Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on the 13th Sunday in OT, 30 June 2024, SJBP Cotcot, Liloan

Several months ago I went to anoint a patient fighting for his life inside the ICU of a hospital in the city. At first I hesitated to respond to the sick call because I was already dead tired after concluding a three-day seminar we organized in Don Bosco. But since I couldn’t find any other priest available at that time to take my place, I decided to pull myself up from a short powernap, and then went straight to the ICU. Seeing how critical the patient was I heard his confession and anointed him with the holy oil, hoping that these would make him feel better. I myself felt good when, before I left the room, the penitent-patient on the bed spoke a few words to me. With a faint voice he expressed his sincere gratitude to me for having administered to him the sacraments of healing. And because of that, he felt hopeful and at peace.

Amazingly, God granted that person his healing grace. He soon recovered and was able to come back home to his family. In fact last Friday four months after he got discharged from the hospital, he and his wife together with their children and grand children were able to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. That is amazing, isn’t it? God is truly a God of infinite love, mercy and compassion.

Today, in this Eucharist celebration, we encounter Jesus as the great healer. But sad to say, many of us Catholics still do not really believe in him who has the power to heal all illnesses and infirmities. Some even blame God for the misfortune that has happened to them. They wouldn’t want to see a priest coming to visit them. And when the doctors would have finally given up on their case, they would prefer to go to one of those “albularyos” or “magtatawas” in the hope that they could still get well. And they justify their action saying “Wala namang mawawala kung magpapagamot tayo sa kanila.”

Well, I beg to disagree! It is not true that you won’t lose anything if you engage in superstitious practices. The fact that you have gone to a “fake healer” means you have already lost your faith in Jesus. The more you believe in superstition, the less you believe in Jesus’ redemption.

In the gospel passage we have just heard, we see Jesus performing a back-to-back miraculous healing of a woman and a girl, both of whom were seriously sick and fighting for their life. In the first case, the woman had already been suffering for twelve years, and none of the doctors she consulted were able to do anything good for her at all. What made it worse was the loss of love she suffered from her family and community caused by the loss of blood that had rendered her ritually impure. And so we can just imagine how much physical and emotional pain she had to bear for twelve years from both her uncontrollable loss of blood and her unbearable loss of love.

But all of these were instantly healed when the unnamed woman finally approached Jesus and touched the edge of his clothing. She didn’t even dare to stop Jesus and beg from him a favor just like the synagogue official who came before her. But all the same, by simply touching the Lord, she received God’s healing grace. And the Lord confirmed her miraculous healing, by saying to her “Daughter, it was your faith that has saved you. Go in peace…”

Brothers and sisters if only those among us who are sick have the same faith of that woman in the gospel as to be able to say “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured” I’m sure many, if not all, will quickly recover from their various illness.

Now, in the second case, it was not the girl who approached Jesus, for obviously she was already dying. It was rather her father, a synagogue official, who earnestly pleaded with Jesus. His words are very striking. “My daughter is at the point of death.” By saying this, he clearly presented to Jesus the extreme condition of his daughter. Then, he followed it up with a humble request, “Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” I guess the word “Please” should be underlined here. It actually means, “If it pleases you.” That means the person requesting is not demanding anything with a sense of entitlement.

The man even if he was a synagogue leader was humble and respectful enough to say “Please.” Deep in his heart he believed Jesus had all the power to heal his daughter. But he softened his faith-filled request by saying the important password “Please.” And not even the shockingly reported death of her daughter could diminish his faith and his humility. And so when Jesus arrived at his house, he granted him his humble and faith-filled petition. He raised his daughter back to life.

There are times when God grants instantaneous healing. There are, however, other instances when God grants it slowly but steadily, that is, after a month, or after some years. Still there are other occasions when God seems to withhold the grace of healing from the patient for the purpose of granting him, or her, an even greater blessing. Nevertheless what we know for certain is that God does not want us to suffer and die. This was clearly proclaimed in the first reading we have heard from the Book of Wisdom: “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.” In other words, death is not from God. It actually comes from the devil as the same book would indicate “…by the envy of the devil, death entered the world.”

And so when at times the healing and recovery we are asking for with great faith doesn’t seem to be granted to the sick, it might probably be a blessing in disguise. It is because, like Christ who suffered and died on the cross in order to overcome sin and death, the patient is indeed being called by God to follow Jesus more closely, particularly in carrying the cross of suffering, and to be in union with him in his Son’s mission of salvation and sanctification for all of humanity.

Allow me to end with another sharing. Several years ago I visited another person in the hospital. The elderly woman was in a serious condition and could not even talk. But she managed to communicate either by making signs with her hands or by writing on a piece of paper. And so as soon as she recognized us, her visitors, that day, she immediately made signs to her daughter telling her to prepare some snacks for us, unmindful of her own pains. Amazing isn’t it? But what amazed me most is what she wrote on one of the bond papers left lying on the table beside her bed. Her daughter showed it to us and it said, “Happy suffering.”

May the Holy Eucharist we celebrate today unite all of us around Christ the almighty Healer of both the body and the soul. Remember this: whenever we pray, God never leaves our petitions unanswered. GiGsss!

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