SCHOLAR ISLAND

 

MIRACLES

 

"The age of miracles past? The age of miracles is forever here."

Thomas Argyle (1841)

 

"Where there is great love, there are always miracles."

-Willa Cather

 

When you relax, you can make miracles."

-Tan Dun

 

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

Einstein

 

"Existence in itself, taken at its least miraculous, is a miracle."

Rebecca West

 

"Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar."

-Pablo Picasso

 

 

"True miracles are created by men when they use the courage and intelligence that God gave them."

-Jean Anouilh

 

"Moralities, ethics, laws, customs, beliefs, doctrines-these are of trifling import. All that matters is that the miraculous become the norm."

-Henry Miller

 

"Some people think it's a miracle to walk on water. I think it is a miracle to walk on the earth in peace."

-Thich Nhat Hahn

 

"The genuine realist, if he is an unbeliever, will always find strength and ability to disbelieve in the miraculous, and if he is confronted with a miracle as an irrefutable fact he would rather disbelieve his own senses than admit the fact. Faith does not….spring from the miracle, but the miracle of faith."

Dostoevsky

 

"The task of genius, and humanity is nothing if not genius, is to keep the miracle alive, to live always in the miracle, to make the miracle more and more miraculous, to swear allegiance to nothing, but live only miraculously, think only miraculously, die miraculously."

-Henry Miller

The Colosus of Maroussi

 

"The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they happen."

G.K. Chesterton

 

"An act of reason is a miracle."

Montaigne

 

"There is in every miracle a silent chiding of the world, and a tacit reprehension of them who require, or who need miracles."

-John Donne

 

"Every cubic inch of space is a miracle."

-Walt Whitman

 

"As for me, I know of nothing else but miracles."

-Walt Whitman

 

 

"Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see."

-C. S. Lewis

 

"A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug."

-Patricia Neal

 

   "The thaumaturgic element in ancient Sufism was not so important as it afterwards became in the fully developed saint-worship associated with the Dervish Orders. "A saint would be none the less a saint," says Qushayri, "if no miracles were wrought by him in this world." In early Mohammedan Vitae Sanctorum it is not uncommon to meet with sayings to the effect that miraculous powers are comparatively of small account. It was finely said by Sahl ibn 'Abadallah that the greatest miracle is the substitution of a good quality for a bad one; and the Kitab al-Luma' gives many examples of holy men who disliked miracles and regarded them as a temptation. "During my novitiate," said Bayazid, "God used to bring before me wonders and miracles, but I paid no heed to them; and when He saw that I did so, He gave me the means of attaining to knowledge of Himself." Junayd observed that reliance on miracles is one of the' veils' which hinder the elect from penetrating to the most inmost shrine of the Truth...."

Reynald A. Nicholson

The Mystics of Islam

 

"A second or two passed, and I understood that I was in the presence of a miracle…The Buddha saw me, saw in me that which I could not see myself, all that was hidden in the most secret recesses of my soul. And under his gaze, which as it were passed me by, I began to see all this myself."

Ouspensky

 

"The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of nativity, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born. Only the full experience of this capacity can bestow upon human affairs faith and hope, those two essential characteristics of human existence which Greek antiquity ignored altogether, discounting the keeping of faith as very uncommon and not too important virtue and counting hope among the evils of illusion in Pandora's box. It is "this faith and hope for the world that found perhaps its most glorious and most succinct expression anthem few words with which the Gospels announced their "Glad Tidings": A child has been born unto us."

Hannah Arendt

 

"Then a truly phenomenal thing happened. Let me say that I am not predisposed to believe in miracles or in superstitions. But what happened was a miracle and one of a religious nature and I assure you that I am not bucking for sainthood when I tell you about it. It was as if an impalpable hand were placed upon my head, and at the instant of that touch, the phobia was lifted away as lightly as a snow- flake though it had weighed on my head like a skull-breaking block of iron. At seventeen, I had no doubt at all that the hand of our Lord Jesus had touched my head with mercy and had exorcised " from it the phobia that was driving me into madness. "

Tennessee Williams
Memoirs

 

"The miracles of the church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made fine, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears hear what is there about us always."

Willa Cather
Death comes for the Archbishop

 

   "As I sat in my little "den" reading and pondering over it, nature came to my relief when I was attracted by a strangely mellow light falling upon the paper. I looked up and out of the window toward the setting sun, which was just disappearing behind the horizon leaving a halo of never to be forgotten glory and beauty behind it. It seems as if I have never been conscious of such beauty and sublimity. The variety, brilliancy of color and arrangement were awe inspiring. As I sat there unconscious of everything except the scene before me, behold, before my very eyes it changed from the marvelous rainbow colors to the soft, ethereal "Rembrantian" browns and the midnight blues of Maxfield Parrish. But the most marvelous of all was the pristine light which came from behind those strangely beautiful clouds; the light was like unto bright silver dazzling in its brightness, and weird in the manner of its diffusion.

