St. Therese obtains a miraculous cure for Rhoda WiseRhoda Wise lived in Ohio with her husband and daughter. She was a Protestant who was in the last stages 0f stomach cancer when St Therese interceeded for her in a remarkable way.
Through the extraordinary intercession of St Therese, she was miraculously cured of stomach cancer and also a complex lower leg fracture, which caused her to be bedridden. Rhoda also had a remarkable conversion and ended up becoming a Catholic, and through the grace of God she later became a remarkable mystic and stigmatist, and lead countless souls to God. Here is a summary of the extraordinary intercession of St Therese in her life. We will begin with a few of her Diary entries that were written before her miraculous cure:
March 25: "…I feel tonight as if even God has forgotten me. I just cannot bear anymore. I know I am going to be in terrible misery if I go home and do not have someone to do my dressings all the time. [Rhoda had what the doctors believed to be stomach cancer, with an open wound in her abdomen that continuously leaked acidic stomach fluids, which caused her painful burning in this area -editor]. I know I cannot get the care I need, for it takes money to do that and there isn't any ... Oh God, I wonder what the outcome will be. You have never failed me yet dear Jesus, and I know that you won't now. When the clouds were darkest and I was in despair you always showed me a way out, so I'll just trust that you to take me out of this .... "
In April her intense suffering continued, mixed with deep faith and prayer.
April 20: "…I am praying so hard to St. Therese and she is going to help me. She seems so close to me. I am not laughing now, Little Flower, but trusting and praying I may be helped. I could look at your beautiful picture all day. All I do is look at your picture and whisper a prayer for help. I know you are listening to me. Won't you please help me?"
In her diary on May 16 she writes: “…It is awful to be like this. God, if I am not to get well, let me die right now. Each day I wish there would be no tomorrow. I did not think it possible for anyone to suffer so much. This drainage about sets me crazy. If I could go to sleep for just one night it would be heaven for me. Little Flower and Jesus, I am praying so hard for you to make me well, and if that is not to be, let me die at once. These dressings are terrible. No one wants to do them. I can hardly do them anymore either."
Miraculous cure
June 28, 1939: "I guess everyone will say I am dreaming again or seeing things. What happened to me was done by no dream. I saw Jesus again last night standing in my bedroom door. While I looked at Him, He said, 'Here I am as I promised.' St. Therese, the Little Flower, was right by Him. She came to my bedside. She wanted the cover off me. I pushed it off. She then wanted the dressings off, so I pushed them off. She put her hand on my stomach and said, 'You doubted me before. You have been tried in the fire and not found wanting. Faith cures all things.' She walked back to Jesus and when I looked at Him He said, 'I will come again. There is work yet to be done.' They vanished. I looked at my stomach. I was entirely healed. Not one drop of anything had even come out of my stomach. That awful irritation and everything was gone. What my feelings were I can never tell…."
But Rhoda also had another serious health problem. She had severely broken her foot and ankle one night when she inadvertantly stepped into a sewer hole. The doctors tried repairing the damage to her lower leg and ankle by repeatedly putting various leg casts upon it, but could not seem to repair the severe damage to the bones and surrounding ligaments. She was therefore confined to her bed and unable to walk. In her joy of being cured of her stomach cancer wound, she understandably hadn't even thought about asking St. Therese to obtain a cure also for her foot, because the appearence of Jesus and the Saint along with the instantaneous cure of her abdomen completely astounded her, and filled her heart and soul with unimaginable joy!
The Miraculous Cure of Her Foot –The Second Miracle
Rhoda writes again in her Diary:
Aug. 10, 1939: ".....Tomorrow I go in the hospital again. God, may this be the last cast, and if it is Thy Will, may my foot be straight and may I walk."
The cast they applied to Rhoda's foot was to be on until November 10. Rhoda's doctor told her there would be a person ready who would fit her with a brace as soon as the cast came off, and that she would be wearing the brace for the rest of her life. The doctor and everyone else was about to see for a second time that Jesus and St Therese had other plans.
Aug. 15, 1939:[Feast of the Assumption on the Blessed Virgin Mary] "Oh, what a day! I was so happy to begin with because the Little Flower came to me and cured my foot. I was sitting up in bed and crying because my foot hurt me so much. The Little Flower came and said, 'That is a little thing. Stand up and walk.' I stood right on my feet and the cast broke and I stepped right out of it. She then said, 'Go to church now' .... "
Another miracle! Who can imagine the joy of Rhoda, her family and all who knew her! Her husband George nearly fainted when he walked into the room and saw her standing on her own, the cast shattered all over the floor. Needless to say this second miracle drew a flood of persons wanting to see and talk to the woman of the miracle. Her apostolate of leading souls to God began and God increased his grace upon her by giving her the stigmata and other mystical gifts.
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