Monday,
February 5, 2018
5th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
1Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
Gospel: Mark 6:53-56
Having crossed the lake, they came ashore at Gennesaret where they tied up the boat. As soon as they landed, people recognized Jesus and ran to spread the news throughout the countryside. Wherever he was they brought to him the sick lying on their mats. And wherever he went, to villages, towns or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplace and begged him to let them touch just the fringe of his cloak. And all who touched him were cured.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Jesus cured many people. But how many of these were really healed? Being cured and being healed are two different things. A cure always benefits the body but not necessarily the soul. Healing happens only when both body and soul are restored. Healing is a comprehensive process and requires the interplay of vital factors like “Change in lifestyle”, “Union with God”, “Restorative Penance” and “Enduring charity” (CURE).
CHANGE IN LIFESTYLE. This is indispensable especially in vice-driven illnesses. Drug addiction is one example of a vice-driven illness. Drug addicts may be cured after some years of rehabilitation. But unless he dissociates himself from his old circle of friends, he will backslide to his former ways. Healing comes only when he distances himself from his old company.
The change in lifestyle should take the positive direction of UNION WITH GOD. Freedom from vices is only meaningful when it becomes freedom for God. If change does not lead to God, no healing takes place even if cure happens. The disciples themselves once asked Jesus why they could not solve a particular case of demonic possession. Jesus told them only prayer could drive away demons in serious cases of demonic possession (Mark 9:18-28). But a person must do RESTORATIVE PENANCE since union with God cannot thrive in an environment of sin. The penance that is restorative will be very conducive to healing of body and soul.
The necessary outcome of a person who has changed his lifestyle and has entered into deeper “Union with God” after doing “Restorative Penance” is ENDURING CHARITY. This is good for one’s health. When one is busy thinking about others God will be the one to think about his health. God will see in his charitable works a reasonable ground to sustain his help so that his charitable works will continue.
Are you cured but indisposed? Perhaps you are cured but not healed. Change your lifestyle, deepen your union with God, do restorative justice and spend time to engage in enduring charity. Only then will your “cure” ripen to healing. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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