Open the Door to the Supernatural

It’s easy to be interested in the supernatural, but to believe it is another story. That was definitely the case in my life.  As a child I wanted to live to be 100, because I wasn’t convinced there was anything beyond this life. It was fun imagining that my friends and I could do magic, learn how to fly, and play all the fun make-believe games that kids play, but was any of it really real? Deep down I knew there was a God, but didn’t really know the first thing about what was actually spiritual or what was true.

Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s was really pretty great. We went to public schools but attended the Catholic Church and CCD programs to learn about our faith and God. We didn’t talk about faith much at home, but my home was filled with love and joy. The words supernatural, miracles, and spiritual were not used too often in the catechesis of the 70’s; religion classes seemed to have a goal of teaching us to be a mature, well-adjusted and generous human beings. There was nothing wrong with that, of course, but faith was often reduced to being nice and helping others. Little did I realize there was so much more!

It wasn’t until many years later, after marriage, the birth of my daughter, and some difficult emotional struggles, that I discovered there was more to life than just the material. I could say that I discovered God, but what actually happened was God revealed Himself to me at a most unusual place. My 4-year-old daughter and I were picking out some videos to watch one weekend, and I was drawn to “Song of Bernadette”. I'm not saying that the Lord appeared to me in Blockbuster, but I felt a definite pull to check out that video. Immediately I went home and loaded the VHS tape in our recorder. Watching the story of how the Blessed Mother appeared to this young girl totally threw me for a loop. Are you kidding me? How was it I had never heard of this growing up Catholic?

If you haven’t seen ‘Song of Bernadette’, it’s definitely worth the watch. A poor, young, sickly girl was chosen by God to bring a message from heaven to the people. Not only were the apparitions miraculous, but the peace that remained with Bernadette was incredible. A simple girl, she continued to stay faithful to the truth and our Lady’s message, regardless of the manipulation and persecution of the government. Even the priest was skeptical at the beginning, but Bernadette insisted that she saw the lady. She never wavered, even when her life was threatened.

Once the apparitions started, our Lady asked her to dig in the dirt and ‘drink from the spring.’ Although she looked foolish and crazy, she continued to dig and eat the dirt and obey our Lady. Finally, water began to bubble up, and a spring began that became the healing waters of Lourdes. Another inexplicable sign that our Lady was present! Shortly after a young boy near death was washed in the waters and healed. A blind man’s sight was restored after washing his eyes in the spring water, and many other healings began happening. The miracles tested and documented from the healing waters at Lourdes are now too many to count.

This movie simply rocked my material world and opened the door to belief in the supernatural. I spent more time looking into the miracles at Lourdes, and the proof behind them all. These were total healings without any natural explanation. I realized God was most definitely real, and there were things beyond the material right here on earth. I thought I had believed that before, but now I knew it to be true. The Lord reveals Himself to us in many ways, and for me this movie was one of them! It is impossible to doubt the supernatural and the existence of God after learning about the events at Lourdes.

“You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.” Psalms 77:14