From Sermons for Every Sunday in the Year
by Rev. B. J. Raycroft, A. M. Published by Fr. Pustet & Co.
Copyright 1900 by Rev. B. J. Raycroft

Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not. (St. John iv. - 48.)

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My Dear Friends: Our Divine Saviour reproves the ruler for his want of sufficient faith. "Unless you see signs and wonders," says Our Lord to him, "you will not believe." Continuing, Jesus said: "Go thy way, thy son liveth." The ruler believes His word; but his faith is imperfect until he learns from his servants that the fever left him at the hour the Jesus Christ pronounced the words, "Thy son liveth." Then himself and his whole household were confirmed in faith.
This miracle teaches all mankind in every age, a salutary lesson. It convinced the ruler of our Divine Master's power. It tells us, in all our miseries, to look to heaven for comfort and relief. We should have confidence in God, and believe the doctrine imparted to us by Him and the Church which He established. Our unfaltering faith is pleasing to him and beneficial to us. The desire to see signs and wonders is significant of lack of faith. It is the absence of an unwavering trust in the God of mercy and goodness. "He who loves Me will keep My commandments," He says. Such a person will not be looking for wonders to convince him. He believes; it is sufficient for him that God has spoken. If he does delve into the secrets of Nature, it is only to find out the marvelous works of God, so that the He may be more honored and glorified by His people.
To how many, in our day, could the reproach administered by our Saviour be applied! People are forgetful of God. Their ambition is to excel in commerce, in politics, in wealth-in anything except that for which they were chiefly created. In the fever of their efforts, they burn for worldly advantages. They are consumed with the desire to obtain the perishable. They stand in need of the heavenly Physician to touch their hearts, to cool their burning thirst, and bid them look above for true happiness. Engrossed with the objects of their ambition, they strain every nerve to grasp the tempting fruit of earthly renown. Sight of the noble ends of life is lost. Prosperity only gives rise to doubt in the existence of God. There are not signs and wonders to prove to them that Providence still directs the universe. In order to attain to popularity, some may even seek large audiences for the purpose of condemning the works of God or denying His existence. The fault with these, if they are sincere, is that unprejudiced search is not made by them for the wonders of God. The heavens and the earth abound with such marvels. "How great are thy works, 0 Lord! Thou host made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with Thy riches." These words of the Psalmist are verified by every student of Nature.
We would say to them: look around you; study honestly the wonders which God places before you for your contemplation. The marvelous things which you will behold are signs of God and His providence. The consideration of the wonderful operations of Nature will give a healthy tone to your thought; will lift you above yourself; will subdue the fever's rage for wealth, for power or position.
Take a rose. You have enjoyed its delightful perfume. Its delicate tints have no doubt won your admiration. Yea, its very presence may have expanded the heart, allayed sorrow, and given a peaceful buoyance to your entire being. But study its perfume. Why does it differ from other vegetation? Whence does it get this pleasing fragrance? How distilled? Why do the sepals possess such soft tints fading from one delicate color into another? You may answer that it is due to cultivation. But even granting this, what is there in the rose predisposing it to culture. Is this delicacy of odor and color, earth? Is it air? Can you combine both so as to produce the same effects? You cannot, for God has endowed the rose with a laboratory whose work surpasses the skill of man. Well has Our Lord said that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like the lily of the field. But whence does the rose obtain such a prodigious faculty? Does it receive it from the soil in which it grows? Does it imbibe it from the atmosphere? The answer is no; for, analyze the elements, and you will find that they do not possess it, and consequently cannot impart what they have not.
Nature, you may say, is the author; let me ask: did you ever see Nature? Did you ever apprehend her by any of your senses? Is she an eternal something? Is she infinity in her capabilities; boundless in her extension; possessing matchless intelligence, and directress and preservatrix of the universe. If you say she is, then you only call by another name the Supreme Being Whom Catholics adore as God. Should you maintain that Nature is a force, then we ask, is it an intelligent force? If you deny to it intelligence, you hold that an unintelligent something governs the universe, and of course human intelligence also. Such a position could be held by no man of sound mind. For no being can impart what he has not; but here an unintelligent Nature would be giving to man intelligence-something which, according to the hypothesis, Nature does not possess.
But the unbeliever in God may claim that Nature is intelligent. A statement of this kind involves him in a labyrinth of difficulties. Without analyzing the assertion, let us inquire: Did you ever see, feel, smell, or taste an intelligence? You did not; and as you have not, why attribute intelligence to the force called Nature? But should we grant that Nature does possess intelligence, then the question arises, did it always possess intelligence? If not, then it must have received it from another source; if it always possessed intelligence, then its intelligence is eternal, and therefore God.
But enough of this! Consider the works of God in a general way, and what wonders you behold! See the grass which you trample under feet. Who can explain the nature of its growth? We look upon it as insignificant; but how mysterious is its formation! The shrubs, the trees-all vegetation proclaims the wisdom of God. If our minds soar to the stars, here again is a magnificent display of God's power manifested. Lost in thought, we study the motions of the ponderous globes which illumine the beautiful expanse of the heavens. Pondering upon their position and the forces by which they are controlled, we exclaim: Great are thy works, O God! The heavens and the earth are proofs of Thy greatness. If man studied himself, he would behold the greatest and grandest wonder of all visible creation. Man, so wonderful in organism, so incomprehensible in the faculties of his soul, is argument sufficient to demonstrate the existence of the Supreme Intelligence.
Well directed study leads to God; but prayer consoles the heart, nourishes the soul, and unites us with our Maker. A Catholic may examine, weigh, reflect, and speculate upon mysteries natural and supernatural; still after the mental excursions are over, he should rest in the same secure faith which was the characteristic mark of all celebrated Catholic writers. As a hunter returns home after the chase to warm himself at his own hearth and be protected under his own roof from the storms of the night; so the student should, after his speculations, be warmed by divine hope and protected from the storms of doubt and difficulties by an ardent faith. It is only when the scholar is shielded by the armor of faith that he can make the most beneficial investigation in the realms of hidden knowledge. For now he can advance with security. He tosses aside all doubts in matters of faith. What discoveries he makes, involve no contradiction; therefore they at once become a part of the sum of human science. Such was the method of the renowned Doctors of the Church. They saw the wisdom and power of God manifested in all His works.
Bacon has said: "A little philosophy makes unbelievers, but much philosophy makes Christians." The more we analyze Nature, the more our soul arises to its Creator. Our gratitude becomes greater, our love increases with our gratitude, until we bow in heartfelt prayer, thanking Him for all His blessings. We should implore God that He may give us still greater powers of intellect for the purpose of better knowing His marvelous works, and a heart to appreciate them. As the poet says, "An honest man is the noblest work of God." Therefore, every Catholic ought to labor that his life may correspond to the teaching of the Church. If it does not, then he is diseased. There is no true spiritual health where moral defects exist. Health of the body is to be desired. Indeed, we make every effort to regain it, if it be impaired. But the health of the soul is of incomparably greater importance. Our Divine Lord said to the ruler, Thy son liveth; but to restore health to the soul, He died upon the Cross. What is more pitiable than to see a person pretending to be a Catholic, yet his conduct is disgraceful to a pagan! He professes Catholicism, but his religion is grasping greed, his appetite for strong drink, or some other passion which degrades noble human nature. Our earnest prayer should be that God may heal our souls, and that our hearts may burn with divine love, so that at the end of life He may say to each of us: Thou liveth not in body, but in soul; not for time, but for eternity with Me.