I remember reading one thing that talked about how the Holy Spirit had flooded the early Christian community. It went along the lines of reminding us how being Christian in those early years was a capital crime, punishable by death, and/or having your family killed/all your possessions confiscated. It wasn’t just, “Hey, let’s go do Bible study on Wednesday”. It was putting your life and your family on the line. Having those visible signs, and the graces from God, and the blood of the martyrs— all of that contributed to having a vigorous early Church in those difficult periods, one that would outlast the entities that persecuted them.
I remember a conversation my mother had had with a nice elderly lady who was (Presbyterian?). The elderly lady had gone to church back in the 20’s and the 30’s, and talked about how those sorts of apostolic-type miracles and blessings were very commonplace back in the day, in her little rural parish in the South. A big part of me wonders, if we paid as much attention to God as we do to our cellphones— I wonder what life would be like then?
Remember the whole bit about mustard seed faith-- “if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains”-- and the bit about “because of their unbelief, Jesus couldn’t do any miracles among them.”
There are people who have certain ministries, like
Sister Briege McKenna, but they’re the first to clarify, it’s not them, or the fact that they’re special— they’re instruments to be used by God to do his work, and they’re given the graces and the abilities they need in order to accomplish it. So because there’s this built-in humility into the job, those graces are deployed within context, not setting up a card table outside the hospital for free healings. (Although that would be cool.)
I know of one priest who’s able to read souls. He uses that ability to provide counseling to religious, among other duties. It’s nice to be able to cut through all the confusion and say, “This is where you failed,” or “This is what God wants you to do.” I tried taking that shortcut myself, when I was terribly conflicted over some personal stuff, but it fell through. The answer I got from his fill-in was “joyful trust”, which was a little disappointing, because I wanted a concrete roadmap of specific actions God wanted me to do, goshdarnit.
But it was the answer God wanted me to have. So I keep on bumping around, doing the best I can in my muddled human way, and I have to realize that life is life, not a checklist of things to accomplish. The people around me need to be loved and cultivated and appreciated, and I need to use my time to be God’s hands to them.
And ultimately, that’s what it’s like for everyone. Be God’s hands to them, even without superpowers.
And, if by some chance, God does give you extra blessings to pass on to people, you realize that you didn’t really need them after all. All you can give them is what God has given you to pass on; you don’t have any good stuff of your own manufacture, separate from God. And the more you realize that, the more you’re able to see God’s hand working around you. Occasionally the results are amazing and sparkly, like Hollywood, but more often, God works very quietly and subtly in the ordinary, normal, and everyday.
