Miracles Behind the Ordinary

Miracles happen all around us but we, too oftentimes, missed them. We are so blessed with the gifts of life, family, and faith but we, many times, let our physical senses and fragile ego make us think that we do not have enough at hand. We have allowed ourselves to become myopic and filled with self-pities, thinking that we do have what we deserve as if we are the most pitiful and forgotten people on earth. Nevertheless, God‘s loving miracles and wondrous blessings are all around us, and all we have to do is to allow our spiritual senses to see His love at work.

KLOVE, a popular Christian radio station, once talked about this on air. They said that our brain is naturally wired to acknowledge, identify, and focus on what is lacking, the not-so-good, or what seems to be wrong in order to solve the problems that we often miss the hidden blessings that are interwoven in between. They call it hedonistic adaptation. The Sacred Scriptures often refer to it as a humanistic forgetfulness. No matter what we call it, we can recognize that we tend to forget or not see what God has done for us, especially the good things He has bestowed upon us out of His infinite goodness and divine providence day in and day out — many times, without us even knowing or asking. Therefore, we have to expand our horizons, use and be in touch with our spiritual senses to see His grace at work in, through, with, and behind each and every moment.

Let us ask ourselves some honest questions:

• Where is God in this present moment of my life?
• What is He trying to tell or teach me at this moment?
• Is my present focus on this or that matter as I expect them to be, or is my focus on God Himself?
• Am I in control or do I allow God to be in control and guide me with His divine providence?

God can only do miracles if we are open to receiving them. We can only see His love if we open our eyes to see and embrace them with humility.

On my pilgrimage to Lourdes in October of 2019, I saw two examples of divine loving grace and miracle on our last evening with the candlelight procession. In front of me, I saw an elderly gentleman assisted by, perhaps, his younger brother. Both of them are up there in age — grey-headed — but they helped each other walk the whole procession. A few steps in front of me, I saw a very frail, elderly woman assisted by a younger woman on her left and an older man on her right. They were not young — grey-headed — perhaps were her children. Both of them lifted her up so she can walk the whole procession. I could see genuine devotion radiating from both of these elderly people. Even when it began to rain, they continued to walk and stood faithfully until it was all over.

Their devotion moved me deeply, and their perseverance made a big impact on my life. For me, those moments were miraculous because they were signs of God‘s love. As a matter of fact, miracles and signs were used interchangeably in the Sacred Scriptures as manifestations of divine grace, healing, and care for His people. Oftentimes, we think that miracles are supposed to be extravagant, captivating, and take our breath away. However, if we just become attentive and be opened, we will get to see so many of them all around us as God shows His loving grace and signs of divine care within each and every one of our lives.

Do we believe that the Word of God gives us true liberation from sin and enslavement of this world? Are we putting our self-created and worldly chains on its divine power because of our human reservations, or will we let the Gospel set us free? St. Paul in his writings, as well as many saints through their own life examples, told us that he was happy to be a prisoner for the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder if we, too, would be willing to bear all things for the Gospel?

At each Mass, before the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest invites each and every one in the congregation with these words:

The Lord be with you — And with your spirit.

Lift up your hearts — We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God — It is right and just.

As a matter of fact, in Latin, the congregation responds, “Habemus ad Dominum” when the priest says, “Surnum corda.” It literally means, “We have (lift up our hearts)… to the Lord!” The response is very direct and with much gusto, which, explicitly reminds us of the important act of lifting our hearts up to God in both worship and prayers.

When we lift up our hearts, we open up our very own selves to God. As a matter of fact, prayer is described as the act of lifting up one’s heart to God! We lift up our hearts beyond the mundaneness of this world, the things that hold us down, the matters that distract us, the doubts that surround us, the negativities that fill our minds, or anything that deter us away from totally uniting and offering ourselves to Him who loves us. Prayer, as well as worship, is a transcendental act that grounds us in the divine. Personal acts of prayer and devotion, as well, as communal worship are essential in our life of faith because they help us rise above the things that hold us down and make us think that we are pitiful, hopeless, forgotten, abandoned, or any other lies that the Devil and this world would like to throw at us.

Without a doubt, as people of faith, we get to witness, participate, and receive the greatest miracle each and every time we go to Mass! We receive His divine love, broken and shared, as bread and wine transubstantiate to Christ’s own Body and Blood, with the fullness of His soul and divinity present. If we do not lift up our hearts, the greatest miracle will become boring and we will miss the opportunity to receive Him with devoted, loving, and humble hearts. Nevertheless, if we lift up our souls and unite our hearts to experience the wondrous manifestation of Christ‘s love, we will be elated with joy, and that joy will motivate us to live a life of thanksgiving and praise that give and serve others in genuine loving, self-donating, and life-giving words and actions. What we recognize and embrace as we receive from the miraculous and loving Sacrament of the Eucharist will make us become eucharistic in our very own life of faith.

In our very own life of faith, we cannot forget that the Lord is with us and that we are called to lift up our hearts to Him in how we pray and worship, individually and as a community of faith. The greatest miracle is to be able to sense His presence and to receive His love totally and completely as to praise and thank Him with joy, to reflect on what He has done for us, and refocus on what we are called to do as His disciples.

Of course, this world can and will be hard at times, but we can never stop lifting up our hearts to the Lord in prayers and in worship, else we will end up crusty, sad, hopeless, and resentful of Him and others because we think that we do not have what we want. No matter what happened, is, or will happen, we can experience His wondrous works and loving miracles all around us, interwoven and hidden behind the ordinariness of life because He provides for us in such simple but caring ways, beyond what we can see at times. Therefore, let us never stop seeking, loving, and giving ourselves totally and completely to Him by lifting up our hearts to the One who loves us so we can see, recognize, and receive fully His signs of love for us.