Gift of miracles
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The gift of miracles is, in Christian theology, among the charismata or gifts mentioned by St. Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, among the extraordinary graces of the Holy Ghost. Although miracles are necessarily the work of God, men and angels may be said to work miracles in a threefold way
- by their prayers invoking a miraculous effect;
- by disposing or accommodating the materials, as it is said of the angels that they will in the resurrection collect the dust of the dead bodies that these may be re-animated by the Divine power,
- by performing some other act in co-operation with the Divine agency, as in the case of the application of relics, or of visits to holy places which God has marked out for special and extraordinary favours of this kind.
Like other charismata, these are special and extraordinary powers vouchsafed by God only to a few, and primarily for the spiritual good of others rather than of the recipient.
The view of Cessationism held that the charismata were exclusively for Apostolic times, and therefore the gift of miracles ceased with the writing of the last book of the Bible or the death of St. John the Apostle. In Continuationism, on the other hand, the gifts are held to be possible throughout the history of Christianity, and to have occurred since Apostolic times.
