“Sing
praises to the Lord who heals the broken-hearted!”
The Book of Job is
very precious and useful to us because it relates the trials of a man who lost
everything except his own life and the life of his wife. He complained openly
about all his pain and suffering, but he got no sympathy from his friends; who
tried to convince them that he must have done something wrong in order to
deserve all his bad luck and tribulations. Even his wife told him to give up on
his faith, to give up on God, because it wasn’t doing him any good.
Have you ever been
so down and out that you felt you could not pray? The first time I had a kidney
stone, I was terrified by the pain that kept intensifying more and more, with
no end in sight. I was in hospital for 11 days, and during that time, I found
it difficult to pray; even as a priest. Thankfully, even our moaning and
groaning are a prayer which rises up to God, and in his love, our Father
understands our heart, mind, and spirit, and he answers us in his own way.
“The
Lord is near to all who call on him!”
“Sing
praises to the Lord who heals the broken-hearted!”
Last Sunday and
today, Saint Mark the Evangelist shows us Jesus casting out demons, and He
sternly orders the demons not to make him known. This is called the “messianic
secret”, the way in which Jesus tried to keep secret his true identity as the
Son of God. Jesus knew that the religious leaders would never be able to accept
him as the Son of God, and that sooner or later they would set out to kill him.
Jesus knew He was just starting his mission, and He did not want it to be cut
short before the time appointed by his Father. This is also why He wanted to
move around and go from village to village; in order to spread as widely the
good news as possible before his time ran out.
Jesus lived in
close communion with his Father in Heaven. We see in the Gospels that Jesus
didn’t try to make plans and strategies for his mission; instead, He was
attentive to his Father and focused all his energies on doing the Father’s
will. We see this attitude of Jesus reflected in Saint Paul, who gave God
permission to use every aspect of his life and labours for the Gospel; so that
as many people as possible might come to know Jesus and his good news.
“Sing
praises to the Lord who heals the broken-hearted!”
The Lord is
inviting us to consider this today, and perhaps wonder within ourselves how
much room we are making in our lives, in our plans, in our mind, heart, and
soul for the will of God, the will of the Father for us. Am I willing to put
all my trust in God, or do I prefer to make my own plans and strategies? God
want us to make plans, yes, but at the same time, he wants us to make room in
our planning for the will of the Father. We discover the will of the Father for
us in the life of Jesus; by allowing every aspect of Jesus’ life and mission to
shed light on the details of our own lives. Jesus’ mission from his Father is
our mission too.
“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”
Brothers and sisters,
every priest in the world – from the Pope to the newly-ordained young priest –
we all want the same thing, Jesus has put into a priest’s heart the same fire
of the Holy Spirit, and the same desire. We desire you to have the same
relationship with God that Jesus had as a human being; as the son of Mary and
the adopted son of Joseph.
“Sing praises to the Lord who heals the
broken-hearted!”
The simplest human being,
even one with no education, who can’t read or write, everyone can be a saint.
All it takes is a willingness to receive the gifts that God is offering. All we
need to do is to trust in God, and to open our mind to his Word; open our heart
to his love; open our soul, our spirit, to the indwelling Presence of the Most
Holy Trinity. John in his Gospel, 14:23, reports Jesus saying: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them,
and we will come to them and make our home with them.” There is no magic formula for
praying… all we have to do is to pray… just to do it. God is always present to
us, and He is always waiting for us to respond, to be there with Him, to be
open and trusting, to pray.
“The
Lord is near to all who call on him!”
Jesus is still
casting out demons and He is still healing people today. The press and the
media are not interested in God; they prefer to think that God doesn’t exist,
because they don’t want to be told what to do. We occasionally find out about
the wonders that God is still doing when we learn about the lives of the
saints, like Saint Brother André. You may have witnessed God’s miracles
yourself, or know someone who has experienced them. All too often, when we are
witnesses to one of God’s miracles, we are inclined to think: “Did I really see
that? It must be just a coincidence.” We need to practice giving God credit for
the wonders He does in our lives and in the world around us. Glory be to You, O
Most Holy Trinity!”
“Sing
praises to the Lord who heals the broken-hearted!”
“Mary
Mother of God, St. Joseph, help us walk in
the steps of Jesus. O my
Jesus, I trust in You! Thank You; You who are God, the
Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
In silence now, the Holy
Spirit helps us to unite our offering of ourselves to that of Jesus….
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