I want to start with you reading Luke 17, 11-19: “On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’f feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”  Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” “

The Pastoral Sobriety needs to be evangelized and evangelizing. In this sense, the experience with God is essential for the miracle to happen. Jesus came not to perform every miracle God’s miracles are always signs in our lives always after a demonstration of a sign from God, the question should be:.. “What does God wants to say to us?”

Our faith should not be based only on miracles The great mystics:. St. Theresa, St. Ignatius, are examples of saints who have gone through dark nights, not just moments of enjoyment. Sometimes, we want many satisfactions: how to feel the joy. Faith can not be based simply on the senses. Faith is more than momentary pleasure.

We are more than feelings. We can spend a profound aridity in our life. Therefore, we should not measure our faith by the senses. Have many people give up faith because they live a religious sentimentality. There are people who start work and do not receive praise, they soon abandon the mission, because they are carried away by feelings.

Miracles exist and are part of our faith. If you look at the Old Testament, you will see, God has his manifestations. God has his miracles. But we can not fall into a fetish. Miracle comes from miraculum, which means miracle or sign from God addressed to man, which is an intervention of God in history.

A Christian who does not study the Word of God and the Catechism may fall into grave errors, by not knowing the promises of God and not feeding his faith. St. Augustine says that “when God created human beings divine seeds left in history and in man.” It is a miracle when man enters into harmony with God. It is the person who starts something from God, or that God opposes their wills. When we place ourselves in the presence of God, the seed of the miracle that was already germinating in us.

We can be protagonizadores with God. We can be a bridge to God. We should we be instruments of healing in people’s lives, but it is God who acts. God can do anything. The nature and man without God, can do nothing. God expects man and nature to ripen for the miracle to happen. There are so many lepers, injured. We know that leprosy is dark and God wants to heal. We need to evangelize anyway. Because the miracle is the plastic form of God. The miracle is the plasticity of promise. The miracle he confirms with the sign of evangelizing transformation.

You act in the Church by faith or for pleasure? If it is by faith: support the cross! In Luke, the lepers say, “Jesus! Have mercy on us. “ And He said to them: Go look for the priests. “ The Gospel says they were cured while they were walking. Jesus is sensitive to our needs.

We do not need to condition our faith. As the faith of Thomas: “If I see, if I play I will have faith.”

Our faith is not conditioned upon the miracles and no “see” and “touch”. Jesus is so pacient to say to Thomas, “Son you are so skeptical, put your hand.” But Jesus says: “Blessed is he who believes without seeing.”

As the Church goes, miracles happen. But there are criteria for the miracle to happen: you have to be in the religious environment. In addition, the miracle happens in their own time without explanation. Also it is not enough for science to say, “it is a miracle.” The Church asks, “This is mercy? Or was someone doing witchcraft or anything like that? “

We can not say: “I want the miracle now.” And not wanting all resolved problems for faith. The miracle is a sign and it touches the eyes, the nose and the palate. The miracle is real, historical and punctual. It is not for everyone, maybe after a while everyone will contemplate it. The real miracles are in the Catholic Church.

Not only do we want to follow Jesus because of the miracles. For healing happens along the way. The Holy Spirit will gradually act in history. The Pastoral Sobriety, heals to heal others. Even if the miracle does not happen today, walk on the road that where God will heal you. God does not give us what we want, but He gives us what is necessary.

There are times we ask wrong. We need to wait for God’s time! The miracle is a part of salvation. The lepers who were on their way, all were healed, but only one was saved. We see a part, but God sees the whole. Saint Rita and Saint Monica did not stop in time, not paralyzed in a dead faith; but waited for God’s time.

Transcription and adaptation: Jakeline Megda D’Onofrio