Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Of Things Divine: Healing Here And Now, Ordinary Time 13
Today’s gospel portrays an example of the healing power of Jesus in an uncommonly moving scene. Jairus, a respected synagogue official, has a little daughter who is seriously ill, on the point of death. In desperation he seeks out Jesus and begs him to come to his house to lay hands on his daughter and cure her. Jesus responds without hesitation, but on the way news comes that the little girl is dead. To continue further would be useless, but with calm authority Jesus calls for faith and proceeds to the house. In the quiet of the sick room, speaking just two words, he restores the child to full health.
The sacred heart that beats in Jesus’ chest can never resist a hand outstretched in need or an appeal for help made in faith. Healing is at the center of Jesus’ public ministry. And, it is most important for us to understand that Jesus’ healing ministry extends to both body and soul. Not only does he heal, Jesus extends God’s mercy to people of faith that restored divine wholeness to the soul as the body is cured.
In his three years of public ministry, Jesus went around the whole of Galilee, curing whatever illnesses or infirmity were among the people and filling them with the life-giving presence of God. The healing acts of Jesus were themselves a message … that he had come to set people free. And he continues to set people free even today.
The mission of the Church in every age has been to continue the healing work which Jesus began through his miracles. It is no different today. Every Christian is called to ministry in one way or another:
· as parents called to pass on the faith to the children entrusted to our care;
· as people who seek justice for those to who it has been denied;
· as peacemakers in a community and world rent with violence that destroys families through war and senseless drive-by shootings;
· as voices that prophetically call others to return to the ways of the Lord by helping them identify their sins as the wander in a world of self-indulgence.
The unique healing power of Jesus was in his willingness to show compassion. And we are to be no less compassionate as we live the Gospel and proclaim it with our lives. Our example for compassion is revealed in the last hours of Jesus’ life. Nailed to the cross on the hill of Calvary, Jesus pardoned the thief who recognized him for who he was even though he did not remove the thief from his agony. There can be no doubt that the thief’s sins were forgiven, that he was spiritually healed, even though he still had to suffer. Real healing always involves some suffering because open wounds have to knit themselves closed whether the wounds are to the body, soul or relationships. It takes time, and the healing is not always comfortable. (I know because I had my gall bladder out just two weeks ago and the four wounds my body suffered are itchy and tender as the heal.)
There is no a person in this church today who is not called to represent God by Christ-like actions and not a single person here present can be excused from caring because our vocation as believers in Christ Jesus is to be healers. When a friend is terminally ill, medical knowledge and skill together cannot make the sick person completely well again. What they need more than anything else is for the love of God to me made real for them, through the actual experience of care and concern shown by the people around them. Just by being there, even though we are powerless, we can make faith in God real for them, for we are following the Lord in his compassion. And, when a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, errs and wanders into sinful behavior, they need the voice of Christ through our personal witness to call them back to righteousness, back to the fold, through which Christ the Great Healer can restore them to divine grace. Not to visit the sick, not to challenge the errant sinner is to be complicit in the illness that separates them from the love of Christ, who died to restore them to wholeness.
My dear brothers and sisters, today’s liturgy reminds us of the generosity of Our Lord, who became poor for our sake. We already have received the richness of his many blessings beyond our imagination. Now we are asked to go out and share that same richness with others.
When we hear “Go the Mass is ended” too many people think they have completed their obligation to God for the week. The truth, however, is that the real sacrifice of the Mass comes to life with our dismissal from church. It is then that we are empowered by the Real Presence of Christ we have received in the Eucharist at Holy Communion to take Jesus to the world, to be Jesus for the world as his very body and blood flows through every capillary of our bodies which have become true temples of God’s presence among us. Our celebration of Mass may have come to an end, but the Mass never ends. The bloodless sacrifice of Jesus on our altar may be completed, but our dying to self through lives of service begins as we dispersed from this holy place. When we go as Christ intends for us to go miracles continue to happen as people are fed by our love of Jesus and lifted by our sacrifices for them.
