The Mission of Healing

Gospel: Luke 9: 1-6

Jesus sends out his first followers to bring healing and deliverance to those who are sick and in the grips of what binds them.  From the very beginning of the Church, the care of the sick has been the primary one - the healing of people in both body and spirit.  Her people began houses and hospitals in care of the sick; her ministers went to bring sacramental and pastoral care for the sick.  To this very day, the care of the sick is our primary mission in the Church.

There are many ways people can be involved in this work.  Health care professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.) are ministers of the body. Bringing communion to the sick is a vital ministry of many parishes.  Volunteering to visit the sick, being their companions, reading to them, and the like, are also ways of ministering to the sick.  Providing pastoral care to health care professionals is also an essential ministry of health care that is often overlooked.  

Today there is a desperate need for people to help in these ministries, and to initiate new and creative ministries to the sick and to health care professionals.  Today is a day for us to reflect on how we might be involved in such ministry, how our parishes can be about this fundamental and primary mission of the Church in our world today.