6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
World Day of the Sick
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
February 11, 2024
Saintly Heroes
In Catholic elementary school, our teachers often told us about modern-day saints, such as St. Francis Cabrini, an Italian immigrant nun who opened a string of hospitals serving the poor all around the United States. We were also introduced to St. Damien of Molokai who ministered to lepers in Hawaii during the last decades of the 19th century. Less well-known was a talented religious sister, Mother Marianne Cope, who came to Hawaii toward the end of Father Damien’s life and continued his work of caring for those no one else wanted to care for.
Today, as we know, leprosy is curable but that is only a recent development. As late as the 1980’s, nearly 5 million people suffered from leprosy but today less than 200,000 people are afflicted with this disease. From biblical times until recently, leprosy was regarded as highly contagious and those suffering from it were marginalized, indeed isolated from everyone else.
Mother Marianne Cope did not see it that way. While serving as Provincial Superior of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, she received a letter from a priest in Hawaii asking for sisters to manage hospitals and schools set up for leprosy patients. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Mother Marianne knew she had found her life’s purpose. She decided not only to send sisters but to go there herself, for she desired nothing more than to serve the poorest and sickest; as she said: “I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen ones, whose privilege it will be to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders …. I am not afraid of any disease.” She added, “it would be my greatest delight to minister … to the abandoned lepers….” She died in 1918 and was canonized in 2012. Is it any wonder she’s a saint?
Saints Prolong the Healing Gaze and Touch of Christ
But what do saints do? To be sure, they lead lives of prayer, virtue, and service. They exemplify discipleship. They inspire us. They pray for us. But they do something else that is very beautiful. They extend the healing gaze and touch of Christ. They prolong his presence. They make Jesus palpable.
Oh, how true that is of St. Marianne Cope! Reading this morning’s Gospel through the lens of her life and example, the healing gaze and touch of Jesus come clearly into focus. Marianne Cope wrote that she was not afraid of any disease, but more than that, she was not afraid of the poor, the sick, the rejected. No, she opened her heart to them. She looked at them with love. Even if she could not cure them physically, she brought them joy and comfort. Helping them experience God’s love, she restored to them their dignity.
Her life, her example, her words make the Gospel come alive as we see Jesus opening his heart to the leper who knelt in front of him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” The Gospel tells us that Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for this man. He touched him saying, “I will do it, be made clean.” As Jesus touched the leper, the onlookers were aghast. What could the Teacher be thinking, violating the Law of Moses so flagrantly? Why would the Teacher put his own life in such jeopardy? . . . Jesus touched the leper. Perhaps he was the only one to touch the leper in decades. And not only did Jesus touch the leper, he gazed at him. Jesus looked at him with compassion, offering him the look of love he craved. His gaze penetrated to the core of the leper’s being where Jesus brought about not only physical healing but spiritual healing – a healing of body, mind, and spirit – what a beautiful, mysterious encounter!
St. Marianne Cope teaches us that Jesus is still moved to compassion for the suffering. She helps us see that Jesus still looks with love upon the poor and sick and that his healing touch of body, mind, and spirit is yet to be found. She shows us how God’s love, revealed in Jesus Christ, bursts limits and heals the flaws of our imperfect, halting, and often self-centered love. She enables us to see that we, the followers of Christ, are now to be the eyes of Christ that look with love and hands of Christ that extend his healing touch. Thus, the “standard of care” that Jesus sets for us is not out of reach but attainable, if only we give the Lord permission to heal our hearts and expand our love.
Healthcare Ministry
Saints like Marianne Cope not only extend the healing ministry of Jesus, they also shed light on the ministry of Catholic healthcare, and the mind and heart that healthcare professionals are to bring to those they serve even in secular healthcare institutions and settings. On this day designated by the Church as the World Day of the Sick, I want to recognize those among us representing the healing professions, including doctors, nurses, medical and nursing students, administrators, and chaplains, as well as members of the Order of Malta who are with us today. I thank you for your care for the sick, the poor, and the marginalized. You help us to see something important about healthcare, and it’s this: Even in this era of high-tech healthcare, including such things as robotics and AI, the Lord’s healing touch and the loving gaze have lost none of their power to heal.
When my father suffered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he was treated by a very competent oncologist who was also a woman of deep faith. She provided my dad with state of the art treatment but she also cared about my dad and mom, rooted for them, loved them, and shared her belief in the Lord’s healing touch and loving gaze. When dad went into remission, she rejoiced and gave thanks to the Lord, and this in a medical center with no religious affiliation. As you, our healthcare practitioners, know so well, a person burdened with illness often feels cut off from family, friends, and livelihood. A word of encouragement from you, a little prayer, and a smile goes a long way. And surely, todays Gospel highlights the role of chaplains, whose ministry it is to bring the healing touch and loving gaze of Jesus in the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, and the Eucharist – and to extend Jesus’ love in his concern for the patient, his family, and his loved ones.
Lenten Healing
Finally, as the Season of Lent begins on Wednesday, let us be reminded that the healing touch and loving gaze of Jesus are of utmost important in all our lives, even if we are physically healthy, gainfully employed, and blessed with a bright future. For all of us need some form of healing, all of us need to invite the Lord into our lives and to say to him, like the leper, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” When we pray that way, the Lord is moved with compassion for us. In moments of quiet prayer, the Divine Physician gazes deep into our hearts; he sees us as we truly are and loves us all the more. When we submit ourselves to him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the sacramental touch of Jesus reaches our innermost being, our soul, and we are made clean, we are renewed in God’s love!
And if we have been healed, then we too must be agents of healing. Like St. Marianne Cope and like Jesus himself, we must not be afraid of the poor, the sick, the marginalized, those who are different from ourselves. And we must seek some form of hands-on service to the poor and vulnerable, whether it’s helping the Sisters Poor of Jesus Christ in their ministry to the homeless, or volunteering at Our Daily Bread, or some other form of hands-on service. If that’s not possible because of age, infirmity, or other limitations, then surely our prayer, concern, and love help us to be agents of healing in whatever situation we may find ourselves.
The Sacrificed Lamb
After Jesus cured the leper, he instructed him to show himself to the priests, who, in turn, would offer a lamb as a sacrifice of thanksgiving for his healing. As Jesus gazes at us and heals our heart of hearts, let us hasten, daily if possible, to share in the Sacrifice of the Mass where is offered the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. May God bless us and keep us always in his love!