Hermitage Note: On Saints and Miracles

Another bout of winter weather is settling upon us. These blustery and cold conditions make me ever more thankful for the blessing of this little house that turns the elements and holds us safe inside. I am reminded of how fortunate we are. I am reminded of how God parted a huge sea of uncertainty and despair making it possible for us to rent this little house here beside the short line track with its little train that usually comes by weekday evenings.

A miracle of healing; this is what we consider it.

We were at a little family gathering during the Christmas season. My daughter told us about the migraines she had been living with. What parent wants their child to suffer pain? We feel so helpless when we see our loved ones and friends suffering. I held my adult daughter close to me and quietly asked Saint Seraphim of Sarov and Saint Charbel to intercede on her behalf on account of the migraines that were plaguing her.

We talked to her on the phone a couple days ago. Part of our conversation was an inquiry about the migraines. It's been weeks now since she last had a migraine. It seems they simply stopped.

Christ be praised and thank you Saints Seraphim and Charbel for your intercessions to the Lord on her behalf.

Saint Seraphim of Sarov. What an amazing life and testimony. What a price he paid to become and be such an example and inspiration to all of us. Saint Charbel lived quite a life as well, though in a place far from the geographic surroundings familiar to Saint Seraphim. And what of Saint Anthony the Great living his monk-life of prayer deep in the desert mountains of Egypt?

The way of the Saints and those who sought [and seek] to follow their exemplary examples and live their lives as their disciples?

It is hard for us in modern Western culture, especially American culture, to wrap our minds around and personally embrace such examples of the Christian faith. We are entirely too much inclined to embrace what is in vogue; entirely too much inclined to give license to and to yield ourselves to the inculturation of the secularism that encroaches itself upon us. We are entirely too inclined to think that we, because of our modern education and philosophical opinions, are somehow so far advanced intellectually that we have no need to render any regard to the examples of those men and women from prior generations, some of them ancient, who have earned the esteemed recognition once given to recognized Saints.

I am reminded of how many of the Saints wrought miracles of divers sorts. Our own Saint Benedict, founder of the Order of Saint Benedict and monasticism in the West, was, according to The Life of Saint Benedict by Saint Gregory the Great, quite the miracle worker.

Saint Athanasius [Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt] knew Saint Anthony the Great personally. Much of what we know of Saint Anthony was written in a biography of his life by Bishop Athanasius. Consider this from The Life of Saint Anthony:

That his healings were done by Christ alone, through prayer.

83. Such are the words of Anthony, and we ought not to doubt whether such marvels were wrought by the hands of a man. For it is the promise of the Saviour, when he says, ‘If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove hence and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.’ And again, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you shall ask the Father in My name He will give it you. Ask and you shall receive.’ And He himself it is who says to His disciples and to all who believe in him, ‘Heal the sick, cast out demons; freely you have received, freely give.’

84. Anthony, at any rate, healed not by commanding, but by prayer and speaking in the name of Christ. So that it was clear to all that it was not he himself who worked, but the Lord who showed mercy by his means and healed the sufferers. But Anthony’s part was only prayer and discipline, for the sake of which he stayed in the mountain, rejoicing in the contemplation of divine things, but grieving when troubled by much people, and dragged to the outer mountain.[1]

Anthony was not the only one. Numerous of the Fathers were seen glowing … transfigured [as Christ was transfigured] as they prayed. Numerous of the Fathers were sought out by those who were sick and by those whose loved ones were possessed of demonic forces. People were healed. Demons were cast out.

What do these miracle workers have in common?

They lived lives of deep faith and prayer. They refused to yield to the spiritual forces that came to them daily to wage war against their souls. This world, and the ways of this world, weighed very lightly on their personal scales of priority. They spent great lengths of time in seclusion, “alone with God”, as recluses in close proximity to the communities of disciples that grew up around them.

Simply, they were so filled with the Presence of Christ that, like the Apostles and disciples in Jerusalem after Pentecost, these signs followed them wherever they went. It was not them “performing” miracles. It was Christ in them working through them as He willed.

Lord, help me to glow. Help me, as best I can, to be that kind of person devoted to prayer and discipline for my loved ones and the people I encounter.

[1] The Life of Saint Anthony, Athanasius of Alexandria, p.78 Kindle Edition