Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
THURSDAY, January 21st Mk. 3: 7-12 “He had cured many and those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.”
Part 1: Points of Meditation…
Part 2: JESUS OUR HEALER! By Fr Ed Broom, OMV
- During the three years of His public life, Jesus cured people’s infirmities, freed souls possessed by demons, raised others from the dead. But Jesus did not come to heal our physical ailments or eliminate our sufferings in this life. Jesus came to raise us from the death of sin to new and eternal life in Him. For pain and suffering is not an absolute evil, but sin is!
- Quite the contrary, when united to the sufferings of Christ, our pain and suffering have incomparable redemptive value. God ordained that a man and a woman participate with Him in the creation of new life. God also ordained that men and women participate with Him in the redemption of souls for eternal life, by uniting our suffering to His! “Christian, know thy dignity!” (Saint Leo the Great)
- How good God is! He allows us to walk the path that will save the greatest number of souls possible with our lives, bringing us the greatest joy possible in Heaven when we realize how many were brought there through our prayers and sufferings!!!
- This “valley of tears” becomes a deluge of graces for those who walk the Via Dolorosa with Jesus and Mary. Tears of love and sorrow for the God-man suffering and dying on the cross for our iniquities! Tears of pity and compassion for the suffering of others. Tears of remorse for our sins. Tears of heartache for the consequences of our sins and the sins of others. Tears of frustration over our failings and weaknesses. Tears of physical pain. Tears of mental and emotional anguish. Tears of loneliness. Tears of grief over the loss of our loved ones.
- If only we knew the redemptive value of suffering… we would kiss these crosses that come our way! Saint Rose of Lima said, “When we see how many souls were saved by our suffering, our only regret in Heaven will be that we did not suffer more!”
- In afflictions and sorrow, let us remember this hymn written in 1752 – and a favorite of Eric Liddell, the athlete who became famous in the 1924 Olympics for refusing to run on the Sabbath (see the movie Chariots of Fire). He was no stranger to suffering! He became a missionary in China and was imprisoned during World War II. He taught this hymn to others in the prison camp where he died of a brain tumor.
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads thee to a joyful end.
PART 2: JESUS OUR HEALER! By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
One of the principal activities that Jesus exercised in His Public Life was that of Healer! Jesus the Healer, the Divine Physician, came into a wounded, suffering, and broken world. And we are the ones wounded, suffering and broken in so many ways!
RECOGNITION… There is no way any of us can be healed unless we first recognize that we are wounded and in dire need of healing. The Spanish have a saying: “No hay peor ciego que no que ver; no hay peor sordo, que aquel que no quiere oir.” Translation: “There is no worse blind man than the one who does not want to see; no worse deaf man than the one who does not want to hear.” Sad to say, many of us are willfully blind and deaf, and we fail to admit this reality!
JESUS HEALED THE WOUNDED WHO TRUSTED IN HIM… Time and time again in the Gospels, we witness Jesus healing the sick, the diseased, and the wounded. However, there were conditions! They were especially two: recognition of their wounded state, accompanied by unlimited trust that Jesus, the Divine Physician could heal them.
For our meditation, let us look at a few examples. The Blind Bartimeus—to whom Jesus gave sight to his eyes when he implored the Lord in humility and trust: Lord, I want to see! Then there is the woman with the bleeding or hemorrhage. Her desire for healing and her faith in Jesus were so great that she believed if she could only touch the hem of His garment she would be healed. Her healing was immediate, corresponding with her faith. The Centurion’s servant was healed due to one thing: the faith of the Centurion. This healing was spectacular. The faith of the Centurion was so great that he felt himself unworthy for Jesus to enter his home. However, if Jesus would only utter a word, a mere word, the Centurion trusted that his servant would indeed be healed. And so it happened! Jesus healed the servant from a distance by His word alone. Of course this healing depended on the unlimited faith of the Centurion, who was not even of the Jewish faith.
There are so many examples of Jesus healing, but one more: the paralytic carried on the mat. This case is interesting because the healing came about by team effort. Obviously the paralytic could not move by himself and thus had to be moved by his friends. We do not have the number, but maybe four. In any case, all five trusted that Jesus, the Divine Physician, could heal this paralytic. The house where Jesus was engaged in preaching was packed to the gills. Unable to enter through the front door, with incredible ingenuity, the friends decided to cut an opening in the roof (we can only imagine the reaction of the owner of the house!) and lower him through the roof towards Jesus. Rejoicing immensely in the creativity, persistence, and faith of these men, Jesus immediately healed the man’s spiritual paralysis by forgiving his sins; then He healed him of his physical condition of paralysis. Once again, healing came about through faith, confidence, and in this case perseverance!
WHAT ABOUT US? … Do we recognize we are wounded? Do we want to be healed? Jesus earnestly desires to heal all of us, not in a crowd, but each one individually. However, this all depends on our willingness to admit that we are wounded, as well as having total confidence in Jesus the Healer, Jesus the Divine Physician. Jesus, I trust in you!
SPIRITUAL WOUNDS… Among all of the wounds that we experience, spiritual or moral wounds are the most serious; these are the wounds that are present in the very depths of our soul. The origin of these wounds goes back to the fall of the first man and woman that we call Original Sin. Due to this Original Sin that we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve, at the very moment of our conception all are wounded in mind, in soul, and even in body due to sicknesses. Only Jesus and Mary did not have this original wound. Jesus, because He is God, the “Holy of holies”. Mary was preserved due to a unique privilege that we call the Immaculate Conception in anticipation of her Yes to becoming the Mother of Jesus—the Mother of God!
JESUS AWAITS US… Jesus is always ready to heal us of our moral wounds, our moral sicknesses. We see this from the cross—-the arms of Jesus wide open ready to heal us. Moreover, just as the Father of the Prodigal Son is waiting with his arms wide open to receive his son who was lost (Lk. 15: 11-32), so too our Heavenly Father is waiting with arms wide open to welcome us home, irrespective of the many times we might have failed. Saint Paul reminds us: “Where sin abounds, the mercy of God abounds all the more.” (Rom 5:20)
WHEN IS THE TIME? Now is the time, now is the hour. The wounds of your soul can be healed as soon as you desire! This can happen today. God is calling you now; better not put it off until tomorrow because, to be honest, tomorrow may never come. Who knows if we will have a tomorrow? Only God knows the day and the hour we will be called to account for our life. Especially in this time of Covid, that message should be apparent to all!
HOW MAY WE BE HEALED? Jesus heals in many ways. However, morally and spiritually Jesus heals through the Church which is His Mystical Body. To be more specific, Jesus heals through the Sacraments, and most specifically through the Sacrament of Confession, sometimes called Penance, other times called Reconciliation, in which we experience His Infinite Mercy, a limitless mercy that cannot be described in words!
Why not head off to the Church that is nearest to you and seek out that little booth that we call the Confessional. Seek out a priest and ask him if he can hear your confession. Even if you do not remember the Act of Contrition, even though you do not remember the protocol or exact method, still go and simply ask the priest to lead you through the process, and he will be more than willing to help you through it all. Then after you have finished confessing your sins, you will hear these words of Jesus speaking through the priest, the wonderful and all-consoling words of Absolution: And I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Go in peace!
In that moment, once again as in the Gospels, Jesus is healing someone, and that someone is you, and all it takes is your trust and your faith that the Divine Physician can heal you! As Jesus healed 2000 years ago, He can still heal today, if we place our trust, our faith, our confidence in His might and His words!
Copyright 2021 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
