On miracles
Saturday, 17. May 2008, 00:37:04
On my regular commute to work one day, I had my radio on "scan" mode, looking for new stations to listen to. As it happens, I chanced upon a conversation between two Roman Catholic disc jockeys (a man and a woman) at 104.3 FM. They were discussing miracles and the man related his personal miracle story. Wanting to hear what his miracle was about, I stopped the radio's scan mode and listened to this radio station.
It started with the man driving from work to his favorite church, The Church of the Holy Sacrifice located within the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. He was taking the Aurora Blvd. route to UP (which is notoriously congested during peak hours) and was running a bit late to reach the Mass on time. Then, he hears a voice telling him "mas malapit sa Mount Carmel" (Mount Carmel church is nearer). So he decided to follow the voice and took a detour to Mount Carmel. But as luck would have it, the carpark was already full. But he persevered, and lo and behold, he found an open slot. So he took the slot, got to Mass on time, and he thanked god for this "miracle." He went on to say that this was not the first, or the last, time he heard voices.
I don't know who this man was, but the tone of his voice and his manner of speaking gives me the impression that he is probably middle aged and had a good education. So I couldn't understand why he would consider this experience as miraculous. A miracle is usually understood as a temporary suspension of natural laws by a divine agency. But we don't see any natural law broken or suspended in his tale. Hearing voices is evidence of a fantasy-prone personality, not of the presence of the numinous. And finding an open slot in a "full" parking lot would hardly need comment.
In the bible, purported miraculous events are more fantastic than what we find in this man's story. We read of god/s killing all living creatures with a worldwide flood, stopping the movement of the sun across the sky, and turning a woman into a pillar of salt. We read of great men curing the sick, feeding hundreds with a few pieces of food, turning sticks to serpents and water to wine, raising the dead, and flying up in the air like ancient supermen. True or not, these events deserve the title "miracles."
I guess they don't make miracles like they used to.
It started with the man driving from work to his favorite church, The Church of the Holy Sacrifice located within the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. He was taking the Aurora Blvd. route to UP (which is notoriously congested during peak hours) and was running a bit late to reach the Mass on time. Then, he hears a voice telling him "mas malapit sa Mount Carmel" (Mount Carmel church is nearer). So he decided to follow the voice and took a detour to Mount Carmel. But as luck would have it, the carpark was already full. But he persevered, and lo and behold, he found an open slot. So he took the slot, got to Mass on time, and he thanked god for this "miracle." He went on to say that this was not the first, or the last, time he heard voices.
I don't know who this man was, but the tone of his voice and his manner of speaking gives me the impression that he is probably middle aged and had a good education. So I couldn't understand why he would consider this experience as miraculous. A miracle is usually understood as a temporary suspension of natural laws by a divine agency. But we don't see any natural law broken or suspended in his tale. Hearing voices is evidence of a fantasy-prone personality, not of the presence of the numinous. And finding an open slot in a "full" parking lot would hardly need comment.
In the bible, purported miraculous events are more fantastic than what we find in this man's story. We read of god/s killing all living creatures with a worldwide flood, stopping the movement of the sun across the sky, and turning a woman into a pillar of salt. We read of great men curing the sick, feeding hundreds with a few pieces of food, turning sticks to serpents and water to wine, raising the dead, and flying up in the air like ancient supermen. True or not, these events deserve the title "miracles."
I guess they don't make miracles like they used to.
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