A story for every day...
The disillusioned philosopher.
Laréveillère–Lépaux, one of the members of the atheist government, the fruit of the French Revolution, had long been racking his brains to find a new religion: finally he invented theophilanthropy, which found no adherents. He complained about it to Talleyrand, who answered him: “I am not astonished by your failure; if you want to succeed, you must work miracles. Heal the sick, raise the dead, have yourself crucified and buried, then rise again on the third day. I assure you that the whole universe will follow you.” We can imagine the philosopher’s disappointment.
Bring us proofs.
In the East Indies, where St. Francis Xavier preached so successfully, there are still small Christian communities here and there that trace their origin to this great apostle. One day a Protestant missionary arrived in one of them and summoned the inhabitants to his preaching. They asked him if, like St. Francis, he had a mission from the Pope of Rome. He answered with insults against the Pope and Catholicism, which he called idolatry. The leader of the community came forward and said to him: “Bring us proofs and we will believe you like St. Francis. – What proof?” he replied. And they told him about three striking miracles that the apostle had performed in the village. With that, he left quickly.
– We too could ask the preachers of new religions: Where are your miracles? – God accredits His envoys with miracles.
