A client who was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, visited Wisconsin’s National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, the only place in the U.S. recognized by the Catholic church as a site where the Virgin Mary appeared. The client’s tumors on her left lung disappeared. “We just knew when I walked out of the chapel that day that I was going to be cured,” she said. Was this a divine miracle, and did Mother Mary participate in bringing it about?

The reputation of this shrine is well deserved. It indeed is a repository of human consciousness focused on the issue of the virtue of this divine being and the beneficence she brings to many, especially through her healing work. This individual experienced a miracle and the miracle was brought to her by Mother Mary herself to reverse her cancer. This was a karmic repair done under the direction of Mother Mary, to change historical events in other lifetimes to remove the karmic imperative to experience this struggle and possible end of life prematurely. This is quite a blessing indeed, and was allowed because this woman was in spiritual alignment—that is the greatest of the blessings on display. It is a miracle that Mother Mary can and will heal people who appeal to her for help. The greater miracle we see is that even thrust into a human incarnation in what is often felt to be a godless world, this woman was standing strong with her spirituality intact and her connection to the divine. We see the two as more equal than different. She is walking in the path of Mother Mary, in her own way to be sure, but nonetheless on a divine path. That is what matters and that is what allowed her own healing to happen. She was an equal participant, therefore, in bringing this miracle about and can feel quite proud of her accomplishment. It is a testament to her faith as much as the love and miracles Mother Mary can bestow. After all, Mother Mary is powerless if a human entreaty comes from a person with an inadequate belief quotient in the divine to begin with. Such individuals may pray still, but do so more through hope rather than belief that healing is possible and the degree of doubt in the person seeking healing may well prevent their rescue. This is most unfortunate but is true for most human beings, that they are simply not in spiritual shape to obtain divine assistance in a big way, and what we mean by this is when it most counts in a life or death situation in particular, that is the hardest test for anyone. So the greater lesson here is to cultivate belief within oneself to be ready for anything, including the need to pray for one’s life under life-threatening circumstances. Miracles can happen under such circumstances but it is up to each human to create a path for a miracle to come to them.