I said in the last chapter that I want to be full of love. Let me tell you about somebody who was. This is true.

Val was one of the youngsters who used to chat at the front door of the presbytery with another priest. I saw her sometimes at Mass as well as her family. Time moved on and we found that she was having a baby and a marriage was quickly arranged. I think it was in the Registry Office. That’s how things happened forty odd years ago.

Then we heard that soon after the birth she was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. They could do nothing for her. She came back for her last days to her parents’ home. That is when I got to know her. I took her communion and we chatted a lot. I remember that she was very peaceful and never blamed God. She had a serenity about her fate. And she was more interested in others than in herself.

One Sunday morning, her brother came to tell the parish priest and myself that they thought she only had a few hours to live. After the last morning Mass, I went to see her. They left me alone with her in the front room; she lay on a bed under the window. I held her hand and we were quiet. Then she surprised me by saying; “I love you, Father. I love everybody”. After a while she said: “I can’t feel my legs”, then a little later she couldn’t feel most of her body. I just held her hand.

Then a surprised look came on her face. She was looking intently at the corner of the room and she said: “Why has he come for me?” Her face was radiant, and I knew she was looking at Jesus. I think she said: “I’m not worthy, why has he come for me?” I just mumbled something innocuous. Soon I had to go and get my dinner and lead a Holy Hour at 2.30 p.m.

During the Holy Hour, all the people were praying for Val. She had become a focus of special prayer over the last few months in the parish. I had a sudden vision of Val lying on her bed, and I saw her soul lifting out of her body and going up towards the light. I looked at my watch and it was 3 o’clock. After the service, I went to their house, and her father told me that she had died at 3 o’clock.

There was a wonderful peace in and around their house until after the funeral. People remarked about how they had gone to mourn and had instead experienced a sense of peace and goodness. I did her funeral, and often visited her grave when I was in that cemetery.

A young, ordinary woman, who, in the long quiet hours of her illness, was given the gift of loving the Lord – it was special, yet it was somehow ordinary. She became quietly and gradually a contemplative in an ordinary home. By the time of her death she was in love with God and everyone. If she could cooperate with grace like that, so can we all.

There really was an atmosphere of peace and blessing around her house until the funeral. Many people remarked on it. When St Francis in later life was helped into a town by his brethren, the atmosphere really became charged with grace. It was testified to many times.

In Lourdes, I watch people wrapped in quite stillness. Many come to ask for help, but stay to contemplate. There is that atmosphere of grace, and millions of people go away aware of having been touched deep down. These are the true miracles of Lourdes.

Why does this atmosphere not descend everywhere? I think it is because, in those special places and special times, God is giving his soldiers an experience of prayer's effects so that they go back to the battle lines with fresh faith. It is not the moments of felt grace that renew the heart of the world. It is the faithful persistence in prayer and carrying out whatever duty God assigns to us. That is when we take our part in the redemption. What a privilege!

More things are wrought by  prayer than this world dreams of. It is especially so when the one who prays has no idea what effects of grace are flowing from their prayer. It gives God space to act to change people, a child in hospital relieved, a war taking a different direction towards peace, a struggling soul freed. Often it is the very fact that our faith tells us that there are effects which gives greater power to our prayer. All over the world, praying souls are persevering because of a conviction placed in their hearts by the Holy Spirit  that here is a stream of grace. Nothing is wasted in the divine process of drawing the whole world into our Father's hands.

Jesus told St Thomas: "Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe" (John 20: 29)

Val would never dream of calling herself a great soul. But her life and death produced a moment in time and place when people were nourished and grace was felt. We will never know in this life what blessings have been received as a result of our trustful seeking the face of God. But in the next life we will be shown the complex patterns in the salvation Tapestry our Father is weaving with our help.

If you are locked in sickness, weakness or poverty, you are just right for contemplation. It turns all that suffering into grace, and the creation moves towards the freedom of the children of God.

Any ideas to share, or queries to suggest?