Miracles are happening still today. I know this because I have seen a miracle happen. I wrote on this blog earlier about a good friend of mine who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Many of you know the survival rate for this terrible cancer because of the high profile case of Patrick Swayze who recently passed. Most doctors are reporting a five-percent survival rate for patients who contract this type of cancer. We began to pray mightily for my friend that he be healed of this terrible affliction and that all evil forces that could come against him be blocked by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our great and powerful Lord has answered our prayers and my friend is cancer free. Praise God! This miracle is a testament to God's immense empathy and might. During this terrible ordeal, I would talk with my friend and he never strayed from his strong belief that God would intervene for him. I told him that he was bringing more people to Christ everyday by his strong convictions and he just smiled but I will tell you that this is true. I have spoken to so many people that have been shaped by this experience. It has allowed so many to deepen their faith and increase their prayer life. I have written before that God replaces the bad with the good. It may also be the answer to one of my seven questions, specifically "Why do bad things happen to good people?" That is exactly what happened here and not just in the end. Throughout the journey, God was calling people to respond and they did. My friend's happiness is so infectious. The benefits will continue to multiply because my friend can now minister to others who are facing the same situation. He is in a unique position to tell them with conviction that God is here for us. Even in the dark times. Even when we think it is hopeless. Each time I see him, I will be reminded of our miraculous God and so will many others. Every time I talk to a prayer warrior who accepted the daily challenge to prayerfully ask God to remove the cancer, I can see the tremendous effect this has had on them. Tremendous good came from this difficult and trying journey. Miracles are still occurring. Don't let anyone tell you they are not. By the way, my friend gets to see his son celebrate the sacrament of marriage this Saturday. God is good all the time and all the time, God is good.
The spiritual climax of the Gospel of John, as Father John Waiss points out, occurs at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus utters his parting words: “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). While these words were addressed to the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Church has long understood this moment as a universal adoption. To truly image Christ, we must share in His parentage; if we embrace God as our spiritual Father but reject Mary as our mother, we treat Christ as a half-brother rather than our "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). As Origen noted as early as the third century, the profound depths of the Gospel are only accessible to those who, like John, rest their heads on Jesus’ breast and receive Mary into their own homes. This maternal role is deeply rooted in biblical typology, positioning Mary as the fulfillment of the great mothers of the Old Covenant. She is the New Eve , the mother of all the living according ...
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