Sunday, February 26, 2006
Of Things Divine: The Only Eternally Beneficial Miracle, Ordinary Time, 8-B
It’s an amazing sight to behold. Hundreds of people in hospital beds and wheelchairs being pushed from the infirmary to the spring of water at Lourdes are filled with the hope that they will be miraculously healed of their infirmity. The crutches that hang near the spring that bubbles up in the old garbage dump where Bernadette had conversations with the Blessed Virgin is evidence that some have had their prayers answered. But most, like Donna Clendenen, a dear friend of mine and former teacher at Holy Rosary who suffered from cervical cancer, are not healed and return to their homes to face continued disability, suffering, or even death.
Why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone?
In recent weeks, we have pondered the miraculous healing of many people to whom Jesus ministered: lepers, paralytics, people possessed by demons. But the Gospels are clear about people bringing the sick to Jesus in great numbers, so what happened to the rest of them who were laid at Jesus feet? We know that in Nazareth Jesus could only cure a few people because of the lack of faith in his hometown, but what happened in Capernaum where the faith was so evident in the way friends lowered ailing friends through the roof to get them to Jesus?
Surely there were many others in the regions of Galilee who went out with their infirmities to greet Jesus. Where was the Lord’s compassion for those who were dying of fevers, those who remained away from the crowds because they were unclean, or were left howling among the tombstones possessed by their demons? Where was Jesus’ compassion for them?
How many of us have asked the same question about people we know? The aging parent with Alzheimer’s disease … the child with severe diabetes or cancer … a priest with leukemia … a friend in congestive heart failure … a co-worker possessed by the demons that come with addiction, any addiction … the widow who is oppressed by loneliness … a nation torn apart by prejudice … a neighborhood held hostage by a street gang … cities swallowed up by floods and hurricanes … a world ever-divided by war. How many times have we heard someone say or thought to ourselves, "If God is all-loving and so compassionate, why must there be such suffering, such destruction in the world, especially against the innocent?"
In a word: God’s concerns for us are not about our physical condition but our spiritual well-being. Our problem is that we experience life in a physical context when God wants us to experience life with new hearts.
Do you know what happened to the three people Jesus raised from the dead during his ministry on earth? They died. Do you know what happened to the hundreds of people that Jesus cured? They eventually got sick with something else. And, they died. Do you know what happened to those whose crutches hang near the spring in Lourdes? They became crippled by some other ailment as they aged. And, they died.
This is not to say that it is pointless to ask God for healing, to ask for a miracle. God works miracles all the time. But, we must keep in mind that a miraculous restoration of physical or mental health today does not guarantee immortality to the recipient of God’s compassion. A miraculous healing is only a band-aid when considered in the grander scale of God’s desire for our salvation.
So ...
Jesus speaks of new wine and new wineskins to help us understand the real miracle that is offered to every person of faith. The bag of the old wineskin is stretched as far as it can go, and to put new fresh juice into such as skin only leads to the loss of both the skin and the wine as fermentation begins and causes further expansion of the skin.
So it is with our hearts that have been molded and shaped by our personal experiences. Too often, these experiences create hearts that are misshapen and limited in their capacity to love. We have been hurt by others, abandoned by people we love, we have been rejected or ignored at work or play, and we have been betrayed by friends. These offenses create scars that protect us from being hurt in similar fashion again, and the love that then comes our way can only penetrate our hearts after it has found its way through the accumulated scars formed from the bumps and bangs of past. Sadly, for some there is so much scarring that there is no longer any room for love to find a resting place.
More than once during the season of Lent, which begins this week on Ash Wednesday, we cry out to God to create in us new hearts. Herein lays the one miracle that has an eternal effect: the forgiveness of our sins. The new hearts God places within us come only from a conversion from viewing the world as the world sees itself to viewing all of creation as God sees it. Only when we desire to love as God loves can the Divine Love create a new heart that allows us to love freely. Only when we are able to love as God loves is our love able to expand in ways that leave us loving better, deeper and more fully. Our new hearts are hearts that are no longer stiffened by the scars of the past. They are fresh and supple with a desire to embrace the new and everlasting life that Jesus offers us in every way possible.
But there is a price to be paid for this miraculous healing. Before we can receive a new heart we have to surrender our old hearts. And not only our hearts but all the hurts and transgressions from the past that are housed in our hearts. Like the leper, only then will we have reason for rejoicing. Like the paralytic, only then will we have reason for dancing. Like the person possessed by so many demons, only then will we be able to sing of God’s glory. Only then will we be able to offer forgiveness and mean truly it.
