What is a Miracle?

[Caedmon]

At the moment, I'm finding it hard to believe in miracles. I'm not rejecting my faith, or claiming that they don't exist. I just feel a little out of touch with this idea that things like medals, scapulars, intercession and such bring about miraculous events. So, I'd like to start with a very basic description of what a miracle is, in the context of everyday life. I'm not talking about walking on water or bi-location. I'm talking about these so-called everyday miracles that people talk about, whether it's getting a promotion in dire financial conditions, having a loved one recover from an illness, or even something as simple as catching the elevator in time to make a meeting. How do you know that these things are miracles? If they are miracles, what is not a miracle? And if something bad happens, and things don't go our way, is that a miracle too? What do you think?

 

[Da_Funkey_Gibbon]

Interesting question. I've always felt that a miracle is when God interferes with the natural laws he has created. Violates them, so to speak. I think people are really using a figure of speech, when they speak of a promotion as being a "miracle", it may be an answered prayer, but God only very rarely uses miracles to answer prayers. Usually he just loads the dice... but then you run into danger of getting into theoretical physics and whatnot.

 

[Michael G]

A miracle is an act of Divine Intervention into daily life. It doesn't have to be working against the laws of nature, or on a grand scale, it just when God makes things happen for a very specific reason. They happen all of the time, you just have to open your eyes and your heart to see them.

 

[hsilgne]

At the moment, I'm finding it hard to believe in miracles. I'm not rejecting my faith, or claiming that they don't exist. I just feel a little out of touch with this idea that things like medals, scapulars, intercession and such bring about miraculous events. So, I'd like to start with a very basic description of what a miracle is, in the context of everyday life. I'm not talking about walking on water or bi-location. I'm talking about these so-called everyday miracles that people talk about, whether it's getting a promotion in dire financial conditions, having a loved one recover from an illness, or even something as simple as catching the elevator in time to make a meeting. How do you know that these things are miracles? If they are miracles, what is not a miracle? And if something bad happens, and things don't go our way, is that a miracle too? What do you think?

You need not go any further than your local Catholic church to witness a miracle - that is, the Blessed Sacrament - The Holy Eucharist. What greater miracle is there?

Aside from that - I have experienced what I believe to be Divine intervention more than a few times.... ie money arriving "just in time" or not getting into a vehicle that I normally would have and then that vehicle being involved in a terrible accident, being involved in a terrible accident and somehow coming out alive etc...

Miracles happen every day. I guess it's just a matter of being aware of them.

Peace.

 

[AMDG]

A miracle is Divine Intervention breaking into daily life. Sometimes it is big and cannot be explained by any natural means, but sometimes it is small and seen as an "unusual and unexplained" coincidence.

Try reading Penney and Bob Lord's This Is My Body This Is My Blood: Miracles of the Eucharist (especially the Miracle at Lanciano).

 

[Epiphanygirl]

You need not go any further than your local Catholic church to witness a miracle - that is, the Blessed Sacrament - The Holy Eucharist. What greater miracle is there?

Aside from that - I have experienced what I believe to be Divine intervention more than a few times.... ie money arriving "just in time" or not getting into a vehicle that I normally would have and then that vehicle being involved in a terrible accident, being involved in a terrible accident and somehow coming out alive etc...

Miracles happen every day. I guess it's just a matter of being aware of them.

Peace.

Amen....and so often one we take for granted or overlook to just what a miracle and gift it truly is!!!

 

[DedicatedLittleFaith]

If they are miracles, what is not a miracle? And if something bad happens, and things don't go our way, is that a miracle too? What do you think?

Things NEVER go our way, things go God's way

 

[Michael G]

Confession is a miracle as well. God has nothing to gain by openly embracing us with forgiveness, and yet when we go to him with a humble and contrite heart that is exactly what he does. The simple act of coming to God with a humble, contrite heart that longs for sanctity is enough for God to wipe away all of your sins. That is a miracle!

 

[Caedmon]

A miracle is Divine Intervention breaking into daily life. Sometimes it is big and cannot be explained by any natural means, but sometimes it is small and seen as an "unusual and unexplained" coincidence.

Try reading Penney and Bob Lord's This Is My Body This Is My Blood: Miracles of the Eucharist (especially the Miracle at Lanciano).

That's actually one of the types of miracles that I have a hard time believing. I also have a lot of trouble accepting things like stigmata and bi-location.

 

[SaintGeorge]

Well, I saw an angel, and so did my mom, so I find it strange that people don't believe in miracles. Maybe it's because they make them uncomfortable, but they've edited everything supernatural out of science and history, when in previous generations it was certainly recognized in such fields. We're brainwashed into doubting miracles, so it is natural to find such doubt inside you, indeed, inside all of us. We must overcome it.

 

[scraparcs]

Maybe there aren't any miracles. I don't know.

