Faith and miracles

Many people are saying that miracles do not happen anymore these days. They say miracles only took place in the distant past, the time of the gospel when Christ went around in the land of Judea and Galilee. But now, miracles are considered obsolete, if not an anomaly.

This is like saying that Christ, the son of God who became man, has ceased intervening in our lives, that he was purely a historical man, subject to time and space, and that after death, he is simply no more, completely wrapped in the spiritual world, if ever that exists, and that he has no immediate and tangible impact in our lives.

This cannot be so. Christ is both God and man. He both lives in time and eternity. And being our mediator, our Redeemer, he cannot be indifferent to our lives. He acts, and he always acts in very strategic ways.

The problem we have is that we lack faith. It is this deficiency that disables us to see a deeper and richer reality that is beyond what we simply see, touch and understand. It is this deficiency that prevents us from asking for some miracles in some difficult situations we can find ourselves in, and from experiencing them.

Remember that time when Christ was pursued by two blind men (cfr Mt 9,27-31). They shouted, “Lord, have pity on us.” But Christ asked them if they have faith. “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they immediately replied. Then Christ told them, “Let it be done to you according to your faith.” And they were cured.

In all the other miraculous cures narrated in the gospel, faith plays a very crucial role. The woman who was cured of her hemorrhage was also commended by Christ because of her faith. “Be of good heart, daughter, your faith has made you whole…” (Mt 9,22)

The same with the blind man, Bartimaeus, and the father of the possessed boy who in his great distress told our Lord earnestly, “I believe, but help my unbelief.”

Besides the lack of faith, many of us have come to associate miracles with big, extraordinary things. Unless a blind man sees again, or a lame starts to walk, or a dead rises to life again, people nowadays say there can be no miracles taking place.

It’s a question of faith.  When one has faith, even if it is just little, we can see the marvels of God taking place all around everyday. That one perseveres in prayer, or decides to confess his sins after a long period of sinfulness, or a husband being faithful to his wife in spite of the strong temptations, etc., these are miracles too.

They are miracles because these situations often defy human logic and worldly wisdom. But then again, they can only be acknowledged if one has faith. Faith enables us to see beyond appearances and the reality painted only by human and worldly values.

It is faith that lets us enter into the spiritual and supernatural world. It brings us to share in God’s wisdom and power. Remember those stirring words of Christ: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from there, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you.” ((Mt 17,20)

Without faith, in spite of our keenest intelligence, we will miss much of the more important aspects of our life as we would only be restricted to the here and now, the material and the temporal.

To those leading Jews who refused to believe in spite of the clearest evidence at least of his special powers, Christ has these strong, intriguing words to say: “They who see not, may see, and they who see, may become blind.” (Jn 9,39)

Especially in our special needs and persistent human miseries, we need to follow the example of the men and women, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the sick, etc., who did all to get close to Christ and to beg. Some even had to climb to the roof and cut a portion there to be able to be near Christ.

This is the pattern we have to follow. We have to eagerly seek Christ and importune him with all our might, accompanying our pleas with external signs of our fervent faith and love for him.

This is the way to make the impossible possible, and to be able to see, and even experience, the many marvels God always likes to do for us. Miracles happen even up to now!

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