Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Brother Eugene Orog SVD – SVD Postulancy, Tagaytay City
Wednesday 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
As Christians, we are called to be healers—helping others in their pain and stress so they may live lovingly and peacefully. In all our afflictions, God wills that through Jesus we are healed, and in turn become healers for others. Harmony in body, relationships, and creation is God’s desire for us. St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians that we are meant to live reconciled and transformed lives (2 Corinthians 5:17–18).
In the Gospel, Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law, who was sick with fever, through the intercession of others (Luke 4,38). He also freed many from demonic possession. The message is clear: Jesus heals the total person—body, mind, and spirit. “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Matthew 8:17).
Even modern medicine recognizes this connection. By 1999, 61 out of 125 medical schools in the USA had introduced courses on spirituality, convinced that the body is deeply linked to psyche and spirit. Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl observed: “People are not destroyed by suffering; they are destroyed by suffering without meaning.”
Sickness and suffering will always be part of life. But when given meaning—through faith, prayer, and community—they can be offered to God and become redemptive.
Like Simon’s mother-in-law, we often need others to intercede for us. Spiritually mature companions help us find meaning in suffering. In this way, our brokenness becomes a source of empathy. Henri Nouwen called this the vocation of being wounded healers: from our own wounds, we can stand with those who suffer, alleviating their pain through compassion.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
We are all called to be wounded healers. Though unworthy, we can share Christ’s fullness of life with others by embracing our crosses and offering our suffering to God. Healing flows not from strength alone, but from brokenness transformed by love.
“By His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
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