Why it’s worth believing in miracles

"Where there is great love, there are always miracles."- Willa Cather.

Two years before the end of World War Two, Simon Wiesenthal arranged for his wife, Cyla, to be smuggled by the underground to Warsaw. Tragically, sometime later, he heard that she had been killed in a Nazi firestorm that had torched her street. Meanwhile, Cyla was told that her husband had committed suicide to avoid torture by the Gestapo in June 1944 (such was the reputation of the sadist he was turned over to, he did try to kill himself three times but failed!).

During the Holocaust, Wiesenthal experienced every imaginable atrocity and 89 of his relatives were murdered including his mother. After all he had witnessed, it will not surprise you to hear that by 1945 he had little religious faith left and certainly no belief that something miraculously good could happen to him.

Yet what happened after the war was a remarkable chain of events for Wiesenthal and his wife to discover that each other was still alive and to reunite:?

“If my letter hadn’t reached Dr Biener the day before, if Cyla’s train hadn’t been delayed, if she hadn’t gone for a walk, if she hadn’t met Landek, if Dr. Biener hadn’t been home, then the two women would have gone back to the station and continued their journey to Russia. Cyla might have wound up anywhere in the Soviet Union and it would have taken years to find her again, let alone get her out of there.”

A Course in Miracles says that “miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.” These miracles can only happen if each of us believes our voices can cumulatively make a ripple effect difference even in our own small part of the world: I believe it is our duty to hold stock in what Jimi Hendrix said: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Wiesenthal sought peace in the world by making his purpose in life to hunt down Nazi war criminals. After the war, he helped to bring over 1100 Nazis to justice including Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele.

Miracles happen; we’re just not paying attention. I don’t think we take the time to trace back how some of the great things in our life materialized. And when we do, it becomes clearer just how many quirky things contributed to that miracle happening or could have sent it in a very different direction.

We tend to thoughtlessly dismiss our better outcomes as “timing”, “luck”, or justify them by thinking that life somehow owed us something good after various other things had not worked out. When you live from your heart and are driven by love - and can avoid making?too many?silly mistakes - that’s an enormously positive force for good. It doesn’t mean only good things will happen, but it raises your odds and makes your life more enjoyable. It’s infinitely better than all the alternatives.

When you let love drive, not everything has to come from the hard grind and strategic planning meetings. Wiesenthal’s biographer, Alan Levy explains that he came to believe in miracles after he reunited with his wife. If Simon Wiesenthal believed in miracles after all the horrors he went through, you can too, and it will elevate your ability to be, do and have what you most want in life.

What brings you joy??What do you love to do? What’s the most fun/meaningful thing you could do right now? Think about what you used to love doing as a child and a teenager. Are there ways you can ease some of those things back – even in smaller doses?

Who do you love spending time with??At least ask: ‘who do I really enjoy spending time with?’ Who makes you feel good? Share that love.

Make miracles natural expressions of your love. Pray to God and ask what miracles you should perform. Do anything that opens you up to acknowledge that sometimes, astonishing things happen, AND they can happen to you.

?

To miracle making!

Matt

Copyright Matt Anderson, 2022