The Wall Street Journal has this headline in today’s paper:

Chile’s Rescue Formula: ‘75% Science, 25% Miracle’

Amen. Catholic that I am, I am very good at asserting “both” instead of either or”.

It seems, however, that I missed a God coincidence. The rescue began on October 13th. The folks at the Summa This Summa That blog caught what I missed:

US media outlets called this rescue operation a miracle in its size and scope.

For those of us Catholics who are Marian-devoted, and who pay attention to things nuanced by the rhythm of the liturgical calendar, we smile in humble recognition of the date.

It is indeed a day for miracles.

On October 13, 1917, the world, (such as it was before you-are-there technologies flickered immediate images to our televisions and laptops) came together to witness another miracle. In Portugal and elsewhere, it was known as “the miracle of the sun” promised by Our Lady of Fatima.  The Catholic Church recognizes Mary’s appearances to three Portuguese children over six months that year as genuinely miraculous.

The miracle of the sun answered the prayer of these faithful little believers, the visionaries. They asked the Lady to do something so others may believe.

And so, October 13, 1917 the sun “danced” in the sky as 70,000 people stood by and watched following a rainstorm, witnessing the sun begin to “move”.  The rest of the world heard about it after the fact.

Many hearts were converted to the power and presence of God in the world both on that day and since.

It’s been said that over the course of their internment – once the miners were “found” – they began to request not only food and essentials for communication but Christian religious objects. And so it will be interesting to hear the post-scripts of their stories…

Here is a clip from an old movie, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima