Miracles which prove our
faith.
Preface: I believe that my faith is a gift from God.
Question 9 of the Catechism: What is faith? Faith is a supernatural gift of
God, which enables us to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed. But
as well as ‘supernatural faith’ there also attested Miracles which also prove
our faith. Here are some of them.
Our Lady of Guadalupe 1531.
In 1531 there were few Catholics in Mexico. Juan Diego was a convert of the
Franciscan Missionaries. After a visionary meeting with Our Lady he was given
the task of carrying flowers in his tilma (an Aztec
garment like a long cape) to the Bishop of Mexico. The flowers had been
arranged by Mary. When Juan presented the floral display the Bishop dropped to
his knees. Our Lady had arranged the flowers in a picture of herself. This led
to a Cathedral being built on the site of Our Lady’s appearance to Juan which
is where the tilma, which is in perfect condition,
can been seen.
In the early days persecutors of the Church tried to damage the tilma by placing a bomb timed to explode during a High Mass
and within the range of the tilma. The bomb exploded
shattering an altarpiece and twisting a bronze cross but no-one was hurt and
the glass in front of the tilam did not even crack.
Our Lady of Knock 1879.
On the 21st August 1879 at the Church of St John the Baptist in Knock, Eire,
a tableau appeared on the church wall at the back of
the Church. It consisted of Our Lady, St Joseph, St John the Evangelist and an
altar with on it a lamb with two angels flying alongside and in the background
a Cross.
The tableau was seen by fifteen parishioners, men women and children aged
from six to seventy-five, and lasted from approximately 7.30p.m. to 11.00p.m. For some of the time it was teeming with rain
but no-one left. Some prayed the Rosary others stood transfixed by what they
were seeing.
A Commission was set up to examine the happening. Scientists could not find
any cause for the vision to be false. The Daily Telegraph sent a reporter to Knock but he also could not find any reason to falsify what
had happened.
Our Lady of Fatima 1917.
On the 13th May 1917 three young children, Lucia aged nine, her
cousin Francisco aged eight and his sister Jacinta aged six had a vision of a
beautiful youthful lady holding a Rosary who told them that she came from
heaven and asked them to come to the same place on the 13th of every
month till October when she would tell them who she was and what she wanted
them to do.
On a subsequent vision the lady promised ‘a sign’ which would allow everyone
to believe what the children had said.
On the 13th October which was to be the last appearance of the
Lady a crowd of tens of thousands were present awaiting the sign. The weather
was appalling. Wind and rain lashed the crowds and everyone was soaked. The
lady appeared and told the children ‘I am the Lady of the Rosary’. She
asked that people should amend their lives, ask for pardon and not offend Our
Lady any more.
Before she departed she opened her hands and from them rays of light
extended towards the sun. As the Lady left the sun started spinning in the sky.
Multicoloured lights shot out in every direction. At
the same time the heavens seemed to be revolving as the sun spun madly and then
appeared to hurtle down to the earth. Many in the crowd were terrified and
thought the end of the world had come. As suddenly the miracle started, it
stopped. Then another miracle: their previously rain soaked clothes were
completely dry.
For fuller details of the visions of Guadalupe, Knock and Fatima go to www.religiouswriting.com and click
on The Life of Mary.
Eucharistic Miracles.
There are many attested Miracles concerning the Blessed Eucharist. Among
them are the 8th Century Miracle of Lanciano,
Italy, the 1263 Miracle of Bolsena-Orvieto, Italy,
the 13th Century Miracle of Santarem, Portugal, the 1317 miracle of
Hasselt, Belgium, the 1730 miracle of the Sacred Blood Siena, Italy and the
1876 miracle of Dubna, Poland.
For fuller details of these miracles go to www.religouswriting.com and click on
The Story of the Life of Jesus and to Commentary of the Real Presence and
scroll down to Lanciano…
The Miracle of Buenos Aires
1996.
Such miracles still occur and the latest one was in 1996 in Buenos Aires. On
the 19th August 1996 Fr. Alejandro Pezet
was told by a lady parishioner that a Host had been dropped at the back of
church. The host was in poor condition and soiled so the priest put it in a
bowl of water, as required by local rules, and put it in the Tabernacle of the
Blessed Sacrament Chapel, waiting for it to dissolve in the water.
Six days later on opening the tabernacle Fr. Pezet
was astonished to find that the host had become a bloody substance. The
miraculous happening was reported to Coadjutor Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis).
For years the Host remained in the Tabernacle and the event was held in
strict secrecy. Since the Host suffered no visible decomposition in 1999 it was
decided to have a sample analyzed scientifically.
This was under the direction of Jorge Bergoglio who
had now become Archbishop.
Without knowing what it was or where it had come from scientist at a
laboratory in Buenos Aires and later in New York ascertained that the sample
was a fragment containing red and white cells of the blood and tissue of a
human heart.
One of the scientists, Dr Mike Willesee Zugide, stated that there is no way to explain the fact: “How and why a consecrated Host may change and become flesh and blood remains an inexplicable mystery to science, a mystery totally out of my jurisdiction”.