June 27, 2009

Sickness and Healing

Jesus is the healing presence of God arriving among us. As the afflicted woman pushed through the crowd just to touch his clothes, so we strive to enter His presence in prayer. As He entered the home of the little girl and raised her to new life, so He enters the inner room of our hearts in Holy Communion. Follow this link for my homily for this weekend.

3 comments:

pennyante said...

One of the songs we will sing on Sunday has this beautiful line: "...for I have touched the hem of His garment,
and His blood has made me whole."

for narnia said...

excellent homily, Fr. C! i especially love the part of your homily where you speak about the Holy Eucharist being our "healing remedy." from being an altar server, i'm very familiar with that quiet prayer of the priest before receiving Holy Communion,"Lord Jesus Christ, with faith in your love and mercy, I eat your body and drink your blood: may it not bring me condemnation, but health in mind and body." sometimes it's difficult for us to realize that "God does not rejoice in the destruction of the living," as we hear in this weekends reading from the book of Wisdom. i feel that God's mercy and love sends forth graces at moments when we need it most in every circmstance and difficulty we may be going through. a personal example of this is just this past year regarding my physical health - it hasn't been the greatest year, but througout the brief hospital stay and tests that i've gone through, i definitely have seen and felt and have experienced God's affirmation of life. some ways i've experienced this is simply through the caring, loving support of others. if we just look for the love in a certain situation, there is God. in the second reading from 2 Corinthians, i feel that being generous is the message. whether we have money, time, love, talent, etc..., we need to realize these are given to us by God and are meant to be shared. being generous is important, especially in today's world. some might not understand generosity, particularly that of being generous with our time. another personal example is that sometimes my family, in particular, doesn't understand why i spend much of my free time serving several churches in various ways. but, it's something that i do out of love for God and an agape kind of love for those i serve. i feel a very deep sense of PEACE when i give of my time. finally, i'd like to share something that seems to fit with the message and theme of this weekend's readings. i've been a fan of Michael Jackson and his music and was, like many, sad to hear of his passing. many of Michael's songs speak of healing, love and giving. one song, in particular, "We Are The World," is a great and very inspiring song. i recommend going to "youtube" to hear the message, which is basically about us being a part of God's great big family and how, by our choice to make a difference, we're saving our own lives. "Man In The Mirror" is another inspiring song, with the message of taking a look at ourselves and changing our ways. PEACE! ~tara t~

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