Divine Intervention Is Found In A Church

intervention research

A divine intervention, also called a "miracle," is any inexplicable phenomenon that can't be explained by science and yields positive results. In some cases, patients are cured, even when a medical intervention fails. In other instances, droughts clear up, lifelong burn scars suddenly heal, Leukemia goes into remission, or previously sterile women have babies. Over the last century, there have been many well-documented cases of divine interventions that continue to amaze and inspire people around the world.

Janice Bender was told she had months to live, as the metastatic lung cancer spread throughout her frail body. A medical intervention like liquid morphine and chemotherapy seemed her only hope, but even those options had doctors shaking their heads, telling Janice's husband, Frank, that he had better prepare for the worst. So Frank quit his job as a sculptor, yet he did finish one task: resculpting the mask that lay over St. John Neumann's face at his public shrine in Philadelphia.

Father Kevin Moley came from the Church to see Janice and before leaving he placed a relic of St. John Neumann up to her forehead and said a prayer. Instantly, Janice felt a warm, soft feeling expand inside of her and over the next few weeks, dozens of tests confirmed the inexplicable: the cancer had completely disappeared! While they aren't particularly religious people, the Benders attribute the miracle to the divine intervention of Saint John Neumann. "Maybe St. John Neumann wanted this intercession as a gift to him," Moley said, commenting that the new face Frank sculpted was "perfect."

Father Baker is another source of divine intervention in the modern world. Before his death in 1936, he was a respected member of the Lackawanna, NY community, well noted as a protector, as well as an advocate for the rights and happiness of all people. He cared for abused, sick and needy children, first and foremost, but many locals recount numerous stories of the mysterious miracles attributed to this saintly man. Father Baker heard that there had been natural gas found around Buffalo, so he petitioned the bishop for money to dig a well. Despite his reluctance, the bishop agreed. Legend has it that Father Baker stuck an Our Lady of Victory medal into the ground, instructed them to drill in that spot, and the natural gas was found that easily! Additionally, he performed other divine intervention services: curing a girl in a wheelchair, a woman with a ruptured appendix, a man with an immobile severed arm and several people with severe burns. Strangely enough, three vials of his blood were found in his coffin as they unearthed it to move him to a new location, and the blood in those vials was as fresh as the day he had died! He has not yet been canonized as a saint, but locals often pray to Father Baker and find inspiration in their hometown hero.

When the going gets tough, it is human nature to hope for divine interventions. In Washington DC, church members are "praying at the pumps," hoping that divine intervention can bring down the rising cost of fuel. Other people pray for success in business, a resolution for an internal crisis or renewed faith. Often, prayers seem to be answered. Perhaps it's all just "the power of positive thinking," or maybe we're not as alone as we sometimes feel.