241 JESUS HEALS THE WHOLE MAN, SOUL AND BODY

YOUCAT Lesson 241

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

241  Why did Jesus show so much interest in the sick?

Jesus came to show God’s love.  He often did this in places where we feel especially threatened: in the weakening of our life through sickness.  God wants us to become well in body and soul and, therefore, to believe and to acknowledge the coming of God’s kingdom.  [1503-1505]

Painting: …..Mary  receives Jesus from the cross Pieta by El Greco.....98.....241

Sometimes a person has to become sick in order to recognize what we all—healthy or sick—need more than anything else: God.  We have no life except in him.  That is why sick people and sinners can have a special instinct for the essential things.  Already in the New Testament it was precisely the sick people who sought the presence of Jesus; they tried “to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all” (Luke 6:19).  91

“When Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’”  Mark 2:17

“The sick person is able to sense more than other people notice.”  Reinhold Schneider (1903-1958, German author)

Christ the physician

…….1503   Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendent sign that "God has visited his people"(Luke 7:16; compare Matthew 4:24.)¹⁰⁴   and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins;(compare Mark 2:5-12.)¹⁰⁵   he has come to heal the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of.(compare Mark 2:17.)¹⁰⁶    His compassion toward all who suffer goes so far that he identifies himself with them: "I was sick and you visited me."(Matthew 25:36.)¹⁰⁷    His preferential love for the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of Christians toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of tireless efforts to comfort them. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….1504   Often Jesus asks the sick to believe.(compare Mark 5:34, 36 ;Mark 9:23.)¹⁰⁸    He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands,(compare Mark 7:32-36; Mark 8:22-25.)¹⁰⁹   mud and washing. (compare John 9:6-7.) ¹¹⁰    The sick try to touch him, "for power came forth from him and healed them all."(Luke 6:19; compare Mark 1:41; Mk 3:10; Mk 6:56.)¹¹¹    And so in the sacraments Christ continues to "touch" us in order to heal us. –CCC

…….1505   Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own: "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.".(Matthew 8:17;compare Isaiah 53:4.)¹¹²    But he did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover. On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the "sin of the world,".(John 1:29; compare Isaiah 53:4-6.)¹¹³   of which illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion. --CCC