A Miracle? – page 1

(Plain Text Version)

HAVE WE RECEIVED A NEW MIRACLE?

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On March 27, Pope Francis led the world in prayer to ask God to bring an end to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The video replay can be found on YouTube, using “Pope Francis March 27, 2020” as the search term.
This event included Eucharistic Benediction (display of the consecrated Host, which is the Body of Christ).  Also displayed were a crucifix and an icon (painting) of the Blessed Mother, which were used centuries ago during disease outbreaks. 
According to historical records, previous epidemics ended shortly after similar times of prayer.  Statistics found on Wikipedia show that history may have repeated itself on March 27.  The two figures on this page and the next page show that, for Italy, the number of deaths and new cases steadily decreased after March 27.  
Did a miracle occur?  This is not an easy question.  To a believer, a miracle is no surprise.  To an unbeliever, many other explanations can be used. 
There is no conflict between prayer and our human efforts to combat the Coronavirus.  There is no need to say that one effort “worked” while the other didn’t.  Why not simply thank God, and continue to work on protecting ourselves from this virus.
Why did Italy have such a dramatic change, while most other countries did not?  At the time, the pandemic was taking a horrible toll on Italy.  It would be safe to say that this was a good time for help from God.