THE GREATEST MIRACLE

THE GREATEST MIRACLE

 

Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk”… and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong. – Acts 3:6-7

 

Whenever I read the Acts of the Apostles, I can’t help but notice that the works of the first Christians were always accompanied by great miracles. No wonder people were converted on the spot!

These days, whenever someone claims a miracle, I cannot help but respond with skepticism. More often than not, they turn out to be from quacks or even downright criminals looking to trick people into giving up their hard-earned money.

I tend to believe more from the goodness of people’s hearts displayed in simple ways: the works of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, Operation Smile by volunteer doctors and Tony Meloto’s Gawad Kalinga. Somehow, through their charity, these people bring to life our compassionate and merciful God. They inspire me to find my own way of sharing God’s blessings to others.

I think that, maybe, the greatest miracle that each of them has achieved is to make us believe that even if we are only ordinary, we serve a higher purpose. By responding to God’s call, we can be shining examples in a world desperate for a miracle. Cecilia Lim (cez_lim@yahoo.com)

 

REFLECTION:

God is empowering you to change someone’s life. Go and perform a miracle!

 

Lord, use me to inspire greatness in others.

 

BURNING WITH LOVE FOR THE WORD OF GOD

 

 

This is one of the most beautiful stories in all of the Scriptures. We have a couple of men walking to Emmaus and Jesus joins them and they chat away as they walk together. It is only in reflection that the two men begin to realize the identity of their companion and once they have realized that it was Jesus, they comment that their hearts were burning as He spoke to them. It is their “burning hearts” that I want to spend time reflecting upon now. I believe that Luke tells this story in order to put before us the importance of the Word of God, the importance of listening to Jesus. People speak of burning hearts when they are either in love or fired upwith anger. I think it is quite clear that we are talking about the former here. And herein lies the truth of the matter. How often do our hearts burn with love when we read the Word of God or are in prayer with God? Probably not often enough, I would tend to think. What can we do about this?

I believe that it is imperative that we develop a greater love and trust in the Word of God. This means that we will naturally develop a greater trust in the teachings of the Church as they are based in the Word of God. Why is this important? It is simply because it is an essential aspect of obedience to God’s will. What is obedience if it is not listening to His voice and then obeying it? God has given us the Scriptures in order to form our hearts and minds in the truth while the world often uses all sorts of other foundations to form the ways we think and act.

The two disciples are models for us in that they listened to what Jesus had to say and reflected upon His words later. We need to build this pattern of relating to the Word of God into our lives so that we regularly do this sort of thing. I am sure that if we are faithful to this pattern we will better know God’s will and be able to respond to it more faithfully. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

Reflection Question:

When was the last time I sat down to read the Scriptures simply because they are the Word of God?

 

Holy Spirit, form my mind and heart in the truths available to me in the Scriptures so that I will know what God wants me to do and have the courage to do it.

 

St. Celsus, pray for us.