Your letter received on
this Vigil Day of Sts. Peter and Paul, when Catholics at Mass the world over are reading
the story of the miracle performed "at the Gate Beautiful of the Temple in the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth," is encouraging. It caused me to prayerfully say,
"lead kindly Light"; lead Mr. Isaacs on; he has taken the first step away from
error by saying, "I believe that some, but not all of the miracles in the Torah are
true." If even one miracle is acknowledged to be true, a step has been taken away
from the de-Judaized Judaism known as "Reform Judaism," "a religion without
mysteries or miracles," as Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, the founder of that sect in America,
designated it.
Belief in one miracle is belief in the power of God to do things that are not
in the natural order He made. Through nature God gave man the earth for an abode, and the
fruits thereof to satisfy his physical wants. Through miracles God gave man His moral
code; His priestly and sacramental aid to salvation; and, above all, His only begotten
Son, Jesus Christ, as the Truth, Way and Life that is never ending. Nature is the art of
God; miracles are God's love.
Miracles are performed by God directly or through some human agent. Christ
performed miracles in His own name by His own power, which is a sign of His divinity. To
the leper, who asked to be cleansed Christ said, "I will, be thou made clean. And
immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (St. Matt. 8:1-4). To the dead man,
Christ said, "Lazarus come forth," and he rose from the dead (St. John 11:43).
Moses, St. Peter, and others who performed miracles, let it be known that they were mere
agents of God. We read, "the Lord said to Moses stretch forth thy hands over the
sea," and the Red Sea parted (Ex. 10:21). St. Peter said to the crippled
beggar he cured at the Temple gate, "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth arise and
walk" (Acts 36).
Miracles are historical facts. We know of them, as we know of other things
that have taken place in the long gone historic past, through persons of those eras who
have recorded them, or passed the knowledge of them on to others who wrote or printed
them. Our faith in those historic incidents, be they wars or miracles, depends upon our
belief in the veracity of the historians. That being so, no one has any sound reason for
questioning the miracles recorded in the New Testament. No men have ever trod the earth of
greater integrity than the Apostles, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. Paul. They knew Christ,
most of them personally. They labored unselfishly in a loving spirit; they suffered and
died for their belief in Christ and the miracles He performed, having witnessed them, in
most instances personally. Those miracles that were performed by Christ in His own name,
by His own power, are the most forceful evidences of His divinity. Here is a list of some
of them.
MIRACLES |
GOSPEL RECORD |
| 1. Christ cured the leper who came to worship
Him........ |
St. Matt.
8:2-4 |
| 2. Christ cured the paralyzed servant........ |
8:5 |
| 3. Christ healed Peter's mother-in-law....... |
8:14-15 |
| 4. Christ stilled the great storm on the
lake........ |
8:23-27 |
| 5. Christ drove the devils out of two men at
Gerasa into swine and drowned the animals................ |
8:28-34 |
| 6. Christ healed the paralytic in
Capharnaum.......... |
9:2-8 |
| 7. Christ healed the woman dying of a
hemorrhage............ |
9:20 |
| 8. Christ raised the ruler's daughter from the
dead............ |
9:23-26 |
| 9. Christ gave sight to two blind men, who were
crying out "Have pity on us, Son of David"........... |
9:27-30 |
| 10. Christ cured the dumb demoniac to the
surprise of the crowd, that cried out "Never has the like been seen in
Israel"...................... |
9:32-34 |
| 11. Christ healed a man with a withered hand in
the Synagogue............. |
12:10 |
| 12. Christ cured a blind and dumb
demoniac........... |
12:22-23 |
| 13. Christ fed 5000 persons who had only two
fishes and five loaves........... |
14:19-21 |
| 14. Christ walked upon the water.............. |
14:25 |
| 15. Christ healed the Canaanite woman......... |
15:21 |
| 16. Christ fed 4000 persons who had been
without food for three days.......... |
15:32 |
| 17. Christ cured the son of a man who, on his
knees said, "Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic," etc. ........ |
17:14-15 |
| 18. Christ told the man in want of money to
cast his line into the sea, a fish upon it will have the stater in its mouth, and it
did.................... |
17:26 |
| 19. Christ gave sight to two blind men at
Jericho................. |
20:30 |
| 20. Christ cursed the sterile fig tree, made it
wither............. |
21:18 |
| 21. Christ touched the ears and tongue of a
deaf and dumb man and he was cured... |
St. Mark
7:31-34 |
| 22. Christ gave sight to a blind man in
Bethsaida................. |
8:22-25 |
| 23. Christ passed unseen through the crowds of
Jews who had taken Him to the brow of a hill to throw Him down headway, because He claimed
