Luky;
THERE was a song we used to sing in church when my eldest daughter played the organ.
Our best singer would sing each verse, and we'd all join in the refrain:
"I believe in miracles; I've seen a soul set free /
Miraculous the change in one redeemed through Calvary /
I've seen the lily push its way up through the stubborn sod /
I believe in miracles, for I believe in God."
Do you believe in miracles? I do. Plenty have happened to me in my life.
I was there
The big ones I don't talk about much, because people always get an odd little smile on their faces when I do, as if to say "poor fanatic - and you can see she actually believes it."
Well, I do, because I was there when they happened.
And it's those who believe in miracles to whom they do happen.
If you truly believe that a piece of bread and a drop of wine undergo transubstantiation when the words of consecration are spoken by an ordained priest, then the little mriacles that have happened to me are puddysticks by comparison.
But, being human, I love my little miracles and get much comfort from remembering them.
Dusty volume of old Dutch series
At one time I was praying in a certain way, and got the feeling that I was unworthy to pray that way because of my sinfulness.
That very day I opened a dusty volume of an old Dutch series of books about our Lord's revelations to Saint Gertrude.
Sweet memory
My eye fell on a paragraph which quoted our Lord as saying to the saint: "why do you feel reluctant and unworthy to pray to me (in the way I was praying)?
Do you not know that the fragrance of the perfume is not impaired by the simplicity of the container?"
That day sweetness filled my heart and mind, and the memory of it still fills me with joy.
In a smaller way, something strange happened to me while my children were still growing up.
I was having a fight with one of my kids (that's not strange; it's normal.)
The child had mowed the lawn and tidied the garden, and was demanding payment.
I felt as though I had failed in bringing up my children.
I said: "How can you demand payment from your parents for lending a hand?
If you need money, tell me how much and I'll make a plan.
But surely you don't expect payment for helping your hard-working parents?"
Got soft
Well, my child gave as good as he got.
Gone are the old days when they would have run a mile before they dared to answer me back - I've become soft in my old age.
Just then a song started playing on Springbok Radio.
Rooted in my tracks, I listened; then I hauled the child in to listen too.
You may have heard the song.
It's about a a boy who brought his mother an invoice, detailing various chores he had performed for her and stating what each cost.
The mother produced a pen and wrote out an invoice of her own.
"To nine months carrying you in my womb - no charge;
to bringing you into the world in sorrow and pain - no charge;
to the tears I shed for you - no charge."
Nothing owing
By now I was shedding some tears of my own and ducked into the sitting room, but I could hear the end of the song.
The boy wrote at the bottom of his invoice: "Paid in full."
My heart was full, because I felt that again our Lord had performed a little miracle.
The child was very quiet too, looking rather taken aback.
I'm no diplomat. I like pressing home my advantage, so I wiped my tears and blew my nose and said:
"I was trying to tell you something in the corridor there, but I hadn't the eloquence.
So our Lord allowed a small miracle to happen by inspiring the disc jockey to play that very song to show you how He would feel about your demanding payment."
"As a rule, Jesus doesn't go in for performing miracles; He has nothing to prove.
So if you're wise, you'll remember this one for the rest of your life."
The child still regarded me mutinously, so I added:
"That piece of advice comes to you at no charge."
Revelations of St Gertrude
http://www.catholictradition.org/Gertrude/revelations.htm
Song; 'I believe in miracles'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMEJXFCGRHI
Lyrics to 'I believe in miracles'
http://www.hymnlyrics.org/requests/i_believe_in_miracles.php
Song 'No Charge'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiaY2GQuuzA
With thanks to Youtube
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