According to the Gospel of Mathew (Matt. 17:20), “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from hence to yonder place,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you”.
Having this in mind, it’s not surprising that throughout the history that there have been countless reports of miracles that portrays the extraordinary intervention of God in response to the “mustard seed” sized faith of an individual.
One story is recounted in the booklet titled Garment of Grace. This booklet narrates how a ship in the middle of a storm was saved by God through a faith of an individual in the power of the Brown Scapular.
According to the booklet, in 1845 the English ship called the “King of the Ocean” was on its way to Australia. When the ship got to the Cape of Good Hope which is off the coast of South Africa, so it encountered a deadly storm. And it didn’t look like they would survive.
When many people on the ship lost all hope, so a young Irishman from the county of Louth named John McAuliffe moved forward onto the deck and unbuttoned his shirt.
He brought out the Brown Scapular that was around his neck and he held it out towards the sea, making the sign of the cross with it.
McAuliffe further threw the scapular into the raging waters.
Suddenly, the winds stopped and the waves were calm, except for one final wave that flipped the scapular back on deck, bringing the scapular before the feet of McAuliffe.
The fellow passengers were surprised, especially one Protestant minister who was also on board.
McAuliffe taught the Protestant minister the history and meaning of the Brown Scapular and when the ship got in Sydney, he and his family went further to St. Mary’s Chapel (now known as St. Mary’s Cathedral) and they were all received into the Catholic Church by Bishop Polding, the Archbishop of Sydney.
McAuliffe possessed that faith which is a little as the “mustard seed” and trusted in the ability of God to calm the waves. So, God responded generously to that display of faith and He interceded to save the ship.
As Jesus said, with that type of faith, “nothing will be impossible to you.”
