By Randy Fitch
To understand her magic more fully, let's take a peek behind the curtain at the history of the interplay between occult pagan magic and Christianity. But first, let's define magic:
Merriam Webster defines magic as:
1: the use of means (such as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces
2: an extraordinary power of influence seemingly from a supernatural source
As we will see as we look at magic in the past and present, the word magic isn't defined well enough to tell if it is a good or bad thing, only that it is an evocation of supernatural power. Under these definitions, one could say that when we pray to God and our prayers are answered, that is magic. But you might also say, "not true. We're not using charms or spells”. Well, maybe that depends on how you look at it. Someone outside of your Christian shoes, or especially your Catholic Christian shoes, would say that the jewelry you wear bearing Christian icons and those statues you have around the house are idols, and memorized repetitive prayers are spells.
That said, I think it's safe to say that to all Christians, working in magic is calling on powers other than God. But suppose we can keep our viewpoints separate for a moment. In that case, we can see that if we define magic as an extraordinary influence from a supernatural force that is prayed to, the Christian record in the bible is chock full of magic.
For Catholic Christians, to this day, a type of magic is employed at every Catholic mass as the priest performs the transubstantiation of the host in the Eucharist or the transformation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. In the book, A Cardiologist Examines Jesus, The Stunning Science Behind Eucharistic Miracle, the author Dr. Franco Serafini provides evidence that the miracle of transubstantiation is provable, testing bread post transubstantiation and finding human heart cells.
Throughout the centuries of Christianity, supernatural events have been recorded and attributed to the power of God. Even today, seventy cases of miraculous healings have been scrutinized and confirmed at Lourdes, France, recently featured in the Netflix Series, Down to Earth, with Zac Efron and Darrin Olean. Other examples include the stigmata, which are bodily marks, scars, or pains like that Christ suffered in the crucifixion, experienced by Christians in deep meditation on the sacrifice Christ made.
Weird and wild stuff. And, on a side note, the call for exorcisms is growing exponentially across the Americas.
Many would blow off what I've described above as woo woo, while some would label these supernatural healing events as the placebo effect or the power of belief (worthy topic for another post). But know this, the Catholic Church in the current age employs rigorous testing before the acceptance of these supernatural events, including scientific analysis.
Thousands have witnessed these phenomena over the last three millennia. Before blowing them off as woo woo, know they are highly scrutinized with a skeptical eye by the Catholic Church today prior to their acceptance as supernatural.
That said, one can discern the critical element isn't that supernatural powers, AKA magical powers, can be called on, but from where they are derived.
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