In the last few weeks I've been witness to the damage that illness can do—not just to the sick, but to those who love them. In my life I've grieved for sick friends and family and have mourned the loss of people I love, but watching friends go through it I feel as powerless as I did in my own grief. More than anything, I wish healing for them—not just healing for the sick, but for those who love them. I wish miracles for them.
Today's Gospel (Mk 6:53-56) describes the people swarming Jesus, bringing the sick to him and begging him to heal their loved ones, if only by letting them touch a tassel on his cloak. Their desperation and longing is familiar. In the Gospel, "as many as touched it were healed."
That's the kind of miracle I hope for, but these seem in short supply. Miracle workers do not seem to walk among us, at least as far as I can tell. One lesson I take is that each of us needs to act as a healer. Regrettably, most of us can't cure cancer or other diseases that afflict people we care about. But each of us can be a source of comfort and kindness to those facing terrible prognoses.
Another nugget that I take from this story is the value of faith and hope. The people who followed Jesus looking for a cure believed so strongly that something great was possible, and that he would make it happen. Belief in the unlikely, in the impossible, can be a tremendous source of strength and can bring a different kind of healing. It may not be the miracle that we were looking for, the physical end to disease and grief, but belief in our wildest hopes can be the vehicle that carries us through our darkest moments.
Tonight I offer my prayers tonight to two good friends who are struggling with ill parents, and to a family I know who is suffering the loss of a young father and husband. They are not alone in their grief, and they have "healers" praying with them and for them.
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