I remember it well, my offering up my affliction in the way of the Saints during a visit to the tomb of Margaret McKillop in North Sydney.

Earlier, I had been moved to tears, praying, thinking, despairing in the chapel. There was just one other person there, a lady clearly in distress and reaching out to ask for help.

She cried, as did I. When a little while later, she noticed I was preparing to leave, she turned to me – still knelt down – and said: “I will pray for you.”

Somehow, I knew she was of  Spanish speaking background. I said I would pray for her as well.

When I told her, in Spanish, that I suffered from Parkinson’s disease, she broke down and started sobbing. I knelt beside her – at the tomb – and prayed with her while placing a hand on her shoulder…

A while later I was sitting on the row of seats alongside the tiny chapel where the tomb is placed, and I felt as I folded my hands in prayer that the CHI was burning up in my hands. Then, I didn’t formulate these thoughts in any coherent way myself but rather it was whispered into me:

‘How  good would it be if a Parkinson’s Pilgrim could hobble around the world, healing others?’ Or words to that effect….

Moments later, I found myself knelt down before the Lord INRI by way of our first Australian saint’s loving conduit.

Previously, my prayer had been: Please Lord, help me carry this cross.

Now it flowed out of me: Please Lord, allow me the gift of healing.

The lady whom I’d been consoling saw me again and said: “She will help you, She will help you. I saw Her smiling just now.”

Now, a day later, the CHI is still very powerful….. when I fold my hands in prayer.

Karma box… choose wisely

PS. I love my sister  Sandra so much. While being frantically busy herself and visiting her daughter in Chile, she still found time to ask me if I’d heard any more about the Parkinson’s medication trial while on a shaky video link across the Pacific.