My favorite story of this year, 2024, is about the Blessed Mother and how Mary comes to the aid of all her children, even in surprising ways. The story is “Our Lady’s Golden Heart Heals a Baby’s Heart.”

Where did the young parents Eric and Andrea Paul turn when their first child Bruce had to have open-heart surgery twice as a baby and would face another open-heart surgery when he was 6? The first thought was to pray for healing through the God-given power of a saint’s relic, but that turned to seeking our Blessed Mother’s help in a family pilgrimage, with extended family, to her shrine at St. Bernard Church in Talkeetna, Alaska, not far from their home. There, in the statue of Our Lady of Beauraing — an approved series of apparitions in 1932-33 Belgium — was also a relic of the hawthorn tree on which Mary appeared.

Heaven made the connections obvious. Our Lady of Beauraing had also become known as Our Lady of the Golden Heart. Here was a heart-to-heart connection — and healing of the child’s heart.

There was yet another miracle and healing: Eric had grown up Protestant and thus did not venerate Mary. Yet at this time, as he started to study the Catholic faith, he did not discredit her intercession. There, at the shrine, he prayed on his knees. Now, not only does Eric now pray the Rosary, but he is studying in OCIA and will become Catholic next Eastertime.