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| photo from google with credit to celebrationspublication.com |
Read: Mark 1:40-45.
The story of Jesus’ healing of the leper reveals
us three “conditions” that happened during his miraculous healing.
Approach
“A leper
came to Jesus…”
A lot of people has the wrong notion how be “healed”.
They turn to get a quick-fix albeit temporary solution to their ailments. At
the on-set of an ill-feeling, popping the pill always comes first to our mind.
When family strains happen, the first option for some men is to turn to alcohol
and for teenagers to resort to drugs or bad company. When somebody gets
slighted by a remark or action from the people around them, they hold their
grudge and plot their revenge or intentionally ignore the other person. When
someone they love so dearly is taken away, they revert to isolation and
depression.
On a personal note, I do admit my guilt, that
there were times that when my work or business presents a difficult situation,
I spent more and more time on it, staying up until early morning to resolve the
matter. I would even sleep on it. Sounds OK, isn’t it? But soon I will realize
that I haven’t even lifted up my problem to God to begin with and was just
trying “my best” to turn it around. But once I pause in a quiet prayer to seek
His guidance, I do experience a light-bulb moment. I get a fresh new approach
that works better!
Consequently, when the “first” options we took
start to fail, then we start to look for God’s healing because only then do we realize
that we cannot be healed on our own.
At the first sign or symptom of any physical,
emotional or spiritual ailment, our first choice must be to come to Jesus and
to seek His healing and guidance.
Acknowledge
“kneeling down begged him and said, “If
you wish, you can make me clean”…. “I do
will it. Be made clean.”
If and when we do come to Jesus, the next question
we should ask ourselves is if we do really believe that God can heal us, not
necessarily on our own terms, but on how we will fit into His over-all divine
plan. Let us face it, coming to Jesus isn’t a guarantee that our
life-threatening stage 4 cancer will go into a sudden remission, or that a
broken relationship will abruptly be mended. A few and a handful of documented
unexplained recovery from life-threatening situations do happen like the leper
that was “immediately” cured of his physical abnormality. And like the leper
situation, our faith dictates that their healing happened because it was what
Jesus wanted to happen. Like the leper, we too must truly and heart-fully
acknowledge that God’s plan for our healing will only come in accordance to His
will.
It is His will foremost and not ours.
In the end, if things do not happen as we would
have wanted, may we keep our faith and find comfort that God’s will was
fulfilled despite the absence of healing.
I remember the story of the Eduardo Zabala who
lost 11 members of his family to supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013. The Yolanda tragic figure has transformed himself into one of
his town’s emerging community leaders, organizing fishermen in his village by
helping them heal and recover from the devastating effects of the massive storm
that destroyed most of their fishing boats (source: PDI March 30,2014).
He accepted God’s “painful” will and gradually turned
his life tragedy into a life-giving blessing thus giving inspiration to his
fellow survivors.
“The man went away and began to
publicize the whole matter. He spread the report
abroad…”
Bingbong Crisologo, who lived an unlawful past,
was healed and has become a Charismatic Catholic preacher. He attributed his spiritual
healing to God’s mercy and love and has never turned his back on Him ever since.
It isn’t any wonder that an effective alcohol-abuse counsellor is one who was
once an alcoholic himself. Isn’t it that one who can serve with deep empathy towards
orphans is one who experienced being without parents as well? A cancer survivor knows what a cancer patient is going
through. A former bankrupt person knows the helplessness of not knowing where
to get their family’s next meal. A widow knows the pain of losing a loved one.
Be God’s witnesses so that others may know
about God. We must realize and respond to His purpose for being healed. Our own
life testimony must attest to His merciful healing. The uniqueness of our
individual situation shows that our personal experience has been blessed but,
at the same time, tasked to testify to others for them to know or re-connect
with God.
When God said in Romans 8:28 that, “We know that all things work for good for those who
love God, who are called
according to his purpose.”, I believe He also meant to imply that our
healing must serve His divine purpose so others may also experience God’s healing
through us.
May we experience God’s
healing this Lenten season.
God bless.
(My reflection is inspired by the Feb. 15 Sunday
homily of the EDSA Shrine priest whose name escaped me as of writing)
