It is time to rise up! Why are we so scared?
I was reading the gospel of Matthew today and I stumbled upon the passage were Jesus instructs his disciples to go two by two to the neighboring villages and towns to spread the good news as it is stated,
"...he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity." Matthew 10: 1
The two key words here are authority and heal. So what does this mean in our current time? It means that if one is a disciple of Christ then he/she does have the authority to heal. If we take this passage at face value, it means that we are commanded by Christ to heal others. Now there are many types of healing, mental, emotional, and physical. But what happened to the last category. physical healing? We have all fallen prey to the lie (including myself) that the power to physically heal is reserved for some special, elite class of super saint priests or religious, but not ourselves. If we fall into this trap then we will be relegated to the slow hell of a safe faith, one that is hidden behind closed doors. Jesus calls us to heal, to be bold, to stand out, to be visible witnesses in today's world.The world needs us, now, not tomorrow, tomorrow is too late! Fr. Robert Baron in his book, The Strangest Way:Walking the Christian Path speaks about how we (including myself) have adopted a safe, unoffensive version of Catholicism that is in direct contradiction to Christ's universal call to holiness,
"Modernity, as we have seen, can tolerate religion as long as it is safely sequestered in the privacy of one's conscience or practiced behind closed doors. What challenges modernity is religion that shows up. A secularized culture wants us to believe that processions and pilgrimages are somehow inappropriate, sectarian, trouble making. I think we should make a little trouble." (pg. 59)
I love the last line about making trouble. I can relate to this command very strongly as a college student at a liberal college. I see first hand the ravages of political correctness, the deliberate but slow choking of originality, the precipitous silencing of the true leaders at the hands of some wannabe, scholar professors, and the wholesale rejection and slaughter of real Christianity at the altar of "diversity" In my school the only religion that is acceptable is the one that has no teeth, the one that ultimately turns a blind eye to reality, the one that exonerates and encourages sin and calls it virtue.
Unfortunately I have fallen prey to this deadly safety and I have deliberately hid my faith from others. It is my prayer that the Lord forgives me and replaces my spirit of cowardice with a new and exciting spirit of boldness. So let's all rise up, let us be brave, bold, and courageous, it's time to make some trouble!
The authority spoken of in that passage was specifically directed towards his apostles, who he later ordained as bishops. The authority over demons and illness flows through this apostolic succession. The authority remains with the church (i.e., the bishop) who has also delegated much of this to his priests. That does not mean we cannot pray for healing; it's primary biblical authority is granted to Christ's bishops, however.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. Really? I didn't know that. But what about the laity? What if someone outside the Ecclesiastical authority has healing gifts how do they use them then? What is the procedure then?
ReplyDeleteWhat about Neil Lozano the author of "unbound" his whole ministry is built upon using his healing gifts to heal others. This book has been highly recommended by Fr. Michael Scanlon.
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