   As I came to myself I said aloud. O God. I Thank Thee for such a direct manifestation of Thy goodness majesty and power."

(a letter from George Washington Carver Dec 13,1927 to Judge Leon McCord)

 

"I had barely uttered these words, when that invisible being, like a whirlwind, caught me up and bore me away into a large room, where he made himself visible to my eyes in human form, appearing like a young man whose beard is just growing, with a face of indescribable beauty, but austere, not wanton. He bade me look around the room, and said: "The crowd of men thou seest in this place are all those who up to this day have been born and afterwards have died upon the earth." Thereupon I asked him why he brought me hither, and he answered: "Come with me and thou shalt soon behold." In my hand I had a poniard, and upon my back a coat of mail; and so he led through that vast hall, pointing out the people who were walking by innumerable thousands up and down, this way and that. He led me onward, and went forth in front of me through a little low door into a place which looked like a narrow street, and when he drew me after him into the street, at the moment of leaving the hall, behold I was disarmed and clothed in a white shirt, with nothing on my head, and I was walking on the right hand of my companion. Finding myself in this condition, I was seized with wonder, because I did not recognize the street; and when I lifted my eyes, I discerned that the splendor of the sun was striking on a wall, as it were a house-front , just above my head. Then I said: "Oh, my friend; what must I do in order to be able to ascend so high that I may gaze upon the sphere of the sun himself?" He pointed out some huge stairs which were on my right hand, and said to me: "Go up thither by thyself." Quitting his side, I ascended the stairs backwards, and gradually began to come within the region of the sunlight. Then I hastened my steps, and went on, always walking backwards as I have described, until I discovered the whole sphere of the sun. The strength of his rays, as is their wont, first made me close my eyes; but becoming aware of my misdoing, I opened them wide, and gazing steadfastly at the sun, exclaimed: "Oh my sun, for whom I have so passionately yearned! Albeit your rays may blind me, I do not wish to look on anything again but this!" So I stayed awhile with my eyes fixed steadily on him; and after a brief space I beheld in one moment the whole might of those great burning rays fling themselves upon the left side of the sun; so that the orb remained quite clear without its rays, and I was able to contemplate it with vast delight. It seemed to me something marvelous that the rays should be removed in that manner. Then I reflected what divine grace it was which God had granted me that morning, and cried aloud: "Oh, wonderful Thy power! Oh, glorious Thy virtue! How far greater is the grace which Thou art granting me than that which I expected!" The sun without his rays appeared to me to be a bath of the purest molten gold, neither more nor less. While I stood contemplating this wondrous thing, I noticed that the middle of the sphere began to swell, and the swollen furnace grew, and suddenly a Christ upon the cross formed itself out of the same substance as the sun. He bore the aspect of divine benignity, with such fair grace that the mind of man could not conceive the thousandth part of it; and while I gazed in ecstasy, I shouted: "A miracle! a miracle! O God! O clemency Divine! O immeasurable Goodness! what is it Thou hast deigned this day to show me!" While I was gazing and exclaiming thus, the Christ moved toward that part where his rays were settled, and the middle of the sun once more bulged out as it had done before; the boss expanded, and suddenly transformed itself into the shape of a most beautiful Madonna, who appeared to be sitting enthroned on high, holding her child in her arms with an attitude of the greatest charm and a smile upon her face. On each side of her was an angel, whose beauty far surpasses man's imagination. I also saw within the rondure of the sun, upon the right hand, a figure robed like a priest; this turned its back to me, and kept its face directed to the Madonna and the Christ. All these things I beheld , actual clear, and vivid, and kept returning thanks to the glory of God as loud as I was able. The marvelous apparition remained before me little more than half a quarter of an hour; then it dissolved, and I was carried back to my dark lair.....

                     Benvenuto Cellini

 The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

 

   "...On the morning of July 18, 1954, Primary Class Five was receiving religious instruction at the School of St. Anthony. The young students included Coptic, Catholic, and Moslem children. At about 11.00 a.m. as the students were anticipating lunch break, some of them were looking out the window. Suddenly, they exclaimed with excitement: "El Adra! El Adra!" (The Virgin!)

   She was there, they shouted, across the courtyard floating by a window. The Lady was recognized as the Virgin because she was dressed in blue and was surrounded by an aura which was glowing white near her body, but turned iridescent blue as it radiated outward.

   All of the children rushed to the windows to see the sight, and all saw the Lady. The teacher, however, did not, but couldn't get the children to come away from the windows and settle down. So the school secretary was summoned. The secretary apparently could not see the Lady across the courtyard, so he commanded the children to stop being silly, and after bringing the class back to order he locked the door to prevent them from going to the courtyard.

