Healing

January 19, 2005 Healing Mk 3:1-6

Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us." Then he said to the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

Sister A....who is like a godmother to me and is a Sister of the group founded by Saint Lucy Filipini...told me once there was a Sister in the motherhouse who cut her hand horribly it was bleeding all over (she was outside the chapel)...another Sister went to the superior who was in chapel...For a long and painful fifteen minutes that superior insisted on finishing prayers in chapel before attending to the bleeding sister...Prayer and religious practices can be evil and damaging when they stand in the way of doing a truly good act. To save life, to nuture, to heal should always come before religious ritual in my life. There is a common saying "man proposes and God disposes." I make a plan to be at prayer, to be at Mass and observe religious times and events but my eye must always be on what God is truly calling me to not on rigid ritualistic behavior.