Catholic Apologetics #67
(Read A Proper Understanding of Baptism – Part II)
Man Can Know by Reason
As the book My Catholic Faith succinctly summarizes: “Divine Revelation comes down to us by two means: through Holy Scripture, written down under divine inspiration, and through Tradition, handed down orally from Apostolic times.”
Those are the two means of Divine Revelation we have to know the Faith, but we have tools to help us to further understand the Faith that has been revealed by God.
One of those tools is our ability as human beings to reason. Some things can be known by reason alone. For example, it can be known by reason alone that God exists. This was affirmed explicitly – and infallibly – at the First Vatican Council.[1]
As we examine the created world, as we consider the perfection of creation, as we understand that there had to be a First Cause who started all things, we can use our reason to understand that there must be a divine being. Reason does not inform us who that being is. It just helps us to understand that something doesn’t come from nothing. That is our reason working. Reasoning should also be informed by strong, scholastic philosophy.
Evidence from Miracles Also Aids Man
Another means which helps us to know these truths is the immense generosity of God in His miracles. The miracles of God further prove the divine origin of the Catholic Faith. A miracle leaves behind evidence which in turn becomes a tool which humans can use to arrive at truths.
Some evidence is tangible and endures across centuries; for example, the tilma of St. Juan Diego, the Shroud of Turin, or the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano. Much of the evidence for miracles also comes from the testimony of witnesses. If three, five or ten people all swore in a court of law that they saw such and such event, it is accepted as legitimate evidence, even though the judge and jury are not able to witness the event. For example, the testimony of 70,000 witnesses at Fatima, which included atheists and enemies of the Church, is overwhelming evidence supporting the Miracle of the Sun.
In his book, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton made the following astute observation: “But my belief that miracles have happened in human history is not mystical at all; I believe in them upon human evidences as I do in the discovery of America. … Somehow or other the extraordinary idea has arisen that the disbelievers in miracles consider them coldly and fairly, while believers in miracles accept them only in connection with some dogma. The fact is quite the other way. The believers in miracles accept them (rightly or wrongly) because they have evidence for them. The disbelievers in miracles deny them (rightly or wrongly) because they have a doctrine against them.”
So, by two such tools, namely the use of reason and of external proofs of miracles, every man can come to believe what the Church teaches.
The Catholic Church as the Bastion of Miracles
The Catholic Church is the great bastion of miracles. We have numerous miracles testifying to the authenticity of the Catholic Faith. Here are some examples:
- The stigmata. Dozens of saints – including St. Catherine of Siena, St. John of God, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, and Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque – have had the visible marks of the wounds of Christ on their body[2]. Overall, more than 500 people have had the visible (or invisible) wounds of Christ on their body.
- Eucharistic miracles. There have been dozens of such miracles – including those at Lanciano and Orvieta in Italy and at Santarem, Portugal – some of which have been scientifically examined, testifying to the truth that the Eucharistic Host is actually Christ’s Flesh and Blood[3].
- Incorruptible saints. There are more than 150 incorruptible saints whose incorruptibleness defies all of science[4].
- Miracles attributed to Our Lady. These include the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, witnessed by more than 70,000 people[5]; the numerous healings of people of incurable diseases in the waters of Lourdes[6]; and the many miracles attributed to the Brown Scapular[7] and the Rosary, including the Miracle at Hiroshima[8].
- Miracles attributed to other saints. As one example, the blood of St. Januarius frequently liquefies each year[9].
- Apparitions of Our Lady and other saints. There are dozens of confirmed and verified apparitions in history, not only of our Blessed Mother (e.g., at Guadalupe, Rue de Bac, La Salette, Lourdes, Quito, and Fatima) but also of St. Michael the Archangel (e.g., Mount Gargano, near Naples, Italy; and at Fatima) and other saints (e.g., St. Joseph, at Fatima).
- Resurrections. Obviously, the entire Christian Faith rests on the Easter miracle of Christ’s Resurrection. St. Paul even writes, “And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain” (1 Cor 15:17). Yet many other saints have raised the dead. St. Vincent Ferrer alone is known to have raised more than thirty people from the dead, and the Church records 873 miracles performed by him. St. Rose of Viterbo, St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Collette, and St. Juan Capistrano are just some of the other saints who have raised the dead[10].
Real Miracles in the Catholic Church
Do we have reported Eucharistic miracles – or, in fact, any of the other types of miracles mentioned above – in Lutheran or Anglican communities? The answer is a resounding and tell-tale “NO.” Yet in the Catholic Church we do. And when miracles are examined by modern science, they still find them unexplainable[11].
