justin, who had never walked in his life, was standing and moving around the room.

As I finished reading, the shade beneath the apple tree seemed especially quiet.

Father LeRoy folded his hands and said, “That is a reminder that hope should never be abandoned. God can do what we cannot imagine.”

Sister Mary Claire nodded and said, “What touches me most is the faith of Justin’s mother. She trusted God even when everything seemed lost.”

Robert leaned back in his chair and looked up through the apple branches.

“I suppose,” he said, “that must have been the happiest walk any mother ever saw.”

That made everyone smile.

I said that what stayed with me was how Croisine kept believing when nobody else did. Sometimes faith means holding on when all the evidence says to let go.

Father LeRoy said that many of the miracles at Lourdes begin with simple trust in God’s mercy.

After our discussion ended, Robert surprised everyone by bringing out lunch. Then he carried over a vanilla cake and several cartons of ice cream he had brought along in a cooler.

The cake was soft and delicious, and the ice cream tasted wonderful on a warm day beneath the apple tree. Mini sat politely nearby, watching every plate with great interest and hoping someone might remember her.

Before we went home, Father LeRoy asked if I would close our meeting with a prayer.

Dear Blessed Mother,

Thank You for the story of little Justin and for the faith of his mother.

Help us to trust God when life seems difficult and when answers do not come quickly.

Teach us to pray with confidence, to hope with courage, and to remember that nothing is impossible for God.

Please watch over our families, our parish, and all who are sick or discouraged today.

And may we always walk with Jesus, just as little Justin learned to walk again.

Amen.
Goodnight, Diary.

— Kathy

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