2nd Sunday – Gospel Illustration - John 2:1–11 - Do Miracles Still Occur?

1. Do Miracles Still
Occur?
Most people will tell you they
stopped when the last Apostle
died.

2. What’s a Miracle?
CCC Glossary - Miracle:
A sign or wonder, such as a healing or a control of
nature, which can only be attributed to divine power.

3. Why Did Jesus Perform Miracles?
CCC 548 The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has
sent Him.
They invite belief in Him.
To those who turn to Him in faith, He grants what they ask.
So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does His Father's
works; they bear witness that He is the Son of God.
But his miracles can also be occasions for "offense";
they are not intended to satisfy people's curiosity or desire for magic.

4. Protestant Reformers
Attempted to discredit the countless
miracles that had been given in
confirmation of the Catholic faith, the
original Protestant Reformers utterly
rejected the notion that miracles had
continued beyond the apostolic age.

5. Pentecostal Movement
The Pentecostal movement began
in Protestantism in the early
1900s.
Its emphasis on miraculous
healing became a problem for
other Protestant denominations
That needed to find ways to try to
explain why such miracles had
“vanished” for so long.

6. Church Fathers
The early Church Fathers tell us that
miracles have always been found in the
Catholic Church.
Fatima
Lourdes
Marian Apparitions

7. Christian writers themselves
Describe how the educated and
sophisticated have been won
over by logics inability to
explain miracles and
Miracles also converted the
uneducated, by a sort of
stupefaction or terror before
the greatness of God’s power.

8. St. Polycarp (69-155)
He was to be burned to
death for opposing
the Gnosticism
(people that believed
that Jesus wasn’t
divine and they also
said they held secret
information).
But the flames wouldn’t
burn him.

9. An Eyewitness Account tells us
“The flame blazed forth in
great fury, we to whom it
was given to witness it
beheld a great miracle.
(We) have been preserved
that we might report to
others what then took place.
For the fire, shaping itself into
the form of an arch,
Like the sail of a ship when
filled with the wind,
encompassed by a circle the
body of the martyr.”
The executioner was ordered
to stab Polycarp.
There came forth a dove, a
great quantity of blood that
extinguished the flames.

10. All The Original Apostles Were
Dead in 155 A.D.
The report was from
eyewitnesses to the
Martyrdom.
Clearly this was a miracle.
His protection from the flames
clearly came from God.
Even after having been
stabbed a dove came out of
the wound, again
demonstrating the power of
God.

11. Narcissus 312 AD tells us that
At the Paschal Vigil the oil
lamps burned out.
Narcissus directed those who
attended to the lights to
draw water and bring it to
him.
. . . he prayed over the
water.
He commanded them to pour
the water into the lamps.
By the miraculous power of
God the water was
converted into oil, thus the
vigil was allowed to
continue.

12. St. Basil the Great (329-379)
Tells us of a man he knew called
Gregory the Wonderworker
Who had power over demons.
He commanded a river to change its
course, and it did.
He caused a lake to dry up.
“Moreover his predictions of things
to come were such as in no way
to fall short of the great prophets.”

13. St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397)
In a letter to his sister he tells
her of a miracle (388).
He found some bodies of “holy
martyrs.”
While moving these relics to
the church a blind man
touched them and was
cured.

14. St. Jerome (347-419)
St. Jerome tells us of St.
Hilarion
A mother had 3 sick children
and went to Hilarion and
begged that he pray over
her children.
He prayed, and made the sign
of the cross over the
children and within an hour
they were back to normal.

15. Our Lady of Lourdes (1858 to the present day)
There is no natural
cause capable of
producing the cures
witnessed at
Lourdes, France.
Such cures can only
be traced back to
the miraculous hand
of God working in
our present day.

16. At St. Anne’s in Canada
Crippled people bring their
crutches and wheelchairs to
the shrines of Saints who've
interceded in their healing,
Certain shrines have become
known for being places where
Saintly intercession is
especially powerful
The picture at right shows an
almost sculptured collection of
crutches at St. Anne's shrine
in Quebec.

17. Our Original Question Was:
Do miracles still occur?
Sure they do.
Why?
For the same reason Jesus performed miracles while He was here
on earth.
Miracles strengthen our faith.
Miracles prove the existence of God in our present lives.
In His own words,
“Lv. 26:12 Ever present in your midst, I will be your God, and you will
be my people”