HOMILY WEEK 30 05 – Year I
Jesus – Messiah and Healer:
Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres
(Rm 9:1-5; Ps 147; Lk 14:1-6)
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Have you seen the movie “Messiah?”
That movie about what it might be like if Jesus had come into our modern cellular and connected world relates to the readings today inviting us to place our faith in Jesus as the Messiah, and to experience his power to heal us.
The resistance and disbelief to the Jesus portrayed in the movie is precisely what causes St. Paul great agony in the first reading from Romans as he laments the unbelief of his fellow Israelites, despite the fact they were given so many spiritual gifts and benefits by the very God who sent his Son Jesus into the world.
Paul was experiencing the same resistance and unbelief the Pharisees and scribes mounted against Jesus himself. Their love of the law, one of the gifts they were given by God that should have opened their hearts to Jesus as the Messiah, had become rigid and cold, and trumped the law of love that allowed Jesus to put the needs of an afflicted man above the Sabbath regulations.
The Word Among Us informs us that the dropsy, or “edema” today, refers to a buildup of fluid in the body that causes limbs to swell, joints to stiffen, and movement to be painful and hampered. The Pharisees who witnessed this miracle would have known Jesus’ view of healing on the Sabbath because the question had already been asked and answered, to their humiliation (Luke 13:10-17). They weren’t likely to welcome such a healing the second time around. But still, Jesus was offering them an invitation – this time to seek their own healing from unbelief.
It’s an invitation for all of us: to be healed of our “edema,” our spiritual bloat and stiffness so that we can deepen our relationship with the Lord. It’s easy to settle into a fixed, familiar understanding of who God is and what God wants of us. But more than anything, what God wants is an intimate and growing relationship with us, one that is fluid, moves and matures daily. So, Jesus wants to heal anything that hampers our movement towards him and with him.
Today, Jesus is inviting us to consider our spiritual health. If we ask him, the Holy Spirit will show us where he wants to reduce swelling or stiffness in our spiritual life. Perhaps a hint of “Oh God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity” has begun to swell our self-image. Or maybe satisfaction with a hurried reading of Scripture or a rote recitation of prayers at Mass are stiffening our walk with the Lord. Perhaps we are taking the miracle of creation for granted, and not walking in harmony with all of God’s creatures as did St. Francis. Or perhaps we are dismissing the very real anguish and feelings of survivors of the residential school experience, not really trying to walk a mile in their moccasins. We don’t have to live this mediocre way! Let us become aware of any “spiritual dropsy” and ask Jesus to help us move more freely with him.
The Lord’s invitation to seek healing isn’t reserved for particular days or particular people. It’s for all his children, for every day. It’s for us. As the Messiah, Jesus had a two-fold mission – to redeem and to sanctify, to forgive and to heal. We can always come to him for forgiveness of all our sins and hurtful behavior, as well as for healing of all our painful emotions and negative, deeply-rooted attitudes and defects of character.
St Martin de Porres
Today we honour St. Martin de Porres, a Dominican lay brother from Lima, Peru, who lived from 1579 to 1639. He was the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed slave from Panama of black or possibly of Indigenous descent. He grew up in poverty, and after the birth of his sister, his father abandoned the family. He entered the Dominican friary at 15 and served in many capacities, including as a barber, infirmarian, farm labourer and had a remarkable rapport with animals. He went to great lengths to care for the sick, which led to him being disciplined by a superior who feared illness within the community. His reply pleading ignorance for he did not know that the rule of obedience had surpassed the commandment of charity humbled his superior who freely gave his permission after that. Martin’s advice was sought by people in high places and he was well loved and greatly respected by the populace. Today he is patron saint of barbers, innkeepers, public education, public health, racial harmony and social justice.
The Eucharist makes present that unconditional love of Jesus on the cross, especially in the form of forgiveness and healing. The Pharisees kept silent in answer to Jesus’ invitation. We have the opportunity to say yes. Let our celebration and response today be a joyful, grateful prayer of faith in the one who heals us and invites us to walk more freely with him.
