“You don’t believe in miracles?”
Oh, dear Mrs. O, of course I believe in miracles! We see them every week of the year.
It is truly amazing to watch and be a part of God’s miracle of raising the dead!
Tattooed, pierced, lost, dead people come to our church, learn of God’s great love for them and Christ’s sacrifice for their sins. As the Holy Spirit speaks to their hearts, He draws them to Himself. They miraculously entrust themselves to Him for salvation and become saints. They follow Him in baptism that the world may know that they are His and they’ve chosen to follow him.
This is the greatest miracle happening in this age. Death to Life. Lazarus, but raised to eternal life.
They were dead in their sins. Now they are forgiven and made alive in Him.
They were lost. He finds them.
They were sinners. Now they are saints.
They were part of the kingdom of darkness. Now they have been translated to the kingdom of light.
They were alone. Now they are His forever.
They were estranged from God. Now they are told to approach His throne with boldness.
They were headed to hell. Now they are headed to Heaven.
They were not loved or valued. He loves them unconditionally and to the utmost.
Their past was bigger than their future. Now their future is bigger than their past.
They are sealed unto Him for the Day of Redemption by the Holy Spirit.
They are baptized into the Body of Christ.
They are uniquely gifted by the Holy Spirit.
They are born from above.
They became dead to the Law through Christ.
They became children of God - adopted into a position of heirs.
They are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
They have a future and a hope.
They become the temple of the Living God.
They were crucified with Christ.
Their sins were forgiven.
Christ now lives inside them.
They have eternal life.
They were made sanctified.
They were made the righteousness of God through Christ.
They are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Do we believe in miracles? Oh, yeah. We see them weekly in real lives changed by Christ. It is amazing. The church can’t hold any more people, but they continue to come and we continue to open new churches to reach more.
So exciting. We baptized quarterly. Last time there were 109 who followed Him in baptism, from 10 years old to 79 years old.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
What I wanted to comment upon was that,since about the 10th century, the process for canonization required 2 authenticated miracles which were obtained through the saint's intercession. The miracles are God's signal that this person really is in heaven interceding for us.
I've noticed among my non-Catholic Christian friends and family, the instant canonization of their beloved departed: that is to say, they are quite publicly proclaimed to be in heaven. It routinely appears in the obituaries, and always in the eulogies.
I see nothing offensive in this, but it contrasts with your statement that nobody on earth can know if anybody is in heaven. Common Protestant practice is to assume that everybody is in heaven.
And that same assumption seems to be creeping into Catholic practice, too.Pope John Paul II, in his eagerness to provide us with a lot of holy role-models by canonizing a lot of people, began dispensing with the "miracles" requirement back in the 90's.
But I think that was unwise. The Catholic Church should, I think, return to the traditional strictness over miracles as validating a person's arrival in heaven. Because how could we know that, unless God gave us a sign? Let God make the call. It's His job!