Dear Harley,
The typical mistake too many people seem to make regarding miracles is putting too much emphasis on physical miracles
The Late Father John Hardon explains this better than I can...
“”In general a miracle is any effect perceptible by the senses, produced by God which surpasses the powers of nature. Immediately we must explain that there are three levels of natural laws that God can surpass and thus perform a miracle. There are the physical laws of visible nature. Thus the sudden healing of a fatal disease surpasses needless to say the powers of human physical nature. Indeed surpasses the powers of all physical nature. Walking on water is naturally impossible. The raising of a dead human being back to life exceeds all created power, and no one but God with His omnipotence can raise a dead person back to life. And just for the record, physical miracles are the lowest level of miraculous phenomena.
On a higher level than physical miracles is the performance of what the Church calls moral miracles. A moral miracle exceeds the powers of the human will in the practice of superhuman moral virtue. For which the Church has coined the term “heroic moral virtue”. This in fact is one of the norms used by the Church in her assessment of authentic sanctity. The lives of saints like Francis of Assisi and Thomas More. The deaths of martyrs like St. Agnes and Maria Goretti. These are witnesses to the miraculous power that Christ has given to His most beloved followers over the centuries. In other words, every canonized saint is a moral miracle. And today’s world needs (what a safe statement) men and women and even children who are practicing what the Church calls heroic virtue.
Finally, still on the different levels of miraculous phenomena there are intellectual miracles in which God enlightens the human mind beyond all natural capacity for acquiring knowledge. The most obvious witnesses to this highest level in the time of Christ were (Shall I say it?) the dense thick-headed Apostles. God had to enlighten them, and this is part of our faith - miraculously. However, over the centuries Christ has continued performing these miracles of the intellect. In a St. Augustine of Hippo, and in a St. Therese of Avila, or in a Catherine of Siena. These testify to the power of Christ, the Incarnate Truth, can produce among human beings who believe that He is indeed the Living God in human form.””
Its certainly been awhile since I posted you, I hope all is well with you and your family!
Yes everything is find. My Internet connection has been reduced and I have been extremely busy the rest of the time. My son won first place in his high school science fair and is moving on to the regionals. Talk about miracles!!!! My wife and I told him to do some simple little thing but we insisted he do it well. All we were interested is that he get an "A" for his project. You could have knocked us over with a feather when they called his name out as a first place winner. (about 10 first place winners out of 550)
Well enough yaking... (the world doesn't need more yaks)
I would certainly agree with your first (transcending natural laws) and third (enlightening the human mind) examples. I would have a problem with "moral" miracles. I'm not quite sure what that would be. Thomas More refusal to accept King Henry's leadership as the head of the Church of England, doesn't speak to me as a "moral" miracle but rather someone who simply believes, rightly or wrongly, in his Church. You could say the same thing about Wycliff or Jan Hus but I doubt if you'll find the Church crediting Wycliff or Hus as a "moral" miracle.
Yes everything is find. My Internet connection has been reduced and I have been extremely busy the rest of the time. My son won first place in his high school science fair and is moving on to the regionals. Talk about miracles!!!! My wife and I told him to do some simple little thing but we insisted he do it well. All we were interested is that he get an "A" for his project. You could have knocked us over with a feather when they called his name out as a first place winner. (about 10 first place winners out of 550)
Well enough yaking... (the world doesn't need more yaks)
I would certainly agree with your first (transcending natural laws) and third (enlightening the human mind) examples. I would have a problem with "moral" miracles. I'm not quite sure what that would be. Thomas More refusal to accept King Henry's leadership as the head of the Church of England, doesn't speak to me as a "moral" miracle but rather someone who simply believes, rightly or wrongly, in his Church. You could say the same thing about Wycliff or Jan Hus but I doubt if you'll find the Church crediting Wycliff or Hus as a "moral" miracle.