Of course "scientific" arguments, of the sort which I have related, can
be brought forward in an attempt to explain Lourdes; but they are the
same arguments that can be, and are, brought forward against the
miracles of Jesus Christ Himself. I say nothing to those here; I leave
that to scientists such as Dr. Boissarie; but what I cannot understand
is that professing Christians are able to bring _a priori_ arguments
against the fact that Our Lord is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever--the same in Galilee and in France. "These signs shall follow them
that believe," He said Himself; and the history of the Catholic Church
is an exact fulfilment of the words. It was so, St. Augustine tells us,
at the tombs of the martyrs; five hundred miracles were reported at
Canterbury within a few years of St. Thomas' martyrdom. And now here is
Lourdes, as it has been for fifty years, in this little corner of poor
France!

I have been asked since my return: "Why cannot miracles be done in
England?" My answer is, firstly, that they are done in England, in
Liverpool, and at Holywell, for example; secondly, I answer by another
question as to why Jesus Christ was not born in Rome; and if He had been
born in Rome, why not in Nineveh and Jerusalem? Thirdly, I answer that
perhaps more would be done in England, if there were more faith there.
It is surely a little unreasonable to ask that, in a country which
three hundred and fifty years ago deliberately repudiated Christ's
Revelation of Himself, banished the Blessed Sacrament and tore down
Mary's shrines, Christ and His Mother should cooperate supernaturally in
marvels that are rather the rewards of the faithful. "It is not meet to
take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs"--these are the
words of our Lord Himself. If London is not yet tolerant enough to allow
an Eucharistic Procession in her streets, she is scarcely justified in