[stephenkhoo]

THE MINISTRY OF HEALING AND RECONCILIATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: COL 2:6-15; LK 6:12-19
In the gospel, we are told that Christ appointed twelve apostles to help Him in the ministry. The question is what is the primary work of a minister of Christ? According to the teaching of the Church a priest is primarily ordained for the ministry of the Word and ministry of the Sacraments. In LG 25, it states explicitly that among the important duties of the Bishop, the preaching of the gospel takes the pride of place. Hence, the proclamation of the Word takes primary place in our ministry. By extension, this is true for the whole Church, whether we are members of the royal priesthood or the ordained ministry. All of us in our own capacity have been called to share in the apostolic mission of Christ.
Yet, we must be judicious, for the proclamation of the Word is only a preparation for the ministry of healing and reconciliation. The proclamation of the Word is not an end in itself. This motif is clearly brought out in today’s scripture readings. In the gospel, we are told that upon coming down to the plains, a large crowd was waiting for Jesus because they wanted “to hear him and be cured of their diseases.” And so desperate was their need to be cured, that “everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power come out of him that could cured them all.” And indeed, they were not disappointed because even “people tormented by unclean spirits were also cured.” It is clear therefore that here and elsewhere in the gospel, the ministry of healing and reconciliation occupies a major portion of His ministry.
Furthermore, Jesus, in selecting His team of apostles from a diverse background, implies that He wants to reconcile all humankind, not only with God but also with each other. Consequently, it is not surprising that the early Church and especially St Paul in the first reading, speaks of his ministry and the Good News in terms of the reconciling work of Christ. To be baptized indeed is to be raised to a new life, to have our sins forgiven and be brought into union with Him. Hence, we can conclude that the ministry of healing, which in the fullest sense of the term encompasses physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual healing, is the primary emphasis of the gospel. The Church, in Vatican II, is described as the Sacrament, a sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among all men. (cf LG 1) As Church therefore, every member must seek to bring about healing in every strata of society, especially in our own family, church and workplace.
However, the ministry of the Word is not to be regarded as an adjunct or secondary ministry. Rather, the ministry of the Word is essential insofar as it prepares for the ministry of healing to take place. Once again, when we read the gospel, we are told that the crowd came first and foremost “to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.” This means that real and lasting healing can only take place if people hear the Word first. Without the proclamation of the Word, it will be difficult for any healing to be effected. This is because the proclamation of the Word is necessary to instill faith in the infirmed, so that they can be open to the power of God and the power of the Risen Christ working in their lives. At any rate, even if healings take place, such healings are superficial and temporary healings because the heart and the mind are not healed. In no time, these people will fall sick again because physical and emotional healing is very much connected with spiritual healing and reconciliation.
True healing will result in living a new life rooted in Christ Jesus, as Paul wrote in the first reading. “Your whole life according to the Christ you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted to him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving. Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some second-hand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ.”
What is true for the recipients of our healing ministry is also applicable to the minister of healing as well. The problem is that some of us want to perform healing without the proclamation of the Word. When we are more concerned with demonstrating the power of God in healing miracles rather than the proclaiming the Word, we are reduced simply to faith ministers rather than proclaimers of the Good News. By seeking to take short cuts, we will only focus on the spectacular rather than bringing people to encounter the person and love of Christ. In so doing, we are reducing the full power of the gospel and short-changing our people. If they are only healed physically, they will only come back for more and more of such spectacular deeds, but they will remain ignorant and continue to hurt themselves. The root of their illness would not have been healed.
For ourselves, we might end up focusing on ourselves instead of leading people to God. On the other hand, we have people who are only interested in seminars, talks and homilies, either as proclaimers or recipients. Those who minister the Word but do not go further than preaching would be preaching empty words without power. As a result, the Word becomes redundant and superfluous, bearing no fruits in the lives of the people. It can hardly be seen as the Good News since they are mere words without power. All preaching must lead to action and effect changes in the lives of people. They will only be seen as another empty and rational philosophy, as Paul implied in the first reading. Thus, in times of crisis, people will look for those faith healers who can attend to their immediate needs and pains.
A true minister of Christ therefore must come to realize the intrinsic relationship between the ministry of the Word and the ministry of healing. Both complement each other. The Word enlightens us, be it the minister or the recipients of the Word, thereby strengthening faith in the power of the Risen Christ to bring about the healing process. If we lack the power to heal others, it is because we have not heard the Word sufficiently to be totally convinced of the power of God at work in us. Because if we do, then as Paul tells us in the first reading, we will be convinced that as members of His body where the full divinity of Christ lives, we can be assured that we also share His power and sovereignty over all sicknesses and evils. For this reason, we are told that besides healing them, Jesus also preached. And indeed, today’s introductory gospel message in Luke chapter 6 is followed by the sermon on the Plain. Preaching and healing therefore must go hand in hand if the Good News is really to be proclaimed not only in words but also in deeds.
This being so, it behooves us as communicators of the gospel, to strive to be in deep contact with the Word made flesh. Just as Jesus prayed the whole night in the hills before coming down to minister to the people, offering them both the Word and the power of the Word in works of healing, we, too, as ministers of the gospel must also be rooted as Paul reminds us, in Christ and be built on Him. Only in this way can we both share in the ministry of the Word and also the power of Christ to heal as well. Yes, only those who of us who have prayed deeply and are in deep contact with the Word so much so that the person of Jesus is so felt within us, in our minds and in our hearts, that we too like Jesus will be able to radiate the power of God from us. And like Jesus, not only will people be healed by words or by deeds but they will experience in our very being, the presence of the Word incarnated in us. Only when the Word of God is one with us in our beings, can our people recognize Christ and the power of God in us. When that happens, then we can truly say that we are truly the ministers of Christ because we bring Christ to others, not only by what we say, but by what we do and most of all, by what we are.

[stephenkhoo]

the ministry of the Word is not to be regarded as an adjunct or secondary ministry. Rather, the ministry of the Word is essential insofar as it prepares for the ministry of healing to take place. Once again, when we read the gospel, we are told that the crowd came first and foremost “to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.” This means that real and lasting healing can only take place if people hear the Word first. Without the proclamation of the Word, it will be difficult for any healing to be effected. This is because the proclamation of the Word is necessary to instill faith in the infirmed, so that they can be open to the power of God and the power of the Risen Christ working in their lives.