Believe in Miracles

“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.”
Pope Blessed Pius IX

Everyone loves a good miracle, yet I find today so many of us do not believe. We have stopped expecting the Holy Spirit to act. I find myself some days also needing hope in moments of despair, and it is then that I remember, we have a God of miracles.

I first started to notice personally that miracles are performed more often than we imagine when I started recording my petitions to God. In an effort to make sure I prayed for people I said I would pray for, I started to write my petitions in a journal and each day I would ask God to cover over, heal, help, and generally bless the people in my journal. I would often say the Rosary for all the intentions in my book. As time went on, I would sometimes forget the prayers that I had. I would forget what was asked for, and I didn't always recognize the outcome. I was busy in my life, but I was most assuredly asking God to remember, remember those written in my journal, even if I couldn’t remember.

Then one day I came across one of my journals from several years back. I read my petitions and I was astounded. Each had been answered. They were not always the way I would have thought they would be answered, but they were answered. These were no small prayers. Dear Lord, please help my relative stop drinking alcohol. Dear Lord, please help my infertile friend have children. Dear Lord, please heal my friend from cancer. As I scrolled down the page, I realized that each had been answered. Many in a bigger and better way than I imagined. There were a couple that, at first glance I thought had not been answered, like one friend who needed healing and passed away, but then I realized the place of complete healing is heaven and she was made whole. But by in large, the majority were answered in this world and the things that at the time has seemed like impossible mountains had been moved. Moved by the grace of God. He whispered to me, “I have been working all these things throughout time. I have been writing these stories. Trust me.”

And so it is with no surprise that I know our God working through Our Lady and the Communion of Saints can work some of the greatest miracles for all to witness. Our Lady gave us the Rosary and I know that is one of the most miraculous powerful prayers. I was remembering a moment from history the other day. I was in 8th grade and I remember hearing about all the turmoil in the Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos and his wife with many shoes and the dictatorship of the island. It was shaping up to become a bloody battle with a few people already dead, including the staunch critic of Marcos, Benigno Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated. But it didn’t become a bloody battle. Cardinal Sin of Manila had asked the people to pray. The people went out in front of the military praying the Rosary aloud. They stood in front of tanks praying. And then, a miraculous thing happened, the military laid down their arms. Even the secular media reported how the Guns fell to Rosaries. And the revolution was over, and the grace of God was seen.

Don’t stop believing in miracles. Expect them. And pray the Rosary every chance you get. Lord knows our world needs it.