Praying for those involved in cinema and theatre
© The Fraternity of St Genesius 2009
Novena 2009
Mass for the Sick
Tuesday 18th August
Judges 6:11-24; Mark 2:1-12
Tuesday 18th August
Judges 6:11-24; Mark 2:1-12
Our Gospel this evening presents us with one of the most beautiful stories from the life of Jesus. As St Mark tells of the healing of the paralytic, he does so with an eye to great drama and characterization. In this miracle story people come alive and even though these people remain anonymous, their deeds and motivations are very clear. We see first the friends of the paralytic; they are concerned, full of faith in Jesus and innovative. They arrive at the house where Jesus is speaking, seeing that the crowds were so large they find it impossible to get their sick friend to Jesus. They go up on the roof, remove the tiles and lower the man down in front of the Lord. This must have been an astonishing sight. The sudden clearing of the roof, the sunlight beaming down into the room, first the shadow, then the stretcher being slowly lowered down right in front of Jesus: it is no wonder that he praises their faith. And that faith is rewarded with the forgiveness of sin.
At this point in the story some may be disappointment – why did Jesus forgive the man’s sins rather than heal him? We may read the story as Jesus’ testing the scribes who are sitting in the house listening and weighing up everything he said. The story turns to the growing conflict between the Lord and scribes and the eventual healing of the paralytic as a sign to them that Jesus, the Son of Man, has the power to forgive sins. As we read Scripture it is all too clear that the miracles of Jesus were worked as signs to the people that the Messiah had come. No doubt there were personal dimensions, and we know on one occasion pity moved Jesus to heal (cf. Mark 1: 40-42), but the miracles were to draw attention to his teaching and to sacrifice and resurrection. But as we reflect in this Gospel, we might ask ourselves, is there another message here?
One of the mysteries of life is why God only heals some people and not others. Whenever someone is being beatified or canonized we hear of the miracles God granted as signs of that person’s holiness and his desire they be raised to the altars, but why just the chosen few? This question is, of course, that ancient one of why there is suffering in the world, why God allows it. Is it that he is uncaring? Why did Jesus not heal everyone when he was on earth? We know that when he came to Nazareth, his home town, he healed very few. Only God knows why one is chosen rather than another and as Job learns in the Book of Job (Job 42:1-6) we must allow God act as he sees fit, knowing he does not look to do us any harm, but in fact he always works for our good: we need faith to help us accept that.
In the story of healing of the paralytic, Jesus is teaching us a valuable, albeit a difficult lesson: the most important healing is that of the soul – of reconciliation with God. Jesus came on earth to redeem us, to restore our relationship with God, not to be a miracle-worker for the sake of it. How many times in the Gospel does Jesus complain about his disciples’ inability to understand him? What did he think of those who came just for the healings? He constantly tried to distract them from the miracles and to look to what he was saying – we see this, for example, in his conversation with the crowds regarding the multiplication of the loaves in John 6: 22 and following verses.
As followers of Jesus, as we come to know him, we must learn to abandon ourselves to his will: to trust in him, and to make his teaching our own, and that includes his approach to illness and suffering. We are a very independent people, a very confident people, and we tend to see suffering in a negative light. We live in an age when suffering is seen as meaningless and inconvenient. In a number of countries in the West, for example, there is growing support for euthanasia. Yet, when we come to know Christ we realize that he came to suffer – it was his mission, and by that suffering he redeemed it – it was his own suffering which enabled to say to the paralytic that his sins would be forgiven. Suffering has saved us. As disciples of Jesus, this should colour our attitude to suffering, not in a distant, intellectual way, but in a personal way: to look at the meaning of suffering in our own lives: in place in the vocation to which God has called us. God does not delight in our suffering, and living in this world we can be guaranteed that it will come to us in one form or another, but God is interested in what we do with it, and when immersed in suffering, to whom we turn. We must also understand that God is not a disinterested observer, when we are immersed in suffering; he wants to bring us deeper into his life so he can assist us.
