SLICEof LIFE Organ miracle

Mary Beth Hess, music director at St. Jerome in Maplewood, puts her fingers to the keys of the church’s new organ July 5. The organ was donated as a replacement for the former, failing organ. Hess found out about the organ April 3 (Monday of Holy Week) when she made an unplanned trip to St. Jerome to check on music equipment. A parishioner happened to walk in while she was there and told her that LifePoint Church was selling an organ. Hess called LifePoint but learned that a church in Baltimore had agreed to buy the organ for $45,000. The next day, someone from LifePoint called Hess back to tell her that the church council met and agreed to donate the organ to St. Jerome instead. It was brought in and installed April 17. “A lot of things had to line up in order for this to happen,” said Hess, who has been playing the organ at St. Jerome for the last 24 years and has been the music director for the last eight. “If I hadn’t come here at the exact time that this parishioner was here, none of this would have happened. So, it was definitely a Holy Spirit moment. … Every time I tell the story, I get goose bumps.” She added, “It was a miracle.”