A DIFFERENT KIND OF HEALING

A DIFFERENT KIND OF HEALING

 

He gave her his hand and raised her up. – Acts 9: 41

 

Jean has made it her mission to help cancer patients. Her parents, father-in-law and, more recently, her husband passed away with the same illness. She now uses her own experiences to comfort others who are in a similar situation.

She goes out of her way to counsel those who are terminally ill. She listens. She cries with them. Her presence eases the pain and suffering. Moreover, she helps prepare them for what is to come.

Many are in denial. Some are angry. Others bargain with God. Still others just give in to hopelessness and say, “I don’t care anymore.” Jean helps them through these stages. She should know. She went through the same.

She is an avenue of non-physical miracles: relationships with God are restored; emotional needs are understood; and prayer life is re-discovered. The promise of heaven for those who are about to face death renews their spiritual life.

God made Jean an instrument for a different kind of healing.

What kind of healing can you give to the world?Jun Asis (mabuting.balita@gmail.com)

 

REFLECTION:

Look out for those people you are called to heal.

 

O Divine Physician, use me to become a healer. Make me Your conduit of healing love.

LORD, TO WHOM WILL WE GO?

 

The question with which Peter responds to Jesus’ own question if they, His apostles, would stay or leave, is one that we would do well to ponder every time we think about abandoning our faith for anything else. It is the most sobering of all questions as the answer is frighteningly stark. If Jesus is not the answer, then God help us, if there is a God. To abandon faith in Christ is really to abandon the understanding that there is a God because if Jesus, the one sent by the Father to redeem humanity, is not worthy of being followed and obeyed, it is impossible to conceive of a better option!

Yes, people reject belief in God all the time these days but I tend to think that a lot of them are rejecting a particular concept of God they have constructed that is not worthy of belief in the first place. To have full knowledge of God, of who He is and what He offers us, and then reject Him, is virtually inconceivable to me. There are people who seem to walk this path as well, but they are very few and their salvation is in grave doubt. It is not a path to be recommended to or by anyone.

Peter’s answer tells us that deep down, he and the other disciples have realized that there is something in their faith in Jesus that has become irrefutable to them and they are willing to stake their lives on it. And they will, as the opportunity for martyrdom arises in all of their lives except John. We capture here something of the essence of faith — that it is a relationship with a living person, God. It is neither an abstract concept nor an optional extra for our lives. Faith is essential to our humanity and until we discover it personally there will always be a type of restlessness within. It is quite easy to see this restlessness within the lives of so-called atheists; how I wish it were just as easy to be able to reveal it to them and show them the solution. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

Reflection Question:

What part does faith play in my life? Have I really given over everything I am to my faith response to God or do I still seek to control certain aspects of my life?

 

Father, You have created us to be in relationship with You and we will be restless until we respond in faith to Your love.

 

St. Egbert, pray for us.