Jesus loves the sick; as we read the Gospels we see his gentleness and concern for them, so we can be sure that he will not abandon those who suffer – in fact he draws closer to them because they are beginning to share in a more radical way in his own suffering. Someone asked me recently why did it seem that the good suffered more than the bad? That question has been asked many times. With faith in Christ, the answer is clear – he trusts them: he trusts them with a part of his redeeming suffering, and entrusted them with an important mission. We may not know what that is while we are here on earth, but we will in heaven. The good are on the path to holiness, but sanctity is not about being holy in myself: it is about being sanctified for others – for God and our neighbour, and so those on the way to sanctity, are made holy by the offering of themselves for others, and part of this – most often a large part of this, is suffering. We can see this in the lives of all the saints, but most particularly in the lives of those saints who had a vocation to suffering, Blessed Alexandrina Da Costa, for example.
When suffering and illness comes to our door, as followers of Jesus, we greet it as joyfully as any other welcome visitor. The prayer the Lord gave us via St Faustina Kowalska, “Jesus, I trust in You”, is one through which we are asked to let go and offer ourselves to him. There is no doubting that can be hard. This prayer is a wonderful one for times of difficulty, but it is also an act of faith, one for those times when we must embrace the cross. That idea – embracing the cross, may seem strange: that interesting first encounter between Jesus and one of the thieves in The Passion of the Christ when the thief asks Jesus why he kisses the cross sums up human incomprehension at the acceptance of suffering. As Christians, however, we should be convinced of the power of suffering – for it can transform both the one who suffers and ones for whom the suffering is offered.
This teaching is difficult, and we need God’s grace to help us: even the most heroic follower of Jesus will be tempted to lose heart. For this reason, Jesus offers to his disciples, blessings and graces to help them carry their cross with him. These blessings and graces bring healing – sometimes healing of body, but more often healing and consolation of soul. One of these gifts is the Sacrament of the Sick, the anointing of the seriously ill with Holy Oil consecrated by the Church for this purpose. In the Sacrament, Jesus himself comes to the sick to help them, pour the balm of his gentle love over them and give them, through his grace, the strength they need. This evening, the Sacrament will be given to those among us who are seriously ill; as it is given, the rest of us must pray for the sick, as is our duty, like the friends of the paralytic, so the Lord will grant them healing of soul, mind and body. We will also ask St Genesius, our patron in heaven, who himself knows the agony and the power of suffering, to intercede for them.
18th August 2009
Fr John Hogan
Father Director,
The Fraternity of St Genesius
At this point in the story some may be disappointment – why did Jesus forgive the man’s sins rather than heal him? We may read the story as Jesus’ testing the scribes who are sitting in the house listening and weighing up everything he said. The story turns to the growing conflict between the Lord and scribes and the eventual healing of the paralytic as a sign to them that Jesus, the Son of Man, has the power to forgive sins. As we read Scripture it is all too clear that the miracles of Jesus were worked as signs to the people that the Messiah had come. No doubt there were personal dimensions, and we know on one occasion pity moved Jesus to heal (cf. Mark 1: 40-42), but the miracles were to draw attention to his teaching and to sacrifice and resurrection. But as we reflect in this Gospel, we might ask ourselves, is there another message here?
One of the mysteries of life is why God only heals some people and not others. Whenever someone is being beatified or canonized we hear of the miracles God granted as signs of that person’s holiness and his desire they be raised to the altars, but why just the chosen few? This question is, of course, that ancient one of why there is suffering in the world, why God allows it. Is it that he is uncaring? Why did Jesus not heal everyone when he was on earth? We know that when he came to Nazareth, his home town, he healed very few. Only God knows why one is chosen rather than another and as Job learns in the Book of Job (Job 42:1-6) we must allow God act as he sees fit, knowing he does not look to do us any harm, but in fact he always works for our good: we need faith to help us accept that.
