Forgiveness And Healing

Forgiveness And Healing

         Matthew, Mark and Luke (in chapters 9, 2 and 5 respectively) all recall the cure of the paralytic.   It is the quintessential Love Story: of friends who go to extreme measures to bring their buddy to the healing feet of Jesus; and, of the Merciful Love of God for a sinner.  The paralytic’s friends are so committed to seeing him healed that they tear a hole in the roof over Jesus, who is preaching to a standing room only crowd, and then lower him down on ropes.  In turn, Jesus is so impressed by the loving Faith of the four men that he forgives the paralytic’s sins –a Gift the paralytic was not even seeking.

         This story is compelling beyond the miraculous cure it brings.  It is the confluence or two seemingly disparate desires –the men and the paralytic seeking physical healing; and Jesus, seeking to heal the soul.  Adding to the Mystery of Love, Jesus rewards the paralytic for the virtue demonstrated by the Faithful Four.  It is a story where the unexpected result exceeds the miracle that was hoped for.  

         What appear at first glance, as disparate desires, are in truth congruent -both the Sick and the Savior desire wholeness.  Sickness and Death entered the world through Sin.  When we sin we separate ourselves from God.  Cut off from the Vine of Life, we become sick -in need of a Savior.  Like the paralytic, we lie in need of his Forgiveness and Healing.

Modern culture views man as possessing a body distinct from its mind and soul.  In Jesus’ day, body, mind and soul were indistinct –to the point that if you were sinful, you would be sick.  So when Jesus offered salvation, it was not just for our soul, but for our entire being- though he clearly and often, gave priority to the well being of our eternal soul over that of our mortal body.  When he healed, he said, “Your faith has saved you.”  The salvation he is offering us is then, holistic, not separate from our body and mind.  The paralytic went home praising God because he was made whole.

         The grace of salvation can and does restore our mind and body, but the profundity of restoring our soul, of re-introducing our spirit into the intimacy of his Holy Spirit, of reconnecting us to our Vine of Life, makes our reconciliation with God incomparable to the dim miracle of physical healing.

         Matthew concludes this story most intriguingly: ‘A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for giving such power to men.’ (Matt 9:8)  He uses the plural form “men”, not the singular form which would have referred inclusively to Jesus.  As a Catholic, it is natural to see how he is pointing forward to the precious jewel given our Church in the sacrament of Reconciliation, where the priest, in the name and person of Jesus, speaks today, those words we long to hear, “Your sins are forgiven.”

         Yet too, for me, Matthew is also pointing back to the Faithful Four, and to us, when we do what they have done.  They interceded for the paralytic, they brought a sinner to Jesus, they made known his needs to God.  They participated in the salvation of his soul.  They joined their Faith to his and opened the Floodgates of Mercy -unleashing God’s Forgiveness and Healing upon the paralytic.  Their Love impelled them to Believe, to dare to approach the Throne of God and beg his Mercy.  The Faithful Four foreshadow the Priesthood of Believers.  Jesus, the Eternal Intercessor for mankind, invites us to join in his intercession to the Father!

         Five verses later, Matthew reveals our Savior’s Heart, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  Go learn the words, ’What I want is mercy, not sacrifice.’  Jesus is Love.  Love is Mercy.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus is burning with the desire to shower us with his Mercy; and, he is calling us to join him –to be a fountain of his Mercy- to participate in his plan of Salvation, to intercede for his flock, to bring them and their needs to the feet of Jesus.

         Father God, I am still incredulous when you call me your child.  You know my sins, yet you woo me back over and again.  Jesus, you have healed me, forgiven me, and restored me without deserve, and then planted me in the fellowship of your Love.  Holy Spirit, let me re-Gift the Mercy I have received, let me not see the sin, but the sinner.  Give me the heart of The Intercessor.  Give me the zeal of those Faithful Four.

The Image Of God

The Image Of God

“God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him…” (Genesis 1:27).

Before Sin, we had Original Joy.  We knew the Face Of God, his smile, the crinkles around his eyes.  We recognized his voice and delighted in the sound of our name on his lips.  God was present to us.  His Presence made the cool of the morning, the warmth of the day, and the quiet of the night, all indistinguishably glorious.  Our existence was defined by our relationship with our Creator.  His friendship gave meaning to every moment, to everything.  Everywhere, every experience evoked thanksgiving to our God.

