The Miracle at the Berlin Wall | Taylor Caldwell
The well-known novelist, Taylor Caldwell, met a radiantly happy couple at an airport in Athens. She wanted very much to get acquainted with them. The young husband responded. "In my travels over the years," she later admitted, "I have heard strange and dreadful stories, and many that cannot be explained. But the story this young man told me is one of the strangest and most moving."
The Miracle at the Berlin Wall
Last January I visited the Holy Land again for fresh material for a novel, stopping also in Athens, Rome, and Lisbon.
For a full year before, life had become intolerable to me for various reasons, and I had to force myself to make this trip. In Rome I had what is known as a "coronary accident" and was told that I must remain in the hospital for at least a month. I decided, however, that I must continue my journey to the Holy Land no matter the cost and so left the hospital. I do not advise this as an ordinary rule, but I had reached such a state of mind and body that I did not care what happened to me. I was also full of bitterness; nothing was further from my mind than spiritual consolations or reflection, and I was physically pretty low.
any date for this story?
Posted by: pilgrim kate | Friday, December 19, 2008 at 06:40 PM
The story may first have appeared in *The Heart of Christmas: Twentieth Century Christmas Stories* (Flemington, N.J., St. Teresa's Press, 1969).
One little quibble: the East German police were known as "Vopos" (Volkspolizei) not "Volpos."
Posted by: nomilk | Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 03:31 PM
I remember reading this in the early seventies, and it is one of the reasons I picked the name Mary for my confirmation name. Mary has protected and influenced me more than once in my life, at one time reminding me of an unkept promise I made to her Son...
Thank you for reprinting.
Posted by: Pier | Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 09:30 AM