It has been said that the time of miracles ended with the apostles and the early followers of Christ.  I disagree.  The Kingdom of Heaven is still at hand.  In fact, there are more miracles now than in the early days of the Church, mainly because there are more Christians now than in the early days of the Church.  

An example to back up this statement comes from our Redemptorist church in Boston.  It is a basilica that is locally known as Mission Church.  In the cupola of the church, one of our Redemptorist confreres, Fr. Ed McDonough, is painted into its artwork.  Fr. McDonough was well known in the medical community around Boston because many patients of the doctors working in the nearby hospitals would attend his healing services.  Every week people would return for an X-ray or a second opinion and find that the cause of their illness had been totally reversed.  Cancers were cured, tumors disappeared, and relationships were mended.  Fr. Ed’s gift from God proved that God’s Kingdom is still in our midst.  Miracles are not relegated to the past but are an everyday occurrence.

The Missionaries of Charity, the religious order formed by St. Teresa of Calcutta, have the words of Jesus from the cross, “I thirst,” next to the crucifix in all of their chapels.  It is there to remind the sisters that their work in attending to the needs of Christ are not a thing of the past.  After spending the first hour of every day in silent prayer in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, they go outside the doors of their chapels all around the world and encounter him again in every person they meet.  The Kingdom of God is still at hand.  Miracles are not relegated only to New Testament times.  

The Redemptorist world is blessed to have a contemplative women religious congregation called the Redemptoristines in our midst.  The Redemptoristines were founded a year before the Redemptorists, in 1731, by Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa.  Not only do we priests and brothers of the Redemptorists benefit from their prayers, but they lift up intentions that impact our world on a daily basis.  They witness faithfully to Jesus’ words that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

What about us?  How are we advancing the work of the Kingdom in our circumstances of life?  After all, our relationship with Jesus is the only thing that we will take with us when we die.

Blessings,

Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.