to be the fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah............................... |
St. Luke
4:1-30 |
| 24. Christ filled Simon's net full of fish
after his failure to catch any. The occasion when Simon was told that he would be a fisher
of men............ |
5:1-4 |
| 25. Christ raised to life the son of the widow
of Naim, who was dead......... |
7:11 |
| 26. Christ cured a stooped woman of her
infirmity for which she had suffered for 14 years........................ |
13:11 |
| 27. Christ cured a man sick with dropsy, to the
surprise of the lawyers and Pharisees who held it unlawful to cure on the Sabbath
day............. |
14:1 |
| 28. Christ healed ten lepers who were crying
out "Jesus, Master, have pity on us."................................ |
17:11-15 |
| 29. Christ put an ear back on the servant of
the high priest that had been cut off................................. |
22:50 |
| 30. Christ turned water into wine by his mere
fiat................ |
St. John
2:1 |
| 31. Christ cured the son of an official who was
dying of a fever................ |
4:46 |
| 32. Christ cured a man in Bethsaida who had
laid helpless on his mattress for 38 years............................ |
5:5-8 |
| 33. Christ healed a man who had been born
blind................. |
9:1 |
| 34. Christ raised Lazarus from the dead...... |
11:43 |
In my study of these miracles, I
was greatly impressed with the legitimacy of them by the fact that the influential in
Jewry did not deny that the cures took place. They could not, for they had seen some of
them performed, had heard of the others, and saw the crowds that followed Jesus wherever
he went, many of them sick, lame, leprous, deaf, dumb, blind persons who begged to be
cured. Thousands were cured of whom no record whatsoever was made.
The leaders in Jewry attributed the miracles of Christ to black art, to magic
such as the Egyptians and others of those times practiced. The Pharisees saw Christ give
sight and speech to a blind and dumb man, much to the amazement of the crowd who were
caused thereby to ask, "Can this be the Son of David (St. Matt. 12:22-24)?"
The Pharisees replied,
"This man does not cast out devils except by Beelzebub,
the prince of devils."
The magicians of biblical times could do some
strange things, such as are witnessed in India today, some of them by the power of the
devil. They could handle venomous reptiles, benumb them, and cause them to lie down as
stiff and dead as sticks. The story of them is told by Moses in Exodus (7:11; 8:18-19).
God promised to perform miracles through Aaron in answer to requests by Pharaoh. The
sorcerers present caused their sticks to turn to serpents. Aaron did the same, but he
caused his serpent to swallow all the others. Then upon another occasion, Aaron caused the
land to be overrun with lice, which the magicians, by request of Pharaoh, could not drive
out. Yet Pharaoh, like the Jews of Christ's day, like their descendants today, refused to
see in the miracles the power of God to whom Pharaoh was obligated to pay homage. Thus
there came upon him and his land the Ten Plagues we read about in the Torah.
While magic, especially black magic, is condemned in the Mosaic Law, it was
practiced among the Jews, especially during Talmudic times, by believers in the Cabbalah,
and in a most superstitious manner by the Chassidists, a "Holy Roller" division
of Jewry. While Saul banished the magicians from his realm, he consulted the witch of
Endor when in fear of the battle of Gilboa (1 Kings 28:3,7). Such magic, sorcery,
witchcraft, and even fortune telling is condemned by the Catholic Church as sinful.
Great as were the miracles of Christ that are listed in this letter, there
are two others that rank higher; one the resurrection of Christ and the other Christ in
His Church, the latter to be dealt with in another letter.
As far as belief in the resurrection from the dead is concerned, our fathers
of old in Israel, with the exception of the Sadducees, believed in it, as do Orthodox Jews
today. Two quotations from the Old Testament are sufficient to show that Jewish biblical
authority exists for the belief that there is to be a general resurrection of the dead for
judgment at the end of the world. Job says,
"I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I
shall rise out of the earth. I shall be clothed again... and in my flesh I shall see my
God" (19:26).
Daniel says,
"And, many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth,
shall awake; some unto life everlasting, and others to reproach, to see it always" (12:2).
Christ foretold His resurrection. The Jewish officials demanded
to know by what authority he drove the money changers out of the Temple; they demanded a
"sign," a miracle. Christ said "destroy this temple and in three days I
will raise it up,. . . speaking of the temple of the body" (St. John 2:18-22).
Later Christ said,
They want a "sign," the sign that "shall be
given" this "evil and adulterous generation" is "the sign of Jonas the
prophet, for as Jonas was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, so
will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (12:38-41).