As we celebrate this holiday weekend commemorating our nation’s independence and the liberties we enjoy, we need to be mindful that there are many people who have not been set free from the things that bind them because they have not encountered Christ in a real and personal way. They are waiting for us and to hear just two words of healing: JESUS CHRIST. May God bless you with a desire to work miracles in the lives of the people you meet every day, and may they respond to the power of Christ that fills you through the miracle of the Most Holy Sacrament we celebrate today.
The sacred heart that beats in Jesus’ chest can never resist a hand outstretched in need or an appeal for help made in faith. Healing is at the center of Jesus’ public ministry. And, it is most important for us to understand that Jesus’ healing ministry extends to both body and soul. Not only does he heal, Jesus extends God’s mercy to people of faith that restored divine wholeness to the soul as the body is cured.
In his three years of public ministry, Jesus went around the whole of Galilee, curing whatever illnesses or infirmity were among the people and filling them with the life-giving presence of God. The healing acts of Jesus were themselves a message … that he had come to set people free. And he continues to set people free even today.
The mission of the Church in every age has been to continue the healing work which Jesus began through his miracles. It is no different today. Every Christian is called to ministry in one way or another:
· as parents called to pass on the faith to the children entrusted to our care;
· as people who seek justice for those to who it has been denied;
· as peacemakers in a community and world rent with violence that destroys families through war and senseless drive-by shootings;
· as voices that prophetically call others to return to the ways of the Lord by helping them identify their sins as the wander in a world of self-indulgence.
The unique healing power of Jesus was in his willingness to show compassion. And we are to be no less compassionate as we live the Gospel and proclaim it with our lives. Our example for compassion is revealed in the last hours of Jesus’ life. Nailed to the cross on the hill of Calvary, Jesus pardoned the thief who recognized him for who he was even though he did not remove the thief from his agony. There can be no doubt that the thief’s sins were forgiven, that he was spiritually healed, even though he still had to suffer. Real healing always involves some suffering because open wounds have to knit themselves closed whether the wounds are to the body, soul or relationships. It takes time, and the healing is not always comfortable. (I know because I had my gall bladder out just two weeks ago and the four wounds my body suffered are itchy and tender as the heal.)
There is no a person in this church today who is not called to represent God by Christ-like actions and not a single person here present can be excused from caring because our vocation as believers in Christ Jesus is to be healers. When a friend is terminally ill, medical knowledge and skill together cannot make the sick person completely well again. What they need more than anything else is for the love of God to me made real for them, through the actual experience of care and concern shown by the people around them. Just by being there, even though we are powerless, we can make faith in God real for them, for we are following the Lord in his compassion. And, when a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, errs and wanders into sinful behavior, they need the voice of Christ through our personal witness to call them back to righteousness, back to the fold, through which Christ the Great Healer can restore them to divine grace. Not to visit the sick, not to challenge the errant sinner is to be complicit in the illness that separates them from the love of Christ, who died to restore them to wholeness.
My dear brothers and sisters, today’s liturgy reminds us of the generosity of Our Lord, who became poor for our sake. We already have received the richness of his many blessings beyond our imagination. Now we are asked to go out and share that same richness with others.
When we hear “Go the Mass is ended” too many people think they have completed their obligation to God for the week. The truth, however, is that the real sacrifice of the Mass comes to life with our dismissal from church. It is then that we are empowered by the Real Presence of Christ we have received in the Eucharist at Holy Communion to take Jesus to the world, to be Jesus for the world as his very body and blood flows through every capillary of our bodies which have become true temples of God’s presence among us. Our celebration of Mass may have come to an end, but the Mass never ends. The bloodless sacrifice of Jesus on our altar may be completed, but our dying to self through lives of service begins as we dispersed from this holy place. When we go as Christ intends for us to go miracles continue to happen as people are fed by our love of Jesus and lifted by our sacrifices for them.
As we celebrate this holiday weekend commemorating our nation’s independence and the liberties we enjoy, we need to be mindful that there are many people who have not been set free from the things that bind them because they have not encountered Christ in a real and personal way. They are waiting for us and to hear just two words of healing: JESUS CHRIST. May God bless you with a desire to work miracles in the lives of the people you meet every day, and may they respond to the power of Christ that fills you through the miracle of the Most Holy Sacrament we celebrate today.