Jesus gives us the wine, but we have to provide the place to store it.
Until we embrace the wholeness Jesus can give by repenting of our sins, all the religion in the world won’t do us much good. But when we do embrace it, the miracle is wondrous to behold!
Why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone?
In recent weeks, we have pondered the miraculous healing of many people to whom Jesus ministered: lepers, paralytics, people possessed by demons. But the Gospels are clear about people bringing the sick to Jesus in great numbers, so what happened to the rest of them who were laid at Jesus feet? We know that in Nazareth Jesus could only cure a few people because of the lack of faith in his hometown, but what happened in Capernaum where the faith was so evident in the way friends lowered ailing friends through the roof to get them to Jesus?
Surely there were many others in the regions of Galilee who went out with their infirmities to greet Jesus. Where was the Lord’s compassion for those who were dying of fevers, those who remained away from the crowds because they were unclean, or were left howling among the tombstones possessed by their demons? Where was Jesus’ compassion for them?
How many of us have asked the same question about people we know? The aging parent with Alzheimer’s disease … the child with severe diabetes or cancer … a priest with leukemia … a friend in congestive heart failure … a co-worker possessed by the demons that come with addiction, any addiction … the widow who is oppressed by loneliness … a nation torn apart by prejudice … a neighborhood held hostage by a street gang … cities swallowed up by floods and hurricanes … a world ever-divided by war. How many times have we heard someone say or thought to ourselves, "If God is all-loving and so compassionate, why must there be such suffering, such destruction in the world, especially against the innocent?"
In a word: God’s concerns for us are not about our physical condition but our spiritual well-being. Our problem is that we experience life in a physical context when God wants us to experience life with new hearts.
Do you know what happened to the three people Jesus raised from the dead during his ministry on earth? They died. Do you know what happened to the hundreds of people that Jesus cured? They eventually got sick with something else. And, they died. Do you know what happened to those whose crutches hang near the spring in Lourdes? They became crippled by some other ailment as they aged. And, they died.
This is not to say that it is pointless to ask God for healing, to ask for a miracle. God works miracles all the time. But, we must keep in mind that a miraculous restoration of physical or mental health today does not guarantee immortality to the recipient of God’s compassion. A miraculous healing is only a band-aid when considered in the grander scale of God’s desire for our salvation.
So ...
Jesus speaks of new wine and new wineskins to help us understand the real miracle that is offered to every person of faith. The bag of the old wineskin is stretched as far as it can go, and to put new fresh juice into such as skin only leads to the loss of both the skin and the wine as fermentation begins and causes further expansion of the skin.
So it is with our hearts that have been molded and shaped by our personal experiences. Too often, these experiences create hearts that are misshapen and limited in their capacity to love. We have been hurt by others, abandoned by people we love, we have been rejected or ignored at work or play, and we have been betrayed by friends. These offenses create scars that protect us from being hurt in similar fashion again, and the love that then comes our way can only penetrate our hearts after it has found its way through the accumulated scars formed from the bumps and bangs of past. Sadly, for some there is so much scarring that there is no longer any room for love to find a resting place.
More than once during the season of Lent, which begins this week on Ash Wednesday, we cry out to God to create in us new hearts. Herein lays the one miracle that has an eternal effect: the forgiveness of our sins. The new hearts God places within us come only from a conversion from viewing the world as the world sees itself to viewing all of creation as God sees it. Only when we desire to love as God loves can the Divine Love create a new heart that allows us to love freely. Only when we are able to love as God loves is our love able to expand in ways that leave us loving better, deeper and more fully. Our new hearts are hearts that are no longer stiffened by the scars of the past. They are fresh and supple with a desire to embrace the new and everlasting life that Jesus offers us in every way possible.
But there is a price to be paid for this miraculous healing. Before we can receive a new heart we have to surrender our old hearts. And not only our hearts but all the hurts and transgressions from the past that are housed in our hearts. Like the leper, only then will we have reason for rejoicing. Like the paralytic, only then will we have reason for dancing. Like the person possessed by so many demons, only then will we be able to sing of God’s glory. Only then will we be able to offer forgiveness and mean truly it.
Jesus gives us the wine, but we have to provide the place to store it.
Until we embrace the wholeness Jesus can give by repenting of our sins, all the religion in the world won’t do us much good. But when we do embrace it, the miracle is wondrous to behold!
