Thank you Jesus, Mary and Joseph for healing little Luca!

In June 2000, Marianne, married to Filippo and mother of Luca, made her first visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Grace in Cotignac, France (1). Attracted to the Holy Family since her youth, she agreed to take her third child's catechism group on a pilgrimage there. Secretly suffering from depression, she struggled to climb the hill leading to the shrine, when a prayer came to her mind: " Mary, help me to climb!" 

At mass, she sensed a mysterious, consoling presence behind her, and she instantly thought of St. Joseph. By the time she reached the nearby shrine of St. Joseph that afternoon, the heat was suffocating. Marianne listened attentively to a talk on the patron saint of the universal Church, then  went to the spring to drink. She testifies: "When I got home, I wasn't the same person anymore. It was like being born again! I was healed. I started going to mass every day."

At Christmas of 2020, her son Luca complained of a lump on his back. The medical diagnosis came back: the teenager had a cancerous tumor measuring over 30 cm, which was pushing his heart to the right. After being admitted to the hospital, Luca was soon unable to breathe. He was rushed to another hospital, where an operation was scheduled, with grim warnings: "Your son will lose his lung, and his heart will be transported in a machine. Prepare for the worst."

In order to cope, Marianne set up an altar to the Virgin Mary above her son's bed. She imitated Mary, keeping the words she heard in her heart. Choosing to abandon herself to the Holy Family, she lived through these painful moments with supernatural peace. A vast prayer chain was started, with novenas, nights of adoration and Masses for Luca at the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace, as well as in Canada, Hawaii, Burkina Faso and Italy... "It went beyond borders! Many Muslims joined us in our prayers!" she says.

Against all predictions, a month after the operation, the doctor in charge of Luca commented and wrote in his chart: "A spectacular recovery"! As for Marianne, she is bursting with gratitude: "Yes, the Lord worked wonders for me. He is still working powerfully today. Glory and praise to you, Lord! Jesus, Mary and Joseph, how I love you!"

Adapted and translated from: www.toulonfrejus.fr

(1) Two shrines stand above the village of Cotignac, in Provence (southern France): one dedicated to “Notre Dame de Grâces” and another to Saint Joseph, on the site of two apparitions: the first one of Mary holding Jesus in her arms (1519), the second one of Saint Joseph in 1660.