How do saints/miracles work?

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Okay, so, my mom and I were talking about Mother Theresa and her becoming a saint because of miracles. And it got me thinking a bit. How do saints and Miracles work? Do saints themselves heal and perform miracles? Or does God perform miracles and the saints just intercede on our behalf? Because my mom keeps saying that saints don’t perform miracles, only God does, and I’m not sure about any of it, so I can’t say much. So if you guys could explain it to me, I would really appreciate it!
 
GNM1999 said:
Okay, so, my mom and I were talking about Mother Theresa and her becoming a saint because of miracles. And it got me thinking a bit. How do saints and Miracles work? Do saints themselves heal and perform miracles? Or does God perform miracles and the saints just intercede on our behalf? Because my mom keeps saying that saints don’t perform miracles, only God does, and I’m not sure about any of it, so I can’t say much. So if you guys could explain it to me, I would really appreciate it!
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God is the only healer!!!
But He heals often at the request of a holy righteous saint’s prayers. Such as the Apostles, the disciples, the saints 🙂
Or God will heal at the request of an everyday persons prayers. God is the Lord of miracles because all things are His creation, God can do anything,
It’s always God who heals. People are His intercessors, including saints in Heaven we ask to pray for us, we ask God for the Miracle, or ask a Saint in Heaven to ask God to grant a miracle, but it is God who grants it.
We are the Askers, the Lord is the Giver, we receive what He grants.
 
The article on “Miracle” in the old Catholic Encyclopedia might help give you a better understanding.
 
GNM1999 said:
Because my mom keeps saying that saints don’t perform miracles, only God does…
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And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. (1 Cor 12:28)

Although it is true that God is the effective cause of all miracles, it is not wrong to refer to the saints as “workers of miracles” when they collaborate with God and exercise the gift “of working miracles” which they have received from God. (1 Cor 12:28,10)
 
I think of James 5:16, the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So the saints are perfectly righteous, therefore their prayers are very effective with God.
 
First, Mother Theresa, nor any other saint, is declared a “saint” because of miracles. They are saints because of the pious life of Christian virtue that they lived. The miracles are the last requirement only so we can be reasonably assured that the deceased person is in heaven with God. It is the life they lived that opens the cause for eventual sainthood.

Second, the saints themselves are conduits for God’s graces. So you can say that the saints does perform the miracle, but only in the name of Jesus. The apostles healed and performed all kinds of miracles, but the authority was given to them by God in the name of Jesus.
 
Always think in terms of infused grace! Of internal movements in the soul! The Spirit and His Grace enters inside the Heart!

The power to perform miracles is infused with certain Saints by the wisdom and purposes of God. God is the primary cause of miracles (like all things), but the saint is the secondary cause.

The Saint isn’t an mere instrument, but rather better understood as a body part. An instrument is connected externally to its mover, but a body part is connect internally to its mover as well. Therefore, all miracles are sourced in God, but the Saints, connected to God like a limb to a Head, perform miracles as well. We are within God, and God is within us.

Christi pax,

Lucretius
 
A review of the miracles mentioned in Acts shows that something more than simple intercessory prayer is involved with the saints. In the miraculous cure of the lame man, there is no mention of intercessory prayer; there is only mention of the saint’s command: "But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’” (Acts 3:6) In the miraculous raising of Tabitha from the dead, there is mention of both prayer and the saint’s command: "But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, ‘Tabitha, rise.’” (Acts 9:40) In the miraculous cure of the crippled man, there is no mention of intercessory prayer; there is only mention of the saint’s command: "He listened to Paul speaking; and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’”(Acts 14:9-10) In the miraculous expulsion of the spirit of divination, there is no mention of intercessory prayer; there is only mention of the saint’s command: "But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’” (Acts 16:18)

In the Gospels, Jesus Christ spoke about more than intercessory prayer:
21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will be done. (Matt 21:21)

And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. (Luke 17:6)

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, (Luke 9:1)

In Confession, a Catholic priest doesn’t simply offer intercessory prayer. Rather, by virtue of the power he received at his ordination which traces back through apostolic succession to the Apostles upon whom Jesus Christ breathed and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23), the priest says, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
 
GNM1999 said:
Okay, so, my mom and I were talking about Mother Theresa and her becoming a saint because of miracles. And it got me thinking a bit. How do saints and Miracles work? Do saints themselves heal and perform miracles? Or does God perform miracles and the saints just intercede on our behalf? Because my mom keeps saying that saints don’t perform miracles, only God does, and I’m not sure about any of it, so I can’t say much. So if you guys could explain it to me, I would really appreciate it!
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God works through them, as stated by Paul in the epistles - that God is using him as an instrument.

They can pray for us, and God and/or Jesus can hear their prayers as He also hears ours. We can ask them to pray on our behalf.

This is different that worshiping Jesus and asking Him to help us.
 
Note, also, that while some saints are known for having performed miracles during their lives, the miracles required for canonization occur after the possible saint’s death, when humans on Earth pray for their intercession with God.
 
A good place to look for understanding about this is the Bible.

If you look at the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus, you will find that in 14:16, God tells Moses to divide the sea. But in verse 21, it says God caused it to happen.

Now I think we can agree that Moses, all by his lonesome, had no power to divide a body of water into two. It’s always God’s power that causes a miracle, but He often chooses to work through a human being.
 
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