By Benjamin Ripley, OFM

The final part of Mark’s Gospel describes how Jesus commissions his disciples to go out into all the world and spread the Good News. He gives them the power to perform astonishing miracles: Exorcising demons, healing the sick, speaking in tongues, handling poisonous snakes, and safely drinking deadly poisons (Mark 16:15-18). And out they went, performing these great miracles as they preached the Gospel.

We too have all received this same commission from Jesus Christ. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I have never exorcised demons, healed anyone of any disease, or have spoken in tongues. I have no love for snakes, and don’t have any desire to handle one, let alone a poisonous one. And I think that I’m smart enough to avoid poisonous drink, at least in excess (J)!

So sometimes I wonder, if I can’t do these things, how good a disciple am I? Reflecting on this though, I realize that I am performing miracles. I don’t think I am bragging or presenting myself as something I am not. I say it because I believe that all Christians and all those involved in ministry are miracle workers. They may not be spectacular miracles like those of Jesus and the Apostles, but they are miracles all the same. Small miracles.

I am a volunteer at Foyer des marins, the Mariners’ Home,in Trois-Rivières, Quebec which is an organization that provides outreach services to merchant sailors who arrive at the Port of Trois-Rivières. The Foyer is part of the Catholic Church’s Stella Maris—Apostleship of the Sea ministry. I believe that small miracles are at the very core of this ministry. How can I say that? Because I see it in what is done each day by the volunteers at the Foyer and other ministries like this at ports around the world.

I meet and talk with a seafarer about their home, their family, their work, and their life at sea. Every time I take the opportunity to listen to them and hear their joys and sorrows, I perform a miracle of healing by lightening their load a little bit and providing a ministry of presence and letting them know that someone cares. Seafarers live in what is to us just a giant machine that transports goods from port to port, and for long stretches of time, they live lives entirely unseen by us. They start to feel as if the machine were the world. Every time I offer transportation to seafarers for basic needs such as shopping or Covid vaccinations, every time a volunteer comforts and prays with a seafarer who is suffering a personal or family crisis, every time that something is done for them that shows that they are valued as a person and not just a piece of machinery, a small miracle of healing is performed by treating seafarers with the dignity that they deserve. Seemingly small miracles, yes, but all small, very powerful miracles.

These small ministries make ministry out of work, whatever it may be. During the Covid pandemic, this has become more important than ever. Every comfort we give, every connection we provide exorcises the demons of loneliness and isolation that this pandemic has brought. All the creative ways we have implemented in our ministries have exorcised the demons of frustration and futility that are so hard to keep away.

The last two years have altered the ways we minister and serve others, that is for certain. But we have persisted as best we can, confident that social distancing, facemasks, and lockdowns have no power to stop these small miracles from taking place. Our ministries of small miracles are how Jesus calls us to show the world that we are his disciples. May he continue to bless us and strengthen us each day.

Photo credit: Le foyer des marins.