A Cupcake Miracle

Growing up, my summers were always marked by a special vacation with my mom: A trip to the University of Notre Dame. As a part of the “Alumni Family Hall” program, my Mom would return to Notre Dame and I would stay with her in the dorms. My mom would attend retreats during the week and I would spend time at the kid’s day camp.

The kid’s camp was always fun. We’d do crafts, visit places on campus, and play lots of fun games. And, if it was your birthday during camp, they’d make you cupcakes. Unfortunately for me, I have a winter birthday, and it would never fall during the kid’s camp. This made three-year-old Megan very sad.

I decided that I needed a miracle. I went to the Grotto and prayed that they would celebrate my birthday. It was impossible right? How could they when my birthday was in February?

Somehow, on the last Friday of my week at Notre Dame, the camp director decided to bake me cupcakes. We all gathered in the Lewis Hall kitchen and made me cupcakes. I was so happy. They even gave me a few birthday presents. I was a happy little kid- my miracle had come true!

As great as my cupcake miracle was, it is a teeny tiny drop in the bucket to all the miracles that have happened in our beautiful world! We live in a world where miracles happen on large and small scales every day: people finding jobs, being cured of cancer, and surviving accidents. One place we can look to find miracles is in the lives of the saints.

Becoming a saint requires three miracles after death, so looking at any saint you’ll find a fantastic list of wonderful miracles. A great and easy way to start learning about the miracles of the saints is to start in your own dorm chapel.  Each dorm chapel is named after a saint, and mine is St. Bridget of Kildaire, in McGlinn Hall.

St. Bridget of Kildaire worked many miracles during her lifetime. They took all different shapes and forms. One of her miracles tells of how she wished to be a nun. Her brothers wanted her to marry. She prayed and asked for her face to be made disfigured so that she could not marry. God transformed her face to be disfigured. She was allowed to become a nun and when she put on the veil of her habit, her face was transfigured to once again be beautiful!

Another of St. Bridget’s stories tells of her convincing a king let her make a convent. He was against the idea, but Bridget asked if she could have as much land as her cape covered. As she had a small cape, he let her try. In miracle fashion, her cape stretched out for many acres. The king was impressed by her and this miracle, so he let her have the land for the convent, but also converted to Christianity.

She worked many more miracles curing the sick and giving to lepers. I don’t think I’ll work any crazy miracles like St. Bridget, but perhaps I can work those of the camp director from my kid’s day camp. I spent last summer working at a day camp, and I hope to return there this summer. Maybe, I can bring a cupcake to a girl who needs a miracle.