There are a couple of reasons. First of all, very often our \u201cbelief\u201d in miracles is purely academic. We say we believe in miracles because it is part of our whole Christian belief system. We may believe in miracles, but in practice we don\u2019t expect to see one. Secondly, I think we don\u2019t experience as many miracles because we don\u2019t need them. Why should God perform a miracle of healing when we\u2019ve got the best health care system in the world? Why should God provide for us miraculously when we\u2019ve got a good salary and retirement plan all set up? It\u2019s not that God is being mean. He\u2019s just saying, \u201cYou get on with it. If you want to provide for yourself and do it your way\u2013why then go right ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, while I think these things are true, it is more complicated. I think miracles of provision and healing are happening in our society all the time, but we don\u2019t have the eyes to see them. How often, I wonder, are we delivered from accidents and preserved from danger, but we miss the fact that it was the guardian angel? How often are we healed in the hospital, we recover more quickly, or we are delivered from a disease\u2013and we credit the doctors, the excellent health care and all the technology, but we therefore miss the invisible factor that God was working within all of these other elements preserving us and healing us. How often are we provided for in unseen ways with an unseen hand blessing us and directing us to be in the way of receiving everything we need?<\/p>\n
What makes me think this is that I have seen miracles in my life, but I have seen them most clearly when I was living in a certain way. When I had nothing but the clothes on my back and whatever I could fit into my backpack and I was on a three month hitch hiking pilgrimage from England to Jerusalem. I saw miracles then! When I was living as a young Anglican curate and deliberately gave away half of my income to \u201clive by faith\u201d\u2013I saw miracles then! When I left everything to become a Catholic and had a young family to support\u2013then I saw miracles.<\/p>\n
This is why miracles are more abundant in the poor countries of the world: they do not have the educational \u201csophistication\u201d to make them doubt miracles. They are open hearted and ready to see and believe. They do not have the screen of materialism and greed shielding them from miracles. They have very little, so a miracle is more likely to be on their doorstep.<\/p>\n
We need to learn from them. We need more prayer, more reliance on Divine Providence, more understanding of how God works in the world, more trust in his goodness and more awareness of the fact that he is at work all the time\u2013answering prayer and doing miracles in our midst.<\/p>\n
We simply need to open our eyes to see his mighty hand in all his works.<\/p>\n
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There are a couple of reasons. First of all, very often our \u201cbelief\u201d in miracles is purely academic. We say we believe in miracles because it is part of our whole Christian belief system. We may believe in miracles, but in practice we don\u2019t expect to see one. Secondly, I think we don\u2019t experience as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5567","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n