Do you believe in miracles?
By Tom Quiner
A miracle may have recently taken place.
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I will tell you about it in a moment. But first, I’d like you to ask yourself: are miracles really possible? And if they are possible, have they ever really occurred?
There are four possibilities as postulated by Dr. Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College and the author of many books related to the Christian faith.
According to Kreeft:
“Possibility One: If miracles are not possible, then they cannot be actual. That we know.
Possibility Two: And if they are actual, then they are possible. That we know.
Possibility Three: But if they are possible, we do not yet know whether they are actual.
Possibility Four: And if they are not actual, we still do not yet know whether they are possible.”
As a Christian, I believe miracles are possible. Fundamental Christian doctrines of incarnation, resurrection, and salvation depend on the reality of the miraculous, on the idea that God can … and does … intervene in the system of natural causes.
Some scientific-minded folks are highly uncomfortable with the idea of a Cause that comes from outside the system of natural causes. For example, what caused the Big Bang? As Dr. Kreeft says, “this does that mean that such questions are unreal, only that science as such cannot answer them. A scientist who believes that God caused the universe to exist has not abandoned scientific method, but merely acknowledged its limits.”
So what is the possible miracle to which I referred? It happened in 2005. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun, suffered from Parkinson’s disease. It is a degenerative disease of the nervous system, the same one with which Pope John Paul II was afflicted. Sister Simon-Pierre has suffered from Parkinson’s since 2001.
She had reached a point where she couldn’t drive. She had difficulty walking. Her left arm hung limply at her side.
On the evening of June 2nd, 2005, she prayed. Her prayer was specific: she asked Pope John Paul II, who had died two months earlier, to pray on her behalf for the remission of her illness.
The Catholic faith believes in the Communion of the Saints. Even more, it believes they can intercede on our behalf, that death doesn’t mean the end of our ability to pray for others.
So Sister Simon-Pierre prayed to the late Pontiff to intercede on her behalf.
On the morning of June 3rd, 2005, this French nun awoke without symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Did a miracle take place? “All I can tell you is that I was sick and now I am cured. It is for the church to say and to recognize whether it is a miracle.” These are the words of the 46 year old nun who regained her health.
The Catholic church is investigating her case. Convincing evidence of two miracles need to be attributed to Pope John Paul II before he attains the status of a Saint.
Time will tell if the case of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre qualifies. A medical cure must have no scientific explanation; it must be sudden, complete, permanent, and inexplicable by doctors.
It is a comforting thought. An army of angels of saints are praying for us. Ask them to intercede in your life.