"Do you want to be healed?"

Gospel Reflection Question #3 "Do you want to be healed?" John 5:6

A man who had been ill for 38 years lay by the pool known as Bethesda. Jesus knew that the man had been there a long time, and asked him, "Do you want to be healed?" Once the man professed his desire to be healed Jesus told him to "stand up, take your mat and walk."

A discussion of "healing" can be laden with confusion and disappointment, since we see almost every day one person who is healed, and another who is not. There is a danger that lurks there creating the assumption that some people are closer to God and therefore get healed while others who are not in God's favor are bypassed. Those that aren't brought to health may be viewed as deserving of their troubles.

For the purposes of this reflective exercise, let's consider the possibility that there is a difference between "healing" and "curing." While being "cured" of an injury or disease may be a physical restoration of some sort, let's consider "healing" to be a spiritual restoration (which may or may not lead to a physical cure). Being healed is to be made whole in a spiritual sense. We come to terms with our affliction, accept it and keep it in life's perspective while we continue to seek a cure.

The physical part of ourselves is form, and all form is impermanent. It will not last. No one can be physically cured forever. The spiritual part of us, however, is essence, and essence is permanent. We can be spiritually healed forever.

To be spiritually healed, to be fully united with God, we have to want it. Jesus is looking for that willingness to follow him, to learn from him and to risk your life with him. He is the only true healer. Our Aspirant in France, Katherine, recently sent me this bit of wisdom which she collected on her spiritual journey:

”If looking back makes you suffer too much,
And if looking forwards makes you too afraid,
Look to your side and I will always be there with you."

So, before healing can take place, there has to be a willingness to heal. A person who does not want to be healed can negate even the best medicine, the most skilled hands of a surgeon, or the expert guidance of a therapist. If we wish to firmly identify with our past pains or future worries, the chances for healing are remote.

Therefore Jesus asks, "Do you want to be healed?" He's asking if there is a willingness to take that all important step of openness, acceptance, release and non-judgment. Are you ready to leave the past and the future where they belong, and look to him who walks beside you in the Present?

Do you want to be healed? What healing do you need right now? Take some time with this and write down your responses in your journal. Share your thoughts with trusted advisors and counselors.

As an additional reading for this reflective exercise, you may want to consider Psalm 51.

May God be with you on your journey!

Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG

"What is your name?"

Luke (8:30) reports that when Jesus encountered a man in the country of Gerasenes who was possessed by multiple demons, he asked the man, "What is your name?" The man responded, "Legion," for he had many demons.

Jesus was already aware of, and knew, who the demons were inside the man. But Jesus' objective was to get the man to see the demons, too. The man had to see them as Jesus saw them - foreign objects covering the soul that had no place in the person. These "demons", like all demons, could only survive in the unconscious darkness of the possessed person's mind.

Once the person became fully aware of them by seeing them in the true Light, they would begin to fade. In the case of the man from Gerasenes, the demons sought shelter elsewhere knowing that they could not survive in this Light of Truth.

Jesus' piercing question, "What is your name?", began to bring definition to the situation. The question was designed to help the man see the true nature of these afflictions in new Light; to see them for what they really were: illusions; something foreign to us and to God that can no longer hide behind the veil of a dysfunctional ego.

Demons can take on various disguises. Sometimes they appear as biases or attachments, sometimes as prejudices. Some are time-travelers: they cling to us as guilt or shame of the past, and others come to us from the future bringing with them worry or fear. Several fed on power or on materialism or on false pride. They come in all sizes and shapes! But they all need you to feel separated from God, from the source of the True Light, because they draw their energy from this separation. If a person is not connected to the One Source of love, that person is powerless against possession.

When we fully recognize and begin to define our demons in the Light of Truth, they begin to fade under the power of God's love and compassion. Often, depending on the strength of our "demons" we may need to enlist the assistance of professional therapists and counselors as well as other members of our spiritual formation team to bring the issues to full Light. The man from Gerasenes needed Jesus' help to identify and expel his demons; so, too, must we often seek this same help from others who are professionally trained.

This reflective exercise begins with you and Jesus. During your contemplative time, imagine that he's alone with you, and asks you, "What is your name?" He's asking you to define your demons. What do they look like? What do they do? What false things are they telling you? Define them; shape them; expose them for what they really are. Take some time with this and write down your responses in your journal. Share your thoughts with trusted advisors and counselors.

May God be with you on your journey!