Little Boy Makes Miraculous Recovery

A few years ago, there was a little boy named Sean who lived in my town. I didn't know him personally, nor do I now, but this story has been told many times, and now it's time for me to pass it on.

When Sean was playing in the street one day, a car came over this hill that he was playing on and it didn't see him in time to stop. Sean got hit by the car, and his head split open, resulting in the loss of some parts of his brain.

The doctors came as soon as they could, and scooped up what they could salvage of his brain. They took him to the hospital immediately, and they were able to prevent him from dying for the time being. Obviously, Sean was completely immobile, and didn't seem to be making any progress over the course of a week.

Sean's parents were beginning to worry - well, more so than they already had been. The two of them were not Catholics, but they didn't know what else to do, so they asked a priest to come and maybe say a prayer for their son.

When the good Father arrived, he took a good look at Sean. He only had one thing to ask them. "Has your son been baptized?"

They didn't know what this had to do with anything, so they told him no, of course he hadn't been, albeit a little ashamedly. The guy was a priest, after all. He asked Sean's parents if he could perform the sacrament over Sean and they granted him permission.

And so the priest administered the Catholic sacrament of Baptism on the boy. Then he left the parents with him, and went back to his regular life.

A week later, the Father got an urgent message on his pager that he needed to get to that hospital right away. He certainly obliged.

This time, when he got there, Sean's parents were frantically awaiting him. They said "Father, the doctors don't know how, but Sean is doing better. His eyes are moving now!"

The priest nodded happily, but again he only had one question. "Has your son received the sacrament of Confirmation?"

Again, they said no, he hadn't. And so Father - with the parents' permission - administered the sacrament of Confirmation on the boy, and left without another word.

Things went on like this for several weeks. The priest kept on getting pages on his beeper in the middle of Mass from Sean's parents. Each time he would come back and Sean would have regained slight movement of something.

The third time he came to the hospital, his fingers and toes were twitching. That same visit, the Father administered Anointing of the Sick on him.

The next time he came back, and Sean was actually making noises from his mouth. The parents couldn't wait to see what magic the Almighty Priest would work next. So the Father asked them one more time.

"Has your son received the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist?"

The parents could only shake their heads, growing ever more excited at the prospect of a healed son. They didn't understand most of what was happening to Sean, but they only new that if he made it through this, they would change a lot of things in their lives, and devote more time to God, and maybe convert to Catholicism.

Once again, the Father administered a Catholic sacrament on Sean. This time, the Bread of Life. The Everlasting Cup. He left without another word.

The Father didn't get another page for several more weeks. He wondered what was going on, but knew if the parents wanted to involve him further, they would beep.

And they did. Right in the middle of Mass... Again. As soon as he finished celebrating that mass, he made his way to the hospital Sean was at.

The parents were in tears, and they only pointed to Sean's room, as if unable to speak.

The Father entered the room, and looked at the doctor blocking the priest's view of Sean.

The Doctor said that the missing pieces of Sean's brain had somehow grown back together, and he would make a full recovery. Sean was conscious again, but still not moving too much. He wasn't forming coherent sentences yet, but all of his limbs were twitching, and he was aware of his surroundings.

One word came from Sean's mouth as he looked at the priest.

"Thanks."