Regarding the Need for Healing

At the beginning of Lent, I attended our parish mission. A parish mission can be thought of as a time for the parish to rekindle zeal and grow in faith, especially during special liturgical seasons (like Lent!). We usually bring in Franciscan Friars of the Renewal to lead our parish mission, which for us occurs over the course of three consecutive evenings (not every parish mission is done the same). This year we had Fr. Juan Diego--Canadian by birth, beard by choice. And then there was Fr. John Anthony, who is still a toddler priest since he was ordained sometime after Rio last summer (because I met him in Rio since he was with that other Texas group we happened to share the hostel with, and he was only a deacon then).

They covered three different topics each of the night. The first one was on the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The second night was on Confession. The third night was on healing.

Of all the three days, the third one stood out to me the most. 

Fr. Juan Diego gave the talk, and he began by reading from the Gospel about the hemorrhaging woman. She suffered some sort of blood flow illness for twelve years, but had heard that Jesus was nearby. Knowing that He could heal and perform miracles, she made the effort, in faith, to get near Him. While He was teaching, she touched His garment or a part of His garment, and upon doing so, His power flowed and healed the woman. Jesus, noticing that power had gone forth from Him, asks the crowd, "Who touched me?" and the woman tells Him the truth. He says to her, "Daughter, your faith has made  you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

After reading this account from the Gospel, Fr. Juan Diego carried on with his talk. He recounted various stories in his life as a friar where people recognized their need for healing. One particular experience he had was rather gut wrenching. When he was newly ordained as a priest, he was assigned to go to Central America. Upon arrival, he got to know a beautiful family with many kids. One tragic day, one of the youngest, Francisco, was run over by a bus. The family was utterly devastated, and Fr. Juan Diego was called upon by the family to pray, to counsel, and to help with the burial process. Not only that, but he had to deal with the families on both sides of the tragic accident including the bus driver and his family. In telling us this, Fr. Juan Diego made the point that God allows bad things to happen so that a greater good can come out of it. Inevitably, the question, "Why, God, why?!" comes up. While I won't discuss the problem of evil, the point is that even though bad things happen, it ultimately points back towards God. We can respond in despair or seek healing. The reality is that we're going to suffer at some point. The question is...how do I deal with it? Do I let God help me through it? Or do I cast Him aside?

I wish I can convey the cohesiveness and fullness of Fr. Juan Diego's explanation of these stories that he told to illustrate the need for healing, but it's one of those, "you had to be there!" sort of things.

The last part was the procession. Before explaining that, I've mentioned in other blog posts how Catholics believe that the Eucharist, under the appearance bread, is really, truly Jesus Christ present: body, blood, soul, and divinity. Each of the nights, during the friars' talks, we had Jesus exposed in the monstrance (the gold thing, Spanish "mostrar" means "to show"...see the etymology, kind of?). This last night of the mission, we had a special kind of Eucharistic procession that really brings to life the account in the Gospel with the hemorrhaging woman. We become the woman in all our brokeness, our sickness, and our need for healing. In this kind of procession, the priest walks from person to person while holding the monstrance containing Eucharist. He is cloaked in a humeral veil to cover his hands, and this physically signifies (which points to the spiritual reality) that it isn't the priest who is walking around from person to person, but rather Jesus Himself. As He goes from person to person, we have the opportunity to "touch His cloak" like the bleeding woman in the Gospel.

I was one in of the first few groups of people-in-the-pews to approach the altar rail of our sanctuary where Fr. Juan Diego was processing with Jesus. But of course I was moved because I really prayed about something where I needed healing (future blog post(s), maybe). When I returned to my pew, I reflected on how much I need the healing love of Christ, and in a very tangible way, I experienced this opportunity to allow Him to heal me.

