When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing. // Psalm 126:1-2 (from Responsorial Psalm for Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Years ago, at a routine ear appointment with my toddler, I asked if the doctor would look in my ear. The office had a camera to display the eardrum on a screen in the room, and I thought it would be interesting to see why my ear always bothered me.
The doctor discovered (to his intrigue and my dismay) something called a cholesteatoma, a cyst on my eardrum from years of infections as a girl. Removing the cyst would be easy, he said, just local anesthesia and some cutting and flipping the ear forward and . . . from there the room got a little wavy. I was pregnant with our fourth baby, and I would have to be awake for it all.
I began begging for Mother Teresa’s intercession (as well as the prayers for a miracle from all my family and friends). A few weeks later, I went in for my pre-op. To my doctor's amazement there was no cyst. It was gone. I had been healed. He told me it was a miracle—that he had never seen one go away on its own.
I immediately drove to my husband’s office where I burst into the room to share the news. I was healed! After that, I told everyone in my path. God had healed me! He had made me whole.
Those of us who have had an encounter with the living God can appreciate this healing—we were one way and now we are another. And the thing in the middle was Jesus. We were in tears and now rejoice—and we can’t help but share it with the world!
Yet, we eventually slip back into regular life. For a while, all I could talk about was this miracle—until it drifted off my radar.
We are reminded by the Responsorial Psalm for today’s martyrs that all of us should stay aware of what God has done for us—we were captives, like men dreaming. And now we are filled with laughter; now we are rejoicing (see Psalm 126:1-6). May we never forget to share it with a world that is so hungry for this truth.
Rachel Balducci has a Masters degree from the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia and teaches at Augusta University. She and her husband Paul have five sons and one daughter and are part of an intentional Christian community in Augusta, Georgia. Rachel is the author of several books and is the co-host of The Gist of CatholicTV. Find out more about her here.
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