‘I can see’: A WYD miracle?
When people talk about “miracles” after World Youth Day, they usually mean the conversions – the tens of thousands of people who go to confession, the hundreds of thousands who adore the Eucharist together.
But on the final day of the World Youth Day held last week in Lisbon, a rumor began to spread about a miracle in the most literal sense of the term. In dozens of WhatsApp chats among Spanish-speaking Catholics, a voice memo circulated, in which Jimena, a 16-year-old girl from Madrid, said that after she received the Eucharist at an Aug. 5 Mass, she had recovered her sight, after two years of almost total blindness.
Jimena’s last name has been withheld at her family’s request. Her father, Gustavo, spoke with The Pillar Tuesday, explaining that he believes a miracle occurred.
Whether doctors will agree remains to be seen.
Jimena
According to her father, Gustavo, Jimena began to progressively lose her sight when she was 14 years old.
“The doctors told us that he she had an ‘accommodation spasm,’ which is normal for children of that age, as long as the spasm is between two and four diopters per eye. The problem is that she had a lack of control between 8 and 16 diopters.”
“She progressively lost her sight, until only 5% was left,” Gustavo told The Pillar.
“We looked for the best medical team we could get in Spain, specialists in this type of disease, which is normally treated with drops of atropine, placed in the eyes, which dilate the pupil, force the spasm to subside, and eventually lead to healing.”
“But the problem in Jimena’s case was that the spasm was bigger than usual – and so after 18 months, with a high daily dose of the drops every day, absolutely nothing changed,” he added.
