Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning and how are you?
“Good morning – how are you?”. This is a very common greeting and more often than not the answer is, “fine and you”? We will often respond this way even if the answer is not even close to being true. For example, once when I went to my doctor with very bad sinus infection and was asked how I was doing without thinking I replied “fine”. The doctor replied with a smile, “Then why are you here?” I laughed an embarrassed little laugh and preceded to tell him how I was really feeling. This morning, I thought we might make a visit to the doctor, the Great Physician himself and in doing so I want us all to think about how we are when He ask, “How are you”?
Like any visit to the doctor, it seems we all must start by answering some preliminary questions, filling out some forms, having our vital signs checked, and asked if we have been taking our medications, following our diet, getting exercise, and other basic questions to arrive at a diagnosis, a prognosis, and a treatment. We do all this even if only for a checkup. If we are ill the treatment might be minor if the diagnosis is not very serious. However, if the diagnosis is more serious, more tests may be required, and the illness is serious then serious treatment will be the outcome. Some illnesses are chronic and require lifelong treatment to keep the illness under control.
Guess what? Our health as a Christian is the same as our physical health is. We need regular visits for checkups, recommendations for ways to stay healthy, treatments for conditions, and perhaps even more serious treatment.
Let’s look at the lessons today for a comparison.
In the first lesson the Priest Ezra led a group of Judean exiles to their home city of Jerusalem where he [Ezra] taught and enforced the observance of the Laws of the Torah. The lesson today comes several years after Ezra had been in Jerusalem and in the presence Nehamiah, the newly appointed Governor of Jerusalem, Ezra read from the Torah until midday and the people listened and wept and raised their hands and shouted amen. They all understood they had been living a spiritually unclean and unhealthy life and desired once again desired to be strong and healthy before God. That God was and is the source of life. This was truly a long checkup – a visit which lasted for hours. But the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment were spot on. And the patients followed the treatment plan.
In the Gospel we read what is perhaps the shortest sermon of all time. (You might be wishing mine was the same). After reading this one short passage from the prophet Isiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." Jesus provided this very short homily, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It would be sort of like going to the doctor, knowing all the existing conditions which you or a loved one may have which to this day has been at best controlled, and being told all these things shall be cured. Can you even begin to image how you might react? Relief, joy, doubt, how?
When the doctor proceeds to tell you the treatment plan which needs to be followed to be set free from a lifelong illness, regaining your sight, to be no longer restricted in your life. Would you follow the treatment plan? What if the plan provided an immediate cure? What if the plan also involved a lifetime therapy to prevent a relapse?
Embracing a spiritual approach, it becomes clear that the proclamation of the Lord Jesus was to announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God on earth. The Kingdom of God was the good news that Jesus was proclaiming. It meant that those who were spiritually blind would be enlightened, now being able to see the way, the truth and the life. It meant that those who were spiritually poor would finally have a living hope in Christ. Before our new birth in Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism, we were poor; now, we are spiritually rich.
Jesus also kept the core part of the long-term treatment plan short. No long readings as did Ezra. Instead, he summed up all Ezra taught and summarized the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses into two simple Commandments for us. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first Commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two Commandments hang all the law and the prophets." [Mt. 22:37-40]
So now we need to think about how we are doing. Do we love God with all our heart? Do we love others, and we love ourselves? If we are totally honest the answer is “no” to both questions for this is truly a lifelong process and the more, we work to follow it the healthier we will become. An ever-increasing wealth of peace, a clearer vision of what is to come in the next life, and joy by helping to lead more from the exiles of the illness of the world into the New Jerusalem.
Thankfully we have a way to measure our progress. Saint Pual provides a good reflection for us this morning. He likens each of us as member or part of the Body of Christ. And like our bodies each part is very important for the entire body to function at its best. Some body parts we think are more important, like our heart, lungs, and eyes.
Some parts we think of as being unimportant like the appendix. But let the appendix become infected and it can kill the body. Why can even a small cut or a splinter in the little finger cause great harm to the body. It takes all the parts working and functioning together as one to be truly healthy.
This is true with the Body of Christ – the church. If all are of its parts – that is each of us are not spiritually healthy – loving God and neighbor – then the entire church is not in the best of health either. How do we know? All that we do in our lives is an indicator of our spiritual health. We can look at how we live our lives, how we worship, and even how we care for and maintain this place of worship and know how we are indeed healthy and by honestly assessing whether we are on the path or not.
When we love, I mean really love -Adore God then we are joyous when we come to this place and worship. We are filled with awe when we can feel the Spirit in our presence and literally see, touch, and partake of Christ Himself in Holy Communion. We gladly sing and say Amen. How is our Worship?
We want to share this wonderful experience and the love of God with all we meet. Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. We do not condemn them for their bad choices and instead look upon them with love just as Jeus forgives and looks upon us with love. So how do you and we interact with others?
We want our physical and spiritual bodies to be healthy because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We were created to be a living Icon (image) of God, and we do this by being as Christ like as we possibly can. Do we take care of our physical needs and health? Do we take care of our spiritual needs and health?
How about the physical place of worship? In this little building the Holy Spirt comes. Jesus is with us in worship. And the Body of Christ in the sacrament is present in the Tabernacle. Do we give the building the honor it deserves? It is after all a visible image of faith and health to all who pass it by.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, this week, with a sincere heart, let us reflect upon our commitment to the Body of Christ and ask ourselves, “Have I relapsed and placed worldly or my own desires above being a disciple of Jesus “? Am I actively involved in my Parish"? "Am I making an effort to draw to my Parish those that I know who are captive to sin, spiritually blinded by the word, or oppressed by false teachings”? Those who have left the church or shipwrecked in their faith?" Our answers may just provide insight into our spiritual health.
As we continue the celebration of the Holy Mass, let us pray for one another, that through our Christian Unity, the Body of Christ may come to its fullness so the Lord God may be glorified in all things. If you find yourself showing signs of spiritual illness do not despair, the Great Physician is here and ready to set you free, restore your vision, fill you with a wealth of peace. All you need to do is ask and it shall be given to you.
