Letter: Skeptical about ‘miracles’

The Oct. 22, 2018, headline “Healings abound in record charismatic crowd” evoked painful memories for me.

I recall
good friends recommending I take my cancer-ridden wife to Lourdes, Fatima, or Medjugorje.
I even considered taking her to Oberammergau in 1990.

I puzzled over these enthusiastic
recommendations for several days and consulted her physician. Her condition, he
warned, was so delicate that such travel was out of the question. After many
prayerful nights I used that puzzling strategy called logic to solve my
dilemma. I asked God if he favoured my locale over another when it came to
miraculous healing. The answer I received was: if he chose to answer my wish
list, he could do so anywhere, even at home.

After her death in 1989, and frightfully
vulnerable, I became involved briefly with a local healing group. Three close
friends were avid members and urged me to join and reap the benefits of being a
Charismatic: gifts of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, discernment, knowledge,
and prophecy.

My friends each told me their sad tales of
life-threatening diseases. One had stomach cancer, another had high blood
pressure, a third suffered from lung cancer, and a fourth had recently been diagnosed
with severe heart disease. Even though I gave the healing services the cold
shoulder, my friends stuck to them like glue. One special evening, all four
were healed and trumpeted their good news to me within hours. Apparently, a
priest and a laywoman had laid hands on each of them, prayed in tongues,

Article source: https://bccatholic.ca/content/letter-skeptical-about-miracles