"Now, I am truly happy!"

... I left lunch half-eaten.
In an hour I was at the hospital together with another Missionary, a Franciscan Father, and her boyfriend.

I approached her bedside alone, and ever exchanging a few words, I asked her if she would like a priest's blessing. At this, she growled even at me, but slowly calmed down and said: "Tell him to come immediately! I am so sick, so very sick...."

The priest entered.

I don't know what happened in that half of an hour. I only that that he called us into the room and united the two in marriage, while us two missionaries witnessed!

The gravity of the ladies illness was so severe, that after she was offered a small bouquet of white flowers, everyone left the room on tiptoe.

According to the doctor, she wouldn't see the sunrise. But, when the sun finally rose, the dying woman raised  her eyes to the white bouquet and began to sob.

Between sobs she said: "This is the first day of my life that I am really happy!" Then, she continued: "Please, say the Hail Mary in Italian." I was happy to: "Ave Maria, piena di grazia....prega per noi peccatori...adesso e nell'ora della nostra morte." She asked, "Please, repeat the Hail Mary in Italian."

From one Hail Mary to the other, she fell into a deep sleep. The vigil continued all through another night, without closing my eyes, because I was afraid that she would pass away at any moment.

Instead, around six in the morning, she woke up saying, "How great I feel! Its the first night that I have slept in many months!"

In the hospital, no one could believe it - all they knew was that she was alive and didn't shot like she use to do. Day by day, week by week, she got a little better. So much so that after a simple surgery she was discharged from the hospital, because she was healed! We don't speak of miracles or extraordinary healing, but certainly in this there was the extraordinary intervention of the Blessed Mother - first on the spiritual level, then the physical.

Twenty years have passed, and she is still living well, and in her own words she is now

"truly happy."