Saturday, June 05, 2004



The Miracle Detective: An Investigation of Holy Visions
Randall Sullivan


This is a fascinating account; starting with reports of an apparition of Mary in a trailer park, Sullivan follows an investigation that takes him to Rome, Bosnia, Arizona and back again to Rome and Bosnia. His own skepticism is challenged and shaken. He finds faith, and wrestles with it.

The book is inflated with long accounts of the war in Bosnia, and many excursions into the history of apparitions and the Church's investigation into the miraculous. It was in many ways a personal memoir, but the focus, to me, seemed to shift around. Still an interesting book - worth reading by believer or skeptic alike, who will draw their own conclusions.


..."All this time," I thought, "all this effort," and all I had demonstrated to myself was that I could not live without God's love, and that the only way I knew to get it was to love Him back. I looked up at the light sparkling on Oregon pine needles and saw rosebushes blooming in Texas. It was a miracle, I knew, even if I could never prove it. All I had to do was ask.

Randall Sullivan, The Miracle Detective, p. 442



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