Apart from the very real, truly personal effect of this Eucharistic procession for me, I was probably more intrigued at seeing everyone else have this opportunity to touch His cloak. Like I said, I was one of the first few groups of people to do so, therefore I got to glance up every now and then and see others experience Jesus as healer. I could tell by the look on many of their faces that they really needed this. Some were in tears...many had solemn faces (not in a sad, depressing way)...and some had a look of joy! Now, I don't know each person's story, but over and over again, seeing everyone's response after they touched His cloak really drove home that we all have this very real need for healing for our sufferings.

Obviously, when I've got bronchitis or some other sickness, I'll go to the doctor (maybe that happened once...or thrice...). When I have chipped my tooth, busted up my face, and potentially suffered a concussion, I'll go to the ER and dentist (maybe that happened once...). When I'm suffering in these physical ways, I obviously don't want to let it keep bothering me or causing me to suffer. I will go seek help to get healed. I mean, that's not an unreasonable response, right? Not only that, but I obviously wouldn't go to my podiatrist to give me a root canal. My doctor probably wouldn't be able to give me a prescription for my contacts. In other words, when I'm dealing with certain ailments and problems, I'll go to the correct person to help heal that problem.

So what about when I'm sick on the inside? This totally happens from time to time where I suffer in a way that isn't physical yet my mind is clear but heart is troubled. Who can help heal me when the problem isn't necessarily something tangible that a normal doctor can heal? How can I have a restored sense that I'm genuinely loved? How do I break away from despair, from sadness, from hopelessness? How can I endure all my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual sufferings? To whom shall I go?

The hemorrhaging woman knew.
- JD

Picture of bleeding woman from Wikipedia
Picture of Pope Francis with monstrance from Catholic Sun

"Ecce homo!"

Depiction of "Ecce homo!" by Antonio Ciseri

This past Sunday, I wrote about how during Palm Sunday Mass, we read through Jesus' final hours from his arrest to his death and burial for our Gospel reading.

Easter is tomorrow! And that marks a joyous occasion for every Christian life because we celebrate an empty tomb because He is not there!  He is risen! Jesus wasn't joking!  Last year I wrote about how I noticed (seeming coincidentally) how nature itself was signifying Lent and preparing for the Resurrection.  But this year...I wanted to focus on something else--perhaps the true reason for the season.

As a Christian, it's always tempting to focus on the "feel good" parts of the faith.  Or on the "feel good" parts of Scripture. And Jesus' Resurrection is definitely one of those "feel good" moments because yes, He conquered death! Yes, He opened up Heaven! Yes, this is the source of our future resurrection in Him! Yes the Resurrection is what saves us! And all that jazz.

But sometimes it's too easy to get caught up in all that, as if it was the only thing that mattered or the only thing that I should focus on as a Christian.  But, in learning more about my faith and gaining a deeper understanding of it, I've come to know and appreciate that the Resurrection means absolutely nothing unless Jesus died.  In other words, there would be no point to the Resurrection unless Jesus first had to die.

And not just any kind of death.

No, no.

Death! On a cross.  But even the death on a cross is just a portion of all that He had to endure.

Palm Sunday

I was at a retreat this past weekend (future blog post), and the priest leading the retreat mentioned how one of his old students texted the link to the YouTube video below.

First, some background.  For most Christians, the Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday.  On this day, we commemorate Jesus' triumphant arrival entering into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19: 28-40, John 12:12-19).  This was a big deal because the people of Jerusalem had heard about the works of mercy and miracles Jesus performed in neighboring cities.  And they welcomed him by laying palm branches and their cloaks on the ground as he rode in on his donkey with his disciples following him.

For Catholics, Mass always begins with a procession.  And for Palm Sunday, usually the priest invites the congregation to meet outside of the church for a blessing of the palm branches.  Then he reads a Gospel account of Jesus entering into Jerusalem.  After this, the priest and his helpers (deacons, acolytes, altar servers) process in with the congregation carrying palm branches to signify this triumphant arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem.

