In today's Gospel, we are confronted with the tender love of Jesus Christ,
that as true God and true man, He truly came in order to touch the hearts of all.
And so, our Lord would work miracles in order to bring the people to a greater faith.
And it is in this context that we must always understand the nature of miracles,
for often we misunderstand miracles and we really misunderstand what the mission of the Lord was.
For our Lord almost always, after He would work a miraculous cure,
would commend the faith of the ones who received the cure,
but He would also give some type of warning or some type of admonition
that they were to go and sin no more.
And so, spiritual disease is much worse than physical disease.
Our Lord cures the physical diseases miraculously often in order to bring us to a greater faith.
And as we exercise that greater faith, we come to recognize the Christ as the divine physician
who can heal both body, but more importantly, who can heal our spirit, that is, our soul.
And so, we must strive always and everywhere to work for that.
And so, we must strive always and everywhere to work for that.
And indeed, if we consider it and think about it in a right way,
we come to understand what St. Anselm and others had pointed out,
that the greatest miracle the Christian can perform is perseverance in the Christian life.
Indeed, if a Christian perseveres, for instance, the saints would point out,
in the virtue of chastity, according to their state in life,
whether it be the married or the religious life,
the very fact that they exist,
the Christian ideal in that virtue is a miracle in itself,
and it is a witness to the world that there is something greater beyond this world,
something better than this world.
For they pointed out that even the pagan knows that if any Christian,
whatever their state in life may be, lives up to the ideals of Christian chastity,
that they must have received aid from outside.
And so, as these souls received a physical cure from outside of themselves,
that is, from the Son of God,
so, too, we receive the spiritual cure outside of ourselves,
that is, by the grace of God.
And so, let us always strive to see miracles in their proper perspective,
knowing that the greatest miracle we can receive is perseverance in the grace of God.
And let us always and everywhere strive to understand that as we grow in our faith,
we should come to know and understand that the greatest thing we can do in this life
is not receive miraculous cures, but persevere in our Christian faith,
often we pray to God to deliver us in a miraculous way because we are afraid to witness to the faith
that way of witness that is necessary in the times in which the Church is persecuted.
And indeed, we have every reason to believe that in our present time and in our present age,
the signs are very clear that a persecution of the Church,
an open and visible persecution, is merely just around the corner,
and why we should pray always and everywhere
that God will preserve us from such a thing, even if God has to work miracles.
We should pray more earnestly that we are able to persevere if a persecution breaks out in the Church,
for we know from the history of the Church that persecutions against her are very violent,
and indeed, God often works many miracles in the midst of that very persecution,
and he does so in order to bring the persecutors to their sense.
And so, let us always strive to understand
that the greatest thing we can do for the Lord in this life
is to suffer for him because he first suffered for us.
And so, let us always pray that the Lord will continue to work the miracles,
but let us more earnestly pray that we may persevere in his grace
so that we may become witnesses to his love at the end of our lives,
and most especially that witness by which all souls know it is impossible for human beings to attain,
that is, any exercise of Christian virtue,
as it is taught by the Church and as it was taught by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If we do that, then we have told the world that God truly exists,
and that he truly is the divine physician,
and that he can take the weak vessels of this earth and raise them up to a much greater state,
that is, the state by which they truly have received holiness from God,
and because they have persevered in love of God,
they will attain that holiness of God for all eternity in heaven,
where they will see him face to face
and praise him for the wonderful things that he has done for them and for all mankind.
Essex