voices of faith q & a

September 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

Q. Do miracles happen today?

A. The Rev. Duke Tufty, Unity Temple on the Plaza, Kansas City, Mo.: I understand a miracle to be an extraordinary event attributed to some supernatural agency, “super natural” meaning beyond the realm of nature. I believe there is no realm beyond nature; there are only aspects of nature that are currently beyond our ability to perceive. There is much more we don’t know about nature than what we do. As our consciousness expands, we will discover aspects of nature that will astound us and be deemed miraculous.

Scientists are moving closer to proving that we as human beings have many more senses than the five we are aware of. Would the display of a sixth sense seem to be a miracle? We live in a three-dimensional world, yet once again many scientists think there are at least 12 dimensions to our existence. If we awakened to higher dimensions, would they not seem to be miraculous?

Jesus displayed incredible abilities of healing and left us with the message that what he did, we can do also. Would we deem it to be a miracle if we were able to heal ourselves or others by harnessing our innate energy?

The very fact that our universe began as nothing but a vast expanse of ash and today we live on this planet of abundance is nothing short of a miracle. The path of life is paved with miracles that will never cease.

A. The Rev. Justin Hoye, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Nevada, Mo., and St. Bridget’s in Rich Hill: Absolutely! The Gospels of the New Testament demonstrate that the person of Jesus Christ worked miracles among those to whom he ministered. These miracles testified to his authority to do the works of God in our world, and these miracles were not done for show. Christ’s miracles provide a window into the priorities and concerns of God: feeding the hungry, healing the sick and reconciling the sinner.

Remaining open to the possibility of miracles existing today demonstrates an understanding that God is the primary agent in our world. Whereas a deist might believe that God created all that is seen and unseen but is not involved with the day-to-day workings of creation, a belief in miracles reaffirms faith in God’s nearness and involvement in life now.

That is, miracles profess that God is intimately involved in our world, my world, your world.

While God normally and routinely involves secondary agents — us — in bringing about good works in our world, some events occur beyond the consequence of our agency. To believe in the existence of miracles today affirms a belief in the care and concern with which God cares for his people — as exhibited by Jesus Christ in the New Testament — and with which God continues to feed our hungers, heal our sicknesses and free us from slavery to sin.