The Catholic
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Reconciliation
One of the ways that God has confirmed the truth of the Catholic Church is through miracles. Some of God's greatest miracles have occurred within the Catholic Church. Some of these include: the miracle at Fatima, in 1917, where the sun was seen to whirl around in the sky, exuding rays of many colors from it; at Lourdes, in 1858, where a woman whose face was partly eaten away by disease, had her face restored to its original condition through the miraculous waters there; Padre Pio (d. 1968), who bled from the hands like Christ did (the stigmata), and levitated, just like St. Joseph of Cupertino did three centuries before him; many nuns, some from the 20th century, who lived many years by eating or drinking nothing except for the Eucharist; Lanciano, where the bread and wine at consecration turned into the body and blood of Christ in a way that made it visible (the blood is now in 5 coagulated balls, and no matter how many of the balls are weighed at the same time, they come out to the same weight); St. Januarius, whose blood is kept in a vile, and when it is displayed 18 times per year, it liquefies and bubbles; the Incorruptibles, the bodies of the saints that have not decayed, even after they have been dead for centuries; and so on. This is true to Christ's statement that "the man who believes in me will do the works I do, and greater than these" (John 14:12).
Because of this, some of the early Protestants and Reformers claimed that miracles ceased after the Apostolic Age. The evidence from the Church fathers contradicts this. The Martyrdom of Polycarp (15––16 [A.D. 155]): "When [Polycarp] had . . . finished his prayer, those who were appointed for the purpose kindled the fire [to burn him to death]. And as the flame blazed forth . . . a great miracle . . . took place. For the fire, shaping itself into the form of an arch . . . encompassed . . . the body of the martyr . . . we perceived such a sweet odor, as if frankincense or some such precious spices had been smoking there . . . they commanded an executioner to go near and pierce him through with a dagger. And on his doing this, there came forth a dove and a great quantity of blood, so that the fire was extinguished"; Irenaeus (Against Heresies, 2:31:2-4 [189 A.D.]: [Heretics are not] able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them and the apostles did by means of prayer, and as has been frequently done in the [Catholic] brotherhood . . . The entire church in that particular locality entreating with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead man has returned"; Athanasius (Letters 49:9 [A.D. 354]: "We know bishops who work miracles" (Letters 49:9 [A.D. 354]); Ambrose (Letters 22:1-2, 17 [A.D. 388]: "During the translation [of relics] a blind man was healed . . . He declares that when he touched the hem of the robe of the martyrs, wherewith the sacred relics were covered, his sight was restored"; Basil (The Holy Spirit 74 [A.D. 375]) "Gregory [the Wonderworker] . . . by Christ's mighty name commanded even rivers to change their course and caused a lake . . . to dry up"; Augustine (City of God, 22:8 [A.D. 419] "For even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ, whether by his sacraments or by the prayers or relics of his saints . . . What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work that I cannot record all the miracles I know . . . how long it would take me to relate all those miracles, which the necessity of finishing the work I have undertaken forces me to omit. . . . Even now, therefore, many miracles are wrought, the same God who wrought those we read of still performing them, by whom he will and as he will".
Protestants, of course, must necessarily reject such miracles, and the accounts of miracles in Catholic history have been called mere legend by some Protestants, but not all of the miracles above cannot be explained away thus. Protestants must necessarily accept that indeed, the supernatural is taking place in a unique way in the Catholic Church. So Protestants instead take another approach, what might be called the charge of the Pharisees–they doubt the authenticity of the miracles (John 9:13-41), and attribute these miracles to the work of the devil (Mark 3:22). In defense of this position, they cite Exodus, where the magicians, after Aaron turned his rod into a snake, "each threw down his rod, and they turned into snakes" (Ex. 7:11-12). They also cite Matthew 24:24, where Christ says, "false messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders." As to the latter, the signs and wonders are related to Antichrist and the end times alone, will be a special allowance by God to permit the antichrist to deceive people, and cannot be applied to the long history of Christian miracles.
As to the former, even the Pharaoh's magicians attributed the miracles of Moses to the "finger of God" (Ex. 8:15), acknowledging that some wonders could be identified as being the work of God. Simon Magus, for instance, who "astounded Samaritans with his magic . . . was astounded when he saw the great miracles being performed" by the Apostles (Acts 8:9, 25). Consider the following passages: "The Lord . . . proved that their preaching was true by the miracles that were performed" (Mark 16:20); "[The Lord] proved that their message about His grace was true by giving them the power to perform miracles" (Acts 14:3); "Jesus . . . was a man whose divine authority was proven to you by the miracles which God performed through him" (Acts 2:22); "[Nicodemus said] We know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him" (John 3:2). This demonstrates that miracles proved the messages of Jesus and the Apostles. If the works of Satan could not be distinguished from the works of God, then miracles could not be said to prove the truth of the gospel message. So what is the difference between the works of God and the works of Satan? For instance, the works of Jesus were often works of mercy (healings). This is significant, because there have been many miracles of healing in the history of the Catholic Church. Some Protestants say about these healings "what Satan gives, Satan can take away". Some Protestants believe that our suffering and illness is brought about from Satan (Like 13:11-13; Acts 10:38). But if this were true, then a healing attributed to Satan would amount to "Satan driving out Satan", which is an idea that was rejected by Christ Himself (Matt. 12: 22-28; Mark 3:20-26). Simply put, if a godly man is a believer in the one True God, and acknowledges that Christ has come in the flesh (1 John 2:22), and a miracle is done through or in him, we know that these miracles are authentic. Only when a man invokes evil spirits can we conclude that the devil is behind a mock miracle. "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God . . . Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God" (1 John 4:1-2).
