23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, B

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WHAT IF HEALING COMES THROUGH TEARS?



One thing we pray earnestly for is healing. From family and friends, we receive many requests for healing. Just recently, a cousin’s wife was in and out of the hospital, a young girl struggling with dengue, and the brother of a good friend was diagnosed with cancer. That God may touch our bodies with his blessing, is one of the major aspirations of a Christian’s heart.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah encourages the people with signs of healing to signal their return from exile. God has truly redeemed his people and he has touched the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the mute. God does not only redeem a nation. His grace falls on individuals who are suffering.

In the gospel, Jesus takes pity on the deplorable situation of a man both deaf and mute. With the powerful words: Be opened!, he releases the power of hearing, and the faculty of speech. Jesus continues the miracle of healing that God started in Israel.

Today we pray for healing too.  and there are so many healing miracles still happening around us. but there are also many times that we expect eyes opening, ears able to hear, tongues beginning to utter clearly, and disabled persons leaping up from their wheel chair – yet they do not.

When cancer, dengue, stroke, viruses seem stronger than our spiritual hopes, it does not mean that God has ceased to be powerful. A most meaningful song says it provocatively: what if the blessings come through raindrops, what if healing comes through tears, what if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know you’re near. What if the trials of this life are God’s blessings in disguise?

There is a healing that happens beneath the surface. There is a transformation that happens beyond our sight. There is God’s presence in what seems to be his absence. And that is the most important healing of all, the healing of the heart, of the mind, and the soul, the healing of our faith and trust in the Lord who knows what is best for us and who will lead us where we really need to be – close to his heart.

Physical healing is great. And we desire it. But spiritual healing is even greater because it is life changing. It is what makes saints smile in spite of the pain, trust in the midst of darkness, believe though they do not see.

Lord, touch me with your healing power. Touch my body to alleviate the pain and restore me back to life. Touch my heart that I may find meaning and joy and peace in whatever life will bring me now and each day.

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