INSTRUCTION ON MIRACLES

[Denise]

And these signs shall follow them that believe.(Mark XVI. 17.)

What is a miracle?
A miracle, as defined by St. Thomas of Aquin, is anything beyond the
ordinary, fixed state of things that is done through God. Thus when
the sun stands still in his course, when thousands are fed with five
loaves and two small fishes, when by a word or simple touch the dead
are raised to life, the blind see, and the deaf hear, these are
things contrary to nature, and are miracles which can only be
performed by God or those persons to whom God has given the power.

That God can work miracles, cannot be denied. God has made the laws
of nature, and at any time it pleases Him, He can suddenly suspend
them, and that God has at times done so, we have more solid and
undeniable proofs, than we have for the most renowned and best
authenticated facts of history, far more witnesses testify to
miracles, the whole world has believed them, and been converted by
them; more than eleven millions of martyrs have died to confirm and
maintain their truth; no one gives up his life for lies and
deceptions; the Jews and pagans have admitted them, but ascribed them
to witchcraft and the power of demons rather than to God; by this they
proved and acknowledged the truth of miracles, because in order to
deny them, they were driven to false and absurd explanation of them.

Can men work miracles?
No; only God works miracles through man to whom He gives the power.
The history of the Christian Church in all ages bears testimony, that
men have wrought miracles in the name of Jesus, as, for example, the
apostles and the saints.

Can miracles be worked by the relics of saints, pictures, etc.?
The Church, in the Council of Trent, solemnly declares, that we are
never to believe that there is in any picture or relic any hidden
power by which a miracle can, be worked, and that we are not to honor
or ask any such thing of them. Therefore no miracle can ever be worked
by them, but God can perform miracles through them, and He has done
so, as the holy Scriptures and the history of the Church of Christ
both prove. But when through certain pictures (usually called
miraculous pictures) miracles do take place, that no deception may
occur, the Church commands that such a picture shall not be exposed
for the veneration of the faithful, until the truth of the miracles
performed is by a rigorous examination established beyond doubt; she
then causes such pictures to be respectfully preserved as monuments
of the goodness and omnipotence of God.

Why are there not so many miracles in our times as there were in the
first days of the Church?
Because the Church is no longer in need of such extraordinary
testimony to the truth of her teachings. Thus St. Augustine writes:
"He who in the face of the conversion of the world to Christianity
demands miracles, and strives to doubt those which have been wrought
in favor of this most wonderful change, is himself an astonishing
miracle of irrationality and stupidity;" and St. Chrysostom says:
"The question is sometimes asked: How happens it there are not so
many miracles now-a-days? The answer is, because the knowledge of
Christ is propagated all over the earth, and the Church is like a
tree which, having once taken deep root and grown to a certain
height, no longer needs to be carefully watered and supported."