Have What it Takes?

Many people would respond with, “I don’t bilocate or levitate, I can’t tame wild animals or fast for weeks…I’m just a normal kind of guy.”

We know and love the spectacular miracles of Padre Pio, St. Anthony of Padua and others, but what about some of the great saints who were not wonder-workers during their lifetime?

I’m hard-pressed to attribute a miracle to John the Baptist, except that God the Father and the Holy Spirit made a brief appearance after he baptized the Son, and that he lived off locusts and wild honey (but then again, so does Bear Grylls). As far as we know, the rest of his existence was pretty run-of-the-mill – a humble and sacrificial one, to be sure, but nothing that would grab our attention as supernatural. 

St. Joseph? A wise and just man, a hard worker, a faithful foster father to Jesus. He didn't float around three feet off the ground, he didn't multiply the tools in the workshop; he lived his days working silently alongside his son, maybe not saying much, but preaching by example. 

Some more recent saints have led extremely holy and well-documented lives with no miracles to show for it: St. Gianna Beretta Molla, St. Maximillian Kolbe and St. Mary MacKillop…c’mon, why hide that sanctity from the rest of us? 

The Virgin Mary is the most striking example of all: if anyone was a qualified to work miracles, it was her – and with one notable exception, her total count was zero. (Her role in the Incarnation was the greatest possible miracle, of course; any other would have been a let-down.) 

If you don’t have what it takes, then neither did St. Joseph or St. Maximillian Kolbe. 

If St. John the Baptist didn't work miracles, but he certainly that miracles are simply a help for our faith: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” 

Anybody can do that, but only few truly do it well. Sure you don’t have what it takes?

By Colin Gore