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It’s Day 206!!
“HEAL THE SICK…”
Paragraph 1506 says, “Christ invites his disciples to follow him by taking up their cross in their turn.”
Jesus gives out in the Holy Spirit a special CHARISM OF HEALING
The healing, the miracles, the mighty works would often accompany the proclamation of the Gospel
If Jesus Himself comes along and says that He is God, people would want Him to prove it
So the healings are not only a sign of God’s love and care for the poor and the sick
They are also signs that GOD IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS
He sends out His APostles and tells them to heal as well, not only as a sign of His love and a sign of His care for all the people
BUT…
A sign that THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL IS TRUE
A SACRAMENT OF THE SICK
How does the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick get prayed out?
Let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we love you, and we know without a doubt that you love us. We know that whether you heal us or whether you are just present to us in the midst of our pain, in the midst of our suffering, we know that you love us. Lord God, for all the moments when it’s difficult to acknowledge this, difficult to accept your love as it is, difficult to accept your will, O God, as often as it is hard to not be healed, we ask that you please come and meet us with your strength, and meet us with your grace. Help our hearts not to become hardened to you, but help our hearts to continue to melt in your presence. Help us always to trust you, and help us to never stay far from you, especially when we need you the most. In our woundedness, in our wickedness, in our suffering, and in our sickness be with us today and every day. Help us choose you this day and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
So there we have it!!
Paragraph 1506 says, “Christ invites his disciples to follow him by taking up their cross in their turn.”
Jesus has recast the vision for the role of illness, the role of sickness
Let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s story…
God uses illness to correct us and give us wisdom and to grow in maturity
God allows us to get what we choose in this life
God allows us to experience the consequences of sin, like suffering, so that we can wake up and change our lives
God wants us to mature
God wants us to grow in this understanding
God wants us to grow in patience
God wants us to grow in His grace
God wants to soften our hearts
God wants to make us more compassionate, more patient with others
Jesus gives us the final thing and that is SUFFERING IS REDEMPTIVE
SUFFERING IS REDEMPTIVE!!
Sometimes God does not take away the pain
Paragraph 1508 says, “Thus St. Paul must learn from the Lord that ‘my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,’ and that the sufferings to be endured can mean that ‘in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s affliction for the sake of his Body, the Church.’”
St. Paul begged the Lord, “Three times I came before the Lord, and I begged him to take this thorn in my side away from me.”
We don’t know that that thorn in his side was
But he begged the Lord to take it
He did not get the healing he wanted
He got the response from the Lord
“MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU. FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.”
St. John Paul II wrote Salvifici Doloris, which is on human suffering
What is lacking in Christ’s affliction?
What is lacking in the sufferings of Jesus?
NOTHING!!
St. John Paul II said (from Fr. Mike paraphrasing), “But so that you and I might participate in the mystery of Christ’s redemptive work of this world. He extends to us a sliver of his Cross so that you and I can be co-workers. We can participate with Jesus in the Salvation and redemption of the world.”
In my flesh…
In YOUR flesh…
In OUR sufferings…
We complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ
What is lacking?
NOTHING
BUT…
Because Jesus Christ wants us to not only participate and share in His glory…
Jesus also wants us to SHARE IN HIS AFFLICTION
Jesus doesn’t just want us to share in His Resurrection…
Jesus wants us to SHARE IN HIS CRUCIFIXION
Why?
Because He knows that not only…
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
Why is the big question and the answer is a mystery
There are many things that happen to us as we carry that cross
Maybe the most important is that WE BECOME MORE LIKE HIM WHO DID NOT AVOID HIS CROSS
Jesus did not run away from His Cross
BUT…
Jesus embraced His Cross OUT OF LOVE FOR HIS FATHER AND LOVE FOR US
So when we embrace OUR CROSS with the heart of Jesus, we embrace it OUT OF LOVE FOR THE FATHER AND OUT OF LOVE FOR OUR FELLOW MAN
WE BECOME MORE LIKE HIM!!
THAT IS THE ENTIRE POINT!!
God has extended His grace to heal to the Apostles, to the disciples, to Christians now
There are some people who have a charism of healing today
God still heals today
BUT…
Not everyone gets healed
Everyone does have an opportunity to UNITE THEIR SUFFERINGS TO JESUS
Why does God allow this to happen?
SUFFERING IS REDEMPTIVE!!
Correction
Maturity
Softening of our hearts
C.S. Lewis wrote “The Problem of Pain”
He wrote about the mystery of evil in the world from three different perspectives
One is intellectually
One is imaginatively
And the third is emotionally
“The Problem of Pain” is the intellectual approach
“Till We Have Faces” is the imaginative approach
“A Grief Observed” is the emotional approach after his wife Joy had died
Ok back to “The Problem of Pain”...
Lewis says, “We can ignore even pleasure, but pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our paints. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. No doubt pain is God’s megaphone is a terrible instrument. It may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man may have for amendment. It removes the veil. It plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul.”
Pain reminds us that we are limited and finite and that this life will not go on forever
Sometimes, that is God’s megaphone to rouse a drowsy and deaf world
The Church does come and meet the sick
We want the sick to know that they are not abandoned
Paragraph 1510 says, “However, the Church has its own rite for the sick, attested to by St. James: ‘Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders [presbyters] of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.’ Tradition has recognized in this rite one of the seven sacraments.”
IT IS A TRUE AND PROPER SACRAMENTS!!
Jesus would reach out and TOUCH the sick
He would come into contact with the sick
This is one of the ways Jesus extends His healing ministry
Jesus reaches out THROUGH THE BODY OF CHRIST and touches the sick through the Anointing of the Sick
EXTREME UNCTION
What happens?
Paragraph 1513 says, “The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are seriously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with duly blessed oil-pressed from olives or from other plants-saying, only once: ‘Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.’”
THIS IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE GRACE!!
If you have received Anointing of the Sick, it is a gift to you
If you have been there when your loved one has received the Anointing of the Sick, it is so consoling and such a blessing, particularly at the hour of death
Those men who will leave their warm beds in the middle of the night and go through the night to be at the bedside of any sick person…
With no regard for self, they show up
VERY HUMBLING
IT IS AMAZING!!
Let’s pray for those priests who get called on, day or night
Let’s pray for those who are sick, especially those who suffer alone
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
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