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 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 that they do happen to.
If you truly believe that a piece of bread and a drop of wine change into the Body and Blood of Christ when the words of consecration are spoken by an ordained priest, then the little miracles that have happened to me are puddysticks by comparison. But, being human, I love my little miracles and get much comfort from remembering them.
Lord said it
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 quotes 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 some years ago. I was having an argument with one of my children (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, as a Christian, 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 I was strict and they would have run a mile before they dared to answer me back - I became 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 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 said:
"I was trying to tell you something in the passage 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."
Catherine Nicolette
My, it is many years since I thought of that beautiful hymn we used to play. As a teenager I loved the words and melody.
Now in my mature years, I have experienced many signs and wonders of God in my life. Having travelled in many countries, it has been amazing how God cared for me in many ways, small as well as large.
The greatest miracle, however, is to be part of the wonder when the moment of grace comes for an individual. We never know when one word, one prayer, one sermon or one song is the one which will change the road for another from struggle to the grace of faith.
As Mom said on so many occasions about Jesus Christ, "For one drop of His Blood Which for sinners was spilt,
Is sufficient to cleanse the whole world from its guilt."
The price is already paid, the miracle already granted. Jesus came to earth, lived and died for us and we had to make no payment. The Son of God took the consequences of sin and death upon Himself, conquered death through resurrection and gave us remedy for sin through baptism and sacraments.
We did not have to pay anything in order for God's Son to love us and set us free.
Let us pay Christ the compliment of our deepest love, respect and sincere gratitude for the price He paid.
With thanks to youtube
