As the saying goes, the darkest moment is often just before dawn (unless we hold onto the darkness). Anxiety spoils everything and solves nothing.

Tribulation should lead to new ways of viewing life, and that leads to joy, the emotion of miracles, along with love (which causes joy).

God is love. God is joy. There you have a key to life. Difficulty opens us to love.

And handled well, suffering leads to resurrection.

There was a priest in Texas named Father Richard Thomas who died about two weeks ago. He lived an exemplary, miracle-filled life and taught exactly this: that anything is possible with prayer, with inner cleansing, and with love for others. He was especially close to the poorest of the poor -- the Mexicans just across the border who literally live amid heaps of trash, where they scrounge for food.

It was here where this fine priest saw many miracles. We'll get to that in a moment. The point is that God loves us most -- and often works most powerfully -- when we are downtrodden!

When we let Him, God comes to our rescue whatever our circumstance, whatever our station in life, and whatever the hour.  All of us have dark moments whether in relationships, finances, or health. When we learn to have faith in the midst of it and especially when we correct any imperfections, God swoops in and lifts the oppression. He is always there!

When we don't recognize our faults (during a disturbance in life) -- when we don't get down on our knees, and stay there, repenting, looking to the Sacred Heart (whose month this is) -- the problems grow larger. 

Those who get legalistic lack miracles because they become so immersed in the minutiae or mechanics of religion that the earth they till is hard.

We have to ardently, directly, faithfully seek God and the more direct we are with Him, the quicker He responds.

Think of times when you have been in crisis, you've been desperate, the darkest moments. How did you pray then? If your requests poured from your being, if you prayed from the bottom of your soul, and if you felt a surrender, then you prayed with your heart.  

Such is crucial. If you could pray that way every time, you'd be loaded with miracles.

With prayer from the heart there is a new openness to God and even the environment responds around us (as in "green thumb"). Any miracle is possible.

In conformance with Christ, we prosper. He can make something from nothing.

I don't think there's a better example than the poor people of Juarez, Mexico.

As mentioned, many of them are what they call "trash grubbers." Surviving on what they find at a local dump, they live in vast barrios with no electricity, sanitation, or running water. There is no such thing as welfare. They don't need it. They are recipients of miracles right out of the Bible. It started back in Christmas of 1972 when a charismatic prayer group led by Father Thomas decided to prepare dinner for the indigents. From 11 a.m. until late afternoon, they did just that, organizing a charitable meal. Everyone received a generous share. In fact, there was food leftover.

What was unusual is that Father Thomas and his group had prepared ham for only 150 people -- not the 300 who came and even had seconds.

Those cutting the meat felt as if it was not diminishing even as they sliced off portions.

It seemed to stay the same size. There was enough left over for people to take it home with them! It seemed to multiply. Time and again, this would happen when Father Thomas and his group were ministering to the poor. There was the miracle of multiplication.

These people were in their darkest moment -- at least as the world measures it. They were at the end of the rope. They had no one to feed them. They literally dug for meals -- even on Christmas. And now God was sending them manna. The Bible miracles are true and occur in our present day when we look for them.

God multiplies in all our lives but does so in a way that seems so natural that we take it for just that. Almost everyone has known times when just the right money came when money was tight or when the bank account seemed larger than expected.

When God is close, there is all we need. This also occurred to Bob Rice, the former truck driver who reported healings. Serving as a Eucharistic minister during a visit to a church in Damascus, Maryland, he watched in disbelief as drops of wine appeared one after another at the bottom of a chalice when congregants continued to line up for the Precious Blood -- even though the wine had run out when a young man "chug-a-lugged" all of it. "Every person who wanted to receive the Precious Blood was able to receive it," he noted with awe.

This goes to Hebrews 11:3, which  informs us that "through faith we perceive that the worlds were created by the word of God, and that what is visible came into being through the invisible."

When we choose to serve Him -- when we glory in God -- anything can and does happen. He draws close and brings forth from nothingness. He multiplies what is necessary for us to serve and suddenly finances go our way or there are friends when we need friends. Things come out of the "blue." A crisis turns into a blessing and the Light of His love slices the darkness.

[resources: Bob Rice's anointed little book is Holy Eucharist]

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