Faith, Forgiveness and Healing
(Rev 2:4; Ps 1:1-6; Lk 18:35-43)
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“Lay your hands gently upon us, Let Your touch render Your peace! Let them bring Your forgiveness and healing; Lay Your hands, gently lay your hands.”
Those words from the hymn by Carey Landry touch on the message from today’s readings – having a strong faith leading us to repentance, experiencing forgiveness and undergoing healing in any way we need it – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
The leper in the gospel is a model of faith for us. Blind and reduced to the sidelines of life, barely eking out a living, he must have heard about the miracles done by Jesus. And when he heard it was Jesus passing by, he acted out of that strong faith, crying out of his need, and identifying Jesus correctly as Son of David, the long-awaited Messiah who was to be born of the lineage of David.
That cry made Jesus stop in his tracks and stand still. Imagine, the creator of this universe and divine Son of God, stops – stands still, hears the cry of the beggar, and orders him to be brought to him. There is such a poignant interplay here of our desperate human condition and the lavish mercy of our loving God. And Jesus heals him, gives him back his sight. We are told all the people give glory to God and the beggar follows him – a wonderful model of what our response to God’s love should be – praise and following Jesus. His was a faith leading to physical healing.
In the first reading, Paul commends the Ephesians for their faith, their patience and their vigilance, but chides them for their loss of fervor. They were starting to get lax, to take their faith for granted, to lose the sharp edge of faith they had at the beginning.
St. John of the Cross lays out six stages of what followers of Jesus might experience during their lifetime. The first is pre-conversion, when everything is somewhat superficial. The second is conversion, when they fall in love with something new. The third is first fervor, when all is fresh and exciting and captivating. This is the honeymoon stage, but it won’t last, as honeymoons are not meant to last. The fourth stage takes over – loss of first fervor. This is the critical stage during which many people give up, and where the devil parks at the doorway to lure people away from their faith commitment and discourage them.
This must be the stage the Ephesians were going through, leading Paul to exhort them on to the next stage, one of commitment and proficiency – a stage that should take us through most of our lives. If we live long enough, there will be a sixth stage, the Dark Night of the Spirit, when we will be challenged to purify our faith of any extraneous traits. During this stage we may be called to be radical disciples and accept some redemptive suffering in our lives. If we can do this without bitterness or resentment, then we are just like Jesus on the cross, and in the kingdom of God.
So Paul calls the Ephesians to repentance, to do metanoia, to put on their highest mind, to change their way of thinking and acting to bring it more in line with God’s will for them, and follow Jesus more closely. They may need to come to him for forgiveness, which is what Jesus as the Messiah fame to bring in his two-fold role – to redeem and sanctify, to forgive and to heal.
We need forgiveness for our sins and wrong-doing, and the forgiveness is always there, waiting for us to in faith come to Jesus and receive it. But we also can come to him for healing of our painful emotions, negative attitudes, and addictions, as well as physical healing like the blind beggar. And hopefully, that experience of the unconditional love of God will lead us to be like the beggar, praise God and follow Jesus.
The Eucharist is a great act of faith and one of the best ways we have to offer God our gratitude and praise. Even as we celebrate it we are being forgiven and healed, and hopefully empowered to go out and both praise the goodness of God, as well as follow Jesus as his disciples dedicated to sharing his love with all we meet.
Well this is a way to live out the word of God by believing in him and trust him that he will save us from any redemptive sufferings. He is the only one who can save us from our sins by forgiving us over and over again. Once we realize and admitt our faults and wrong doings he will forgive us and heal us . He is the one who will bless us and transform us into new a reality that Jesus had set out for us. Just like the beggar who is willing to believe in Jesus so he can heal his blindness. We are to show our love to Jesus Christ for blessing us. So, we are to praise him with joy and happiness without bitterness and resentments. We are chosen to be his missionary disciples to help spread out the Good News to people. Thanks be to God. Amen .
You have so much inspiring words that is helping all of us deepen our faith and understanding the word of God. Your messages and homilies starts my day off and makes my day pleasant with joy. Thanks again for sharing your experiences and teachings. Your homilies is becoming real all the time. May God Bless you always. Bishop Sylvain Lavoie. Have a great time exploring the Holy Land and the history behind the Bible . Gracias! Take good care.