   Soon the children were in an uproar again. This time the lady appeared in the classroom among them. Some say she floated, and others that she walked on the floor. She and her whitish-blue aura seem to have been transparent since the young witnesses could see right through her.

   This vent lasted for about five minutes, or at least long enough to attract several adults. These could not see her at first. But then the Lady stationed herself in front of one of the classroom walls, where she grew in intensity and brilliance. At that point, several of the adults said they could see a faint luminescence and an outline of a figure. Then the Lady disappeared. The news was quickly spread about. The school was permanently disrupted for that day, and hundreds came to view the classroom.

   The Coptic Patriarchal church connected with the School of St. Anthony experienced a sudden increase of visitors and pilgrims. Scheduled services were standing-room only. Thus, one week later there, on July 25, were between two hundred and four hundred people present in the church at Vespers, including Moslems as well as Christians.

   As the pries, "a tough, strong, no-nonsense man," was conducting the service, almost the entire congregation started shouting and crying out. When the priest looked up he "was so overcome that he could not continue the service." For he, as well as everyone else attending, clearly saw the apparition of the Holy Mother moving either just above the heads of everyone, or among and between them.

   This time the Lady was less transparent then before, and some rays of colored light streamed out from her and bathed the astonished faces with colors, which also reflected on the walls. This appearance lasted for about fifteen minutes, which was enough time to call in others-most of whom also saw her. Then she slowly faded until only her blue-white aura was present, and then that too faded and disappeared.

   An account of these two apparitions appeared in the Patriarchal Journal. But the Copts "showed to inordinate pride," nor did the "think themselves favored." She did not come for our sakes," said the bishop.  "She came because this place is holy, being within a few yards of Cavalry and the Tomb."

   The classroom where the first appearance took place was painted in blue, which was said to match the Lady's dress, and a magnificent icon of the Holy Mother was placed on the wall in front of which she had appeared. A plague outside the window records the events.

   After this apparition, the ongoing Israeli and Arab troubles reached new heights, especially in the Gaza area in 1955 and 1956, provoked by fierce Arab threats of invasion, Israel made a preemptive attack on Egyptian territory. Within a few days, Israel conquered the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula. Britain and France invaded the area of the Suez Canal to keep it from being destroyed. United Nations troops were eventually sent to keep peace between Egypt and Israel."

-Ingo Swann

The Great Apparitions of Mary: An Examination of Twenty-Two Surpranormal Appearances

 

"When the accounts of thousands upon thousands of eyewitness to the holy apparitions are heeded, when the apparitions are considered in their social-political contexts, when the amazing phenomena are fairly presented (the celestial events, the warnings, the fulfilled predictions, the cures, the other astonishing phenomena), when the photographs taken at Zeitoun and San Damiano and Bayside are considered-what are we to think? The part of the apocalypse given at La Salette in 1846 regarding the coming agonizing pollution of "earth's glove" (our atmosphere) is surely remarkable and extraordinary.

    If we try to be as practical, as pragmatic as possible, as logical and perhaps even as scientific as possible, what are we to conclude? Surely it must be admitted that something remarkable took place at each of the great apparitions considered in this book.

   And what of the Holy Mother's signal request, reiterated again and again in all of the great speaking apparitions: "Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray for peace! Be reconciled!" Those who truly do pray for peace, whether Catholic, Protestant, Coptic, or otherwise, are unlikely to be among those who devote themselves to creating violence.

   Great apparitions of the Holy Mother have occurred on an average of about every ten years or so during the modern period. The last two of the great apparitions took place during the very early 1980s, those in Yugoslavia and in Rwanda.

   So we are slightly overdue for another great one."

Ingo Swann

 

"Why, who makes much of a miracle?

As to me I know nothing else but miracles,

Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,

or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,

Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the

     water,

or stand under trees in the woods,

Or talk by day with anyone I love, or sleep in the bed at night

    with anyone I love,

or sit at table at dinner with the rest,

Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,

or watch honeybees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,

Or animals feeding in the fields,

or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,

or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet

    and bright,

or the exquisite delicate curve of the new moon in spring;

These with the rest, one and all , are to me miracles,

The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

 

To me every hour of the night and dark is a miracle,

Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,

Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,

Every foot of the interior swarms with the same

To me the sea is a continua miracle,

The fishes that swim-the rocks-the motion of the waves-the ships

    with men in them,

What stranger miracles are there?"

-Walt Whitman

 

 

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Book: "The Book Of Miracles: The Meaning of the Miracle Stories in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam" by Kenneth L. Woodward

Book: "Miracles At The Jesus Oak: Histories of the Supernatural in Reformation Europe" by Craig Harline

Book: The Great Apparitions of Mary: An Examination of Twenty-Two Supranormal Appearances" by Ingo Swann

Book: "Epiphanies: Where Science and Miracles Meet" Ann Jaurgul, Huston Smith

 

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