Today, we are going to talk more about this season of miracles to which our first reading witnesses.
Last year, we said, Jesus did not heal every physical ailment that He encountered while walking around Galilee and Judea, but he healed many in order for them to be a sign of the true healing miracles He makes available to each and every one of us through the Sacramental life of the Catholic Church.
We must have faith that what was true in the beginning of the Church, continues to be true today. We must have faith that the gifts of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost continue to be exercised by His Church today, bearing fruit among His children.
Sometimes, however, we have obstacles in our lives that prevent us from receiving the healing the Holy Spirit wants to give to us through the Church. We see an aspect of this in our reading today through the themes of poverty and crippleness.
The theme of poverty represents a total obedience to Jesus Christ and His Church, and it represents a total reliance on divine power as opposed to the government, our wealth, our possessions, ourselves, or whatever else we might tempted to rely on.
The theme of crippleness represents a complete helplessness or emptiness. It represents what some may call, “hitting their bottom”. It represents that place where all you really have left is Jesus Christ.
Coming to recognize the bottom and coming to recognize that, even with all the resources at our disposal, we cannot meet our deepest needs and desires on our own. This often becomes the point that true faith can finally begin. This often becomes the point where the beautiful gate of our soul is finally opened, perhaps for the first time, to grace, healing, and deliverance.
The crippled man had nothing left. His life was in shambles…left begging outside the Temple. A sense of pride long gone. Perhaps even a point of realization that there is nothing the world, the flesh, or the devil can offer that can bring even the slightest bit of joy or consolation.
The Church, through Peter, offered Him Jesus Christ and he came to believe that Jesus could restore his life. He came to believe Jesus could restore his health.
Based on the phrase that the no-longer-crippled man clung to Peter and John is a pretty good indication to me that this man became a devout Christian, turning his life and his will over to Jesus Christ through the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church.
That means he was obedient. That means he was humble. That means he was faithful. That means he was truly healed.
As we complete this Octave of Easter and continue into Eastertide, let us renew those aspects in our lives: Obedience, Humility, Faithfulness. In doing so, let the miracle of healing through the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church become a reality in your life in a superabundant way.
The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone of our healing, deliverance, and salvation.
Thanks be to God!
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