Tuesday, August 21, 2012

“Do you smell the perfume?”

Woman stands up from her wheelchair

By Jakob Marschner on Aug 14, 2012

For 14 years, the Belgian woman Pascale Gryson-Selmeci suffered from a rare and incurable disease that took away her speech and tied her to a wheelchair. Early this month she went to Mass in Medjugorje, felt a force come through her, spoke to her husband, and stood up from her chair.

saint st james church jakob jakov giacomo chiesa crkva medjugorje

St. James Church in Medjugorje where Pascale Gryson- Selmeci stood up from her wheelchair on August 3

Countless people watched in awe on August 3 when a Belgian woman stood up from her wheelchair, seemingly cured from her incurable illness after receiving Communion during the evening Mass in Medjugorje.

Pascale Gryson-Selmeci suffered from leukoencephalopathy, a rare disease with symptoms resembling those of multiple sclerosis. For 14 years, the condition of the Belgian wife and mother grew progressively worse. The last year until her visit to Medjugorje, she was unable to speak.

saint st james church jakob jakov giacomo chiesa crkva medjugorje

Inside St. James Church in Medjugorje. Pascale Gryson-Selmeci and her husband were in the back of the church when she realized that she was cured after 14 years of illness

“A few months ago, my husband David and I felt an urgent call to go to Medjugorje without knowing what the Virgin Mary had prepared for us as an absolutely irresistible attraction. The great call surprised me, especially the fact that both my husband and myself felt it with the same intensity” she tells info.catho.be

In the late afternoon on August 3, , Pascale Gryson-Selmeci and her husband went to Mass, despite her fatigue and exhaustion. It was a few days into their Medjugorje pilgrimage.

“I left without a respirator, as the several kilograms weight of this unit on my knees had become unbearable. Upon our arrival, I began to implore the Holy Spirit in joy I can not express. I asked Him to take possession of my whole being. I expressed my renewed desire to belong to Him, body, soul and spirit” Pascale Gryson-Selmeci says.

“The celebration continued to the Communion, I was waiting with intensity. My husband took me to the queue at the back of the church. A priest crossed the aisle with the Body of Christ. He went immediately to my husband and myself, surpassing all others.”

“We moved away to make room for the other communicants and begin our thanksgiving. I felt a very strong and sweet fragrance. Then I felt a force move through me, not heat, but a strength. Unused muscles of my legs were crossed by a stream of life” the Belgian woman tells.

“So I said to God: “Father, Son, Holy Spirit, if You are doing what I believe to achieve this unthinkable miracle, then I ask You for a favor and sign: Make me communicate with my husband.”

“I turned to my husband and tried to tell him: “Do you smell the perfume?”. He said, in the most natural way: ‘No, my nose is a little stuffy!’ I say ‘natural way’, because he had not heard my voice for a year! To wake him up, I said ‘Hey! I mean, do you hear me?’

“There I knew that God had done His work, and in an act of faith, I pulled my feet from my chair and I stood up. All around us people realized what was happening” Pascale Gryson-Selmeci tells.

“In the days that followed, my condition improved by the hour. I no longer want to sleep all the time, and the pains due to my illness gave way to aches from physical exertion that was impossible for 7 years.”

Pascale Gryson-Selmeci is pretty much aware of her priorities now when her incurable disease no longer afflicts her.

“My greatest wish, which is also that of my husband, is to prove faithful to the Lord, His grace as far as we can, not to disappoint Him. So to be really practical, what seems clear now is that I will be able to assume my responsibility and my life as a mom and wife. This is a priority” she says.

“My expectation is also deep to lead a life of prayer and contemplation alongside this terrestrial life. I will also be able to answer all the people who ask me for help, whatsoever. And also to demonstrate the love of God in our lives.”

 

Spirit Daily is circulating this article

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