Sin changed all this.  Sin stole our intimacy with God.  Satan slithered onto the Tree Of Life, disguising Evil as Good, Death as Life.  Seducing us with self glory, he took our gaze off of God.  The Forbidden Fruit became the apple of our eye.  We bit into it.  We tasted the bitterness of banishment –we found loneliness.

After Sin, after losing our friendship with God, our existence was defined by want, by suffering, separation, selfishness and fear.  Defaced by Sin, our Divine Image was now disfigured.  Our eyes were blinded to his Presence.  Unable to see his Face, or be comforted by his Voice, we filled our Emptiness with rotten fruit, with Disobedience, with Sickness and Death.  Blessedness was discarded for Curse.  Friendship with our Father was exchanged for the Fetters of Sin.

Never again, would the Tree’s Forbidden Fruit be experienced with such horrible clarity, with such terrible loneliness, until the Spurned-God-Who-Became-Man, would take on Sin and surrender into Death, on that Tree Of Life, replanted in His Blood on the altar of Calvary.

We were abandoned to Sin, but not to God’s Mercy, for he left us a Promise.  He veiled our Sickness and Death with a prophecy of Hope, that one day, the Offspring of a New Eve, would crush the head of Satan.  Oh, the power of that Tree!

Now freed from that lecherous grip of the Serpent, we are free to find again our true face.  Our Divine Image has been restored.  This Savior has wrapped us in his Father’s cloak.  He has re-given us the Father’s ring, the very one we threw away.  He has washed our dirty feet, and has given us new shoes to dance.  He has prepared for us a feast, with Bread and Wine that eternally removes hunger and thirst.  He has become this Bread of Life, which we not only consume, but which, in turns consumes our guilt; which we not only possess, but which possesses us, which not only nourishes our body and soul, but resurrects our sin-sick nature into New Life, where we are Born Again into immortality.  

          Because our Savior lives, because he has poured his Holy Spirit into our hearts, our eyes are opened anew to see the Face Of God, to walk again in his Presence, to hear the sound of our name on his lips, to know that we Belong to the Face that is smiling upon us.  And, for those how dare, who allow in their spirit, to be drawn into his Gaze, if we look deeply into the eyes of our Father, if we peer  into his very pupil, we will see  reflected, our Divine Image, the one he calls “Beloved Child” -the Apple Of His Eye.

The Woman Of Ill Repute

The Woman Of Ill Repute (Luke 7:36)

   

Simon, a devout Pharisee, invited Jesus to dinner, only to have it crashed by a woman with a bad reputation.  She enters, throws herself to the feet of Jesus, sobbing uncontrollably, bathing His dirty feet with her tears, and drying them with her hair.  Then, while covering them with kisses, she anoints them with perfume.  

Incredulously, Jesus is not looking at the woman.  His attention is on the hidden thoughts of Simon, who is in far greater need of a doctor.  For the woman, as Jesus soon points out, was demonstrating profuse love, springing from a grateful heart emboldened by faith, by a certainty, that her many sins would be forgiven at the feet of Jesus.  

         

          And so Jesus, not taking His eyes off Simon, gently exposes Simon’s shallow love.  As love is the fruit of faith, Jesus reveals Simon’s Achilles heel -that he does not believe in the Mercy Of God.  Fearing an Unforgiving God, Simon is blinded to his own sinfulness; he can only see the sins of others.

Undeterred by blindness, Jesus releases Simon into the freedom of Truth -that only those who have been forgiven much can love much.

Later, Jesus sets another Simon free.  Again, with his Heart Piercing questions, he asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others? ...Do you love me? ...Do you love me?”  Simon Peter, looking into the Face of Love, did not just see the eyes of Jesus.  Like a rushing train disappearing into a tunnel, he was drawn into the Eternal Presence, the very Heart Of Mercy.  There, his cry was absorbed into Unity, as he professed, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you!”

Peter proclaimed with absolute certainty, with a redeemed faith, that He loved his Master more than the others, because he, who three times denied his Savior and Friend, had been forgiven most.

  

        Lost In His Wounds

Oh, my contrite Soul,

How is it I am free to bring my Sins to our Savior?

What grace Abounds!

What power the Cross!

Come, let us find Release!

         Let us Run into his Outstretched Arms.

                  Let us Fragrant him with our Tears and Kisses,

                         For my many Sins are Lost in His Wounds!