Call it serendipity, call it divine intervention, whatever you call it, it's a story of faith, motivation and inspiration.
Originally from the Yorkton area, Brenda Schurko grew up on a farm near Willowbrook and now resides in Calgary. She made a recent visit to Yorkton, stopping at The News Review to share her story. It's a story of chance meetings, of hope and of miracles.
Now 40, Schurko says, "When I was seven years old... I was very sick as a child, I had really bad asthma and eczema. I remember travelling and seeing lots of doctors with my mother, trying to figure out how to get this under control. In the meantime I was just not able to sleep at night... I could not sleep with the door closed... I was having night terrors... it was terrible."
Doctors seemed to be able to offer no relief. Feeling helpless, Schurko says her mom took a friend's advice and brought her to her local clergy. This would become a young Schurko's first encounter with a priest who was instrumental in her healing and would change her life forever. Father Methodius Kushko - who still resides in Yorkton - was at the church that day.
"So there I was at seven years old, he rocked me and prayed over me." He also gave her a pendant, which turned out to be a relic of St. Maria Goretti. Maria Goretti is the youngest Saint in the world. She was born on the eastern side of Italy to a farming family. Her father died when she was nine, and the family had to share a house with another family. Maria took over household duties from her mother, while her mother and the rest of her family worked in the fields. One afternoon, the son of the family she resided with, made sexual advances to her, but when she refused to submit to him he stabbed her multiple times. Her body now lies at rest in a Basilica east of Rome.
Mom and daughter went home that day and for whatever reason, life changed. "That night I came home and slept with the door closed for the first time in seven years. I slept."
Time went by, but Schurko never lost sight of the relic or the memory of Father Kushko.
She began a career in the world of business, but always in the back of her mind, Schurko says was the mystery of why of all people, she was given this medal. She began delving further into it. "I knew that it was something very precious. It had healing powers and I knew that I was given it for a reason but I wasn't quite sure what that reason was.
"Along the path I would seem to connect with one person after another who would bring me one step closer to understanding who she (Maria) was.
"It was as if I was being guided in that direction... throughout all of life's difficulties I always knew I had something to guide me, something to keep me safe. I think everybody needs a little bit of that when you're going through life, the ups and downs."
Maria would continually pop up in Schurko's life over the years in the form of statues, schools, churches and even a movie of the story of her life. Eventually it led to a need to make her way to Italy, the source of her relic and the home of where the story unfolded.
"As years went on, I met a man who spoke about Saint Day and the topic of St. Maria Goretti came up... he said, 'Brenda you need to go, you need to go to Italy before it's too late and you need to touch base with the man who gave this (the relic) to you before it's too late'..."
"Within three weeks I was on a plane to Italy (about three years ago)."
A chance meeting at the (Frankfurt) airport led her to meet a fellow traveller who also wanted to make the trek to Rome.
"It turns out... he was a professor from England... he is a professor that authenticates medals so he authenticated my relic. Of all of the people in the entire airport, four or five thousand people... how did I meet him?"
And so the story continued to unfold. Schurko made her way to the church where Maria's body lie at rest.
The father at the parish told her she was given something very special and that she was given it for a reason. After speaking at length, "He took me to a room... there were rows and rows of pews and then I look, there's her body in a glass case. She's a twelve year old girl... it was a very amazing, overwhelming and spiritual experience..."
Schurko eventually knew she had to reconnect with the man who began this journey and recently she found her way back to Yorkton and to Father Kushko. Everything is coming full circle.
"And it continues... I know this is my journey and my cause. I was handed a cause at a very young age... Most people wonder why they wake up every morning and what their cause is... this gives me faith and inspiration and I'm very fortunate.
"For me now, this is a journey about giving people inspiration, giving people a little bit of hope. This about people having a cause in life because I think we tend to get caught up in day to day life. We get caught up in the corporate jungle. I've been there, I think everyone's been there and we still do but I think at the end of the day it's about having something to hold onto...
"I think it's important to have faith and to have something that inspires you and sparks your spirit, something from your past that keeps showing up, that knows you. Everyone has a dream and through this, I hope to motivate them... this is a story for everyone and if I can inspire just one person, it's worth it..."
Schurko is now planning to pen a book (she is encouraging Father Kushko to do the same) about her experience and it's her hope through her story and through speaking with others, she will inspire and motivate.
"And now the journey begins again and who knows what will happen..."
Anyone interested can follow Schurko or get in touch with her through twitter at: MiracleMedal or Facebook, also MiracleMedal.
