But to assume that it absolutely could not be a eucharistic miracle

to say it could not be a miracle is like saying that the Novus Ordo is indeed invalid, because it could never possibly take place in an invalid Mass.

The long and the short of it is that Holy Scripture is, at least on a certain level, is accessible to the lay person who reads it. The Lord does not make it difficult or impossible to understand basic points of doctrine and examples which were imparted to us by Our Lord.

Yes the appearance of the bell and the message which it carries are two different things, two different realities if you will.
The Scripture quoted by is when [??] applied to this and like situations, is crystal clear, beware of false Christs and beware of miracles which are presented in His name.

A clear divine teaching which is unassailable to simple men of Faith who are pure of heart and without guile, and yes, who have ears to hear. <-- [not a sentence]

Our Faith teaches us to discern the spirits, what spirit is behind this thrice proposed miracle? Who and what benefits from our belief in such alleged events?   Is it the Church? Is it the Novus Ordo cabal? is it the Devil?  Is it this or that cleric who takes on its cause?

Yes, discern the spirit of these and other apparitions, visions, and miracles, but do so under the teaching of our Lord and you will find that there are very few that are genuine and wholesome to the soul, and which will contribute to our eternal end.

FAIRYLAND IS HELL
MAGIC IS DEMON POWER

by Paula Haigh
                                                                                                         Chapter Five

Doctrinal considerations

Magic is Lucifer’s attempt to imitate the power of God to work miracles. More subtly and more dangerously, it is his attempt to imitate and thereby replace the Sacraments of the Church. St. Justin Martyr, in his First Apology, addressed to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, says:

‘After Christ’s Ascension into heaven, the devils put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods; and they were not only not persecuted by you but even deemed worthy of honors. There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of a village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Caesar, and in our royal city of Rome, did mighty works of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honored by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome: “Simoni Deo Sancto” (To Simon the holy god). And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him, and acknowledge him as the first god; and a woman, Helena, who went about with him at that time, and had formerly been a prostitute, they say is the first idea generated by him. …’

St. Justin is here showing Simon to have been both a magician, working by devils, and a Gnostic, for the Gnostics, besides being magicians intent upon destroying the doctrine of creation as narrated in Genesis One, were obsessed with generational genealogies, or adaptations of the pagan theogonies – not unlike what both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien do in their popular works of fiction. One wonders just how fictional the fantasies were in the minds of these authors, especially Lewis who defends both his Narnia for grown-ups, his space trilogy, and his Narnian Chronicles for children, with long philosophical disquisitions.

But more of Lewis and Tolkien later. For now it is important to note that the great heresy of Gnosticism, really a false religion, besides being a huge frontal attack on the doctrine of’ Creation and the nature of God as Trinity, also claimed to have superior knowledge from which flowed the magical powers of their Magicians. These three tenets of the Gnostic religion are found in the Fantasy literature, most explicitly in the works of Lewis and Tolkien, but also in many others as will be illustrated later.

Saint Irenaeus also has much to say of Simon the Magician whom be calls “the father of all heretics”[1] insisting more than once that “all these heretics, taking their rise from Simon, have introduced impious and irreligious doctrines into this life” that is of the world and the Church.[2] St. Irenaeus explains how Simon approached St. Peter[3]:

‘This Simon, then – who feigned faith, supposing that the Apostles themselves performed their cures by the art of magic, and not by the power of God; and with respect to their filling with the Holy Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that believed in God through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ Jesus – suspecting that even this was done by a kind of greater knowledge of magic, and offering money to the Apostles, thought he, too, might receive this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit on whomsoever he would – was addressed in these words by Peter: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God can be purchased with money: thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God; for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” He, then, not putting faith in God a whit the more, set himself eagerly to contend against the Apostles, in order that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and applied himself with still greater zeal to the study of the whole magic art, that he might the better bewilder and overpower multitudes of men.… and he taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jєωs as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father, while he came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself, in a word, as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the Father over all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased to address him.’

Here in Simon the Magician we see, at least in germ, that attack upon the Most Blessed Trinity and Unity of God so fiercely defended by the early Fathers against these early heretics. For Simon was followed by Menander, also a Samaritan, who deceived many by his magical art and also by Marcion, a man of Pontus, who, by the aid of devils, persuaded many to believe in some other god greater than the Creator of Genesis One........

Finally, it would be well to emphasize the difference between the miracles worked by God through His Saints and good Angels and the magical arts of the demons working through magicians, witches, sorcerers, etc.
St. Thomas insists that real miracles are the work of God alone, that “God alone can work miracles.” [4] But it seems that God can delegate certain powers to the good Angels:

‘Some Angels are said to work miracles, either because God works miracles at their request, in the same way as holy men are said to work miracles, or because they exercise a kind of ministry in the miracles which take place; as in collecting the dust in the general resurrection, or by doing something of that kind.’

