Mountain Miracle

Fr. Anthony, the parish priest of a mountain village, invites two children to play the parts of St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary in a nativity scene to take place after Midnight Mass. The Scene is to be in a cave behind the parish church. Although the original idea was to use a doll for the Baby Jesus, the two children, Martin and Beth, search for a real infant among the families of the parishioners. Their search is futile, and they end up praying to the Holy Family for help. The story comes to a climax when the Virgin Mary places the real Infant Jesus in Beth's arms. No one in the village realizes what has happened, but a miracle of conversion and reconciliation takes places in the hearts of all present in the cave that Christmas night.

Fr. Alvaro Correa, a former humanities professor, is formator of diocesan seminarians at Maria Mater Ecclesiae Pontifical International College in Rome. Translated from the Spanish by Eamonn O'Higgns L.C.