An update on the life of Luke Michael Sebastian Hall
By Fr. Liam O'Shea-Creal,
Assistant pastor at St. Michael Parish in Hastings
Uncle of Luke Michael Sebastian Hall
In January, St. Michael Parish in Lincoln created prayer cards encouraging all to ask the Lord for a miracle for “Baby Luke,” the unborn son of parishioners Nick and Marie Hall. In late 2023, the Halls learned that Luke had major medical issues and was seriously ill; medical professionals told the family no treatments before or after birth would be effective.
Marie Hall is the registrar of St. Michael School, and her brother is Father Liam O’Shea-Creal, assistant pastor of St. Michael Parish in Hastings. Father O’Shea-Creal wrote an update for the Register.
To begin, thank you. On behalf of the Hall family, I would like to express gratitude for your prayerful support. Your prayers were answered. Although the healing that we prayed for was not manifest in a physical way, we have great confidence that they were answered in the life of the Spirit.
Luke Michael Hall was delivered at 33 weeks March 3; he was born a month and a half early. Luke’s condition was rare; in his development there were complications that damaged his bladder, kidneys, and lungs. While in utero, Luke received what he needed from his mother and grew as many children do, but the complications stunted the growth of his internal systems, compromising viability independent from his mother. Before birth, the doctors were unsure whether Luke’s little lungs would sustain him for seconds, minutes, or hours. Although small, his heart was strong, a characteristic that defined his life.
By God’s providing hand, Luke was safely delivered at 5:11 p.m., baptized at 5:12 p.m. and confirmed by 5:15 p.m. To the surprise of many, Luke lived for 3 hours and 43 minutes, and passed into eternal life at 8:54 p.m. All of these were graces given as a fruit of your prayer, of this I am convinced.
Upon reflection during the weeks since Luke’s birth, it has struck me that the 223 minutes of this Christian’s life was a lesson for all Christians to learn. What do I mean by that? Luke Michael Hall made no personal decisions during his time on earth. As a man, Luke had the gifts of intellect and will, but as an infant younger than the age of reason, he could not be held accountable for any informed decision. So how is his life an example for people like you and me who CAN make decisions? Luke showed how necessary it is to first BE SAVED to HELP SAVE; to be LOVED before LOVING others. Luke spent every moment of his life in the arms of his earthly mother and father, under the gaze of his brother and sister; he shared his breaths and heartbeats with those who freely chose to share their Faith and life with Him. Jesus saved Luke and now that he enjoys the beatific vision, he will be able to help save others through his intercession.
Some might ask, how are we so confident that this little child is in Heaven? Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:15).
Sure, this is a universal testimony from the Scriptures, but what about the specific life of this child? As I mentioned earlier, Luke was born at 5:11, and received the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation in the minutes following. One of the nurses came up to me shortly after the birth and showed me 1 Thessalonians 5:11. It reads: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” She shared that Luke was born into this reality as his family stood, watched, and prayed for his safety.
Later, I checked the Gospel of Luke 5:11. To my surprise, I found a passage that has meant a great deal to me since my first eight-day retreat.
After being told by Jesus to “Cast into the deep” and hauling in a miraculous catch of fish, and after being told, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men,” Peter, Andrew, James, and John “dropped everything and followed him.”
Further, in verses 12-16, Jesus is seen healing a leper, a biblical image for Original Sin. What could all this mean? In short, everything was dropped so that Luke could be baptized, so that he could follow Jesus, and in the corresponding verses written by his patron, St. Luke the Evangelist, Jesus authored the healing of little Luke from the malady of Original Sin by the sacramental life. How can one but see God’s saving hand in these events?
Finally, Luke passed from this life at 8:54 p.m. In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 8, Jesus is called to the home of a Roman official because his daughter is sick. By the time Jesus reaches the home, he is told to leave because she is dead, and his presence is useless.
Jesus is not deterred from those he loves, so he makes his way to the child, and in verse 54 says to her, “Child, arise,” and she does. Many of us were praying, through the intercession of Father Flanagan, for a physical healing for Luke like that of the young girl, and we might think that our prayers were not answered. But I promise you, they were.
The life of Luke Michael Sebastian Hall offers to you and me the testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the core of the Good News, Jesus exhorts you and me to first be loved by our Heavenly Father; he has created us so that we might BE LOVED. It is so easy to lose sight of this priority and to try to love and save everyone else before we allow ourselves to stop and receive.
For those of you who paused, even for a single moment to offer the “Prayer for Baby Luke,” I now invite you to follow his lead and pause again. This time, before reaching out to save another, pause and in the embrace of Holy Mother Church, under the protecting gaze of your Heavenly Father, and surrounded by a cloud of witness; the saints and angels, let yourself be loved, let yourself be saved.
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Luke 18:16). Receive the Kingdom of God as a child does, and you too will hear those words when your time here is ended: “My Child, Arise” (Luke 8:54).
