Relationships Can Be Restored

Eutychus fell to the ground from the third storey and was picked up dead.. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. ‘Don’t be alarmed’, he said. ‘He’s alive!’.. The people took the young man home and were greatly comforted. Acts 20: 9, 10, 11.

Thieves planned to carry off by night some bullocks that belonged to Ninian’s community. That same day, however, Ninian prayed for God’s blessing on his herds before staying the night with a neighbour.

This had an effect on the thieves. First they were overcome with dizziness and stumbled around in a way that unsettled a bull. The bull attacked them and gored the leader.

Next morning, as a Spirit-filled Ninian returned, he found the panic- stricken men around their leader who was now dead. ‘Tell me, why did you wish to harm a person who never wished to harm or cheat you in even the smallest way?” Ninian asked them. Then he made a most magnanimous gesture. In the name of God he released them from sin and from all ill effects of what they had done.

But that is not the end of the story. Ninian knelt beside the dead man and prayed: ‘O Christ, throned on high, I beg you to give life to this corpse. Impart warmth to his whole body; let the spirit enter into his frozen limbs and restore the functions of life.’ The deceased man came back to life. The men, who were terror-struck, started to speak heartfelt words to the Lord.

Raise us from greed to generosity
Raise us from falseness to friendship
Raise us from death to life