As the ProtestantErrors.com website illustrates, the true Church ought to be resplendent with miracles, and only the Catholic Church has been shown to be accompanied with repeated authentic miracles[12].
It is also important to clear up a popular misconception, namely that the Church is filled with gullible simpletons ready to believe in a miracle at the drop of a hat. Nothing could be further from the truth. Church authorities are, as a rule, quite skeptical of any reported “miracle.” They make every effort to show a purported miraculous event could have non-supernatural causes. Strict examinations, rigorous parameters, and intense cross-examinations are conducted by the Church, as well as every conceivable test by experienced scientific professionals, before the Church authoritatively states a purported event is indeed supernatural[13]. Such an exhaustive and meticulous examination process is not conducted by any other religious group when they claim a ‘miracle.’
Indeed, as Chesterton observed, those who believe in a miracle do not do so because of a dogmatic belief, but rather because they are presented with sufficiently convincing evidence. This is true today just as it was true one thousand years ago. Human nature has not essentially changed. Few are ready to believe that a miraculous healing took place, or that a ‘piece of bread’ bled, or that a man was raised from the dead, without seeing evidence as proof. Even St. Thomas had to place his finger in Our Lord’s wounds before he would exclaim, “My Lord and My God!”
Conclusion
God, in His goodness and generosity, showers us with proofs of the accuracy of the Catholic Church’s doctrines. And this too is why Satan is not attacking Evangelicals or Baptists, Muslims or Hindus. He is attacking the Catholic priesthood; he is infiltrating our seminaries; and he is leading men ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ to betray their office. And Satan does this because in the Catholic Church is the truth. Why would he waste his time on attacking those souls who are already under his rule?
Let us always be prepared to give an account of our faith (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). We can do this by understanding the truth of the Catholic Faith as seen through intellectual arguments as well as through miracles. By these means, let us be missionaries to all we encounter.
[1] “If anyone says that the one, true God, our creator and lord, cannot be known with certainty from the things that have been made, by the natural light of human reason: let him be anathema.” Canon #1 from “On Revelation” in Dei Filius, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith (Session 3, 24 April 1870).
[2] Those seeking to understand more about stigmata and to see a list of famous stigmatics (as well as some in-depth accounts) should visit https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/p/stigmata-and-stigmatist.html
[3] Visit the Real Presence Association website for a list and many articles on this truly amazing series of miracles, at http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html
[4] A listing of the many incorruptible saints may be viewed at https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/incorruptible-saints.html
[5] For a detailed account of the Miracle of the Sun, as well as the moral miracles of conversions, see The Devil’s Final Battle (2010 edition), Chapter 1, “The Message and the Miracle,” pp. 4-7.
[6] More than 70 people have been verified by science as cured; see https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/its-a-miracle-lourdes-healing-officially-declared-supernatural-84194
[7] See Our Lady’s Garment – The Brown Scapular: A Sign of Salvation and Protection, pp. 8-16.
[8] Read the full story of this miracle through the power of the Rosary at https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2011/03/rosary-miracle-at-hiroshima.html. See also “Testimonies of 8 Hiroshima Survivors”. For more stories of miracles attributed to the Rosary, see especially “The Rosary Victory of the Battle of Lepanto” as well as “The Power of the Rosary”.
[9] This remarkable miracle is seen even to the present day, as the relics of St. Januarius rest in the cathedral of Naples, and it is there that the liquefaction of his blood occurs. The blood is congealed in two glass vials, but when it is brought near the martyr’s head it melts and flows like the blood of a living man. This reportedly happens at least three times a year: on Sept. 19, the saint’s feast day; on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May; and on Dec. 16, the anniversary of the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy.
[10] If you are interested in this topic, we recommend the book, Saints Who Raised the Dead, by Fr. Albert J. Hebert, TAN Books, 2004. A summary of the book is online.
[11] In one example, a team of researchers determined that the Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires was truly the flesh and blood of Christ. Their story of this awe-inspiring miracle can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdcfZyQrs4
[12] Read their short and insightful article at http://www.protestanterrors.com/#12
[13] It should be noted that these comments are made with regard to the Church’s longstanding and traditional practice. Unfortunately, in the last several decades the magisterium’s process for authenticating miracles has not always been consistent. In various cases, the rigorous process has been circumvented so that something may be declared a “miracle” without diligently examining all possible natural causes. This hinders the Church’s overall credibility and is understandably very troubling to faithful Catholics, especially as some suspect political or ideological agendas determine when exceptions are allowed.