I watched an interesting documentary on the healing properties of water. It may not sound all that exciting, but it was. The most fascinating aspect was an in-depth dive into the water of the healing shrine in Lourdes, France. This water comes from a Catholic shrine, where a young girl named Bernadette saw a vision of Mary the mother of God in 1858. Mary told Bernadette to dig until she found water, and this young girl did just that. She dug in the spot that Mary told her and eventually she found a spring.
Many years have passed since that young girl first found that spring of water. The spot where she dug is no longer a rural location outside the city walls. Instead, it is now a large religious complex that sees 350,000 visitors a year bathe in its water. Visitors bathe in its water seeking its healing properties.
Since the spring was dug out by Bernadette, over 7,000 people have attributed healing miracles to that shrine. However, I think the more impressive number is 70, because out of those 7000 people who claim they were miraculously healed, only 70 have had their miracles recognized by the Catholic Church.
For a miracle to be recognized by the Catholic Church they must go through an incredible number of steps to prove beyond a doubt that the miracle is real. First, the person must have had a well-documented serious disease or ailment. Then they must have been completely healed from that ailment immediately after contact in some way with an element at the shrine. Finally, their healing must be investigated by a team of doctors and their findings must be studied by a panel of clinical physicians who must uniformly agree that there is no natural explanation for their healing. Only after all these steps can a miracle be accepted by the Catholic Church.
One such proven miracle is a man who had a huge tumor on his hip healed. Before he traveled to the shrine he had a tumor on his hip that grew to the point that it separated his hip bone. Doctors had taken many x-rays of his tumor before he entered the water at the shrine. Immediately upon exiting the water the man felt the tumor disappear. He threw off his braces and walked unassisted, which was something he had not been able to do before entering the shrine. He went to several doctors after the healing. They examined his hip and found no sign that there ever was a tumor in it. It had been removed perfectly without any scar tissue surrounding the spot. The healing was more perfect than what even a modern doctor could do. The man continued to get regular x-rays for the next 50 years and each one had the same results: no tumor, no scarring, just a perfect hip.
In the documentary, they showed us the file on this verified miracle. The binder that it was kept in was about a foot and a half wide stuffed with folders and papers discussing this man's healing! They separated the theological papers from those that were written by the medical professionals about the healing. About 95% of the papers, if not more, were written by the medical community. Only one small folder was written by the theological community. The scientific world was confused by this miracle, but not the religious.
Our world may seem to get less and less mysterious. We seem to have an explanation for everything that happens, but sometimes we don’t. It is important for us to investigate the world around us and to learn as much as we can about everything, but every now and then we will get to something that we don’t understand. And that is fine.