 

[jasper123]

there are miracles but you need to know how to
tell them from lying signs and wonder and what is
a miracle

at end time the anti christ will preform lying signs
and wonders, the are real and they are manifest
and will deceive many

a miracle is real and it is manifest
but it needs two other things. it must come from

God and it must be done to uphold the faith

i hope this helps




john

 

[Caedmon]

Maybe there aren't any miracles. I don't know.

I don't "know" either, imperically speaking (I make a firm distinction between knowledge and belief). However, in order for me to be a Catholic, I pretty much have to "believe" in certain miracles, such as Christ's incarnation, resurrection, Eucharist, etc., which I do, to the best of my ability. It's things that are outside of the Bible, things that the faithful aren't required to believe, that give me trouble.

 

[tizzidale]

Please, please, watch this video at CNN (not a Catholic source, I'm sure you know). The story really touched me.

rusty

 

[HisKid1973]

Miracles are all around us..We get busy and into the world and we miss them..Ever have a close call and wonder if your guardian angel interviened.

Years ago I was in college and was fresh out of a marriage where I was traded in for a younger, more affuent model.Rather than use it to get closer to the Lord, I was hurting and backed away. I used to go thru alot of dark alleys as a shortcut to my apt.. One nite I happened u.pon a porch full of rowdy drunks right at the alley. I started to get scared as they saw me and started to come closer . Then I heard one exclaim in there dunken voice " hey "look at the big guy walking with that little skinney guy" They just sorta just stared at me .The hair just stood up on my body as I realized they must be seeing my guardian angel as I was alone..An incredible peace flooded over me as I excitedly walked home. God used that to get the fires of faith burning in me again.. God truely "knows" those who truely know Him..If He knows you need your faith strengthened believe me He has many ways to reaveal His power to you..pax..Kim

 

[DedicatedLittleFaith]

The birth of a newborn baby, to the parents, is most definitly a miracle

 

[AMDG]

That's actually one of the types of miracles that I have a hard time believing.

Just out of curiousity, is it that modern scientific tests (preformed to investigate and disprove it) make it difficult to accept the Miracle of Lanciano (or other miracles)? Do you feel that these things should just be accepted without "proof" if they are even to be considered a miracle? Like perhaps, just the fact that investigation of an unexplained event is wanted means that there is no belief in the miracle?

 

[Caedmon]

Just out of curiousity, is it that modern scientific tests (preformed to investigate and disprove it) make it difficult to accept the Miracle of Lanciano (or other miracles)?

No, the tests aren't the reason I find it difficult to believe in the miracle at Lanciano. I guess I just have a detachment between what I think of as the central mystical qualities of Catholicism (Incarnation, Resurrection, Eucharist, etc.), and individual, non-biblical events, like a bleeding Eucharist. For instance, if that happened at a mass today, even if I was there, I would not believe that it was genuine. I would probably discount it as morbidly zealous religious trickery.

Do you feel that these things should just be accepted without "proof" if they are even to be considered a miracle? Like perhaps, just the fact that investigation of an unexplained event is wanted means that there is no belief in the miracle?

This is more what I'm getting at. If you want to believe in a miracle, that's your business. (And I'm speaking impersonally here.) I think that looking for "proof" can accomplish the opposite of what you intend. If it is your belief that something is genuine, and it becomes a significant part of your religious belief, why would you seek imperical proof for something that you first believed in without imperical evidence? Are you trying to prove it to someone else? Why? Belief is an issue of faith, not science.

 

[AMDG]

This is more what I'm getting at. If you want to believe in a miracle, that's your business. (And I'm speaking impersonally here.) I think that looking for "proof" can accomplish the opposite of what you intend. If it is your belief that something is genuine, and it becomes a significant part of your religious belief, why would you seek imperical proof for something that you first believed in without imperical evidence? Are you trying to prove it to someone else? Why? Belief is an issue of faith, not science.

Hmmm. I'll give this some more thought. However, just off hand, if there is some sort of scientific evidence involved, I'd just think "Great! The folks who claim that this "miracle" is due to a charlaten and some trickery can't claim that! It's safe. It doesn't effect the unexplainable Divine Intervention at all. Of course, the Church needs a little bit more than the words "it's a miracle!" She has, afterall, been given the command to guard our souls. There has to be an investigation.

Say, for those who know, wouldn't some of this fall under "private revelation"? If so, there is "approval" and "disapproval". IOW an investigation MUST be made. And of course, if the answer is "disapproval", well, I know I wouldn't continue to believe that there was Divine Intervention if the Church says that there wasn't.

 

[SaintGeorge]

Fear motivates us to investigate, and when we believe, we fear that our belief is wrong. Until belief becomes knowledge, fear pursues us at all times. We find fear unpleasurable, so we try and remove it however we can. Investigating a miracle holds the promise of belief becoming knowledge. Like St. Thomas, we are called to plunge our hands deep into the mysteries of the universe. It is our privilige, our duty, and our immortality to do so.