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Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908
THIRTY-SEVENTH OBJECTION. WHY ARE THERE NO MORE MIRACLES?
Answer. A miracle is a sensible fact, manifestly surpassing the powers of nature.
It is something which God only can do, and which shows His intervention in the things of this world in an extraordinary manner.
"Why are there no more miracles?" it is asked.
To this question I will furnish two answers:
1st. There are miracles yet, and a great many of them exist. 2d. It is very natural that there are fewer now than in the first ages of Christianity.
1st. Miracles do still exist.
I, who speak to you in this little book, could tell you that I have witnessed some, and that I have also seen many persons in whom authentic miracles have been operated, such, for instance, as the instantaneous recovery from incurable diseases.
But I prefer quoting an instance of more general application.
An English Protestant was at Rome during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV. He was talking with one of the cardinals, of the Catholic religion, attacking it with much energy, and, above all, rejecting, as false, miracles worked by the intercession of the saints.
Not long after, this same cardinal was commissioned to examine certain papers relating to the beatification of a certain servant of God. He placed them in the Protestant's hands, advising him to examine them carefully, and to let him hear his opinion on the degree of faith which these testimonials merited.
After a few days had passed, the Englishman brings back the papers. "Well, sir," demands the Prelate of him, "what is your impression on the subject of these documents?"
"Upon my word, your Eminence, I must own that I have nothing to say; and if all the miracles of the saints canonized by your Church were as certain as these, it might give me cause for reflection." . . .
"Really?" said the cardinal to him, smiling; "well, we at Rome are more difficult to convince than you are, for these proofs have not seemed sufficiently convincing to us, and the cause is rejected."
The Englishman was so struck with this manner of acting, that he acquainted himself more thoroughly with the Catholic faith. He abjured Protestantism before quitting Rome.
Now, this extraordinary severity still exists in the process of the canonization of the saints. And as saints are canonized at the present day as in all past ages,* and on the other hand, none is canonized without a rigorous investigation, and without at least five separate miracles being proved to have occurred through his intercession, we may fairly affirm that miracles do still exist.
2d. I reply: There are fewer miracles than at the rise of Christianity, and it is quite natural there should be.
For three reasons:
1. Because the real object of miracles has been attained; namely, the conversion of the world, and the establishment of the Christian Religion.
2. Because this object being once attained, and having been attained only through the means of miracles, and very striking ones too, is an everlasting attestation of the fact of these miracles.
The evidence of the divinity of the Christian religion, manifested by great prodigies, was alone able to convince the sensual pagans and the stubborn Jews; 1st, of the divinity of Jesus Christ, poor and crucified; 2dly, of the truth of His doctrine, altogether opposed to their most deeply-rooted ideas; 3dly, of the divine mission of the apostles and their successors.
The world converted to Christianity without the means of miracles, would have been the most astounding, the most incomprehensible of miracles.
3dly. Because we have now before our eyes as striking a proof of the divinity of our faith as the miracles shown to the early Christians were; I speak of the prophecies of the Gospel, and their accomplishment in the world.
There are two divine and supernatural facts which prove the divine origin of Christianity: 1, the miracles of Jesus Christ and His envoys; 2, the accomplishment of the Gospel prophecies. The early Christians saw the miracles performed, they did not see the accomplishment of their Divine Master's prophecies; they were, nevertheless, obliged to believe them firmly; and they believed them without difficulty, because of the miracles which they witnessed.*
We of the present day do not see the miracles which our fathers saw, but we see the accomplishment of the Gospel prophecies; and what we thus see causes us easily to admit the miracles which we have not seen.
Evident miracles caused the early Christians to admit the certain future accomplishment of the prophecies: the evident accomplishment of the prophecies causes us to admit the certain reality of the by-gone miracles.
Miracles were the proofs of the early Christians; prophecy fulfilled, on the contrary, is our proof, by the evidence of the divine fact of its accomplishment.
And let us observe that this proof, derived from the accomplishment of the prophecies, is perhaps more peremptory than that derived from the miracles of past times, in this sense, that time daily augments its force.
Thus, the stability of St. Peter's See, the permanent dispersion and, at the same time, the preservation of the Jews, during nineteen centuries, etc., are facts much more striking and remarkable than if they had subsisted only during three or four centuries. And if the world endures yet some thousands of years, this proof of the divinity of religion will be much more irresistible in three or four thousand years than it is at the present day.
It is, therefore, not astonishing that there should be fewer miracles now than during the first ages of Christianity.
