Tuesday in the Twenty-Third Week of Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

Jesus healed people of diseases and cured those with unclean spirits. And all who touched Him were healed…because power came out of Him.

In the gospels a cure is a restoration of a physical condition. Healing is much more pervasive and applies to one’s whole life. It seems to be more like conversion. It is a change of heart and thus a change of perception.

As a change of heart, it is a change in what matters most to us; it is a change in valuing, a change in our judgment about the worth of things.

As a change of perception, it is a change in what we pay attention to and how it affects us. How something affects us touches the heart and decides its worth to us.         

These changes are a result of power flowing out from Jesus Christ. His Sacred Heart is most affected by love of the Father and devotion to His will. The Father and His will are of supreme worth to Jesus. This power heals our attachment to the worth of lesser things. It frees the heart for attachment to the Father and thus to what endures.        

And we know we are healed by the contrast we experience between attachment to status, pleasures, and possessions and attachment we feel for the Father and our experience of Him. The power to experience that contrast is from Jesus Christ. Living well requires loving aright.