Today was one of those busy days when the timing seems to work out just right. First, Diane had volunteered to be the cook at the Soup Kitchen, replacing the usual Saturday cook who had a family conflict. And of course whenever Diane goes to the Soup Kitchen, I'm always in tow. After a few hours washing dishes, opening cans, and performing other highly skilled work, I had to leave because I was scheduled to preach at a parish Healing Mass scheduled for 11 a.m. Still wearing my soup kitchen uniform of shorts and t-shirt, I slipped into the church through the back door carrying a change of clothes. As you might expect several parishioners witnessed my arrival and acted as if I had committed sacrilege: "Omigosh, the deacon's wearing shorts!" All very odd. Fortunately they settled down and absolved me once I changed into more suitable attire. The Healing Mass was wonderful. Attended by about 200 people -- many of them charismatic Catholics -- it was followed by a service of spiritual and physical healing. This included the sacrament of Reconciliation (we had five priests helping out) and an opportunity for each person to experience a laying on of hands and be prayed over by one of our healing teams. What a blessing for those in need!
I was also scheduled to preach at our early vigil Mass this afternoon, so it was back to church after a late lunch.
My homily for the Healing Mass follows. I'll include the homily I preached for today's Saturday vigil in another post...assuming I don't forget.
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Good morning, everyone. Praise God. Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Because we’re here in Jesus’ name, the Holy Spirit is here today too, in all His power, in all His glory, so that in Him we can come to know our loving Father better, all through Our Lord Jesus Christ.Let me begin by saying I am in deep water today, way out of my depth…but that’s the way it usually is whenever we set out to do God’s work. We never really know exactly what we’re doing, do we? And once you think you know, God teaches you otherwise. As Jesus said in today’s Gospel passage, “No disciple is above his teacher…” and what a teacher we have!
How could it be otherwise? After all, it’s not our work, but God’s work. And you and I can never approach God’s work from a position of strength. It’s always from weakness.
As I prepared for this day, I thought about what I would say, I worried about what I would say…and then, finally, I did what I should have done from the beginning, I prayed…and I asked the Spirit to guide me, to tell me what to say. Healing, you see, is such a personal thing. No two of us come to healing from the same place; each journey is different, and so is the baggage we carry with us. Because we’re all so amazingly and wonderfully different, what can I say that will apply to us all?
Well, the next thing that came into my little mind was that wonderful scene described in all three synoptic Gospels, the healing of the paralytic. You all know the story.
The word had gotten out in Capernaum that Jesus was back in town, and a huge crowd showed up at the house where he was staying. Some came to learn from him, some came to challenge him, and some came for healing. We don’t know how many in that crowd needed physical healing, but they all needed spiritual healing.Although the body needs healing sometimes, the soul needs it always.
Yes, sisters and brothers, we’re not all sick in body, but we are all sinners; we’re all in need of spiritual healing…whether we know it or not. And so when the paralytic is placed before Jesus to be healed, what does Our Lord say? Something truly remarkable:
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Despite the man’s broken body, Jesus first heals a broken spirit, for He knew that a person can also be spiritually paralyzed. That’s exactly what serious, habitual sin is: a form of spiritual paralysis, a paralysis that fuses us in place spiritually, separating us from God.
Now the scribes who witnessed this act of forgiveness immediately complain, accusing Jesus of blasphemy.
But notice the paralytic didn’t complain. He didn’t shout, “Hey, Jesus, what about this paralysis of mine? Aren’t you gonna take care of that too?” You and I just assume he was there for a physical cure, but maybe in his heart he too recognized his greater need.
The scribes, of course, are beside themselves and ask, “Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Good question. And Jesus answers it, and offers a demonstration of His divine power by then healing the man of his paralysis. Isaiah prophesied that this would be a sign of the Messiah: the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will walk and the poor will have the good news preached to them.
Yes, all is good with the Lord, for whoever comes to him is healed, even if they don’t always recognize the kind of healing they really need. And, brothers and sisters, it’s the same with us. It’s all good with the Lord. When we commit ourselves to Him, when we continue to choose Him in our lives, it’s all good.
Despite our daily, ongoing struggles – despite financial hardships, family problems, the struggle to be a good husband or wife, to be a good mom or dad, a good grandparent, a good child, a good friend, despite the illnesses, the losses – despite all these things, we still can say, “It’s all good with the Lord.”
All of these struggles and sufferings take on infinite meaning when we unite them with the Cross of Jesus Christ. When they become our personnel expression of His sacrificial love, our struggles and sufferings change instantly. They become positive expressions of prayer, expressions of our real life union with Christ.
What about you? Are you here for a physical healing? Well, that’s wonderful! But what about the state of your soul? How did Jesus put it? “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Jesus, you see, teaches us the divine priorities, that the health of our souls is far more important than the health of our bodies.
And so, come to Jesus today, first for a spiritual healing, the forgiveness of sins, and then lay your body before Him. When we do this, when we can accept this, yes, it’s all good with the Lord.
What else can we learn from the paralytic and his friends? First, we are all called to participate in God’s healing ministry. And, second, Faith precedes healing, not the other way around.
