Expect a miracle

In my grandmother's kitchen, a flimsy paper liturgical calendar hung on the wall between two windows over a square table with a speckled green linoleum top and chrome edging. I enjoyed sitting there and looking at all the days of the year, each one commemorating one or more saints. There are far more saints than there are days in a year, but tradition and hierarchy are considered when prioritizing whose name to select for your church calendar or book.

Besides St. Valentine, this week we honor Fusca and her nurse Maura (2/13), brothers Cyril and Methodius, along with Valentine on the 14th, brother and sister Faustinus and Jovita (2/15 and currently dropped from the Catholic Church calendar), Juliana of Nicomedia (2/16), the seven Servite founders (2/17), and Beato Giovanni Fra Angelico (2/18).* In order to become a saint, one has to have lived a heroically virtuous life worthy of imitation – AND have two miracles acquired through their intercession.

It’s the miracles, of course, that get me. Because I believe in miracles. I do. That said, I have difficulty imagining bilocating like St. Martin de Porres, or levitating like Teresa of Ávila. Those are some saintly miracles! But I have no difficulty at all believing in a sudden unexplained remission of cancer. Or sliding on an icy road in and out of traffic on I-95 crashing all around only to come to a gentle unharmed stop on the snowy shoulder of the highway. Or that some among us have the gifts that seem beyond the ken of our five senses. All miracles I know of personally.

Miracles are everywhere. The chance meeting that led you to your life partner. Pulling yourself up out of that misstep on your hike that nearly cost your life. Answering that phone call that got you your job. Turning left instead of right. Saying no to this but yes to that. So many miracles have been given to you. And you can make miracles happen, too – with your kind words, thoughts and action. You can be very deliberate about that, but know that some of those miracles you leave behind you are like a wake, with you never even knowing or needing to know the blessing of your beneficence. Be open-minded and keep your heart, your gaze and your intention in the direction of love, of positivity, of good health, of peace.

Expect a miracle. Every day.

*Saints. A Year in Faith and Art by Rosa Giorgi. © 2005

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