Readers of a certain age may remember British pundit, journalist and moralist Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990). He was a famous, later-in life convert to Christianity, and a supporter of the self-appointed keeper of the nations morals, Mary Whitehouse and of her pernicious Nationwide Festival of Light. Despite all that, I rather liked Muggeridge, or St Mugg as he was mockingly called.
Mr Muggeridge developed an admiration for Mother Teresa of Calcutta (since sainted), and trekked off with a film crew in tow to her Calcutta House of the Dying. In one of his books he recounted an 'incontrovertible miracle' that occurred whilst filming. A scene was to be shot inside the dark building where the Sisters brought in the dying. The space was so dark that the cameraman, Ken MacMillan, warned that the footage would be unusable. They had not brought portable lighting to the hospice. “Film it anyway,” said Muggeridge.
Back at the BBC, when they developed the film, a surprising thing happened: the scene was perfectly lit. St Mugg pronounced it a miracle.
Except there is more to this miracle than meets the eye. The cameraman had forgotten that the BBC was trialling a new Kodak film stock, a feature of which was far greater sensitivity in low light conditions.
While Muggeridge was certain this was a divine, miraculous light emanating from Mother Teresa herself, cameraman Ken MacMillan realised it was due to the new advanced film stock.
This did not deter St Mugg, who continued to promote the Albanian Nun and the miracle of the divinely-illuminated image filmed in near pitch-black circumstances. (Readers may recall that Mother Teresa had her critics, not least among them Christopher Hitchens).
And the moral here? There may be occasional miracles to be witnessed but they are both rarer and more subtle (like the miracle of human love and friendship, duty and care). In the case of dramatic miracles, one should first exhaust all possible 'ordinary' explanations.
Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa. A film by Christopher Hitchens - YouTube here
Mr Muggeridge developed an admiration for Mother Teresa of Calcutta (since sainted), and trekked off with a film crew in tow to her Calcutta House of the Dying. In one of his books he recounted an 'incontrovertible miracle' that occurred whilst filming. A scene was to be shot inside the dark building where the Sisters brought in the dying. The space was so dark that the cameraman, Ken MacMillan, warned that the footage would be unusable. They had not brought portable lighting to the hospice. “Film it anyway,” said Muggeridge.
Back at the BBC, when they developed the film, a surprising thing happened: the scene was perfectly lit. St Mugg pronounced it a miracle.
Except there is more to this miracle than meets the eye. The cameraman had forgotten that the BBC was trialling a new Kodak film stock, a feature of which was far greater sensitivity in low light conditions.
While Muggeridge was certain this was a divine, miraculous light emanating from Mother Teresa herself, cameraman Ken MacMillan realised it was due to the new advanced film stock.
This did not deter St Mugg, who continued to promote the Albanian Nun and the miracle of the divinely-illuminated image filmed in near pitch-black circumstances. (Readers may recall that Mother Teresa had her critics, not least among them Christopher Hitchens).
And the moral here? There may be occasional miracles to be witnessed but they are both rarer and more subtle (like the miracle of human love and friendship, duty and care). In the case of dramatic miracles, one should first exhaust all possible 'ordinary' explanations.
Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa. A film by Christopher Hitchens - YouTube here