In Front of the Tabernacle, I Prayed “Help Me!”—And I Heard a Voice

I’ve always heard people talk about the silence of God – when you call and he doesn’t respond; you pray and he doesn’t answer.  It creates an emptiness in our lives, and we shout, “Where are you, Lord? Why are you silent?”

It happened to me ten years ago. My newborn son was in the hospital.  Things weren’t going well. God kept silence and didn’t answer my prayers. I wanted to visit him, to see him in front of me in the tabernacle.  I went to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I remember that moment, which still impresses me.

I stood in front of the tabernacle. I was alone with Jesus. I almost shouted, “Help me!”

There was a moment of silence and I heard a voice, as if coming from the tabernacle, which answered, “Help me.”

For a brief moment that seemed like an eternity, I didn’t know how to react.

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and I heard a voice that repeated, “Help me.”

I turned around and saw in front of me a crippled man who looked at me with anguish written on his face. “Where did he come from?” I asked myself. He held out his hand and begged me, “Help me – I can’t work, and I can barely even walk.”

I looked at Jesus in the tabernacle and I said to him, “You know all the tricks!”

I laughed and added jokingly, “You’re impossible!”

It made me happy when I realized what Jesus was asking from me: “Be my hands and my feet in this world. Bring consolation and love, be merciful.”

His answer to my prayer was very simple: We have to forget about ourselves a little and think more about others.  The rest, everything that we need, will be given to us as well.

I helped that good man and never saw him again. It was an unforgettable experience.

God has funny ways of answering our prayers.  The thing is, we don’t always realize it. We are focused on other things and we aren’t paying attention.

I have known many people who find their answers in the Holy Bible, and others who find them in the wise advice of a priest.  I find mine in the bible, in priests, in the tabernacle, in prayer and in my confidence that God will never abandon me.

This article originally appeared in Aleteia’s Spanish edition. Translated byMatthew Green.