Miracles. Do you believe in miracles? 

When we read the Bible, we see and hear about miracles that happened a long time ago. Let’s think about some of the miracles found in the Bible. Who remembers Moses parting the Red Sea – can you imagine that? There was also…

• Elijah being carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot
• Jesus on a boat and stops a scary storm
• Jesus restoring eyesight to the blind and raising Lazarus from the dead…

And many more. Miracles can happen. 

So how about for us? Can miracles happen to us? Sometimes in life, whether we are in school, in college, or as adults, we have things we are struggling with. Maybe we are sad about something, nervous, or anxious, and while we may not need a miracle, we need help to heal. 

The readings today give us a path out of the scared and the hurt, and at some point, we all need that path, that formula to heal. But with help, we can’t do it alone.

In the first reading, Moses says, “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you… to him you shall listen.” The prophet he is talking about is Jesus, our Savior, and we do need to listen to him when we are in need.

In the second reading, Saint Paul says, “I should like you to be free of anxieties.” God doesn’t want us anxious, scared, or hurt, he does not will that. No, God wants us to be healed when we are suffering! That’s what he does for us, over and over and over. If we but let him.

In the Gospel, we also hear the story of the healing power of Jesus. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue where there was a man with an unclean spirit. Jesus rebukes the spirit and says, “Quiet! Come out of him!” … and the man is healed.  

If Jesus can heal a man of an unclean spirit, what else can he heal? Jesus helped people over and over again, and he still does today! He is the best expert healer the world has ever seen! 

So, how can we be healed when we are hurt or scared? I think part of the problem with healing a hurt is the alone part, trying to fix this alone. We need our healer!  

When Jesus heals someone, we hear him say, “Your faith has saved you.” Having faith in the healing power of our Lord builds and grows in us, first of all, through prayer. Praying to him about our trouble or anxiety is an important step. And we know that we can, and should, pray to him all the time. And no one needs to know you are praying, you can just do it quietly, even while you are in school or at work!

I think we also have to recognize that we need him and need to surrender this problem or hurt to him. Surrendering to him by saying I can’t heal this alone, I need your help. He lightens our load and helps us rediscover that spring in our step, that smile on our lips. 

He is there for every one of us. And no one is unloved by him. 

In order to start down this healing path, we need to open that door to Jesus in our lives…wider than we do today. Developing that level of faith where he can say to us, “Your faith has saved you”. 

This is a level of faith that maybe we didn’t think we could achieve because that’s for “those holy people”, not me. Well, you’re wrong. He didn’t come into the world for the healthy, he came for the sinners, the poor, the hurt and the wounded. He came to show us how to have a relationship with him and how to achieve a level of faith that “those holy people have.” Those holy people are you and me. 

Turn the knob, open the door, and watch him help. Maybe you will get a miracle, or maybe you will get just plain old help. Either way, He knows exactly what we need. And he will say, “Your faith has saved you!”