THIRTY-SEVENTH OBJECTION. WHY ARE THERE NO MORE MIRACLES?
Answer. A miracle is a sensible fact, manifestly surpassing the powers of nature.
It is something which God only can do, and which shows His intervention in the things of this world in an extraordinary manner.
"Why are there no more miracles?" it is asked.
To this question I will furnish two answers:
1st. There are miracles yet, and a great many of them exist. 2d. It is very natural that there are fewer now than in the first ages of Christianity.
1st. Miracles do still exist.
I, who speak to you in this little book, could tell you that I have witnessed some, and that I have also seen many persons in whom authentic miracles have been operated, such, for instance, as the instantaneous recovery from incurable diseases.
But I prefer quoting an instance of more general application.
An English Protestant was at Rome during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV. He was talking with one of the cardinals, of the Catholic religion, attacking it with much energy, and, above all, rejecting, as false, miracles worked by the intercession of the saints.
Not long after, this same cardinal was commissioned to examine certain papers relating to the beatification of a certain servant of God. He placed them in the Protestant's hands, advising him to examine them carefully, and to let him hear his opinion on the degree of faith which these testimonials merited.
After a few days had passed, the Englishman brings back the papers. "Well, sir," demands the Prelate of him, "what is your impression on the subject of these documents?"
"Upon my word, your Eminence, I must own that I have nothing to say; and if all the miracles of the saints canonized by your Church were as certain as these, it might give me cause for reflection." . . .
"Really?" said the cardinal to him, smiling; "well, we at Rome are more difficult to convince than you are, for these proofs have not seemed sufficiently convincing to us, and the cause is rejected."
The Englishman was so struck with this manner of acting, that he acquainted himself more thoroughly with the Catholic faith. He abjured Protestantism before quitting Rome.
Now, this extraordinary severity still exists in the process of the canonization of the saints. And as saints are canonized at the present day as in all past ages,* and on the other hand, none is canonized without a rigorous investigation, and without at least five separate miracles being proved to have occurred through his intercession, we may fairly affirm that miracles do still exist.
2d. I reply: There are fewer miracles than at the rise of Christianity, and it is quite natural there should be.
For three reasons:
1. Because the real object of miracles has been attained; namely, the conversion of the world, and the establishment of the Christian Religion.
2. Because this object being once attained, and having been attained only through the means of miracles, and very striking ones too, is an everlasting attestation of the fact of these miracles.
The evidence of the divinity of the Christian religion, manifested by great prodigies, was alone able to convince the sensual pagans and the stubborn Jews; 1st, of the divinity of Jesus Christ, poor and crucified; 2dly, of the truth of His doctrine, altogether opposed to their most deeply-rooted ideas; 3dly, of the divine mission of the apostles and their successors.
The world converted to Christianity without the means of miracles, would have been the most astounding, the most incomprehensible of miracles.
3dly. Because we have now before our eyes as striking a proof of the divinity of our faith as the miracles shown to the early Christians were; I speak of the prophecies of the Gospel, and their accomplishment in the world.
There are two divine and supernatural facts which prove the divine origin of Christianity: 1, the miracles of Jesus Christ and His envoys; 2, the accomplishment of the Gospel prophecies. The early Christians saw the miracles performed, they did not see the accomplishment of their Divine Master's prophecies; they were, nevertheless, obliged to believe them firmly; and they believed them without difficulty, because of the miracles which they witnessed.*
We of the present day do not see the miracles which our fathers saw, but we see the accomplishment of the Gospel prophecies; and what we thus see causes us easily to admit the miracles which we have not seen.
Evident miracles caused the early Christians to admit the certain future accomplishment of the prophecies: the evident accomplishment of the prophecies causes us to admit the certain reality of the by-gone miracles.
Miracles were the proofs of the early Christians; prophecy fulfilled, on the contrary, is our proof, by the evidence of the divine fact of its accomplishment.
And let us observe that this proof, derived from the accomplishment of the prophecies, is perhaps more peremptory than that derived from the miracles of past times, in this sense, that time daily augments its force.
Thus, the stability of St. Peter's See, the permanent dispersion and, at the same time, the preservation of the Jews, during nineteen centuries, etc., are facts much more striking and remarkable than if they had subsisted only during three or four centuries. And if the world endures yet some thousands of years, this proof of the divinity of religion will be much more irresistible in three or four thousand years than it is at the present day.
It is, therefore, not astonishing that there should be fewer miracles now than during the first ages of Christianity.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre