“Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” (Luke 5:12).
There are so many miracles in the world. There are so many times that something in my life happens, and I completely disregard the blessed miracle that I have received.
How many times, could I have died on the road or fallen and had a life-changing accident? How many times have I turned left instead of right and therefore been saved for a cataclysmic event that I was not even aware was a possibility in my life?
And then there are the other miracles – the Sacraments. These are the miracles that I am supposed to be able to recognise.
I have only to think of each of the Sacraments to understand a true miracle. I have only to think of the Sacrament of Baptism – what a miracle is that. That splash of water in that sacrament makes me new again. I am born again in Christ. Just as I was born in water from my mother’s womb, my God allows me to be born again in this sacrament. And before I die, if I am blessed enough to receive the anointing of the sick (or the Last Rites), I will be anointed with water again so that I will be ready to be received by my God.
And this is not the only sacramental miracle. Of course, all the sacraments are miracles. Take reconciliation, for example, all those sins, which would prevent me from going to heaven, are literally obliterated – taken away. Just as Christ healed the leper who approached Him… “When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.” (Luke 5:12-16).
That was it. Was God willing? Well – once He was asked – yes! He was indeed willing to heal sickness of the body. And in the same way we ask Him to heal the sickness of the soul when we participate in the sacrament of reconciliation. And just as cleaning a physical wound prevents it from becoming infected and making us very very sick, so too does cleaning our spiritual soul help to prevent us from becoming very very spiritually sick (and the damnation of our soul).
And of course there are miracles in the other sacraments. The sacrament of Confirmation, which makes us strong in the GIFTS of the Holy Spirit. Being imbued with the special spiritual virtues and strengths that we will need to stay the course of goodness in our lives.
The Eucharist is perhaps the most obvious of all the miracles of the sacraments. After all, bread and wine is transformed into God Himself in that sacrament. And the God of the Universe becomes so small that I can consume Him into my own tiny, sinful little being…
And the Sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony. There too, God enters the human relationships to elevate those relationships to the Divine. There is of course, something of the Divine in every Catholic Marriage. The Living Holy Spirit comes between the Husband and the wife and works with them to hold their family together. And for a priest, the Holy Spirit is the reason why he can act as GOD during the Holy Mass and Sacraments.
And for these miracles, I wonder at my own indifference in this world. Receiving sacraments that should stop my heart with their significance and miraculous-ness and instead, plonking down into the confessional and reciting my confession as though I were brushing my teeth…
I pray for the Grace to be able to say to my Lord and God, with all the faith of the leper, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” I pray for that Grace.
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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