HEALING FROM JESUS
I still shudder when I recall my personal experience many years ago of watching up close a snake charmer with a cobra in India. Snakes or serpents are very scary, even gross, creatures.
It’s good to be reminded that snakes are still God’s creatures, and there are really just a few species whose bites are deadly. I know of a priest who keeps one as a pet. He admits that he has been bitten by it a number of times, but the fact that he’s still alive is proof that not all bites are fatal. Not only that, medical studies have shown that the venom of snakes can actually be used to treat cardiovascular ailments and even tumors. Isn’t it ironic that a poisonous serpent, which can kill us, can also heal?
Our Gospel today speaks not so much of a bronze serpent as Jesus Himself on the cross: Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, whose very purpose and mission is to give us a love that truly heals. We do have “sin bites,” badly needing forgiveness and mercy, cure and healing from God.
Today, let us turn our gaze lovingly on the cross of Christ. Let us fix our eyes prayerfully on each of the five wounds of Jesus. Then let us consider our own death-dealing wounds — those deep lesions and wounds which we now wish to lift up to the Lord for healing. In the words of our Second Reading, “God is rich in mercy; because of his great love for us he brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin.” Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you still have wounds that you have kept from God’s healing love? Open them up now to the Lord.
Heal my wounds, Lord, and set me free from their enslaving effect on me.
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