{"id":73749,"date":"2025-02-10T21:31:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T02:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=73749"},"modified":"2025-03-06T17:52:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:52:49","slug":"catholic-stand-miracle-at-a-california-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/catholic-stand-miracle-at-a-california-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Stand: Miracle At A California Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>From the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/catholicstand.com\/the-miracle-at-goleta-valley-hospital\/\">Catholic Stand<\/a><\/span>:<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-100bf1d7 elementor-mobile-align-center elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"100bf1d7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-a339c7b elementor-inline-item\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/catholicstand.com\/author\/fr-john-higgins\/\"><span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-author\"><span class=\"elementor-post-info__item-prefix\">By<\/span>\u00a0Fr. John Higgins<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-ba9c996 elementor-inline-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/catholicstand.com\/2025\/02\/05\/\"><span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-date\"><time>5 February AD 2025<\/time><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-16ee3c91 elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-featured-image elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"16ee3c91\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-featured-image.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I was assigned at St. Raphael Catholic Church in Santa Barbara California as associate pastor in the late 1980s. I had taught high school at a local Catholic school and knew a lot of people in the Santa Barbara area. I love that part of California for the beautiful sights and people. I really enjoyed teaching high school there back in the 1980s.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<div>+<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2d98421a elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-content\" data-id=\"2d98421a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-content.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">One summer\u2019s evening I was scheduled to celebrate Mass for a group of young adults in a home up in the hills above Santa Barbara. I arrived and started to set up for Mass. But then there was a phone call. There was an emergency at the local hospital in Goleta. They needed a priest right away. So I jumped in my car and drove there as quickly as possible.<ins id=\"INS13120720201027T1855331738BE94C1BD6374022B2F12355558F37EA_t5E1b1739240951654\" class=\"CANINSDisplayAD CANDisplayAdDisplayed\" data-ins-ad-unit=\"13120720201027T1855331738BE94C1BD6374022B2F12355558F37EA\" data-ins-ad-width=\"300\" data-ins-ad-height=\"250\" data-ins-firstviewrequired=\"1\" data-ins-norefresh=\"0\" data-ins-cmv-time=\"5\"><\/ins><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">When I arrived at the hospital, I just walked into the emergency room because the charge nurse there was the mother of one of my students at Bishop Garcia Diego high school. As I entered, I saw there was one gurney with a patient on it and the curtain closed. There were three firefighters standing at<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">the foot of the gurney. I pushed the drape back and entered. The charge nurse said: \u201cI\u2019m sorry Father John, he\u2019s already flat lined.\u201c<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The cardiac machines were not beeping and the nurses were getting ready to take off the sticky patches with electric wires. I felt very bad about the situation and then I noticed the man was wearing a cloth brown scapular. I took a moment and said, \u201cOh look; he\u2019s wearing an old-fashioned scapular,\u00a0one of the old cloth ones\u201d. I touched the scapular and immediately the heart monitor started to beat. He opened his eyes and in an Irish accent said: \u201cFather I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re here. I want to go to confession\u201c.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The charge nurse asked what I did in a confused state. The firefighters looked shocked and a doctor came out of his office and was angry because he had already made out the death certificate. The patient looked surprised and I said, \u201d God bless you\u201d and then made the sign over him very quickly.<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Immediately they went into action and took him into surgery without having a chance for him to<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">go to confession. The firefighters had to get me a chair as I was so surprised at this situation and event.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I went home and prayed for the man. I didn\u2019t even think to ask for his name. I was so surprised by the situation that I just left. But that\u2019s not the end of the story. About three weeks later, he came to see me at the parish. He told me his name and I recognized him not only from the hospital but because I had taught his son in high school. We had a short chat and he told me that the firefighters had come to visit him in the hospital and showed him their notes. They had written \u201cbrought back to life by God\u201c at the bottom of their records.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">He said that the doctor had treated him in surgery and that he was on a waiting list to get a new heart. We prayed a little bit together and he left. I was amazed and continued to pray for him. His son, who was a large redheaded young man, called me and talked to me about his dad. He asked me to go over what had happened at the emergency room as he had found it surprising and didn\u2019t quite understand how it had happened.<ins id=\"INS13120720201027T1855331738BE94C1BD6374022B2F12355558F37EA_bfRqq1739240951655\" class=\"CANINSDisplayAD CANDisplayAdDisplayed\" data-ins-ad-unit=\"13120720201027T1855331738BE94C1BD6374022B2F12355558F37EA\" data-ins-ad-width=\"300\" data-ins-ad-height=\"250\" data-ins-firstviewrequired=\"1\" data-ins-norefresh=\"0\" data-ins-cmv-time=\"0\"><\/ins><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">About four weeks later, the man came back to see me at the parish. He sat down in the parlor, and we talked about the situation and he smiled and said that he was off of the list for a new heart. I was a little confused, and said that I was surprised because he needed a new heart.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Then he told me that he had seen the cardiologist, and the cardiologist was amazed, but that his heart was healed. He could find nothing wrong with his heart at all. So he was to keep his heart and not have to have surgery. We laughed in joy at that news.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">He said that God had healed him. I was very surprised, because I don\u2019t expect miracles to happen like this. I know they have happened, but I never thought I would see one so plain and simple and in my presence. I have never expected to see a miracle and I certainly did not cause this one. This was all the will and the work of God!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Every once in a while I get up to Santa Barbara and Goleta. When I drive or walk past that hospital it brings me joy to think of what happened there. I have heard from that man\u2019s son that after reaching the age of 92 that man died and received the final anointing and had a Catholic funeral. Now I think of him as a saint, who like billions of those in Heaven have not been Canonized by the Church, but are still very much rejoicing in Heaven with God, including my own mother.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Most of us have known real saints in our lives and they will laugh and greet us when we are welcomed into the very presence of Christ and all of the Saints. What will Heaven be like? I doubt that it will be floating on a cloud playing a harp. I can\u2019t play the harp and I\u2019d be bored. I\u2019ll write more on what I believe Heaven may be like later. But for now think of those who are there that you know. Rejoice that they are there and probably praying for you to join them!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gsp_post_data\" \r\n\t            data-post_type=\"post\" \r\n\t            data-cat=\"uncategorized\" \r\n\t            data-modified=\"120\"\r\n\t            data-created=\"1739223066\"\r\n\t            data-title=\"Catholic Stand: Miracle At A California Hospital\" \r\n\t            data-home=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the Catholic Stand: By\u00a0Fr. John Higgins 5 February AD 2025 I was assigned at St. Raphael Catholic Church in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-73749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}