Miracles

Is the subject of miracles bound to be obscure, incomprehensible? Is there anything that can be said that is at all satisfying? After pursuing the subject in any number of books of theology meant for us ordinary mortals I'm inevitably left feeling quite unsatisfied. That itself may be telling me something worthwhile: that miracles are not something you or I are going to figure out with our reason. Perhaps the central thing about them is that they are not able to be contained within the thoughts and science we have developed. Writers in effect try to explain them away or offer some partial but basically unsatisfactory explanation. We don't know at this stage of human development -- and probably never will -- what are all the laws of nature. To say that a miracle is an exception to those laws is no help. Discuss the topic with thoughtful believers and they will bring up examples of miracles without being any closer to defining them. They will tell us how their father was freed from cancer by the prayers of family and friends. How the seemingly hopeless case of a friend paralyzed in an accident was turned around and she is now up and walking. Faith in prayer and in God's genuine care for us is what finds miracles. We can and should, if it interests us, continue to think about miracles but, better yet, leave God space in which to act in ways beyond our comprehension.