Mrs Kathleen Evans of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia had been a cigarette smoker from the age of 16 to 46.

Then she gave it up. But it was too late. Three years later she was diagnosed with lung cancer and told it had spread to her brain and that she would be dead for sure in a matter of months.

Now, 17 years later, she is still alive and disease-free.

She had no medical treatment, but attributes her cure to praying daily to Mary MacKillop (Blessed Mary of the Cross) and wearing her picture plus a piece of cloth which had been part of Mary M’s clothing.

After much investigation and scrutiny, the Catholic Church has endorsed that this cure was a miracle.

Last month, Pope Benedict announced the fact, and yesterday Mrs Evans went public, identifying herself publicly for the first time, telling the media, “I do believe in miracles.”

So what are the skeptics going to make of this?

* * *

We live in a society where believing in that kind of thing is considered superstition.

But Christians believe in miracles anyway.

They say that the big miracle, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after being crucified, also has the evidence of eyewitnesses and compels belief.

The eyewitnesses to that event certainly didn’t make the story up. Most of them persisted in proclaiming what they had seen in the face of persecution and death, and several were themselves crucified. Others were thrown to the lions etc.

* * *

To those who doubt, we say, “Do not close your mind. Do not rule God out. Remember, the one true joy in life is to know that God lives and that God is love.”