Coincidence? I Think Not!

-
It is unclear to me how people can "rationally" deny the existence and the benevolence of God. Quite simply, no other being--physical or spiritual--could work miracles as the Lord of Heaven and Earth has done and continues to do. There are no coincidences in this universe.

My friends, I received word yesterday that my wife's uncle has been freed of all traces cancer. How is this evidence of God's existence, you ask? How is it not simply a function of modern medicine?

The first piece of evidence is that he was healed at all. So many cancer patients undergo treatment that produces no results. Indeed, my own grandfather suffered that unfortunate fate nearly two decades ago.

There is still another reason to believe that miracles are the work of God's hand: the pace at which he was healed. The diagnosis came less than one year ago. True, it seems as though it has been a long battle, but other patients endure illnesses of much longer duration.

True enough, modern medicine did have a role to play. However, the God I worship is greater than all modern medicinal technology, and He can act as he pleases through "ordinary" means such as human medical care.

There is no doubt in my mind (or the minds of his family members) that the results of the latest cancer screenings are the answers to many, many prayers. Healing was wrought because of the prayers of a community of faithful. God still listens to His faithful people!

So, let us celebrate healing and hope! Let us also pray that it is God's will for this man to remain free from illness for the rest of his days.

God Bless.

Popular posts from this blog

Learning Virtue from St. Martin de Porres

-
Image
[This post appeared originally on my full site, which is now no longer in operation, in November 2012.] It seems that more should be written about a saint from whom we can learn so many lessons in virtue.  Yet that is not the case with St. Martin de Porres, from whom we have much to learn about humility, detachment, fasting, justice, and charity.  The website of the St. Martin de Porres Shrine and Institute (located in my own diocese; a wonderful initiative with a beautiful chapel) offers a mere four paragraphs of biographical information, while other sites ( here , here , and here ) devote no more than 10 sentences to this exemplar of heroic virtue.  Surely, Brother Martin, who was so humble in this life, finds that to be a fitting scenario even after his death. From the very earliest days of his life, he embraced his lowly situation.  He desired to do nothing more than glorify the Creator by serving creatures.  He reached out to slaves, orphan...
Read more

St. Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist

-
Image
Although the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was not the first thing that convinced me I needed to become Catholic, it was of prime importance in my journey home. Now that I am home, the Eucharist is what sustains and strengthens me on my perpetual search for holiness. Indeed, it is the "source and summit" of my Christian life. Thus, I always enjoy taking time to read what Christians in the first centuries had to say about "the breaking of the bread." My findings are such: there is clear evidence that, from the time Christ instituted the Eucharistic meal on Holy Thursday, Christians believed Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity to be TRULY present. They never considered that it might be "just a symbol." Only within the last five centuries has the "just a symbol" argument taken form, no doubt to the detriment of the true Faith and otherwise faithful Christians. To prove my argument, I have provided two quotes from St. Cyril of Jer...
Read more

Gratitude: Foundation of Our Spiritual Growth

-
Image
Gratitude is not simply a quaint idea to which we should tip our caps during a few short weeks in November each fall.  It is important that we move beyond a trite understanding and application, and come to understand the real place of gratitude in the spiritual life.  It is nothing less than a virtue and disposition that is at the foundation of our potential spiritual growth.  (In a corresponding way, its absence is at the “foundation” of spiritual stagnation.) Before we ever begin to speak of spiritual realities, gratitude simply helps us to get by more efficiently, effectively, and happily than the opposite alternative.  Grateful people grow and flourish, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, in ways that ungrateful people do not.  Still, we must resist the temptation to deal with gratitude simply on the natural level.  We must bring these principles to the supernatural level and grasp them there. We must come to understand that gratitude...
Read more