Category Image Miracles


I've had occasion, of late, to ponder miracles, and why so many people - who declare themselves to be Christian - have difficulty believing in them. Certainly much of the problem lies in the so-called "Enlightenment ," which has led to the exaltation of the individual, and of reason over emotion. While this period has led to much material gain, with technological advancement on what seems to be a perpetual path of acceleration, it has also led to a world devoid of God.

Although not his most famous work, Thomas Jefferson prepared a translation of the Bible from which was stripped all of the miracles. Most Christians today might say that he was mistaken - that miracles did happen - but as Fr. Freeman has noted in his series on the one storey universe , many Christians would have a hard time accepting that they happen today. They are more comfortable, really, with the God of Jefferson, who is safely removed from the goings on of this world.

I admit that I suffer from the same problem. It is easier to go about my business not aware of the spiritual world in which I live. We pray in our daily prayers that God is "everywhere present, and fills all things." The problem is that we don't much act like it. My Godmother, on discussing how to deal with people who are very negative, expressed a desire to keep a secret stash of feathers that she could drop on the ground and say, "shh... there are angels listening." She has that right, there are.

As we approach the Feast of the Nativity beginning tonight, I am reminded of what is now my favorite Christmas hymn (which will not even be recognizable to non-Orthodox). Here it is being chanted in Arabic. The words are these:

Today...
is born of a Virgin
He who holds the whole of Creation
in His Hand

Today
is born of a Virgin
He who hold the whole of Creation
in His Hand

Today
is born of a Virgin
He who hold the whole of Creation
in His Hand

He
whose essence none can touch
is bound in swaddling clothes
as a Child (better translated, I believe, as a babe)

GOD
Who
in the beginning
established the heavens
lies in a manger

He who rained manna on His people
in the wilderness
is fed
on milk from His mother's breasts

The Bridegroom of the Church summons the wise-men

The Son of the Virgin accepts their gifts

We worship
thy birth
O' Christ

We worship
thy birth
O' Christ

We worship
thy birth
O' Christ

Show us also
Thy Divine Theophany (or Epiphany in the West).

Anyone who considers himself a Christian should believe these words. Given the significance of the miracle being described here, how can we struggle so with much "smaller" miracles, and that they might happen in the world around us?

Posted: Monday - December 24, 2007 at 10:22 AM          

©