Posted on 10/01/2007 4:28:23 PM PDT by NYer
GUWAHATI, India (CNS) -- The sainthood cause of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta could cross its last hurdle if the Vatican approves an allegedly miraculous cure a priest claims he experienced on the 10th anniversary of her death.
Salesian Father V.M. Thomas says Mother Teresa's intercession was responsible for the disappearance of a half-inch kidney stone in his lower ureter, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. The stone disappeared in an unexplainable manner after Father Thomas celebrated Mass and prayed to Mother Teresa Sept. 5, the day before he was scheduled for surgery.
UCA News reported that Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati gave the agency a copy of the priest's files and medical records and, according to the priest's notes, the surgeon affirmed "the disappearance of the calculus (stone) was beyond medical explanation."
Father Thomas, 56, was associated with Mother Teresa from 1979 until her death in 1997.
The priest had been suffering from severe abdominal pain since Feb. 13. Medical examinations in a Guwahati hospital revealed he had renal colic and calculi, and doctors advised him to take medicine to help dissolve the kidney stones. But recurring pains took him to at least four other hospitals elsewhere.
On July 26, surgeons in Guwahati advised surgery, but Father Thomas wanted to wait. On Aug. 27, he met doctors again after he said he was overcome with "excruciating" pain.
He was admitted to a hospital in Guwahati Sept. 4. Tests confirmed the presence of the stone, and doctors set Sept. 6 for its surgical removal.
Father Thomas said that on the morning of Sept. 5, before preparations for his surgery, his doctor allowed him to leave the hospital to celebrate Mass at Shishu Bhavan, a home for abandoned children Mother Teresa started in Guwahati. At the Mass, he asked those present to pray for him, especially through the intercession of Mother Teresa.
The priest later affirmed his belief that Mother Teresa's miraculous intercession caused the stone to disappear.
Surgical preparation began late Sept. 5, but on the afternoon of Sept. 6, when the final presurgical x-ray was taken, the doctors could not locate the stone. A repeat X-ray also proved negative. The chief surgeon then ordered another ultrasound by the same radiologist who did the Sept. 4 tests, but that also proved negative.
Subhash Khanna, the surgeon who treated the priest, said in his case summary that Father Thomas was under his treatment for three months. He was diagnosed as having lower ureteric calculus with diabetes and hypertension, the records showed.
The surgeon further noted that on Sept. 5 the priest went to Shishu Bhavan to celebrate Mother Teresa's feast day. On his return, the priest had a feeling of well-being and slept peacefully, Khanna reported.
Repeated investigations prior to the scheduled surgery left the doctors surprised, because "the calculus was no longer there in the ureter, and moreover he had not passed out the calculus in urine," the doctor confirmed. "So the operation was canceled."
In the case summary, which the surgeon signed Sept. 11, he stated: "It indeed seemed like a miracle and unique incident as the stone, which could not be dissolved with medicine, just vanished on that particular day."
According to standard Vatican procedure, a miracle that occurred following Mother Teresa's beatification Oct. 19, 2003, would be required for her to be canonized, or declared a saint. In cases of alleged medical miracles, the Vatican has a commission of medical specialists review the case.
Pray meaning to ask for the intercession of the living saint before the throne of God.
Pray meaning to ask for the intercession of the living saint before the throne of God.
“Pray meaning to ask for the intercession of the living saint before the throne of God.”
I am glad you gave an explaination of the nature of the priest’s prayer. Too many non-Catholics wrongly assume that we deify Saints, Angels and the Mother of Jesus.
Mother Teresa was responsible for a miracle?
Don’t tell Christoper Hitchens. LOL
I just purchased “Mother Teresa Come Be My light”
Looking forward to reading her private writings.
What Mother Teresa did in her life is already much bigger then any miracle. “Miracles” are performed mostly by con artists.
BTTT!
This is why the Church insists on stringent investigation by medical experts who are not all Catholics (or even all theists) and who in practice reject most purported "miracles," only rarely certifying a cure as "medically inexplicable."
For instance, at the famous healing spring at Lourdes, France, there have been thousands of purported healing miracles since 1858, but only 68 of these thousands were investigated and found to be medically inexplicable. That would be somewhere around 1 - 2%.
Miracles are not meant to be a methodology of healing, in competition with the practice of medicine. (Thank God for doctors!) They're meant to be a sign. All these signs are worth --- in fact, demand ---- careful investigation.
I would go so far as to say a life lived in love and unselfish service is as great a miracle as raising the dead.
“I would go so far as to say a life lived in love and unselfish service is as great a miracle as raising the dead.”
Finally there is something we agree on.
BTW do you believe in “miracles”...(I mean the super natural kind)?
People have an astounding capacity to deceive themselves, including false visions, voices, cures and so forth, and I think many purported miracles are the product of abnormal psychological states plus sloppy investigation. HOWEVER, there are supernatural occurrences, both good and bad, that I think are certainly true: but they are rare.
I subscribe to the saying, "Normally, God acts normally."
How about miracles like levitating in thine air or walking on water? Do they qualify as “miracles” even if they serve no purpose?
I realize this is a pretty expansive definition, and could open up a world of controversy.
Even more controversial is that some of that stuff can be achieved by evil supernatural entities, a.k.a. demons. I think all such things are very rare. I have never seen any of it first-hand.
There are some people, known to me personally as intelligent, educated, honest and sensible people, who have seen these things first hand. Both the divine and the demonic. They were not the sort of people who are gullible, naive, attention- or profit-seekers, or unacquainted with the normal rules of evidence. They could still, of course, be mistaken.
Personally, I hope to stay clear of it, since I'm as susceptible to deception or delusion as anybody. Quite frankly, I would be the first to doubt my own judgment in the matter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.