Who were those four men approaching the house carrying the paralytic? Are they his friends or relatives, or simply four men who took pity on him and decided to take him to Jesus? Did the paralytic cry out to them, begging to be carried to Jesus, or did they simply see his need and act? We can’t answer any of these questions. Matthew, Mark and Luke don’t tell us.
But one thing we know for certain: they carried someone in need to Jesus Christ. Yes, we’re all called to participate in God’s healing ministry.
Compare these four with the crowd. They were unable to enter to the house because of the crowd. That in itself tells us something about the crowd, doesn’t it? The crowd had come, Mark tells us, to hear Jesus preach the word, but it’s pretty obvious they hadn’t yet accepted and internalized that word. They wouldn’t make room for the paralytic. But our four men are different; undeterred, they approached Jesus from above.Like most houses in first-century Palestine, it probably had a beamed roof, covered with wattling and thatch and mud. And there would have been an outside ladder leading to the roof. And so up they went, carried the paralytic to the roof, made a hole in the thatch, and lowered him right in front of Jesus.
Now here’s where the Gospel tells us something really interesting. In Mark’s words: "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.'"
How remarkable! When Jesus saw their faith. There’s a conditional element here, isn’t there? Something had to happen before this healing. Faith precedes healing, not the other way around.
But notice it’s not the faith of the paralytic that moves Jesus to act; it’s not the faith of the crowd; rather it’s the faith of the four men who brought him there for healing. “When He saw their faith” -- the faith of the man’s friends, the faith of those who love him, the faith of those who brought him to Jesus Christ.
What had the four said to Jesus? They’d said absolutely nothing. They didn’t ask Jesus to heal their friend. In fact, they really didn’t ask for anything at all.They simply placed their friend at Jesus’ feet, trusting in His mercy, trusting that He would do the Father’s will.
Do you see now the power of faith, the power of prayer? That’s what their action was, you know. It was a prayer, a prayer calling out from their faith. They prayed in faith, in deep faith, confident that God’s will would be done in the life of their friend. Do you see what St. Paul meant when he told the Thessalonians to “pray constantly”? Words are unnecessary if our actions are prayerful.
And just consider for a moment the effect of this double healing on those four men. Consider how it crashed down on them, a tidal wave of reality that washed away any doubt. They, too, were healed, weren’t they?
That’s because true healing is contagious. Those who lead others to God for healing also experience His healing touch. What a blessing! What a wonder! God just rains His healing power down on all who come to Him in faith. It’s all good with the Lord.
And do you know what else faith does? It removes all fear and enables healing. Did you know that fear is an obstacle to healing, probably the greatest obstacle? That’s why in the Gospels we hear Jesus telling us dozens of times, “Fear not!”, “Be not afraid.” He wants us to be open to His love, His truth, His healing power – and when we fear we lock ourselves away behind closed doors.
In today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus instructs us, “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” If you’re here for a physical healing today, I hope you’ll think about those words.
As a society, we seem to have this overriding fear of death, a fear that has apparently even taken hold of many Christians. How very sad. As Christians we claim to believe in the immortality of the soul, in the good news of eternal life, that those who die in Christ will live forever in the embrace of God’s love. If you believe that, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, what’s there to fear?
“I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus tells us, “whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
Don’t let fear be an obstacle to healing. Accept God’s gift of faith and watch all fears evaporate. Yes, it’s all good with the Lord.
Of course, faith places demands on us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We are called to follow a well-formed conscience, to choose the good, not the popular evil. This is the life that brings true happiness, while sin always brings chaos into our lives. Sin, you see, never simplifies; it only complicates, causing distress and damaging relationships.
But when we love the Lord, when we remain in Christ, when we keep His commandments, life becomes remarkably simple and we are happy. And then, even in the midst of illness and suffering, it’s all good with the Lord. As Christians our sufferings have meaning and worth because through them we share in the sacrifice of Christ.
Not long before he died, Malcolm Muggeridge said, "Everything I have learned, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience has been through affliction not through happiness." Muggeridge, of course was speaking of worldly happiness, not the happiness that only God can bring. A British writer, reporter and TV personality, Muggerdige was a man who came to faith late in life thanks to the time he spent with Mother Teresa. And he learned from her that the crosses of his life, the illnesses and sufferings, were the true blessings.We see this dramatized in the story of the paralyzed man. Had he not been paralyzed, he may never have met Jesus and received the spiritual healing that led him to salvation. Let’s learn from the paralytic and come to God seeking first His loving forgiveness by approaching Him in the sacrament of reconciliation. Let’s make an act of surrender, an act of abandonment, and take all that we have, all that we are, and lay it at Jesus’ feet. He wants it all, out of a love so great it’s beyond our understanding.
And let’s learn, too, from the four men who carried him. Who in our lives need to be carried to Jesus? Do we recognize the power of the collective faith and prayers of our community? Do we trust that Jesus can do the same for us as faithful, prayerful people who lift others up who need to be healed?
After Mass we’ll have a laying on of hands. Come forward. Turn your heart and mind to Jesus Christ. Give Him permission to come into your life, to work His will within you.
“Heal me, Lord.” Let that be your prayer. “Heal me, Lord, of all that is keeping me from being one with you.” Trust God, brothers and sisters. He is not alternatively yes and no. He is always yes. And it’s always all Good with the Lord.
Praised be Jesus Christ…now and forever.
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