Now is the Time to Heal

Written by Christopher Swope on Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Pain, sorrow, and suffering are all very real things but today’s readings remind us that in times of trouble we are invited into something much more than what afflicts us. We are invited, by Jesus and the God who loves us, to heal.

In today’s gospel we come across a royal official who approaches Jesus and asks him to come and heal his son who is in a neighboring town. Upon hearing this man, Jesus looks at him and says: “You may go. Your son will live.” At that moment the man believed him and left to go see his son. Sure enough, when the royal official reached his son the next day, he found that his son had been healed at the exact moment that Jesus had uttered those words.

I would encourage us to see this royal official’s faith as an inspiration. He heard the Lord’s promise and without hesitation he believed. He knew that the Lord would follow through in His word and his son would be healed. It is with this faith that I urge us to approach the promise made in today’s first reading. In this reading the Lord has promised us a New Jerusalem, where weeping gives way to joy and delight and the pains of the past are replaced by happiness and rejoicing.

Let us remember that this is the land that the Lord has prepared for us. Let this be the land that we focus on in times of sorrow and in times of distress. For this is the land which we are called into when we accept the Lord’s invitation to heal.

Questions for Reflection:
In what ways do you feel that God is inviting you to heal?
What would that healing look like for you?

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Christopher Swope
Chris is a Junior studying Neuroscience.  He one day hopes to become a pediatrician.
Email: swopechr@umich.edu