That We may Feel our Deepest Hunger

In his message for Lent, 2009, Pope Benedict talks about fasting, one of the 3 pillars of Lenten observance. He shows how fasting is grounded in Scriptures, and how it goes all the way back to the creation of man/ woman. In this message, the Pope continues/ reiterates the point he made in his homily for last Sunday, where he talked about the absence of God as man's deepest illness. Of fasting, he says:

Denying material food, which nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed by His saving word. Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God.”

May this season of Lent and our joyful observance of fasting truly allow us to feel the God alone can satisfy our deepest hunger.

Our Deepest Illness

The first 2 chapters of Mark presents Jesus as a healer, a miracle worker. People flock to him from all sides. This last couple of Sundays, we heard Jesus expelling the demon, healing Simon's mother in-law, cleansing the leper, and now, healing the paralytic, and forgives his sins. Pope Benedict follows the Scriptural understanding of these miracles as "signs"... signs of what?

"I refer to these healings as signs: They guide toward the message of Christ, they guide us toward God and make us understand that man's truest and deepest illness is the absence of God, who is the fount of truth and love. And only reconciliation with God can give us true healing, true life, because a life without love and without truth would not be a true life. The Kingdom of God is precisely the presence of truth and love, and thus it is healing in the depths of our being" (Angelus Message, Feb, 8, 2009).*

May the healing love of God touch us through Jesus that we may truly be healed from the depths of our hearts, and be fully reconciled with God.

*cf. http://www.zenit.org/article-25037?l=english

AS YOU ARE!

Jesus' healing of the leper brought him not only physical cleansing and restoration, but also, and primarily, psychological and spiritual healing, because the leprosy ate up and destroyed not only the physical body, but more so, the dignity and sense of self of the leper. The first reading illustrates how the early Jewish society imposed restrictions on the lepers' movements and isolate them from the community.

But Jesus act of touching the leper and curing him of his leprosy restored to him his dignity and sense of wholeness, and reunites him back to the community. This is the reason why he needed to show himself to the priests and make the necessary offerings.

Jesus comes close to us and touches us as we are. We only have to be humble enough to admit our sickness and therefore our need for healing. "If you wish, you can cure me."

Let Your Servant Go In Peace!

Since the examen serves as the night prayer of Jesuits, I did not develop the habit of praying the Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. But I recently realized how beautiful a prayer it is, especially the canticle of Simeon, which he recited (or sang) upon receiving the baby Jesus in his arms when the latter was presented in the temple:

Lord, let your servant go in peace

For your Word has been fulfilled.

My eyes have seen the salvation

you have promised to your all peoples,

a light of revelation to the Gentiles,

and glory for your people Israel.

How consoling is the thought that at the end of each day, we can indeed pray wholeheartedly this song of Simeon. Or at least, as a reminder that each night we close our eyes, we might not be able to open it again, that is, in this world. That would not be a frightening thought if and only if we are ready to face the Lord the next time we open our eyes... in the next life.