In addition to praying for miraculous cures that suspend the laws of nature, perhaps God wants us to spread good health by working with the laws of nature.

Tuesday, 9/18/12

In the Gospel Jesus was traveling about on foot, and a crowd of people had left their homes and were walking with him, listeng to his teaching. As they approached the Galilee town of Nain, twenty-five miles southeast of Nazareth, they passed along side another crowd coming out from the town. It was the funeral of a widow’s only son.

As Jesus came abreast the coffin and the widow, he began to weep with her. He told the coffin bearers to halt, then, touching the coffin, he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise.” The dead man sat up, beginning to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Do you ever wish something like that could happen when a young person’s death is especially heartbreaking?

Let me tell you about a time I had a similar wish. Fifty years ago in Korean hill country I was walking with a group of Catholics, when rounding a path cut into a hillside we had to make room for a funeral procession coming at us. The mourners were waving colored banners on high-high bamboo poles. I told Jesus, “Here is another opportunity for you to make some converts.” But the two groups passed with nothing happening.

Prayerfully asking Jesus about it now, I find myself thinking about Lazarus and the rich man, where Abraham told the rich man, “They have Moses and the prophets. If they would not believe Moses and the prophets neither would they believe if one should rise from the dead.” 

You might contact Jesus in prayer to bare your thoughts on the subjects of miracles and absence of miracles. See if he lets you understand what your mind on such matters should be. 

It occurs to me that what Jesus wants is that instead of seeking miraculous cures that suspend the laws of nature, we should work for cures that are available by making the best of natural means.