Life as a tapestry

I read the most wonderful story on the Catholic News Service - and an interesting way of looking at life's twists and turns.

The story is about a mother who prayed to St. Katharine Drexel to heal her daughter - whose hearing was restored in the miracle that led to the canonization of Mother Drexel in 2000. What was interesting was that she didn't know about Mother Drexel until she saw a feature on her, where a man said he was cured from a serious ear infection following prayes to the saint. (If the Church accepts something as a miracle, it is only after a serious medical investigation by non-Catholic physicians. The standards are quite high.) The mother in our story thought it would be too much to expect a cure, so she prayed to be able to communicate with her deaf daughter. But one of her sons urged her to pray for a cure. First, she prayed to sufficient faith to pray for a miracle (which I find quite humble and instructive.) After that, her family prayed in earnest for a cure. Near a day honoring Blessed Katharine, one of the little girl's teachers noticed she seemed to be hearing, and further tests revealed her hearing was totally restored. Doctors testified that she had, beyond any question, been deaf before that time.

So, that wasn't the best part of the story. The best part is that the mother said "Life is a tapestry. We only see the back, with all the strings and knots. It is only after we die that we see the beautiful picture on the front." In other words, we have no way of knowing how the various things in our life - good and bad - work out in the greater plan.