Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Stories
Vision Stories
True Accounts Of Visions, Angels, And Healing Miracles
Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. (vv. 34-35)
Our four-year-old son, Peter, was suffering from chronic otitis media, a disease of the middle ear that was causing him to go deaf. Two specialists, Dr. Besserman and Dr. Barnett, concurred that the only option to save Peter's hearing would be to implant tubes in his ears surgically. After the surgery, Peter would no longer be allowed to go swimming, which devastated him because he loved the water so much. Living in Arizona, swimming was a part of everyday activities in order to escape the summer heat.
At that time, my wife Marlene and I were involved in setting up lectures in Arizona churches by Reverend Francis X. Weiser, S. J., who had just published a book on the life of Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk-Algonquin virgin who lived between 1656 and 1680. She had been declared "Venerable" by Pope Pius XII in 1943, and "Blessed" by Pope John Paul II in 1980, the first two steps toward sainthood. She will be the first Native American saint.
One day, when Peter, Marlene, and I were picking up Father Weiser at the airport, we were speaking very loudly, nearly shouting so that Peter could hear our conversation.
"Why are you yelling?" Father Weiser asked.
"Our son has a serious ear problem and is nearly deaf," I explained.
"Deafness?" the Father said in his thick German accent. "Then let us ask Kateri to help! She leaves no prayer unanswered!"
We began a nine-day novena, asking Kateri's intercession, as the Father had instructed. On the ninth day, April 17, 1973, Kateri's feast of her death, Marlene and I were making plans for Peter's upcoming surgery. I asked her a question, and much to my surprise, Peter responded! This was amazing! We had been speaking in normal tones that he couldn't hear. I took Peter to the back of the house, away from noise, covered his ears one at a time and whispered. He could hear me perfectly.
We returned to his physicians, who affirmed that his hearing was completely restored. Peter has perfect hearing, and to this day has not had any recurrence. In fact, he returned to swimming the very day of that doctor's examination and continues to enjoy water sports with not even the slightest of problems since.
Peter recently obtained a Master's Degree in molecular biology and is now a second-year law student at the University of Houston. He plans to combine medicine with law, and is awaiting word on his application to medical school, which he will attend upon graduation from law school. His healing is one of many attributed to Kateri in the depository at the Vatican. We never received official word that it was accepted as a miracle, as one of our doctors refused to cooperate with the Vatican. He believed that medicine prescribed could have been responsible for the healing, however Peter never took that medicine. He hated it and spat it out whenever Marlene tried to give it to him. Dr. Barnett said he had no medical explanation whatsoever for the instant cure. Chronic middle ear problems resulting in deafness do not heal instantly under any circumstances.
In 1980, my family attended the Beatification ceremony for the now Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. Sitting next to us was a man reading The Sunday Visitor. Much to our surprise, Peter's photo was on the front page with the large headline, "Peter Returns to Rome to Thank Kateri!"
We continue lectures on Blessed Kateri and pray for the day that another undisputed miracle is attributed to her intercession, so that she may be known as Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.
Our four-year-old son, Peter, was suffering from chronic otitis media, a disease of the middle ear that was causing him to go deaf. Two specialists, Dr. Besserman and Dr. Barnett, concurred that the only option to save Peter's hearing would be to implant tubes in his ears surgically. After the surgery, Peter would no longer be allowed to go swimming, which devastated him because he loved the water so much. Living in Arizona, swimming was a part of everyday activities in order to escape the summer heat.
At that time, my wife Marlene and I were involved in setting up lectures in Arizona churches by Reverend Francis X. Weiser, S. J., who had just published a book on the life of Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk-Algonquin virgin who lived between 1656 and 1680. She had been declared "Venerable" by Pope Pius XII in 1943, and "Blessed" by Pope John Paul II in 1980, the first two steps toward sainthood. She will be the first Native American saint.
One day, when Peter, Marlene, and I were picking up Father Weiser at the airport, we were speaking very loudly, nearly shouting so that Peter could hear our conversation.
"Why are you yelling?" Father Weiser asked.
"Our son has a serious ear problem and is nearly deaf," I explained.
"Deafness?" the Father said in his thick German accent. "Then let us ask Kateri to help! She leaves no prayer unanswered!"
We began a nine-day novena, asking Kateri's intercession, as the Father had instructed. On the ninth day, April 17, 1973, Kateri's feast of her death, Marlene and I were making plans for Peter's upcoming surgery. I asked her a question, and much to my surprise, Peter responded! This was amazing! We had been speaking in normal tones that he couldn't hear. I took Peter to the back of the house, away from noise, covered his ears one at a time and whispered. He could hear me perfectly.
We returned to his physicians, who affirmed that his hearing was completely restored. Peter has perfect hearing, and to this day has not had any recurrence. In fact, he returned to swimming the very day of that doctor's examination and continues to enjoy water sports with not even the slightest of problems since.
Peter recently obtained a Master's Degree in molecular biology and is now a second-year law student at the University of Houston. He plans to combine medicine with law, and is awaiting word on his application to medical school, which he will attend upon graduation from law school. His healing is one of many attributed to Kateri in the depository at the Vatican. We never received official word that it was accepted as a miracle, as one of our doctors refused to cooperate with the Vatican. He believed that medicine prescribed could have been responsible for the healing, however Peter never took that medicine. He hated it and spat it out whenever Marlene tried to give it to him. Dr. Barnett said he had no medical explanation whatsoever for the instant cure. Chronic middle ear problems resulting in deafness do not heal instantly under any circumstances.
In 1980, my family attended the Beatification ceremony for the now Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. Sitting next to us was a man reading The Sunday Visitor. Much to our surprise, Peter's photo was on the front page with the large headline, "Peter Returns to Rome to Thank Kateri!"
We continue lectures on Blessed Kateri and pray for the day that another undisputed miracle is attributed to her intercession, so that she may be known as Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.
