Last Saturday I accompanied a guest for a pilgrimage in Talisay, Carcar and Sibonga. In Lawaan, Talisay we visited a relatively new shrine of St John Bosco the Dreamer where we prayed before the statue of Don Bosco, father and teacher of the young. We also visited the beautiful chapel of Saint Francis de Sales where the Paete-carved statues of Mary Help of Christians and of St Francis, Patron of the Salesians, are enshrined. In Carcar, we visited Domus Teofilo and prayed before the tomb of the latest Filipino bishop proclaimed by Pope Francis, namely, Venerable Teofilo Camomot. And in Sibonga we offered prayers at the Sanctuary Castle of Mama Mary of Simala.
While in those shrines I was amazed by the sheer number of devotees coming and going. What struck me most, however, was the exhibit of countless thank you letters for answered prayers sent by people, who have visited those sanctuaries. In Simala even the crutches and wheel chairs left behind by the sick and the infirm, who presumably had already been cured, are displayed for people to see the miraculous power of that Marian shrine.
In the gospel passage we just heard today Jesus sends the twelve for an OJT, that is, a kind of on the job training for their future mission.
Jesus at a certain point in his public ministry must have realized the enormous work that needs to be done in order to preach the Good News, to heal the sick and afflicted, and to bring people back to the Father. And even if he was aware of his divine power, he chose to fulfill this mission within the bounds of his limited human nature, so that he could share with his disciples the amazing power flowing from his divine nature.
Therefore he sent the Twelve to the nearby towns and villages with a mission to preach the good news of God’s reign and to do wonders among the people. On their part, the Twelve went following the Lord’s instructions, bringing along with them almost nothing except the bare minimum. They must have realized that only a heart filled with the love of God was all that they needed to fulfill their important mission.
Today, as we offer this Mass for the sick and the infirm, we too are being empowered and sent by the Lord for the same mission. Like the Twelve, may we also learn to travel light, bringing only a heart loaded with the overwhelming love of God that comes from our Eucharistic experience of being with Jesus every day. And we pray that those who meet us may experience the same healing grace through us, perhaps even more powerfully than visiting any shrine or sanctuary. GiGsss!
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