Dom Prosper Gueranger:
We are bound to believe the Word of God, but this Word is accompanied with every proof of its really coming from God. When Jesus told men that He was the Son of God, He gave ample proof of His being such: in the same manner He insists on our believing what He reveals, but He gives us a guarantee of its being the truth. What is this guarantee? Miracles. Miracles are the testimony which God bears to himself. A miracle rouses man’s attention, for he knows that it is by God’s will alone that the laws of nature can be suspended. If God employ a miracle to make His will known, He has a right to find man obedient. The Israelites were convinced that it was God who was leading them, for the sea opened a passage to them immediately that Moses stretched forth his hand over its waters. Now Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, (Hebrews xii. 2) did not demand our belief in the truths He revealed to us until He had proved the divinity of His mission by miracles. “The works which I do,” said He, “give testimony of me.” (John v. 36) And again: “If you will not believe Me, believe my works.” (John x. 38) And what are these works? When Saint John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to Jesus, that they might ask Him if He were the promised Messiah, Jesus gave them this answer: “Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them.” (Luke vii. 22)
Such is the motive of our faith. Jesus requires of us that we receive His Word as being that of the Son of God, for He has proved Himself to be so by the works He has wrought. Truly may we exclaim with the Psalmist: “Your testimonies, Lord, are become exceedingly credible.” (Psalm xcii. 5) Whom shall we believe, if we refuse to believe Him? And what must be the guilt of them who refuse to believe! Let us hearken to our Jesus speaking of those proud men who, though they had witnessed His miracles, rejected His teaching: “If,” says He, “I had not done among them the works that no other man has done, they would not have sin.” (John xv. 24) It is their incredulity that led them astray, but their incredulity showed itself when, after witnessing such miracles as the raising Lazarus to life, they refused to acknowledge the Divinity of Him who bore testimony to Himself by such works as these.
But our Risen Jesus is soon to ascend into Heaven. The miracles He wrought will be things of a long past. Are we, henceforth, to have no testimony for His Word, which is the object of our faith? Let us not fear. Do we forget that historical documents, when genuine, bring the same conviction to our minds with regard to past events, as though we ourselves had been witnesses of those events? Is it not a law of the human mind — is it not a basis of certainty, that we yield assent to the testimony of our fellow-men as often as we have evidence that they are neither deceived themselves, nor wish to deceive us? The miracles wrought by Jesus will be handed down to the end of time, supported by guarantees of authenticity which no facts of history could possibly have. If the authority of history is what all acknowledge it to be, then is he a fool who doubts the miracles which we are told were worked by our Saviour. Though we have not been eye-witnesses of them, yet such is our certainty of their having been done, that our faith is as strong and as docile as though we had assisted at the admirable scenes described in the Gospel.
Our Lord had sufficiently provided for our yielding our faith to His Word, by letting us know that He had confirmed His teaching by His miracles. But He would do more. He gives His disciples the power to do what He Himself had done, and this in order that our faith might be strengthened by these supernatural evidences. It was on one of the forty days spent with His Apostles before His Ascension that He spoke these words to them: “Go into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptised, will be saved; but He that believes not, will be condemned.” (Mark xvi. 15, 16) We have already stated the basis on which this faith was to rest — the miracles of the God-Man who demands our faith. But, there were to be other miracles super-added to His own. Let us continue the text just quoted: “And these signs will follow them that believe: in my name they will cast out devils, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they will drink any deadly thing it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark xvi. 17) Here, then, we find the power of working miracles given to Jesus’ Disciples. He bids them go and preach His Word to men, and men must yield their faith. He, therefore, gives His disciples a power over nature which will prove them to be the Ambassadors of the Most High. Their word is not their own: it is that of God. They are the Ministers of the Incarnate God, and we must believe their teaching. By believing them, we are, in reality, believing Him who sends them, and who, to make us sure of their rightful authority, gives them the credentials which He Himself deigned to show to men when He spoke with His own lips.
Neither is this all. If we carefully weigh His words, we will see that He does not intend the gift of miracles to cease with His first disciples. It is true that history proves how faithfully Jesus fulfilled His promise and that, when the Apostles went forth commanding the world to believe what they preached, they gave testimony of their divine mission by countless miracles — but our Risen Lord promised more than this. He said not: “These are the signs which will follow my Apostles,” but “These are the signs which will follow them that believe.” By these words He perpetuated in His Church the gift of miracles. He made it one of her chief characteristics, and one of the grounds of our faith. Before His Passion, He had gone so far as to say: “He that believes in me, the works that I do, he also will do, and greater than these will he do” (John xiv. 12). It is now that He graces her with this prerogative so that, dating from that hour, we must not be surprised at finding that His Saints perform miracles, greater even, at times, than His own. He promised that it should be so, and He has kept His word, thus showing us, how desirous He is that Faith (which is one of the main objects of a miracle), should be fostered and made vigorous in His Church. Far, then, be from every loyal child of the Church that fear, that uneasy feeling, yes, that indifference, which some people evince when they hear or read of a miracle. The only thing we should look to is — are the witnesses trustworthy? If so, a true Catholic should receive the account with joy and gratitude. He should give thanks to our Jesus who thus mercifully fulfils His promise and keeps such a watchful eye over the preservation of Faith.
