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My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, may the blessings of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ abound for each one of us, may his peace be upon us. Our text today, Luke 4:38-44, presents Jesus to us as a doctor, not in the ordinary but in an extraordinary way. In fact, a large crowd flocked to him to obtain the healing of themselves and their sick people. This population, plagued by various infirmities, knew that Jesus had the ability to solve any problem, to heal any kind of disease. They came to Jesus with a sense of expectation. They had the firm conviction that they would not return as they had come, that they would return cured. We are going to focus our meditation on the conviction, the deep faith of these people who came to Jesus.
Each of us has our own infirmities, our own sicknesses that manifest themselves in two dimensions. First of all, there is the physical disease that attacks our body, i.e. the feet, hands, head, etc. But there is also spiritual sickness which is linked to the soul and manifests itself in sin. Both types of illness can cripple us, take away our joy of life, peace of mind, and cause us all kinds of torment and suffering. All our infirmities, however, find their solution in the Lord Jesus. For this we need only one thing: faith and an active faith!
Jesus can and wants to help us, relieve us, heal us of our various illnesses. But he cannot act without our consent, without our total trust in him. He will not force his healing touch on us. He will not act unless we ask him. We must be assured that Jesus is there for us and wants only our good. So let us not be afraid to tell him what evil we are suffering from, to explain to him this situation that robs us of our joy and peace, to run to him to ask for his help, because without him we can do nothing.
Knowing that we are often unable to give our hand to Him by ourselves, the Lord holds out His loving, caring, and healing hand to us and longs for us to take it, saying, "Yes, Lord, I want You to heal me, to deliver me," so that He can pour out His blessings abundantly upon us to restore our health of body and soul, that we regain the peace and stability we have lost. He is the doctor par excellence, he is the charitable doctor. He is omnipotent.
My dear fellow pilgrims on our earthly journey, do we have a specific condition that torments us? Are we going through a situation that we consider hopeless? So let us no longer doubt Him, let us trust Him and lay everything at His feet because He is able to help us even beyond our expectations. Come, let us no longer hesitate, we shall not lose by trying or trying again; let us tell Him, let us say to Him again. He will certainly act, he always acts.
Let us pray
Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation, to remind us that You are and have always been there for us, to heal us of our various ills. Thank you for your real and active presence in our lives. Lord, grant us the grace not to be discouraged and to doubt your ability to deliver us from our infirmities, give us the courage to tell you what evil we suffer from. Help us to always have firm confidence in you, you who are the same yesterday, today and forever and ever. Amen.
Intercession
Almighty God, we present to you all the sick people of the whole world, so that by your power you may heal them and deliver them from their torments. Lord, restore stability to all sick couples who are in the process of separating. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.
Spiritual exercise
Today, in a moment of intimacy with God, let us tell Jesus the main evil we are suffering from, it may be related to ourselves, our work, our studies, or something else, and let us tell Him exactly the feeling of our heart due to this situation. Let us trust Him and wait patiently for the solution because He always does something.
The Most Rev Dr James R. Wong Yin Song
Diocesan Bishop of Seychelles and
Primate of the Anglican Church of the Indian Ocean