In the story of healing of the paralytic, Jesus is teaching us a valuable, albeit a difficult lesson: the most important healing is that of the soul – of reconciliation with God. Jesus came on earth to redeem us, to restore our relationship with God, not to be a miracle-worker for the sake of it. How many times in the Gospel does Jesus complain about his disciples’ inability to understand him? What did he think of those who came just for the healings? He constantly tried to distract them from the miracles and to look to what he was saying – we see this, for example, in his conversation with the crowds regarding the multiplication of the loaves in John 6: 22 and following verses.
As followers of Jesus, as we come to know him, we must learn to abandon ourselves to his will: to trust in him, and to make his teaching our own, and that includes his approach to illness and suffering. We are a very independent people, a very confident people, and we tend to see suffering in a negative light. We live in an age when suffering is seen as meaningless and inconvenient. In a number of countries in the West, for example, there is growing support for euthanasia. Yet, when we come to know Christ we realize that he came to suffer – it was his mission, and by that suffering he redeemed it – it was his own suffering which enabled to say to the paralytic that his sins would be forgiven. Suffering has saved us. As disciples of Jesus, this should colour our attitude to suffering, not in a distant, intellectual way, but in a personal way: to look at the meaning of suffering in our own lives: in place in the vocation to which God has called us. God does not delight in our suffering, and living in this world we can be guaranteed that it will come to us in one form or another, but God is interested in what we do with it, and when immersed in suffering, to whom we turn. We must also understand that God is not a disinterested observer, when we are immersed in suffering; he wants to bring us deeper into his life so he can assist us.
Jesus loves the sick; as we read the Gospels we see his gentleness and concern for them, so we can be sure that he will not abandon those who suffer – in fact he draws closer to them because they are beginning to share in a more radical way in his own suffering. Someone asked me recently why did it seem that the good suffered more than the bad? That question has been asked many times. With faith in Christ, the answer is clear – he trusts them: he trusts them with a part of his redeeming suffering, and entrusted them with an important mission. We may not know what that is while we are here on earth, but we will in heaven. The good are on the path to holiness, but sanctity is not about being holy in myself: it is about being sanctified for others – for God and our neighbour, and so those on the way to sanctity, are made holy by the offering of themselves for others, and part of this – most often a large part of this, is suffering. We can see this in the lives of all the saints, but most particularly in the lives of those saints who had a vocation to suffering, Blessed Alexandrina Da Costa, for example.
When suffering and illness comes to our door, as followers of Jesus, we greet it as joyfully as any other welcome visitor. The prayer the Lord gave us via St Faustina Kowalska, “Jesus, I trust in You”, is one through which we are asked to let go and offer ourselves to him. There is no doubting that can be hard. This prayer is a wonderful one for times of difficulty, but it is also an act of faith, one for those times when we must embrace the cross. That idea – embracing the cross, may seem strange: that interesting first encounter between Jesus and one of the thieves in The Passion of the Christ when the thief asks Jesus why he kisses the cross sums up human incomprehension at the acceptance of suffering. As Christians, however, we should be convinced of the power of suffering – for it can transform both the one who suffers and ones for whom the suffering is offered.
This teaching is difficult, and we need God’s grace to help us: even the most heroic follower of Jesus will be tempted to lose heart. For this reason, Jesus offers to his disciples, blessings and graces to help them carry their cross with him. These blessings and graces bring healing – sometimes healing of body, but more often healing and consolation of soul. One of these gifts is the Sacrament of the Sick, the anointing of the seriously ill with Holy Oil consecrated by the Church for this purpose. In the Sacrament, Jesus himself comes to the sick to help them, pour the balm of his gentle love over them and give them, through his grace, the strength they need. This evening, the Sacrament will be given to those among us who are seriously ill; as it is given, the rest of us must pray for the sick, as is our duty, like the friends of the paralytic, so the Lord will grant them healing of soul, mind and body. We will also ask St Genesius, our patron in heaven, who himself knows the agony and the power of suffering, to intercede for them.
18th August 2009
Fr John Hogan
Father Director,
The Fraternity of St Genesius