Christ foretold His resurrection as a proof of His
divinity, and so it was. It proved Him to be the "Emmanuel, the God with us" we
read of in Isaiah (7:14). The man Jesus, true God as well as true man, was nailed
to the Cross by His enemies, as David said would happen to the Messiah a thousand years
before it did happen.
"They have pierced My hands and My feet; they have
numbered all My bones
"And they have looked and stared upon Me. They have parted My garments amongst
them; and upon My vesture they cast lots" (Psalm 21).
Christ was put to death; His body was taken down
from the Cross and placed in a rock tomb in a garden near Calvary, outside the city wall,
as the Jewish law did not allow "criminals" to be buried within the City gates (Num.
15:31-35). His tomb was sealed, a great stone being placed in front of it, soldiers
were stationed to guard the tomb, to keep the people from approaching it, so no one could
steal the body and herald forth a fake claim of resurrection. This the Jews feared, for
they knew the prediction of Christ that He would escape from the tomb as Jonas escaped
from the belly of the fish after being three days within it. Christ was placed in the tomb
on Friday, and early on Sunday morning, the third day foretold, while "Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary came to the sepulchre,"
"Behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel came
down from heaven, and drawing near rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His countenance
was like lightning, and His raiment like snow. And for fear of him the guards were
terrified and became like dead men. But the angel spoke and said to the women, `Do not be
afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for He has
risen even as He said'" (St. Matt. 28:1-6).
The accuracy of the claim that Christ rose from
the dead is vouched for by the Apostles, and others, who, as I said at the beginning of
this letter, were men of the highest integrity. They tell us of it through the Gospels,
documents that are better historically attested than are the history and writing of such
contemporary personages as Caesar and his Commentaries; Cicero and Tusculan Disputations;
Juvenal and his Satires; or Tacitus and Annals, which are accepted as authentic by all
educated persons.
The truth of the resurrection was doubted by the Jews of the days of Christ,
even by one of His Apostles, Thomas. He knew that Christ said He would rise from the dead,
but it was too much to believe. St. John tells the story of it,
"Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not
with them when Jesus came. The other disciples said to him, `We have seen the Lord.' But
he said to them, `Unless I see His hands and the print of His nails, and put my hand into
His side, I will not believe.' "And after eight days, His disciples were again
inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors were closed, and stood in the midst,
and said, `Peace be to you!' Then He said to Thomas, `Bring here thy finger, and see My
hands; and bring here thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but
believing.' Thomas answered and said to him, `My Lord and My God!'" (St. John
20:24-29).
Thus the doubter of our Lord's time was brought to
the realization that Christ is God, and to paying homage to Him, as you will if ever you
get to know and believe all that is embodied in this miracle of miracles.
Here are some of the evidences of Christ having risen from the dead, taken
mainly from persons who could say with St. Peter and the other Disciples, "we are
witnesses of these things," as well as other persons who recorded this truth during
apostolic times.
TEN APPEARANCES OF JESUS AFTER
HIS RESURRECTION
1. To Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (Mark 16:9-11).
2. To the other women in the same place (St. Matt. 28:9-10).
3. To Simon Peter on Sunday morning (Luke 24:34).
4. To the two disciples walking with them from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32).
5. To the disciples, Upper Room in Jerusalem, Thomas not present (St. John 20:19-25).
6. To the disciples, Thomas present (St. John 20:26-29).
7. To seven disciples on the Sea of Tiberias fishing with- out success until Christ
miraculously filled their net (St. John 21:1-22).
8. To the Eleven Disciples on the mountain, where they worshipped Him (St. Matt.
28:16-18).
9. To "more than five hundred at one time, many of them are with us still," said
St. Paul (1 Cor. 15:5-7).
10. The last appearance was in the midst of the Disciples on the Mount of Olives, the
place from which Christ ascended into heaven (Acts 1:7-8).
It was the resurrection that inspired the
Disciples to work for Christ unto martyrdom. Though the resurrection is the greatest of
all the miracles, it is but one of them. True religion, religion that is of God, is based
on miracles. The Jewish religion was the first of miraculous origin. The second, or rather
the perfection of the first, is the Christian religion, the only existing religion of
God's making. Jesus Himself pointed to His miracles and teachings as evidence of His being
the Christ (the Messiah). This took place when the representatives of John the Baptist,
who was in prison, came to inquire, "Art thou He who is to come?" Christ said to
them, after they had witnessed the miracles performed,
"Go and report to John what you have heard and seen the
blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise, the poor
have the gospel preached to them" (St. Matt. 11:1-6).
To Catholics the resurrection is the foremost
proof that Christ is "our Lord and our God." Therefore the Catholic Church says
with St. Paul,
"If Christ has not risen, vain is your faith" (1
Cor. 15:17).
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