First Friday Holy Hour - July 2022 - The Eucharistic Physician

 

In the Gospel for today (friday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time), the tax collector Matthew leaves behind an old way of life to follow the Lord., and immediately upon beginning this new life, Matthew welcomes Jesus into his home for a meal. 

There is something healing about a good meal. This is especially true when two people, who are enemies, who are estranged from each other in any way, sit down and share food, and conversation, and intimacy together. If you are willing to sit down and have a meal with someone, the healing has already begun.

This is why, at the meal in the house of Matthew, the Lord Jesus identifies himself as a physician, a healer. “I eat with tax collectors and sinners because the sick require a physician.” Jesus dines with sinners for the same reason a physician goes to the sick—to heal—to heal our estrangement from God, and from one another.

I think of that beautiful scene in the story of Babette’s Feast. At the death of their pastor, this small Christian community had become estranged from one another, division and bickering had entered into their daily lives. And so the french chef, Babette, provides a meal, and through good food, some of the divisions within this community begin to melt away; they begin to laugh together again, and share memories of happier times. The meal became an occasion for God's mercy and healing to work.

At the sacred meal of the Eucharist, the Lord Jesus is encountered as the Divine Physician, who heals those parts of us that are estranged from God, and within our community. 

In the section regarding the Eucharist, the Catechism quotes St. Ambrose, who speaks of the Eucharist as a remedy for sin and concludes, “Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.” Sinners, like us, need that constant medicine which the Lord gives us. 

One of the reasons we do well to spend time in Eucharistic adoration, in addition to receiving the sacred medicine of the Eucharist at Mass, is that sometimes we take the Eucharist for granted, and adoration helps to open us up to the power of the Eucharist again. 

Sometimes during the celebration of Mass be can become distracted from the healing power of the Eucharist: crying babies, off-key cantors, tangential preaching, not to mention the busyness of Sunday morning, which hinders us from coming to mass with proper recollection of our sins—with the proper interior silence.

But the blessed moments of silence during Eucharistic adoration can help us identify those parts of our lives, our psyches, our egos, our souls, that the Lord wishes to heal, the burdens of daily life, the fractured relationships.

Before our Eucharistic Physician tonight,  we express our desire for the healing the Lord wants for, to strengthen us in holiness, and to strengthen the bonds of charity among us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Tuesday - 26th Week of OT 2017 - Divine love shining through perfect humanity

Luke is the favorite gospel of many people. In fact, it has been called "the most beautiful book ever written". In elegant and articulate style, Luke gives the reader a powerful and emotional picture of  Christ. St. Luke presents Jesus as the Great Physician, healer of body and souls. More than any other Gospel writer, Luke calls Jesus “the Son of Man”, and not so much deemphasizes Jesus’ divinity, rather, shows Jesus’ divine love shining through his perfect humanity. Luke repeatedly shows Jesus’ compassion for the poor, the needy, the sick, the sorrowing, the sinful women rejected by society, the despised Samaritans, tax collectors, beggars, lepers, and even the dying thief, crucified at his side.

In the early infancy narratives, Luke sets the tone for much of the Gospel: Jesus’ birth is met by thanksgiving, rejoicing, and prayer by some, yet there is also clear foreshadowing, that Jesus will be rejected and will suffer.

After the infancy narratives, after years of the hidden quiet life in Nazareth, Jesus embarks on his public ministry, announcing the coming of the kingdom of heaven, which is marked by miracles of healing and powerful preaching. Today’s short passage is the turning point in the Gospel. From his public ministry through Galilee, Jesus resolutely turns to journey to Jerusalem, he sets his face to journey to suffering and death.

For the rest of the Gospel, much of what Jesus says and does is in reference to what will happen when he gets to Jerusalem, the meaning and importance of what he does there.

And, there in Jerusalem, Jesus fulfills the prophecy we heard in the first reading from the prophet Zechariah: “Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem”. That prophecy is fulfilled in the celebration of the Mass, where men and women of every race and tongue stream to Jerusalem, to the foot of the cross, where the love of God and the goodness of God are made manifest. The divine physician brings healing at the Eucharist, “the Son of Man’s” divinity shines through his perfect humanity in his self-giving on the cross and in the Eucharist.

It is at the Eucharist that compassion is shown to the poor, those rejected by society are gathered in, the repentant sinner is shown mercy. The celebration of Holy Mass is the gathering of all nations on that Holy Mountain, at which the Lord wipes away tears from all faces, who gathers and mends all of broken humanity, and feeds the hungry with the richest of foods.

Let us turn resolutely to the Lord who goes to the cross for us, who embraces suffering and death for us, who feeds us with his body and blood, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - -
 
For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of all the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief, especially the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas and their families.

For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of October: That all workers may receive respect and protection of their rights, and that the unemployed may receive the opportunity to contribute to the common good.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain.

Monday - 14th Week of OT 2017 - Seeking out the Divine Physician

We often think of healing, healing from some physical trauma or emotional trauma, as a passive endeavor. We even have a saying that “time heals all wounds”. But the characters in the Gospel show us the importance of taking an active role in our own healing.

The royal official seeks Jesus out. The woman with the hemorrhages, as well. Jesus is passing through Capernaum and these people make extra effort to seek out the divine physician. The official comes and kneels down before the Lord, places his trust in his ability to bring life to his daughter. The woman with the hemorrhages reaches out, she pushes her way through a crowd just to be able to touch the tassel of his cloak.

Kneeling down, petitioning, trusting, grasping at the Lord, these postures the Christian faithful are to take throughout the spiritual life. When we are physically injured, suffering from illness, or even afflicted with deep emotional wounds, we are to actively seek the healing that comes from the Lord.
This doesn’t mean that we forego going to the doctor’s office, the hospital, to therapy, or support groups. God certainly works through our earthly physicians. But through our medical care or mental health care, we are to be reaching out for the healing that can only come from God.

There is of course a spiritual analogue to this. Man, wounded by sin is to actively seek out the Lord’s mercy. The soul without faith is to seek out the Lord in baptism. The Christian soul falling to sin after baptism must seek out the Lord’s mercy in the Sacrament of Confession.

We seek the Lord’s healing for ourselves, but also, like the royal official pleading for life on behalf of his daughter, we must plead for those who have become deadened to the life of faith. We “plead the blood” as the old preachers say—the blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, which has become the fountain of all mercy.

Yes, the Lord is the source of all healing, but we must actively seek Him out. For the healing of all the wounds of sin and division, we turn all the more to the Lord, for ourselves and for those incapable or unwilling, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -
 
For a healing of all the wounds of division afflicting the Church, for an end to heresy and schism, for turning away from all doctrinal error and hardness of heart, we pray to the Lord.

For spiritual healing and mercy upon all those who have fallen away from the Church, those who have fallen to mortal sin, for those who blaspheme, for the conversion of atheists and non-believers, we pray to the Lord.

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, we pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for deceased priests and religious, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, we pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers. May the grace of Christ Your Son, the Divine Physician, bring healing of our sinfulness, and make us worthy of the kingdom of heaven, through the same Christ our Lord.