Tag Archives: healing

A God who does not need spectacle – Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)

10 Saturday Feb 2024

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At one point in his book, “Jesus, Present Before Me,” Fr. Peter John Cameron shares the story of a young priest who served as a chaplain to Ground Zero immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11th.  One of the duties the priest had was serving in the makeshift morgue that was set up in a tent to receive the remains of the victims.  It is easy to imagine the frenzied activity and the number of busy rescue workers intent on their mission but what the priest found amazing was that whenever a new body would arrive at the tent all the work, talking and activity would halt, the workers would gather in a circle with the priest around the body and the workers would bow their head and they would wait for a prayer from the priest.  Even in the deep trauma and pain of that moment, the people recognized that there was something “more” that was stronger even than death. 

The leper in today’s gospel (Mk. 1:40-45), even if he could not specifically say why, recognized that there was something “more” in Jesus.  We heard in the first reading from the Book of Leviticus how lepers were looked upon and treated at this time in history.  There was no cure for leprosy in the time of Jesus.  Leprosy is a horrible disease that, if untreated, ultimately ends in death.  People feared the disease and they wanted nothing to do with lepers.  Lepers were cast out; they were ostracized and they were isolated.  But the leper saw something in Jesus that was more than both his disease and the ostracization he knew.  The leper trusted in this “more”.

The leper falls at the feet of Jesus and he begs, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  A simple request made in faith. 

Jesus touches the man afflicted with leprosy.  This is no small thing.  By this simple action Jesus demonstrates that he is not bound by the fear and prejudice of his time.  Jesus also knows that something “more” is at work in this moment – the will of his Father that all might be saved.  Jesus recognizes the inbreaking of the Kingdom where all illness and all injustice is to be wiped away.  In the simple act of touching the leper and by saying, “I do will it.  Be made clean,” Jesus brings this poor man afflicted with leprosy to his Father, the Father receives the man and – healed and restored – returns the man to the Son.

I’ve had a realization following my recent trip out west.  On my trip I visited Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.  I saw the grandeur and experienced the serenity of those amazing places and then I ended all of that with an evening in Las Vegas before my flight home the next day.  That evening, I walked along the main strip gawking at all the lights, sights and sounds of that city.  Contrasting the parks and the city, I came to this realization, God does not need spectacle to accomplish his will.  We might need spectacle, in many ways it seems we crave it (i.e. Las Vegas), but God does not because God is the source of all that is, plain and simple. 

There is “more” in Christ.  The leper saw it and this “more” is encountered and made known in the simple.  The simple act of the bowing of heads in prayer even in the midst of death and destruction, the simple act of faith, “If you wish, you can make me clean,” and the simple act of touching another person in love and care. 

There is “more” in Christ and this more is encountered in the simple rather than in the spectacle. 

Christ in the particular

30 Saturday Jun 2018

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Daughter of JairusI recently read a daily reflection that made the following point: “Just as nature abhors a vacuum, Jesus abhors vagueness.” In one sense it is easy to speak in generalities and vagueness in regards to faith and God. “Yes, I love God. I love all people. I want to help and serve everyone. I want peace for the whole world.” It is easy to say these things in the general sense but how do we live in the particular moment? Can I show love to the person I don’t like or understand? Can I be patient in a chaotic moment of family life? Can I take time to pray even though the demands of the day seem unceasing? Can I choose hope even in a time of pain and loss? Can I seek justice in moments of injustice? Can I turn the other cheek even when I am wronged? It is not in speaking nice generalities but rather in the choices of particular moments that the Kingdom of God is found.

One of the teachings of the gospel for today is that our Lord does not disdain the particular. In fact, he chooses to enter into the particular moment as a privileged place of encounter. The gospel gives us two particular moments where Christ is present in his healing grace – the woman with the bleeding disorder and the young girl. We are told that the woman had the disorder for twelve years and that the girl was “a child of twelve”. The use of “twelve” links the older woman and the young girl. For a woman to have a bleeding disorder in Hebraic culture meant that she was perpetually unclean and that she could not have children which would be seen as a great dishonor. The young girl dies at the age of betrothal and near the time she can have a child. Both are tragic and particular circumstances where life is painfully denied. Into both of these particular tragedies Christ enters in and he brings light and healing!

Christ says to Jairus, “Do not be afraid: just have faith.” Christ says the same to us and we must take these words to heart, especially in those moments of struggle and tragedy in life. “Do not be afraid…” Christ is neither separated from pain nor struggle. Christ does not disdain the particular. Christ is even in those moments of pain and he is there with life, healing, peace and hope.

The Book of Wisdom tells us “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living … God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world…” In the miracles presented in the gospels – the healing of the sick, the casting out of demons, the walking on water in the midst of a storm and the raising of the dead – we are taught that Christ as Lord has overcome all the forces of chaos and evil that would wound and kill body and spirit. We are also shown that God does not fear these moments and is willing to be present within these particularly tragic moments of human life offering his life, healing and grace.

We are not abandoned. Christ is with us. When the storms of life threaten to drown us, Christ is there. When the divisions caused by evil wear us down and threaten to overcome us, Christ is there. When illness and pain break us down, Christ is there. When death shatters us, Christ is there. Our God has overcome all these forces of evil and death. He does not fear them nor does he disdain the particular moment we find ourselves in. Christ is there for us in his life, his healing and his grace and he says to us, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”