The demons, like the good angels, because of their superior natural knowledge of created laws and causes, may do works that seem to us miraculous because we do not know the causes or the laws being manipulated. St. Thomas says: “These things are called miracles, not in an absolute sense, but in reference to ourselves. In this way the magicians work miracles through the demons.…” [5]

‘… the devil can deceive the human fancy so that a man really seems to be an animal. … Therefore the devil can, by moving the inner perceptions and humors effect changes in the actions and faculties, physical, mental, and emotional, working by means of any physical organs whatsoever. … William of Paris tells of a certain man who thought that he was turned into a wolf ... which went about devouring children; and though the devil, having possessed a wolf, was really doing this, he erroneously thought that he was prowling about in his sleep. And he was for so long thus out of his senses that he was at last found lying in the wood raving. The devil delights in such things and caused the illusion of the pagans who believed that men and old women were changed into beasts. …’ (First Part, Question 10)

At the same time, we cannot underestimate the power of the devil over the secret workings of nature. As Fr Valentine Long says, the Devils are instant scientists, since, by their superior knowledge, they can see into the minutest processes of corporeal things. Who can fail to realize, with mounting horror, the demonic inspiration of the modern scientists who with truly diabolical irreverence, and the most brutal arrogance, probe the very genetic structure of the human cell and seek to manipulate its activities to inhuman ends. For it may well be asked: Did God ever intend for us to see into the deepest recesses of our bodies and to know how they work in order to bend their actions to human and even bestial purposes? Certainly not.

    The power of the devils to effect these illusory transformations is borne out abundantly in the lives of the Saints who were tormented and tried by devils in various physical forms: as Angels of light or as horrifying animals. And we might well ask: if the good angels can take on human forms, as did the Archangel Raphael to guide the young Tobias, could not the demons, also, take on material forms in order to work their evil designs, as far as God permits?

    In the Fantasy literature, Magicians who, as St. Thomas says, work their “miracles” through the demons, exercise magical powers. And the Malleus, speaking of Witches, tells us even more emphatically those effects of magic:

‘… cannot be procured without resort to the power of the devil, and it is necessary that there should be made a contract with the devil, by which contract the witch truly and actually binds herself to be the servant of the devil and devotes herself to the devil, and this is not done in any dream or under any illusion, but she herself bodily and truly co-operates with, and conjoins herself to, the devil. For this indeed is the end of all witchcraft, whether it be the casting of spells by a look or by a formula of words or by some other charm, it is all of the devil, ...’ p.7

And the Malleus, again speaking of Witches and Magicians:

‘… that the works of witches can in some way be called miraculous, in so far as they exceed human knowledge, is clear from their very nature; for they are not done naturally. It is shown also by all the Doctors, especially St. Augustine in Book 83, where he says that by magic arts many miracles are wrought similar to those miracles that are done by the servants of God. And again in the same book he says that Magicians do miracles by private contract, good Christians by public justice, and bad Christians by the signs of public justice. And all this is explained as follows.

    For there is a Divine Justice in the whole universe, just as there is a public law in the State. But the virtue of any creature has to do with the universe, as that of the private individual has to do with the State, Therefore inasmuch as good Christians work miracles by Divine Justice, they are said to work them by public justice. But the Magician, since he works through a pact entered into with the devil, is said to work by private contract for the works by means of the devil, who by his natural power can do things outside the order of created nature as known to us, through the virtue of a creature unknown to us; and it will be for us a miracle, although not actually so_, since he cannot work outside the order of the whole of created nature, and through all the virtues of creatures unknown to us. For in this way only God is said to work miracles...’ (p.38)

‘Magic’ in the 20th Century

These principles explain how such seemingly miraculous events as those exhibited by men like Edgar Cayce and Brazilian José Pedro de Freitas, known as Arigo, can take place. Both men were obviously Magicians in the technical sense, though the term was never applied to them. Gary North, in his book Unholy Spirits[6] gives us in detail the story of each of these modern day Merlyns. Most important to note is that each one of them made a pact with occult powers (Gary North calls it “occult bondage”) and both men insisted they wanted to do good in the world.

  Edgar Cayce (l877-l945) was born in small-town Kentucky and his story is most complex. He was a devout reader of the Bible (at age thirteen he was on his twelfth reading of the Bible in its entirety) though he belonged to no particular denomination. However, he is a prime example of the Protestant principle of private interpretation, as he attempted, in later life, to reconcile his theosophical-Gnostic beliefs with the Scriptures.

