Dear Brothers and Sisters in  Christ, 

Desperate people come to our  Lord in today’s Gospel, a distraught father and a long-suffering elderly person, the high and the low of society. Jesus, as the Divine Physician, brings healing to all. We sometimes forget that our Lord continues  His healing grace to this day, namely in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Ever faithful to His Promise that: “I am with you always until the end of  time,” Jesus comes to those who come to Him for  both spiritual and physical healing. This consoling  Anointing has a two-fold purpose: the forgiveness of  sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation which is part  of the ritual and the hope for physical healing if it be  God’s will. Always there is the remission of sins, but  sometimes the Lord permits our suffering for a greater good that we have to discern through prayer. 

Even though we may not experience the satisfaction  of a physical healing there is the guarantee from the  Lord that He is with us to help us carry our cross  whatever it may be. When we surrender ourselves to  this truth, we begin to see the meaning and purpose  of suffering. It is certainly not that God is punishing  us. Did He after all punish his Son? Certainly not!  Rather, the suffering of Christ became redemptive  and so too may ours be when we offer it to God for  a particular purpose .i.e., the conversion of sinners.  Therefore, let no suffering be wasted, but let it be a  share in the redemptive work of Christ. 

With Blessings,

Father Langan