"My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. Set your heart right and be steadfast and don't be impetuous in time of calamity. Cling to God and do not depart, so that you be exalted in the last stages of your life. Accept whatever befalls you, and in times of humiliation, be patient" (Sirach 2:1-4).

Our longed for holidays started on the beach, on December 19 l990. We were eager to be together, since we are a big family with five children. On the first days, we could sense something special. We enjoyed a peaceful atmosphere; everybody helped in everything, we served each other in a natural way, not of set purpose. The bigger children, Hernán and Mariana, thirteen and twelve respectively, helped us a lot with the little ones.

On December 24, Juan Marcos, who is three, started having high temperature. We took him to the doctor. Apparently he had nothing. He was very weak, he coudn't even stand. We went back to the doctor, but he couldn't diagnose anything up to that moment. The next morning, Christmas Day, he appeared to be very ill. He didn't answer to us, he seemed not to hear us, and he had lots of microhemorrages (petequias).

We immediately returned to consult the pediatrician. The diagnosis was meningitis, more precisely meningococcemia, the type of meningitis which is most bloody in its development, and with a very high risk of death. This was the information we were given by the doctor who examined him a that moment. He told us to take him into hospital immediately. To do so, we had to travel to Mar del Plata, as we were in San Bernardo, 200 km away. The doctor asked for an ambulance; I, Silvana, got on it with Juan Marcos, and Alfredo and the other children followed us in our car.

The journey seemed to have no end; Juan was almost unconscious. He looked very ill. We prayed intensely. I myself, close to Juan Marcos, and Alfredo with the other children. We asked God that his will be fulfilled, and not to allow the distance or the difficulties to decide over John's life. We only asked Him to do his will; we accepted it with an only consolation: to feel in our heart, that he would be far better with Him than with us.

We had the inner certainty of Eternal Life; although we asked insistently for the healing of Juan Marcos, we wanted only His will to be fulfilled. That gave us peace and serenity, but it didn't hide the grief we were experiencing.

We arrived at the Hospital Materno Infantil, in Mar del Plata. The doctors on duty took care of him immediately. Several doctors, nurses, a surgeon and some assistants looked after him around his bed. Soon after getting in, they told us that the possibilities were minimal, and the risk of death was extremely high. The moment had to be overcome, and then wait, from 24 to 48 decisive hours.

Alfredo, with the other children, María Inés, 6 years, and María Fernanda, 9 months, waited in a farther room, as the doctors were continuously running around Juan Marcos. The bigger children kept coming and going from where Alfredo was, to the place where I was, they embraced me and understood what was going on.

As I was waiting at the room door, a nurse told me I had a phone call. I felt physically destroyed and so far away from everything familiar, that this surprised me. It was somebody we didn't know, Graciela S.; she said she belonged to the Movement, that Luis, my brother, had phoned her from Buenos Aires, and she would go to see us as soon as she finished work. That voice, that call, how much it meant to us! How much it supported us! Our people, the people of God, were with us.

Shortly afterwards Alejandro, Graciela's brother-in-law arrived at the hospital; he met Alfredo and he offered to do everything we needed. He took the children to his house, they fed them and looked after them. That same afternoon my brother Luis, and Esther, my mother, arrived from Buenos Aires, and they also helped us in all we needed.

The S. family also received them in their home, leaving aside what they had planned for themselves on that Christmas Day. They gave them lodging, food, a bed and all kind of attention from their heart. When Jesus, in a day like that, didn't have a place where to be received, our brothers opened all their doors for us. We had more than one place where to stay and many brothers who welcomed us and prayed for us and for John Mark. The grace of the Community was multiplied in love and in response to our need, covering it too much.

When the doctors finished attending Juan Marcos and giving him medicines, I was able to go in and stay by him. He was canalized, he had a sound and an oxygen mask. Everything was in God's hands.

Some time later Graciela S. came and put herself at our disposal. Then Graciela L., another sister from the Movement, arrived and brought the Eucharist for us. What support it was for our heart and our faith! All the Community in Mar del Plata were praying for us, they visited us and helped us. The L. family offered us their house, their clothes, their food, their heart. They accompanied us, such as the S. family did. Thanks to what they gave us, and to the prayers, Juan Marcos soon began to get better. That same evening, the doctor who first received us, the one who had warned us about the seriousness of the case, told us that we could be grateful to God, because his experience said that there was almost no possibility of recuperation. The Love of the Community works miracles!

After 48 hours, Alfredo was allowed to enter the room. We prayed a lot. The Lord encouraged us with his Word, accompanied us with His peace and was present and alive in the brothers and sisters of the Movement. We also had news of prayers from Buenos Aires which comforted us with their Bible quotes and their hope.

We spent the end of year celebrations without the rest of the family, because we had decided to send the other children to Buenos Aires, after the doctor's advice and because we didn't know how long we should stay in hospital, sharing with Jesus the sorrow of one who suffers, and the loneliness of one who lacks his family, but with the company of brothers in Christ. Also the brother of Silvina and his sister-in-law came to visit us on January 1. Jesus becomes present in each brother and is in the heart of those that visit a patient, since they visit Jesus!

On one of the first days, Cristina L. told us that while they were praying, they received word from the Lord who revealed to them that the illness of Juan Marcos was for His glory, and gave us the certainty of his healing. When we were praying, we were also given the word of Lazarus rising from the dead, when Jesus said: "This illness is not to death, it is for the glory of God".

On January 5, after ten days in hospital, Juan Marcos's analysis were repeated, to check his condition, and everything was normal. He could leave the hospital. That same afternoon, on Epiphany Eve, the three of us arrived home in Devoto, eager to meet together and start a new life based on God's will.

At present, Juan Marcos is restored again, as always, playing and running among us, reminding us permanently of the miracle that God did in his life and in ours, through the grace of all the community, particularly the one in Mar del Plata. Our heart remained attached to Mar del Plata, and joined to those brothers, the families S. and L. among many others. How much they helped us! How much they taught us! May God bless his Holy People, his community in Mar del Plata, and make us intercessors and servants in their needs.

Silvana & Alfredo C.
Cristo Vive Aleluia!
Nº 90, p. 28 (1993)