Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”

Is the subject of miracles bound to be obscure, incomprehensible? Is there anything that can be said that is at all satisfying? After pursuing the subject in any number of books of theology meant for us ordinary mortals, I'm inevitably left unsatisfied. That itself may be telling me something worthwhile: that miracles are not something you or I are going to figure out.

Perhaps the central thing about miracles is that they are not able to be contained within the thought and science we have developed. Writers in effect try to explain them away or offer some partial but basically unsatisfactory explanation. We don't know at this stage of human development -- and probably never will -- what are all the laws of nature. To say that a miracle is an exception to those laws is little or no help.

Discuss the topic with thoughtful believers and they will bring up examples of miracles without being any closer to defining them. They will tell us how their father was freed from cancer by the prayers of family and friends. How the seemingly hopeless case of a friend paralyzed in an accident was turned around and she is now up and walking.

Faith in prayer and in God's care for us is what finds miracles, what sees miracles. We can continue to think about miracles but, better yet, leave God space in which to act in ways beyond our comprehension. Even apart from what we might think of as miraculous, the results of frequent and persistent prayer can be surprising.

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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