Jesus, the Healer, A Man of Prayer

Where does Jesus' healing power come from? Today's Gospel seems to highlight Jesus' healing activity: he healed Simon's mother-in-law who was suffering from a fever; he cast out demons from those possessed by them; he cured all other sickness in people brought to him. Jesus seems to be a wonder worker, a miracle worker, with supernatural, spectacular powers. But where does his healing power come from? From himself, from his own authority? The answer lies in one seemingly insignificant detail in the Gospel: that of Jesus taking time to pray very early in the morning.

This is where Jesus' healing power comes from: from his prayer. He is able to heal because he is a man of prayer. His communion with the Father is the source of his power. Were he not receiving strength from His Father, He could not heal. Were he not strengthened by the love of His Father, he could not have absorbed all the "negative energies" from all the sick and possessed people brought to him. Jesus is the healer because He is a man of prayer.

In various ways, we are called to be healers, whether as physicians or as ordinary people: to heal broken bodies, broken hearts, broken psyches, broken relationships. But where shall we get the power and the strength if not from prayer? May we make prayer an essential and non-negotiable element in our daily life.

Blessed be the Lord who heals the broken-hearted!