God is in the Miracles

Do you believe in miracles?

On February 15, 1949, a construction worker named Giovanni Savino was severely injured in an accident involving dynamite. A doctor, Guglielmo Sanguinetti, Padre Raffaele, a capuchin, and a priest named Dominic Meyer all rushed to the injured man. All three noted that among Savino’s numerous injuries, his right eye was completely gone. All three agreed that the socket was empty. Other doctors affirmed that the eye was completely annihilated and the other one badly damaged.

It looked as if Savino would be blinded for the rest of his life. While in the hospital he prayed for a miracle. About a week later, at about 1 a.m. on February 25th, Savino felt a slap on the right side of his face, the side with the missing eye. He asked, “who touched me?” There was no response, but he detected the odor of sanctity, something that was associated with Padre Pio, a capuchin friar who, even during his life, was surrounded by the miraculous.

A little while later, the ophthalmologist, who was also an atheist, came to examine the remaining eye. He was shocked by what he saw. Savino’s shattered face was fully healed and covered with new skin. As they removed the bandages Savino shouted “I can see,” and indeed not only was his left eye healed, but his right eye was restored. The doctor, who had been an atheist, became a believer because of what he touched with his own hands.

This case is thoroughly documented, and needless to say, modern science can offer no explanation.

There is a school of thought that God is not active in the world, that He made the world , wound it up like a watch, and then left it to fend for itself. But the saints and the miracles accomplished through them, bear witness to the contrary.

The birth of John the Baptist underscores this truth. All of the prophets of the Old Testament culminated in John. He received from them the message of God’s plan for our salvation and passed that message on to Christ’s first disciples who in turn passed it on to the Church, which has continued to pass on this message through the ages.

We know that God continues to be active in the world because of the many saints he has given to us. Like John the Baptist and Padre Pio, these are people who recognized their mission, and conformed themselves so closely to Our Lord that you cannot look upon them without seeing in them the light of Christ.

The truth is, we are all called to be saints. It has been said that the entire structure of the Church exists for one purpose, the making of saints. We become saints by pursuing holy lives, fulfilling our role in the building of the Kingdom, the mission that God has assigned to us from eternity.

Each of us has a unique mission in God’s plan that only we can fill. What will be lost if we do not pursue that mission?

Pax Vobiscum