    As a child, he claimed to see “little people” and at thirteen he experienced a vision of a “lady with wings” who asked him what he wanted most (like the fairy-godmother of the Fairy Tale literature). He answered that he wanted to be of service to people. She granted his wish and thus the contract with the satanic power was sealed. Cayce began immediately to demonstrate a remarkable ability: always a poor student and especially an abysmal speller, even beaten by his father for his scholastic failures, he heard the lady’s voice say, “If you can sleep a little we can help you.” (Note the pronoun “we” for these lesser devils rarely work alone). Cayce put his spelling book behind his head, dozed for a while (probably a self-induced trance, or a type of self-hypnosis) and on awaking, knew every word in the book, including the page numbers and lines. This method was repeated with every schoolbook he had and the miracle, likewise, was repeated.

    This was the beginning of his real ministry of healing. In 1900, he lost his voice. It was restored by a hypnotist but only while under hypnosis. This hypnotist, Dr. A. Layne, having a previous experience to go on, put Cayce into a trance and told him to diagnose his own problem:

‘Immediately, the fateful words came forth: “Yes, we can see the body.” The voice diagnosed the problem as insufficient circulation. Layne gave a suggestion that the body cure itself. Cayce’s neck grew pink, then bright red. Twenty minutes later, it became normal again. Layne told Cayce to wake up, and when he did, his voice had returned.’

And what North adds here is of the utmost significance, for it highlights the fact of Cayce’s dependence, a willing slavery, to the satanic power.
‘This was the beginning, not only of Cayce’s diagnostic ministry, but also of a lifetime of trouble with his voice. His biographers seldom refer to the fact that throughout the remainder of his life – 45 years – Cayce had recurring voice failures. He was completely dependent upon his trance state and its circulation stimulation to return his waking voice to normal. No one could give a physiological reason for the loss of his voice. Those familiar with demon possession would immediately recognize the cause: occult bondage. Cayce could not abandon the physical “readings” once they had begun. He was trapEven more spectacular is the case of Arigo, a Brazilian peasant who became, however, involved in Union politics. Again, the humanitarian motive is present. He was trapped by a voice and dream-visions which promised to cure him of terrible headaches. The voice identified itself as that of Dr. Adolpho Fritz, a German physician who had died in 1918. When Arigo capitulated to Dr. Fritz, promising to help him in his work, his headaches immediately ceased, beginning again only when he later temporarily agreed to discontinue the healings. But:

‘Like Edgar Cayce, Arigo was possessed; without becoming a healer, he could not avoid the headaches and dreams, just as Cayce could not maintain his voice. Arigo was trapped.’
When Arigo put up a sign outside his house that read: “In this house, we are all Catholics. Spiritism is a thing of the Devil,” his headaches returned, along with daytime blackouts. He had undergone exorcism by the Church in Brazil. But he could not be cured except by the pact with “Dr. Fritz” to continue his work of healing. And the healings, which continued from 1950 to 1970, are surely the most bizarre in all of occult literature.

   The first occurred while Arigo still controlled the Union, as its president. A pro-labour politician [Bittencourt] was informed that he had lung cancer that required immediate surgery and he intended to return to the U.S.A. as soon as the campaign was over. He spent that night in the same hotel with Arigo. As he lay in his bed, Arigo entered his room:

‘He seemed to be in a trance. He was carrying a razor. Bittencourt blacked out. When he awoke the next morning, his pajama top was slashed, there was blood on both his chest and pajama top, and there was a neat incision on his rib cage. He got up, staggered to his closet to get dressed. He was in a state of shock. He went to Arigo and told him what he had seen. Then Arigo went into a state of shock. He had no memory of such a thing.’
Later, when x-rayed, the senator was told that all traces of the cancer were gone. He began to tell people what had happened to him, and the sick and wounded began streaming to the door of Arigo’s house. This continued for the next two decades.

    Arigo’s usual method was to take a pocket knife or some other common, cutting instrument, jab it into the body of the sick person, usually the eye, twist it around violently, reach in and pull out the growth or whatever was the source of the trouble, seal up the flesh in a matter of seconds, without stitches, and send the patient away cured. There was no pain on the part of the patient, no fear, little bleeding – if there was, he would simply tell it to stop – and no scarring. These operations were witnessed by scores of physicians and even recorded on film. No one ever detected a single sign of fraud, manipulation or sleight-of-hand.[

---

[1] Preface, Book III.

[2] Preface, Book II.

[3] Acts 8:20-23.

[4] ST, I, Q 110, a 4, ad 1.

[5] ST, I_, Q110, a 4, ad 2.

[6] Dominion Press, 1986.

[7] Cf. F. Crombette, CESHE, France.

[8]See Reader’s Digest, March 1975 for some of this docuмentation.

[9] ST, I, Q 57, a 3.

[10] See Proverbs 30.  

[11] Second Apology of Justin, ch, v.

[12] Malleus. Part One. Question III, p.28.