Tag: curing

“Follow me.” | Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

“The Call of St Matthew” flickr photo by Lawrence OP https://flickr.com/photos/paullew/29832494395 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 2:13-17)

Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

About the people who follow Jesus, Mark tells us: “many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples.” On seeing Levi, a tax collector commonly identified as the evangelist Matthew, Jesus invites him to come dine with him with the other disciples. Teaching those who accept his invitation—”Follow me.”—Jesus teaches and heals. Whether they respond, Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees is a quiet, insistent invitation for all people to receive forgiveness and healing from the Divine Physician.

God, just as Samuel anointed Saul to lead and free the Israelites, you sent Jesus Christ your Son to liberate your people from the bondage of sin. “Follow me,” Jesus says. Let that invitation to conversion remain in my heart and mind when I know I need his help but especially when I fail to come to that realization. With a contrite heart, give me the grace to receive healing from the Divine Physician, whose mercy and forgiveness frees me to live in the light of his salvation. Grasp me by the hand, Lord; let me hear your call and know how to respond when I hear you say, “Follow me.”

From the responsorial psalm: “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.” Saint Hilary of Poitiers, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“We have never seen anything like this.” | Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 2:1-12)

Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”–he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

In Mark’s account of the paralytic being lowered through the roof, faith is central in understanding the actions of the friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus. Whether by the paralytic’s prompting or by the insistence of his friends, the man is brought before Jesus because of their faith. As Jesus heals the man, the necessity of faith is evident to all onlookers who come to see Jesus, including the scribes who accuse Jesus of blasphemy in saying to the man, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” As the man picks up his mat and goes home, the people are astounded and glorify God. In his words and actions, Jesus gives glory to his Father; in picking up his mat and walking home, the paralytic is living proof of Jesus’ authority, both to heal and to forgive sins. The people who witness this are amazed, and themselves begin to recognize that in returning home, Jesus demonstrates that he is not only the ordinary son of Joseph and Mary but one whose extraordinary power is from God alone.

God, help me witness you at work in the world today and give me an opportunity to be a witness to those whose lives I touch. I can see it play out so that neither of these happens. For this reason, I ask in faith for your divine assistance; where belief is lacking, help my unbelief. If only it were easy to draw comparisons between the paralytic and the rigidity of my own brokenness and hold that thought. But, Lord, I tend to forget you during the day, so I ask for your aid when even easy comparisons fail to come to mind. In Capernaum, so many came to hear Jesus your Son that there was no room for them. “And he preached the word to them,” Mark says. Help me to hear your word today, take it in, and give glory to you in witnessing to my faith.

From the responsorial psalm: “A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people.” Lord, visit me today; heal me and make me whole.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“I do will it. Be made clean.” | Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 1:40-45)

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”

Showing deep compassion for the leper, Jesus reaches out to touch him. By going where no one else goes, Jesus hears the plea of the leper, spoken in humility and absolute trust: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” By divine authority, Jesus cures the leper immediately, a miracle he warns the leper not to share with anyone. Instead, Jesus tells him to be obedient to Jewish law by showing himself to the priest and offering appropriate sacrifices. Not ready to reveal his messianic identity, Jesus goes off to deserted places. But “people kept coming to him from everywhere.”

God, help me follow the example of faith and humility the leper demonstrates. He trusted completely in your mercy and recognized your divine power to restore his physical well-being. In the first line of today’s Gospel, Mark tells us that the leper came to Jesus, kneeling down and begging him. To no person or power on earth should anyone beg as the leper begged. Only before you, Lord, as the magi did at your birth, should all people fall to their knees. This is why the leper is a superb witness to our faith. From Psalm 86: “All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.” When I veer today toward ungodly self-reliance, give me the grace to call to mind the scene of the leper approaching your Son Jesus Christ. Be merciful and draw me back, close to you, every moment of this day.

From the responsorial psalm: “Why do you hide your face, forgetting our woe and our oppression? For our souls are bowed down to the dust, our bodies are pressed to the earth. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“For this purpose have I come.”| Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 1:29-39)

The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

Jesus never stops healing and preaching to fulfill his mission, moving in an ever-widening circle. Starting with Peter’s mother-in-law, Jesus heals her of her fever. As the whole town gathers at the door in the evening, he then goes on to drive out demons and cure the sick. Rising well before dawn the next day, Jesus goes off to a deserted place to pray until Peter finds him, saying, “Everyone is looking for you.” Jesus responds by picking up and going “throughout the whole of Galilee.” The servant of servants, he tells Peter, the rock on which he builds his Church: “For this purpose have I come.” Love starts at home and spirals ever outward through God’s grace. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta said: “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do. It is to God Almighty—how much we do it does not matter, because He is infinite, but how much love we put in that action. How much we do to Him in the person that we are serving.”

God, just as Jesus grasped Peter’s mother-in-law by the hand and moments later she waited on her family, grasp me by the hand today to make clear your will. Samuel learns to respond to your repeated calls, finally saying, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” In hearing and responding to you, I move from contemplation to action. In describing the infinite love you give to your people, Saint Teresa repeats twice the phrase “how much love we put in the action.” It’s in that willingness to show extravagant love to those you put in our way that we grasp the love of the Almighty and to serve your Son in serving others. “For this purpose have I come,” Jesus tells Peter. Lord, as you did for Peter’s mother-in-law, do for me today: approach me, grasp my hand, help me up.

From the responsorial psalm: “Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, ‘Behold I come.’ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” | Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 14:1-6)

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him.

After Jesus dismisses the man, he says: “‘Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?’ But they were unable to answer his question.” Luke tells us that Jesus dismisses the man after healing him and only then addresses the Pharisees. On his way and free of his illness, the man who suffered no longer suffers, but the Pharisees and scholars of the law are unable to answer, silenced in the hypocrisy they are bound by. The answer to the question Jesus asks them is in the affirmative. But they are unable to affirm what they know is true. Jesus heals the suffering man and invites the Pharisees to be healed in the truth of his mercy.

Father in heaven, help me understand today’s Gospel. In the darkness that sin casts over me, I am not far off from the scholars of the law and the Pharisees when I place strict observance over mercy or remain silent when I hear your voice. Help me live in your truth, in truth itself in the person of Jesus your Son. “I speak the truth in Christ,” Saint Paul writes. “I do not lie.” Let me do the same. Give me the grace of Christ’s healing presence in the Eucharist, and dismiss me today with a heart to love you and hands to serve you in knowing your truth and doing your will.

From the responsorial psalm: “My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.