A Leap Of Faith
Do you believe in miracles? Some people believe that miracle events ceased with the end of the apostolic era. Other people may be curious about why there are no miracles today; I wonder why they don’t see them. I read a book titled, “The Miracle Chase;” the three authors are in search of answers to the many questions about miracles. Why do they happen to some people and not others? What do different religions believe about these coincidences or extraordinary occurrences?
We live in a digital world – an age of enhanced knowledge of science – therefore we have images and information literally at our fingertips. Maybe all this knowledge has left us desensitized and preoccupied; hence, we miss the miracles that happen everyday, like the rising of the sun and rain falling on parched earth.
I believe that once you have experienced a miracle, it should be shared. Much like a traumatic event can change your life, the miraculous can have a ripple effect on those around you as well. The account of Divine intervention may inspire a greater understanding of God and the meaning of life. It may also help to create an irreversible change in perspective. Once you accept these God-incidences, then you can see them in everything from the noble-spirited, to the everyday coincidences.
Ten years ago, on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005, my family was in need of a miracle. We received a phone call that our youngest son had been life-lined by helicopter to a trauma unit at the University of Louisville Hospital. He had been snowboarding on a sunny afternoon, and an accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. We arrived at the hospital and found him unconscious. From his hospital window I could see the steeple of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, Ky. His room was filled with noisy machines, tubes and lights blinking, but his quiet body never moved. In the darkness outside that window I focused on the brightly lit church tower with a cross and a huge clock that seemed to say, “I am with you, do not be afraid.”
We never left his bedside, and every day I looked out that window and placed myself inside the cathedral. I was pleading with prayer for healing for our son, despite a grim prognosis from the doctors. The story of this accident and his recovery are nothing short of a miracle. As I look back on the 10 years since those difficult days in our life, I am humbled by the gift of healing grace that God allowed into our family. Our son and his wife are expecting their first baby this month. Undisputedly, the greatest miracle, the birth of a baby, and new life!
During that long hospital stay in 2005, a package arrived by mail on Feb. 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. A friend sent holy water from Lourdes, and a book of novena prayers with a rosary. I believe that gift, and many other prayers, enhanced our opportunity to witness the love of God in His miracles.
“The Song of Bernadette,”the story of Lourdes written by Franz Wefel, was published in 1941. It became an academy-award-winning movie in 1943. A line in the movie says it all: “For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe in miracles, no explanation is possible.” In John 20:27, Jesus said to Thomas, who doubts His resurrection, “do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Hope in God is always with us, who knows how many miracles happen on any given day. I believe that when we are given a gift, it should be given away. Share the gift of hope and prayer. Miracles do happen! Amen!
