February 9: Healing / Sanación

The Gospel of St. Mark (6, 53-56, for example) shows the great popularity of Jesus among the ordinary people of Galilee. It is notable how He attracted the sick and needy, through the healing that flowed through Him. People begged to touch even the fringe of His cloak, like the woman who was healed of her bleeding. The excitement Jesus generated was such that people were desperate to connect with Him, “bringing the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.”

Isn’t it true that in our own “times of need,” we also seek God’s help more urgently? Some illness or misfortune brings home to us our vulnerability, our weakness, and even our mortality. In those situations, we pray with greater urgency, right? It is universally true among people of faith that it is the darker and more painful life experiences of life that open us up in a unique way to our need for God.

By all means, let us praise God regularly wherever we find ourselves, but we do well to remember that our conversations with God that can have a special importance are those we make on our sick beds or with our friends who are in the hospital or who are homebound. Above all, when we are able to walk out of a hospital or emerge from a visit with a sick friend in their home, the prayer of thanks that we make for the gift of being alive and blessed by God is, indeed, unique and special. 

On Wednesday of this week, we will celebrate the feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes (a Worldwide Day of Prayer for Healing). We will celebrate a Mass with the Anointing of the Sick at 8:30am. All are welcome.

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Los Evangelios nos dicen que Dios nos manifiesta en Jesús que Él se preocupa por nosotros con un amor más profundo y tierno que el de una madre por su hijo a quien dio vida. Dios se hace particularmente cercano a los que más le necesitan: los débiles, los que sufren, los abandonados, y los que no cuentan para nada. Ése es el amor que Dios nos mostró en Jesús. Y ese es el amor al que nos invita, para que nos amemos así unos a otros: un amor profundo, tierno, duradero, y sin miedo de manifestarse abiertamente.