Another significant passage can be found in John: "How could a demon give sight to blind people" (John 10:21), referring to Jesus restoring the sight of the blind man . These were the words of those who believed in the miracles of Jesus. Why did John record these words? Obviously because he believed what they were saying was true–the miracles of Jesus were the works of God. The importance of this passage is that one of the first miracles at Lourdes was the restoring of sight to a blind man. Clearly this must have been the work of God. And if these miracles of healing were of God, then it logically follows that the other miracles of the Catholic Church are as well.
Protestants also argue that we must judge miracles by comparing the message with the Bible. Since the doctrines taught by Catholics are unscriptural, they say, then these miracles must not be from God. However, there is no indication that this was the case in the Bible. In fact, it was the other way around. The Bible tells us the message of Jesus and the Apostles was proven by the miracles: (Matt. 11:3-5; 16:1; John 2:18, 23; 12:37; 20:31; Acts 2:43; 5:12; 6:8; Heb. 2:4).
John also reports that no sinner could perform the miracles Jesus performed: "How could a man who is a sinner perform such miracles as these" (John 9:16). Obviously, Jesus was from God. Protestants might say that Catholics who wrought miracles were sinners because of their refusal to come into a Biblically-based saving relationship with Christ. But this would make nonsense out of verse 16, where Pharisees, who thought Jesus to be a sinner, were argued with by people who said no one who was a sinner (whether by apostasy or otherwise) could perform miracles. In other words, Jesus proved he was not an apostate by his miracles, because an apostate could not do what Jesus did.
If Jesus proved he was the Messiah by miracles, then the Catholic Church can prove it is Christ's church by miracles. If the Church's miracles could be demonic deception, then so could the miracles of Jesus. Protestants say Jesus proved he was the Messiah through the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. But the Bible says Jesus proved He was the Messiah by His miracles and his miracles alone, before even turning to what was written in the Scriptures (which did indeed also prove he was the Messiah). Yes, mock miracles by Satan are possible and can deceive. But it is clear that Satan's mock miracles can be distinguished by miracles of God, and these mock miracles are not common, restricted mainly to the works of Antichrist (Matt. 24:5, 24; 1 Thess 2:9) whereas the fact that such a large number of miracles have occurred in the Catholic Church prove that God is behind them. Augustine, a Catholic, lists many occurrences of miracles that occurred in the Catholic Church of his day, (City of God, 22:8). One miracle of note was the curing of a blind woman by means of the relics of St. Stephen. One miracle relates the bringing of a dead man back to life, through the intercession of St. Stephen nonetheless, something Jesus did and alone could do (Matt 9:23-25). It is inconceivable that the miracles of the past 2000 years have been Satan's work, while God's miracles have been far less numerous and phenomenal. There is no precedent for such a thing in the Scriptures.
Many Catholics over the centuries have reported apparitions, often of Jesus and Mary, and often accompanied with certain "revelations". These "private revelations", unlike "public revelation" which was entrusted to the apostles and ended with their death, are not binding on Catholics. This is so because the fullness of God's revelation was given to the Church publicly and protected by it, and forms the sole basis of Catholic doctrine. Because private revelations over the centuries supported the teachings of the Catholic Church, the Reformers rejected them, contrary to the Biblical command: "Do not stifle the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test everything; retain what is good" (1 Thess. 5:19––21).
Private revelation has always been recognized by the Catholic Church: Hermas (The Shepherd 1:3:1––8 [A.D. 80]) "The vision which I saw, my brethren, was of the following nature . . ."; Polycarp (Martyrdom of Polycarp 5, 12 [A.D. 155]) "While he [Polycarp] was thus at his prayers, three days before his arrest, he had a vision in which he saw flames reducing his pillow to ashes; whereupon he turned to his companions and said, ‘‘I must be going to be burnt alive"; Pionius (Martyrdom of Polycarp, note 2 [A.D. 250]) "I found them [manuscripts of "The Martyrdom of Polycarp"] after Polycarp the Blessed had revealed their whereabouts in a vision"; Eusebius (Life of Constantine 1:28––32 [A.D. 337]). "And while he [the Emperor Constantine] was praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven . . . a trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, ‘Conquer By This.' . . . then in his sleep the Christ of God appeared to him with the same sign which he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness of that sign which he had seen in the heavens, and to use it as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies"; Augustine (The Care to be Had for the Dead 15 [A.D. 421]) "After much that he [Curma, a man in a coma] saw, he narrated how he had, moreover, been led into paradise and how it was there said to him, when he was dismissed to return to his own family, ‘Go, be baptized if you want to be in this place of the blessed.'"; Patrick (Confession of St. Patrick 23 [A.D. 452]) "I saw in a vision of the night a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with countless letters. He gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter, which was entitled ‘The Voice of the Irish.'".
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