I Believe in Miracles

"We are miracles. You are a miracle. Your spouse is a miracle. Your children are miracles. The priest is a miracle. 'There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle,'" an Irish priest in Rome personalized Albert Einstein’s quote.

“If we look with the eyes of our hearts, not human eyes, we see miracles all around us,” he added.

Today I held a baby. I went to an early Mass. I had a conversation with a philosopher who stopped mid-sentence to behold a majestic view of sunshine on grass. I rode a friend’s bike; she doesn’t even know I can’t do weight bearing exercise. I went to adoration.

I saw a friend weed her garden, and she invited me to visit. We sat on her front porch which has a cross on one side and a Barrel of Monkeys monkey hanging from the light on the other side. She gave me water after my bike ride and shared ideas for new growth at our school. 

Her son came out during our visit and I asked him about the monkey on the light.

His mom asked, "Did you put that up there because monkeys are favorite animal?"

"Monkeys aren't my favorite animal!" He replied.

"What's your favorite animal now?"

"Platypuses. They have venom on the claws. Actually, it's not venom; it's poison." 

(Apparently male platypuses have a spurs on their back limbs that excrete venom throughout mating season.)

I saw one of my former students all grown-up and ready for second grade. I got an email from a friend who had a baby.

Another friend invited me to an impromptu Bible study, and there was peach and blueberry cobbler with ice cream. I asked a friend if he liked being Catholic yesterday and his roommate today said that conversation impacted his life.

I saw a statue of St. Joseph between two bushes. I realized that I watched my brother referee basketball at St. Joseph’s school this weekend, and that St. Joseph is with me in the midst of my novena to him for housing. 

I asked a friend, “Do you think St. Joseph will find me a place to live?”

She responded, “He found a place for Mary to have Jesus didn't he?”

Her confidence amused and astounded me.

  

The priest in Rome continued with his homily at the Church of the Holy Rosary…

“Jesus suffered and died. That was the greatest miracle….The apostles were afraid the same thing would happen to them. Jesus told them to go to the Upper Room and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. Then he said, ‘Get to work, teach them everything I’ve commanded you and know that I am with you until the end of time.’ He gave them new vitality, a new attitude.

"I am with you..." This new vitality so filled the Apostles that they were crucified like Jesus, and like the martyrs in the Middle East.

“Jesus is not dead! He’s alive, risen!” emphasized the priest. “The Church was a very small nucleus, not well educated and it spread out in every country worldwide. Great leaders tried to wipe out Christianity, but couldn’t because the Holy Trinity was indwelling in people’s hearts.

“We’re all in need of spiritual renewal,” the priest added. Then, the 80-something-year-old man shared, “I hope to learn something to deepen my Faith [on this pilgrimage]. We need stories of encouragement from each other.”

God, You work miracles in my life every time You remind me to see little encounters with people or created things with gratitude and joy. 

Thank you for that priest and for the vessels of love you put in my life today who encourage me and challenge me to become a whole person, to find deeper meaning in suffering and even joy in the midst of it.