In Luke’s gospel people had faith in the power of God and were healed through prayer. Today we pray for the sick and we have healing services in our parish. Many people were healed in Luke by the touch of Jesus. Today people are healed through the laying on of hands and this is celebrated in the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. Jesus laid hands on the sick on many occasions in Luke, for example when he placed his hands on the sick after healing Simon’s mother in law. In this way he placed the healing power of the Holy Spirit in their diseased bodies. Jesus touched the hand of Simon-Peter’s mother in law and the fever left her. Also by touching the eyes of the blind man, he could also see again. This shows that the laying on of hands in Jesus time has been carried on through the ages and is still believed in today as part of the anointing of the sick.
Also in Luke’s gospel Jesus has power over evil and has the ability to cast out demons. Today some priests are qualified exorcists. God worked through Jesus in order for him to cast out these evil spirits. This shows that as a result of Jesus’ miracles we believe in certain things that we can put into practise. God works through certain people and in this way Jesus’ work is still visible in our world today.
Christian life is like what it is today because Jesus influenced us to care for the sick. We remember those that are sick and we try to bring hope and comfort to those that are sick, that they will be healed. We do this, for example, by bringing communion to the sick, visiting and helping the sick as members of the Christian community.
Some believers will say that God performs miracles just because he is powerful enough to do so. However when Jesus calmed a storm at sea, it helps to teach Christians the importance of having faith in Jesus even when the situation seems impossible. Miracles show that God is alive and active now and throughout history, but other people may suggest that miracles can be explained as luck or coincidence. The same was true at the time of Jesus, as expressed by the Pharisees. This is the same today as some scientists and doctors prefer to believe that there is a logical reason for a cure, for example at Lourdes, one that science has not yet explained, but will in the future.
The messengers who came to report Jarius’s daughters death seemed to think that there was a chance that the girl could be healed as long as she was alive, once she died they did not see ant hope. So they told Jarius not to ‘bother the teacher’ any more. The mourners outside his house felt the same way. When Jesus said that the girl was sleeping, not dead no one believed him. But Jarius had faith in Jesus and this gave him hope that his daughter would survive. This idea has a lot o relevance to Christians today. Simply positive thinking, this can be linked with biblical faith. Positive mental Attitude (PMA) is really human optimism. It is based on the thought of possibilities. If somebody has got it into their mind that they are going to die, they probably will, as their body will give up on fighting the disease that they are suffering. However if they have the faith in god that they will be healed, and get better, there is a possibility that they will, and even if they do not, they will feel better as they will have a more positive attitude. Biblical faith produces hope, but it does not depend on hope for its existence.
In the New Testament we are shown that any true believer can heal a person, if they have the faith, without faith healing is impossible. Pastors and elders in the Christian Church today are called (when requested) to visit the sick, minister to them and pray with them to God. Lay people and some prophetic ministries today are called upon to show people the power of God in healing miracles. The disciples had the power to heal, for example the epileptic boy, it was not just Jesus that could heal, it was God working through people as a response to heal. Today priests, for example Father Buckley, can heal through the anointing of the sick. Another example of healing is Sister Briege McKenna who is a charismatic healer. Charisma is a spiritual power given by God. The miracles that do occur today show us that Jesus is the Son of God and that the kingdom of God has arrived.
A priest has the task to forgive sins (in the Sacrament of Reconciliation) in the name of Christ. A priest is also concerned for the sick he will anoint them with blessed oil and pray for them. This is part of the anointing of the sick. In our world today, the sick are visited and given communion also there is the anointing of the sick where oil is applied in a symbolic way as part of this religious ceremony. Along with the sick, there is also care for the dying; viaticum is the giving of Holy Communion to a dying person. Also there are three sacraments that can be undertaken by a dying person; penance, anointing and communion. We have learnt from Jesus to take special care of the sick and dying and we are continuing these practises by having such sacraments as the anointing of the sick.
The idea of the Sacrament of Anointing the sick is so that through the Church, Jesus still cares for, heals and forgive sins of those that are sick. The church wishes this sacrament to have the same outcome as when Jesus anointed the sick in the New Testament. Through the anointing of the sick, the Church hopes that the sick are given the strength to accept their illness, to not feel worried about death and this alone, positive thinking, may give them a complete recovery. They expect that the sick person receives the love of the Holy Spirit of God, they hope that their sins will be forgiven and that they feel they have spiritual victory over their illness.
Toady we pray from a distance for those who are sick to be healed. In a way the centurion did this, as he knew that a word from Jesus was enough for his servant to be healed. As Christians, we pray for others and we are told to ask in Jesus’ name. Ongoing intercessory prayer will sometimes prepare the way for God to work his miraculous ways and sudden healing, for example at Lourdes. We are told in Luke that in order for a miracle to work, persistent faith is important. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the sick gives them (the sick) spiritual comfort and sometimes a recovery from their sickness. Christ had special care for the sick and told all of his followers to have that same concern. Therefore, we too should be concerned for the sick.