And every Catholic Mass has a reading of the Gospel, and every Palm Sunday, an account of the Passion is read from Jesus' betrayal to his burial in the tomb because it prepares us for Holy Week and to reflect on the Passion before we celebrate His Resurrection on Easter Sunday.  I'm not sure how other parts of the Catholic world read it, but at least here in the United States, the Passion is read in parts.  Usually the priest reads what Jesus said, another speaker reads stuff like what Pilate, Herod, and other individuals said.  Another person narrates.  But the whole congregation participates too at certain points.

For example, you can read Luke 22: 14-23 and kind of see how you could split the dialogues into different parts.  Now, this is not a performance even though everyone has a speaking part.  It is an active participation of the Gospel, moreso than usual, for everyone.  Yes, in words, but with the intent of really placing ourselves in that setting of Jerusalem 2000 years ago.  Or at least, everyone needs to be fully engaged and actively participate.  But why? Why do it this way?  Do we get anything out of it by doing it this way?

With all that in mind, that provides the context for this video and perhaps it illustrates the answer to why it is done this way:

Crucify him! Crucify him!
- JD

:-/

Nature and Lent

Well, today is Good Friday and the season of Lent is over. Now we're in the holy season of Triduum which started last night at the beginning of Holy Thursday Mass.

For me, Lent went by pretty quickly. Way more quickly than what last year felt like. I guess I've been really busy this past Lent? I know I was preparing for Confirmation retreats for nearly half of Lent and that used a lot of my time and mental/physical/spiritual effort... And then those were over but I was still busy helping out with religious education... Essentially, just busy...

Kind of hard to stop and smell the roses, you know what I mean?

But let me tell you, once I finally just let myself slow down and take in the wonders of life around me...I made an interesting observation.

One day, a few weeks ago, I was driving home from work. I took a different way home (a path that involves stopping by a Chick-Fil-A, haha) and I couldn't help but notice some of the trees in bloom growing outside of some of the subdivisions. Most bloomed white, but the most striking ones bloomed majestic purple.

I thought to myself, "Huh, that's pretty cool. The trees are blooming purple! Even the trees know it's Lent!" Then I laughed awkwardly to myself because I'm the only one in my car... Of course, because my life is Catholic, I had to post about the trees blooming purple to my favorite Catholic Like page (see top right corner link) as soon as I got home. Had to share it. Not gonna lie.

Anyway, since then, we've had a few severe thunderstorms roll through here in north Texas. The first one involved a ridiculous amount of rain for like a straight day. The most recent one, earlier this week, involved some rain and tornadoes! :-O

In either case, the aftermath of both storms resulted in nature going crazy. (now I'm exaggerating) ... Grass grew like two feet high! Weeds everywhere! Bugs everywhere! Flowers in bloom, moreso! The smell in the air was fresher than some TV princes I know!

Awesome. Even Nature knows it is Lent with the Easter season fastly approaching.

You see, I think in a way, through Nature, God was trying to remind us of the Resurrection. Seeing the purple blossoms in the trees before both storm events reminded me of Lent because the color purple is used during Mass during seasons of preparation (Advent and Lent). The initial purple blossoming of these trees were preparing for the turbulent times we would face in the coming storms.

With that said, I would say that the storms we went through here are kind of like the Passion of Jesus. Violent and destructive, especially with the tornados we saw this past week. And the torrential rains in the first storm offered their own wave of destruction.

But! It is all not wasted! Though Nature brings us these crazy storms, the aftermath results in a renewal of life! Hence the greening plants and their blossoming; the teeming of bug life; the people out and about enjoying the outdoors and weather...and the list goes on.

Yeah, so all of this is kind of like Lent, the Passion, and the Resurrection. Sometimes you just got to take a moment and stop and realize that God speaks to us in different ways to make known and remind us of His existence and what He did for us. He's pretty much preaching the Gospel at all times, if necessary...through Nature. Haha.

Anyway, have a blessed Triduum!

Faith. Hope. Charity. Plants are Catholic too.
- JR