Homily For The 13th Sunday in The Ordinary Time, Year B, June 30th, 2024
“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever, and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” – St. Augustine
Sunday Readings
My Dearest Friends,
I warmly welcome you to the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today’s readings speak of the gift of life, both physical and spiritual, that God has given us. They urge and challenge us to be grateful for our body and soul health and use God’s gifts of life and health responsible
Have Faith In God who Heals
The growing sophistication of medical equipment and the expertise of medical personnel is never a reason for us to give up faith in God who cares for and heals His children. The first reading from the Book of Wisdom makes it clear that God made all things so that they may have life and all creatures are created to be wholesome. It is only a person who has never been sick who wouldn’t know the value of good health. We receive this gift of life and good health as treasures in earthenware jars so that we don’t pride ourselves or boast about it. When we become sick and experience life’s fragility, we appreciate more the gift of health we received. What is the value of life and good health when it does not glorify God and is not productive for others? Today many are sick, lying in hospital beds. We who are healthy are in no way better than them; it is just the Grace of God that keeps us in good health. Those who are sick are not unfortunate because in their condition the healing power of God is made manifest. We can only tap into this healing power of God through the power of faith.
Don’t Give Us Praying For Healing Faith Triumphs When Doctors Fail
The story of the woman in the Gospel who had suffered twelve years of hemorrhages (i.e. unstoppable flow of menstrual blood) reminds me of the agony of many women in the world who battle daily with vesicovaginal fistula (VVF). VVF is an abnormal medical condition that allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine. Their daily plight of wearing adult diapers adds more to their pain. There are also so many others suffering from incurable diseases. It is very easy to slip into despair and give up faith in God when one finds oneself in a situation where medical expertise seems to offer no solution. The sickness of the woman in the gospel left her in penury having spent all her life savings to get a cure. Despite all her efforts to find a cure, her situation continued to worsen. She had lost everything and had suffered terribly at the hands of many doctors. She had only one option left which was her undying faith in God who heals. She was convinced that God would heal her and made a decision to move towards Jesus to touch Him. Her touch was not just an experimental touch or a trying of her luck, but a touch borne out of a trusting faith. An absolute faith in God who heals was her last option and that was the miracle of her healing.
Dear child of God, never underestimate the healing power of God when the situation seems to be beyond human intervention. The physician does not have the final say about your life and health condition, God does. St Paul encourages us when he says, ” For this reason, we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.” ( cf. 1Cor 4:16) Accept that abnormal health condition as your cross. Bear it with faith and hope in God. Your miracle will come.
God Desires To Heal You As You Approach Him with Faith
God gives us life and His desire is for us to live and not to die. Death came into the world as the work of the devil. God desires good health for us and heals us when we are sick, and He can also raise the dead, as we saw in the Gospel how the faith of Jarius brought his daughter back to life. These two miracles of healing in the Gospel today, reveal Jesus as a generous, kind, and compassionate God who wills that men should live their lives fully and in wholesomeness. Today’s readings also give us further proof of the Divine Power and the Infinite Mercy of our Saviour. These miracles were worked by Jesus as a reward for the trusting faith of a synagogue ruler and a woman with a hemorrhage. Perhaps the faith of the ruler may have been slightly defective, and the woman’s faith may have been a bit superstitious, Jesus amply rewarded their great faith by granting them health and life.
Don’t Take Destructive Drugs or Eat Destructive Things
There is a comment in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom to which we need to pay closer attention. It says “…and there is not a destructive drug among them.”This brings me to the following question. If God desires good health and a good life for His children why do we choose death by bringing in and indulging in destructive drugs and lifestyles? Do you know your lifestyle, especially what you consume, contributes a lot to your health? It hurts me to see our youths today abuse drugs. Sometime in the past, it was crystal meth abuse in Nigeria and Fentanyl in the USA. The growing number of mentally displaced and homeless people could in part be attributed to drug abuse. This is the handiwork of the devil and not God’s choice for His children. The legalization of drugs, marijuana in California for instance, is not a license for people to destroy themselves. The words of Theodore J. Kaczynski are very apt in this line of thought: “Imagine a society that makes people unhappy then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness. Science fiction is already happening to some extent in our society. Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed modern society gives them antidepressant drugs. In effect, antidepressants are a means of modifying an individual’s internal state in such a way as to enable them to tolerate social conditions that they would otherwise find intolerable.“ Please be careful what you take. Don’t blame God if you choose to destroy yourself by abusing hard drugs.
Extend Kindness, Compassion, and Love to the Sick and Those Suffering
In the second reading, St. Paul asks the Corinthian Christian community to show their impoverished, suffering Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem the kindness and compassion that Jesus demonstrated in His healing ministry. Paul asked the Corinthians to be generous in their contributions to a fund being collected for the suffering brothers and sisters. The generosity of Jesus is the central theme here also because Paul describes Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as “…the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We all are called to continue in this healing ministry of Christ as St. Paul admonishes us today. We have the sick, the aged, the homeless, the handicapped always around us. Let us show them compassion, and love, and be generous to them. Indifference to someone sick is the worst form of humiliation. It is a sin against charity. Let us help our brothers and sisters who have lost their mental consciousness due to drug abuse. Many of them are beggars on the street. No matter what, they still need our kindness to feed them and be rehabilitated.
God is Our Divine Healer, Let us Be Thankful For the Gift of Health
We need to accept God’s call to health, wholeness, and holiness. Jesus accepts us as we are. Hence, let us bring before Him our bodily illnesses and spiritual wounds and ask for His healing touch. We should pray for physical and spiritual healing. Many have no physical ailment but they are sick in the soul and the greatest sickness of the soul is sin. We need God’s complete healing so that we may function in perfect harmony with the people around us and with the environment. As Christians, we believe that Jesus continues to heal us through His instruments in the medical profession. When we go to a doctor we need to pray to Christ, the Divine Healer, that we may choose the right doctor, and that they may make the correct diagnosis, prescribe the proper treatment, and give us the right medicine. Let us not forget that, over, above, and beyond the ability and skill of the greatest human healer, Christ still works wonders of healing. Let us also thank God for the great gift of health and use it to help those who are sick. “When it comes to healthcare and using our resources wisely, we have a responsibility to protect and take care of the most vulnerable in society.” -Pope Francis.
May we have faith in the infinite healing power of God? May you receive healing today and use your good health to glorify God in all you do.
I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2024)
