This past week several of my coworks and friends have been caught up in the recent presidential debates and are fearful about what the future holds. None of the candidates really stand out as someone who really exemplifies a good moral character with the best interest of the people in mind. Another good friend sees how similar recent events are to the events described in the book of Revelation, and can't help but wonder how close we are to the end. It is very easy to become caught up in all of this worry and fear and I found myself awake around 4am the other night wondering about the end of the world and the state of our country.
This morning however, it dawned on me that God really loves to keep everyone on their toes and achieve impossible things. Inspired by Fr. Gaitley's book 33 Days to Merciful Love I recalled how just when the world was at it's darkest moment. When the King of the Universe our Lord Jesus was on the cross dying and all hope of the angle's prophecy to Mary seemed lost. (Luke 1:32-33) "He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end." Jesus is risen from the dead, accomplishing His most well known impossible feat ever. So although the signs of the time may look bleak and there is a lot of uncertainty of the leadership of our country this very well may be the dark before the dawn. The age of disobedience will come to an end eventually to be replaced by a new age, the age of obedience.
As human beings we overcome impossible odds and achieve impossible things all the time. We travel at speeds of at least 65mph on a daily basis that was impossible in the days of horse travel. We can talk to someone on the other side of the world in an instant, again Impossible! Much of our food can be warmed in in 30 seconds or less I doubt you can even start a fire that quick. We do so many things on daily basis that would have been considered impossible to people in the past, that we would do well to recall that humans are created only in the image of God. If we are but God's mere reflections how much greater are the impossibilities God Himself can achieve?
Throughout Jesus' public life there are so many documented miracles, it can sometimes be difficult to remember that even one miracle would put us in awe if it were to happen in front of us today. I don't know about you, but I have never witnessed first hand a completely paralyzed man get up and walk, instantly cured. Today we can artificially help the blind see and the deaf hear by means of technology. Yet, we are only just now catching up to what Jesus was able to do thousands of years ago with a mere touch or a word, and we are no where near restoring sight or sound without technology. That would be impossible right? Wrong, Jesus did it and so did some of his followers.
What other impossible things did Jesus do? Control the weather (Mark 4:39), defy the laws of nature aka walking on water (Matthew 14:25), defy the laws of math aka feeding over 5000 with only 5 loves and 2 fish (John 6:9-13). But of course that's not all. Just to top it all off, Jesus rose from the dead, then sent the Holy Spirit to dwell among us and gave His Church 7 sacraments in which He Himself and the Holy Spirit would continue to achieve impossible things until He comes back again.
Probably the most impossible sacrament is the Eucharist. Jesus is actually fully present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the form of bread and wine. We know from scripture Jesus can take one substance and turn it into another. He proves that with His very first miracle changing water into wine. That alone should have been impossible, but it wasn't. Then He goes a step farther and takes 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and multiples that so it's enough to feed 5000 men plus an unknown number of women and children with 12 baskets of left overs. When God does impossible things He does so with abundance! Finally He combines these two miracles together, cause you know, they just weren't impossible enough yet! He wine and bread, as used in the previous two miracles, changes them and into Himself and multiples Himself so that every single little white host that is consecrated contains Himself fully no matter how many times it is divided! Then He says believe that! Of course at this point many people in Jesus time and people today say "no" they will not believe that because it is too extreme too impossible and they walk away. (John 6:66 interesting verse number humm?)
We are followers of a God who does Impossible things. It should not surprise us that God can become bread and wine if he wants to, why not? God can do anything! God created everything out of nothing. If I were to say to you, "make me a cake," and you asked me what kind, and I said "I don't care, but you can't use anything to make it with." I don't think I would be getting my cake anytime soon. We can not create something out of nothing, but God can. That's impossible for us, and so we say, "that's impossible." We can not change our bodies into an inanimate object, and so we say, "that's impossible." But, what does God say? (Luke 18:27) "What is impossible with man is possible with God." Therefor the more impossible something seems the more likely it is of God. The Catholic Church has been teaching the same truth for thousands of years from the time of Jesus until today and have not taught anything about faith or morals that is false despite being run by sometimes corrupt and sinful men. Yup sounds pretty impossible, therefor only God could have safeguarded His truth throughout the generations so it is still the same truth today.
Perhaps other impossible things come to mind, three shepherd children see the Virgin Mary, or a man is reported to levitate. Or a child is cured from an incurable disease, or a couple who's marriage was on the brink of divorce suddenly have a stronger relationship than before. Or maybe you managed to slow down just before that car swung into your lane, or that woman that always scowls at you at work actually smiled and said hello today. God and His angles and His Saints are very active in this world today, performing impossible things both big and small. Refuse to believe in coincidences and see impossible things as the miracles they are. As quoted by Mark Hart "Don't tell God how big your problems or fears are instead tell your fears and problems how big your God is!" And our God will do impossible things.
