L iving in an electronic age, it is not surprising that before buying any new gadget or invention these days, people will ask: “Does it work?” We want to be assured that it does work. Show me! We want to see for ourselves. And there’s nothing wrong with that!
Carried into the field of Religion, however, this mentality, if pushed too far, can be a hindrance rather than a help. Why? Because our Religion – Christianity – is built on faith, and faith is believing without seeing. The bishop … of our … diocese once told his audience that during a protracted illness of his, a Sister in one of his schools had asked her first or second graders to pray for the Bishop’s recovery. In fact, she asked each one of them to write the Bishop a brief note telling him they were praying for him. One of the children, a boy, had written something to this effect:
“Dear Bishop. Our whole class is praying for you to get better. Is it working?“
I have been privileged to lead people on pilgrimage to Lourdes for over twenty-five years now. Almost each time, upon my return, someone will inevitably ask me: “Father, did you witness any miracles at Lourdes this time?“ Or even, “How many miracles have you witnessed at Lourdes over the years?”
I generally answer with a question of my own: “What do you understand by the word ‘miracle’ ”?
First, let me quote from “The Catechism of the Catholic Church,” to help you understand why Our Lord worked miracles during his life on earth and now continues to work them because of people’s faith.
“The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite a belief in him (John 5:36; 10.25, 38). To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask (Nk.5:25-3t; 10:S2, etc.). So, miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father’s works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God – his miracles are not intended to satisfy people’s curiosity or desire for magic – ” (No. 548).
To my knowledge, even though [over sixty] … cures have been officially declared “miracles” by the Church at Lourdes, over the years more than six-thousand cures have been reported to the Shrine of Lourdes Medical Bureau. And of this only [a small percentage] … have been thoroughly examined by the same Medical Bureau.
This is not to say that we cannot hope for cures or miracles at Lourdes. That would fly in the face of the 160+ year history of the Shrine at Lourdes. All we have to remember is that the medical profession and the Church do not speak the same language. For the medical profession, the word miracle is not in their vocabulary. All they can say is that such and such a reported cure is unexplainable and beyond all medical comprehension. All they can speak of is a cure. It is left up to the Church, to the local Bishop, to declare whether or not the cure is of divine intervention. If so, it is declared a “miracle.”
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady at the grotto.
Obviously, the relatively small number of cures that have officially been declared “miracles” serve as a confirmation of the fact that the principal message of Lourdes is not “miracles” but Prayer, Penance and Conversion. Three times the Lady repeated the words to Bernadette: Penance! Penance! Penance!
Yes, the message and the greatest miracles at Lourdes are the conversions, the transformations that take place in the hearts of all the true pilgrims at Lourdes.
A case ln point: One week after my return from one of my many pilgrimages to Lourdes, I received a phone call from one of our pilgrims. She was notifying me of her husband’s sudden and unexpected death. When I tried to console her ln her grief, she said to me: “It all happened so quickly, Father, but I must tell you that Jack died very peacefully. During this entire week (since our return from Lourdes), he was as happy as a lark, singing all day long, as he worked ln our flower garden, and telling everyone he met how wonderful Lourdes is. He told me that he had gone to Confession there at the Shrine and that a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. There is no doubt in my mind that Our Lady had prepared him at Lourdes for this rather sudden death and that she has now welcomed him into heaven with open arms! Yes, Father, Jack died a very peaceful death!”
Now, dear reader, if that isn’t a “miracle of grace,” I don’t know what is!
