A Spiritual Healing

Bishop Peter Muhich
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
Third Sunday of Advent, December 11, 2022

We hear in the Gospel on this third Sunday of Advent, Jesus said to the followers of John the Baptist, “Go, tell John what you hear and see.”

Today’s Gospel passage from St. Matthew doesn’t come from the beginning of the Gospel. You kind of expect that during the Advent and Christmas season, but from the middle of Matthew’s Gospel, from chapter 11. John the Baptist by this time is in prison and has heard of the things that Jesus is doing. He sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

The Lord doesn’t respond you’ll notice with the theoretical argument about the Messiah, but instead points out concrete things that are taking place. “Go tell John the blind are seeing. The lame are walking. Lepers are being cleansed. The deaf are being restored to their sense of hearing. The dead are being raised. And the poor having the good news proclaimed to them.”

When Jesus says this, he’s evoking or alluding to the prophecy of Isaiah that is our first reading this Sunday about the blooming desert coming back to life. The blind seeing, the deaf hearing — these are illusions directly to this passage — the lame leaping, the mute speaking. You see when Jesus Christ, the Messiah comes, things happen. When Jesus Christ comes things happen.

God is healing a broken and damaged creation and broken and damaged men and women suffering under the reign of sin and death. Salvation has come. Jesus gives us many glimpses of this salvation in his ministry. First of all, on a physical level, his miracles. He does cure the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the paralyzed. He raises Lazarus from the dead.

But those physical miracles really are evocative of a deeper kind of healing that Jesus has come to bring to us. The healing of our souls. A spiritual healing. Healing our spiritual blindness. We can very easily be successful in worldly terms but wandering around spiritually blind.

Or spiritual deafness where we hear every voice except the one that really counts. We get caught up in so many things whether it’s sport, or fashion, or politics, or celebrity news or whatever it is, but we’re deaf to the Lord of life and to the deep things of the spiritual life.

Or healing our spiritual lameness. You might be in great physical shape but then we’re kind of stuck spiritually in a kind of no man’s land. That’s what sloth or acedia is all about. We don’t care anymore or make any progress on the deeper spiritual things.

Or even a kind of spiritual kind of death. It is possible for us to fall into serious repeated sin. Of course, today it’s easier to do that than ever before when black is white, and white is black, and everybody’s making up their own definition of what’s true or good. Many people in our society today are kind of walking around spiritually dead. There’s not a lot of divine life in them.

Now, I say all of this on this Gaudete Sunday when the antiphons from Mass tell us to rejoice. Today’s liturgy and its scripture readings are focused really on two things. Two things that we can look to see as a way of checking up on our spiritual health. Are these two things characteristic of us? The two things are joy and patience. You might know that these two virtues are two of the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit. You can look them up in Galatians, chapter 5. Here’s the list quickly: charity, goodness, self-control, joy, generosity, chastity, peace, gentleness, patience, faithfulness, kindness, and modesty.

Joy and patience are among those fruits of the Holy Spirit. What is a fruit of the Holy Spirit? It is a sign that somebody’s life is filled with the spirit, and they are in line with God, and God’s kingdom, and God saving will.

Let’s take them one at a time here. Joy. Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The fruit of being in a right relationship with the Lord, and we experience a joy both on a natural level and a supernatural level. We experience joy whenever we possess any good. You’ve enjoyed a good meal; there’s a sense of joy that comes from that. Or you play a sport or musical instrument very well. Experience joy in that. We’re joyful when we see our friends. But there is also a supernatural kind of joy that comes from possessing the greatest good which is Jesus Christ. This is a supernatural gift that Jesus brings to us in the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us a kind of strength and luminosity, a real joy in the midst of all of life’s challenges. So joy, and also patience.

Be patient, the scriptures tell us this Sunday. Patience is the fruit of the Holy Spirit swelling in us when your right relationship with God. It is a strength or a fortitude to endure suffering, and even over time, a long period of time.

Patience is a supernatural gift given by the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us suffer wrongs gladly for the sake of the kingdom.

So, on this Third Sunday of Advent as we get close to the celebration of Christmas a little reflection exercise for all of us this week. We should ask ourselves what am I seeing and hearing in life? Not somebody else’s life. In your life. Concentrate on yourself. What am I seeing in myself in my life? Is there joy in my life? Do people notice that about me? Am I growing in patience? Can I see that? Can bear wrongs patiently? Because when of the Messiah comes things happen. These things should be happening in our lives as we grow in union with Christ.

The presence of the Lord Jesus in me will bring light, goodness, patience, and joy. Take a look in the mirror and see if those characteristics, those fruits of the Holy Spirit are in your life, and if not ask the Lord to help you to acquire them. Maybe you need to make a good confession before Christmas and turn away from some kind of sin.  The goodness of the beauty of salvation are there before us, because when the Messiah comes, things happen.