Think about how good we feel having come to be on the other side of healing from a bad cold or the flu, recovering from a twisted ankle, a broken collar bone, or other health condition. We experience a feeling of wholeness that was missing during the midst of our suffering where we may have pondered a time or two whether or not we would ever get better. The same can be said for estranged relationships. There is a distance of separation that can be agonizing, an inner gut wrenching experience that gnaws away at us. When there is a reconciliation and healing, a mending of the brokenness of relationships, we can experience such a relief, a lightness and joy, that we could have never imagined possible.
Jesus replied to the Pharisees and the scribes who questioned why he was eating with tax collectors and sinners: “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners” (Lk 5:32). A great celebration of fellowship ensued in Levi’s home because these men and women, who had been outcasts were forgiven, welcomed, embraced, loved. They belonged to the kingdom and reign of God and they were empowered to believe it. They were healed because they were willing to turn away from their sin and felt like they could float and walk on water. More importantly because they said yes to following Jesus they were reborn! They were divinized in their willingness to participate in the life of Jesus. It was no longer they who lived, but Christ who lived in them (cf. Galatians 2:20).
We are given the same opportunity for healing when we resist rationalizing our sinful thoughts, actions, and habits. Jesus invites us each day, as he invited Levi, to follow him. When we bring our venial and mortal sins to the light we are forgiven and released from all the energy we have expended in protecting and hiding from ourselves and our God who loves us more than we can ever mess up. May we spend some time in quiet reflection today, call to mind those sins we have committed. Let us also be willing to be contrite, willing to embrace true sorrow for the harm we have inflicted with our personal sin and go to the Divine Physician in our time of prayer as well as availing ourselves with the sacrament of Reconciliation. Then so healed, may engage in penance to atone for our sins, may we forgive as we have been forgiven, may we love as we have been loved!
Photo: Super Moon over Cardinal Newman ball field, January 30, 2018.
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, February 17, 2018:
Spiritual Stepping Stones