I've been extremely reluctant to upgrade to paid subscriptions partly because I've got to monitor the ol' budget but also because I want to be very selective about where I send my dollars. But I've never felt quite so strong a push to leave a comment that it's worth a few bucks to do so. Pardon the preamble!
There's points I wanted to make.
1- God is good
2- *something is going on*
3- Lazarus
1- God is good. Praise be to God for your miraculous recovery. You aptly describe the strangeness of the phenomenon of talking to people about miracles. One thing I have noticed is that the more we pray the more we see him move in little ways. It speaks to the goodness and the humility of God. He is always *actively* engaged in our lives, with the personal care and attention as if each of us were his only creation. He wants to help us and seems to really enjoy when we notice what He did and we give Him due praise for it. God has miraculously cured me in a big way and my first thought was that I really want to tell people, and my second thought was that no one will believe me. That, of course, has not meant that God removed all suffering from me, but that he acted to fix one issue 100% so that I don't have to worry about it anymore, and can worry about other things. It's bizarre and incredible.
But he also acts in these little ways. I think the best explanation for it I heard from my priest: God will not be outdone in generosity. It's kind of like a corollary to the Our Father--"Forgive us, as we forgive"--but also, he will heap blessings on us as we heap blessings on others. No one will go before the Lord and believe that God was stingy with blessings, especially once God shows us all the ways he blessed us that we *didn't* notice.
--
2- There is something going on in the world and this post is just another tick in the box that tells me that God is up to something big. You may have heard the news that Shia Lebeouf converted to Catholicism as a consequence of his role in the upcoming Padre Pio movie. He represents the second celebrity I have heard of recently to do so. I converted to Catholicism in 2018, my family is not Catholic and some of them have gone off of various deep-ends. This past spring, one in my family whom I had considered unconvertable, announced their intention to convert. Weird bit of synchronicity, in an interview with Bishop Barron, Shia talks about some of the people that he met on his conversion journey, and one of the people Shia lists by name is the *same person* giving catechesis to my allegedly unconvertable family member.
Combine all this with innumerable anecdotes: My friends brother in law, the same friend's wife's cousin--people are looking for and coming back to the Church. No trend has appeared in statistics (yet?) but something is moving people towards the Barque of Peter. I am sure you have numerous observations in your own life of the same.
So your Miracle is just another tick in that box. God is shoring up the fortifications and bringing up reinforcements. God is good!
--
3- I especially related to your discussion at the end, "what if its only for a week, a month?" I forget where I heard it, but in the discussion of Lazarus being raised from the dead, they commented that Lazarus didn't live forever. He still died--same with all the people who were miraculously healed by Christ. Their eventual dying doesn't diminish the miraculous nature of what happened. The miracle itself served a purpose and was an impressive blessing. But we are, after all, still fallen creatures in a fallen cosmos. We still owe tribute to death, but the miracles are perhaps reminders that in Christ is the promise of everlasting life. If God has given us a blessing, it is a good thing to appreciate it for what it is, and if God should permit us to suffer again in the future we can thank God for that too, that we can turn that suffering to Prayer in a more complete knowledge of his goodness.
Sorry for the long comment, but since I upgraded I figured I would get my moneys worth! God bless you and thank you for your wonderful work writing here!
Jen, praise God for your improved health! A few hours or a lifetime, Alleluia!
But also--
God loves to give his faithful a chance to stretch. Receiving that scripture after asking for prayer and sudden improvement is God saying, do you trust me?
I try not to quantify these things but three things connected to God's providence is rarely a coincidence. Two, maybe. Three, the odds aren't in "randomness"'s favor.
You stretched in writing this article. Thank you for the further evidence of God's goodness!
I've been extremely reluctant to upgrade to paid subscriptions partly because I've got to monitor the ol' budget but also because I want to be very selective about where I send my dollars. But I've never felt quite so strong a push to leave a comment that it's worth a few bucks to do so. Pardon the preamble!
There's points I wanted to make.
1- God is good
2- *something is going on*
3- Lazarus
1- God is good. Praise be to God for your miraculous recovery. You aptly describe the strangeness of the phenomenon of talking to people about miracles. One thing I have noticed is that the more we pray the more we see him move in little ways. It speaks to the goodness and the humility of God. He is always *actively* engaged in our lives, with the personal care and attention as if each of us were his only creation. He wants to help us and seems to really enjoy when we notice what He did and we give Him due praise for it. God has miraculously cured me in a big way and my first thought was that I really want to tell people, and my second thought was that no one will believe me. That, of course, has not meant that God removed all suffering from me, but that he acted to fix one issue 100% so that I don't have to worry about it anymore, and can worry about other things. It's bizarre and incredible.
But he also acts in these little ways. I think the best explanation for it I heard from my priest: God will not be outdone in generosity. It's kind of like a corollary to the Our Father--"Forgive us, as we forgive"--but also, he will heap blessings on us as we heap blessings on others. No one will go before the Lord and believe that God was stingy with blessings, especially once God shows us all the ways he blessed us that we *didn't* notice.
--
2- There is something going on in the world and this post is just another tick in the box that tells me that God is up to something big. You may have heard the news that Shia Lebeouf converted to Catholicism as a consequence of his role in the upcoming Padre Pio movie. He represents the second celebrity I have heard of recently to do so. I converted to Catholicism in 2018, my family is not Catholic and some of them have gone off of various deep-ends. This past spring, one in my family whom I had considered unconvertable, announced their intention to convert. Weird bit of synchronicity, in an interview with Bishop Barron, Shia talks about some of the people that he met on his conversion journey, and one of the people Shia lists by name is the *same person* giving catechesis to my allegedly unconvertable family member.
Combine all this with innumerable anecdotes: My friends brother in law, the same friend's wife's cousin--people are looking for and coming back to the Church. No trend has appeared in statistics (yet?) but something is moving people towards the Barque of Peter. I am sure you have numerous observations in your own life of the same.
So your Miracle is just another tick in that box. God is shoring up the fortifications and bringing up reinforcements. God is good!
--
3- I especially related to your discussion at the end, "what if its only for a week, a month?" I forget where I heard it, but in the discussion of Lazarus being raised from the dead, they commented that Lazarus didn't live forever. He still died--same with all the people who were miraculously healed by Christ. Their eventual dying doesn't diminish the miraculous nature of what happened. The miracle itself served a purpose and was an impressive blessing. But we are, after all, still fallen creatures in a fallen cosmos. We still owe tribute to death, but the miracles are perhaps reminders that in Christ is the promise of everlasting life. If God has given us a blessing, it is a good thing to appreciate it for what it is, and if God should permit us to suffer again in the future we can thank God for that too, that we can turn that suffering to Prayer in a more complete knowledge of his goodness.
Sorry for the long comment, but since I upgraded I figured I would get my moneys worth! God bless you and thank you for your wonderful work writing here!
Jen, praise God for your improved health! A few hours or a lifetime, Alleluia!
But also--
God loves to give his faithful a chance to stretch. Receiving that scripture after asking for prayer and sudden improvement is God saying, do you trust me?
I try not to quantify these things but three things connected to God's providence is rarely a coincidence. Two, maybe. Three, the odds aren't in "randomness"'s favor.
You stretched in writing this article. Thank you for the further evidence of God's goodness!