HOMILY WEEK 25 03 – Year II
Sent to Proclaim and to Heal:
Optional Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian
(Prov 30:5-9; Ps 119; Lk 9:1-6)
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“Take nothing with you.” What a difference there is between this admonition of Jesus to the apostles he sends out on mission, and the Boy Scouts motto “Be prepared!”
Today’s readings invite us to have faith, trust, take a risk, and dedicate ourselves to proclaiming the kingdom of God.
In the gospel, the twelve apostles represent the beginnings of a New Israel with Jesus as the new Moses. As Moses was given authority to lead the Chosen people, Jesus now gives his apostles the power and authority to heal illnesses and to deliver people from the influence of the evil one. Then he sends them out with a clear mission: to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
As disciples of Jesus, we share that same mission. But what exactly are we to proclaim, as we go? Just what is the kingdom of God?
The prayer Jesus taught us, the Our Father, gives us a clear indication. The first petition after we pray “Thy kingdom come,” is “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” So, doing the will of God has to be a main element of the kingdom of God.
But that raises another question for a disciple – what is the will of God? I think a safe first element would be to keep the new commandment Jesus gave us, placing “loving others as we love ourselves,” on a par with “loving God with our whole being,” the grand Shema of Judaism. Then “loving others as Jesus loved us,” adds more newness to that commandment, calling us to take up our Cross and follow Jesus through the Paschal Mystery, into sacrificial love and also redemptive suffering, accepted without bitterness or resentment.
Above all, loving our enemies by forgiving them from the heart, praying for them what we would want for ourselves, and doing good to them, would certainly be doing the will of God, enshrined as it is in the second part of the Our Father, when we ask God to “forgive us as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.”
I also think trying to live the Beatitudes, the eight ways of habitually thinking, feeling and acting in this world, would certainly be central to doing God’s will, as well as living in and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven. Striving to be humble, compassionate, gentle, forgiving, peaceable, just, pure of heart, and able to endure some persecution for the sake of the gospel would all be involved as we try to live out this Magna Carta of the kingdom.
Significantly, the apostles were also sent out to heal. That can pose a challenge to us today, as we think perhaps mainly of physical cures and miracles worked by the apostles. The sacrament of the sick is one way we can live out this teaching, but that healing can take many forms – healing of relationships, healing of negative attitudes and painful emotions, healing of some sinful ways can all be part of this.
Our ministry must have a healing touch, which may perhaps involve mainly being able to listen. Apparently, Alice Miller, towards the end of her career as a psychologist, sort of disowned her own profession, with her realization that in the end, all people really need to heal is a “listening witness.” So perhaps we can begin to see ourselves as healers in a broader perspective than that to which we are accustomed.
Then Jesus calls the apostles to a deep faith and trust in divine providence, that God will provide them with what they really need for their mission. This ties in with the first reading from proverbs, which prays only for truth and the answering of basic needs – neither poverty nor riches. This also presages the Lord’s Prayer, in which we pray that God will give us only our daily bread, that which we need for that day. That was also a characteristic of the early Christian community as found in the Book of Acts, which tells us “none of the disciples were in need.” This too, is all part of proclaiming the kingdom of God.
This teaching of Proverbs alludes to working for peace and justice that is an integral part of the gospel and the mission of the church. For St. Paul, the kingdom is made up of the peace, joy and justice of the Holy Spirit. Justice is a right relationship with God, all others in our life, our selves, and I believe, with all of God’s creation. Along with Micah, we can try to love tenderly, act justly, and walk humbly with our God, and we will be living in the kingdom.
Two New Testament persons who truly listened to the word of the Lord, paid attention to it, and lived it fully are St. Cosmos and Damian, whom we honour today. According to the Living With Christ, legend has it that they were twins, both physicians who practiced without charging fees, and who suffered martyrdom during a period of persecution. Around this legend grew another – a gruesome story of their suffering as well as a history of miraculous cures. After Emperor Justinian I claimed to have been cured of illness through their intercession, he honored the city of Cyr, which had the relics of the saints, and encouraged devotion to them. In the 16th century, both an oratory and a basilica were built in their honor. Along with the apostle Luke, Cosmos and Damian are patron saints of physicians and surgeons.
The Eucharist is an experience of Jesus caring for us in our brokenness and poverty, meeting our deepest need to be loved, belong and be valued, and a foretaste of the eternal banquet we will celebrate with the Lord when he comes again.
May our celebration strengthen our faith, deepen our trust, and empower us to both live in the kingdom of God, proclaim its good news to all, and carry out a healing ministry.
