God has endless ways of making his love known
By Easter Almuena
Special to the Herald
The room is quiet and peaceful, with a faint breeze flowing from one open door to the next. I am sewing a mask. With me is a child whose dexterity and knowledge of the sewing machine are enough reassurance that we will finish the task at hand. The mask is a gift for this child’s mother. To my dismay, the edges of the cloth are too thick for the needle and thread. Snap! The needle breaks!
The child is playing, with his gaze on his fingers and not on the sewing machine. I tap his lower right arm, and I point to the broken needle. He instantly presses on the pedal and the thick end of the needle remaining in the machine pierces the middle of the nail of my index finger, all the way through. Time stands still. For a few seconds, my eyes are fixated on the hole in my right index finger, with blood on my nail and skin and on the machine. I cannot feel any pain.
Three hours later, the doctor in urgent care orders an x-ray. As I wait for the results, I am sitting and feeling relaxed even as I look at the red hole in my nail, with some blood in the surrounding crevice. I am feeling absolutely no pain and discomfort. Barging into the waiting room with three x-rays in hand, the doctor says with amazement that in his many years working with patients he has never seen anything like this accident. He cannot believe that the bone in the index finger is intact. The needle completely missed it.
He was astonished the needle did not go through my bone. He said that if it had, my index bone would have shattered to pieces. I too am completely astounded, especially because, while fingers have many nerves, I am not experiencing pain.
This may very well be another angel story of mine. I wrote months ago about how I called on my angel to help me dislodge a big piece of cloth wedged into the same sewing machine, after an hour of trying to pull it out myself. And now, here I am. There is a hole in the middle of my pointer, with a trace of blood yet no pain. Did my angel quickly pull my finger away so the needle would not go through my bone? My co-worker gave me pain medication, which I took right after the incident, but it would have worn off after a few hours. Five days have passed and still no pain or throbbing sensation.
“Do not be afraid.” This was the message of the angel to St. Paul in chapter 27 of the Acts of the Apostles when a horrendous storm wrecked the ship he was on, despite his earlier warning not to sail. The sailors jettisoned cargo and threw tackle overboard to keep the vessel afloat. This story in the Bible is bigger and worth telling, but the message remains the same. We need not be afraid to go out into the world to share what we know or extend our help. Accidents, calamities and diseases are a part of life. Firmly anchored in God, who is our savior, our rock and our stronghold, and who has countless ways and means of sending help where needed, including angels, we will emerge victorious. There is always a solution to a challenging situation. Paul and all passengers survived. One thing remains: God has endless possibilities of making himself and his love known. Sometimes, it is through angels.
Easter Almuena is a writer and parishioner at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.
