Effectiveness of divine healing

THERE’S no doubt that a lot of people urgently need some healing, if
not in the area of physical health, then in their emotional, mental
and spiritual health. Many have gone through traumatic experiences and
are left scarred, if not irreversibly damaged.

    We need to see this situation that is getting widespread, getting
more open than hidden, from the point of view of our faith. We cannot
and should not just see it by our lonesome, relying only on our
feelings and estimations. We need to see it from the point of view of
God.

    That is where we can always find some healing that can come to us in
many and mysterious forms. But it always comes, because God is a
father, an omnipotent father full of love and compassion, who can
never be indifferent to our predicaments.

    In fact, he reads our mind and heart better than we do, knows exactly
what we need before we can even articulate it, and takes the
initiative to come to our help and rescue even before we can ask.

    Thus, in the gospel we always see how Christ, just by seeing the
needs, big or small, and the problems and miseries of the people,
always came to the rescue. His heart cannot remain unmoved by this
sight.

    This is the case for example of the widow whose only son died, the
crowd who was with Christ for three days to listen to him. Even the
Samaritan woman who happened to coincide with him in the well received
a gentle treatment that converted her.

    But all this also depends on whether we have faith, a living and
functional faith. Thus, in the gospel we see how our Lord commended
those who were asking for cures and miracles for their faith in him.

    A very moving story was that of the father of a possessed boy who in
his great distress approached our Lord for a cure. When asked if he
believed our Lord could cure his son, he immediately said, yes, “I
believe,” and added, “but help my unbelief.”

    Even when our faith is still weak, our Lord comes to supplement. Just
show it, no matter how weak, and God will do the rest.

    This is a point worth noting, because many of our problems today, and
the continuing and harrowing drama they create, are due to our lack of
faith. Typical of this mentality is the common thought, often unspoken
but from time to time verbalized, that miracles don’t happen anymore
these days.

    So instead of faith, there is scepticism, as if God’s power is
limited to the days of the gospel. It’s the same scepticism that was
expressed by the townspeople of Christ himself who could not believe
that their fellow townmate could speak so well and could do miracles.
As a result, Christ left the place and refused to perform miracles
there.

    We have to be more keenly aware of this predicament because this is
where we get blind and insensitive to the ever-ready and abundant
compassion of Christ for us. It is this predicament that takes us down
into a spiral of anguish and, sooner or later, despair, since we would
not play God’s game but prefer to play our own.

    We need humility and simplicity for this faith to grow in us and
remove us from our self-inflicted predicament. It’s this humility and
simplicity that will also make us persevere in our faith in God’s most
compassionate omnipotence even when we don’t seem to get what we are
asking for.

    Let’s remember that God always sees the whole picture and that we
often miss out many things in our perception of things, even with our
best efforts. We have to always remain believing in God’s compassion.

    In this regard, together with humility and simplicity, for our faith
to prosper we also would need fortitude or toughness, as expressed in
patience or in disregarding certain things that definitely are not
working for our own good.

    This can mean our feelings and passions and memory and the other
expressions of our flesh that are still untouched by faith. Most of
our problems stem from this—many people are unable to handle these
wayward powers of ours and are in fact enslaved by them.

    We have to learn how to toughen it up, not minding the negative
impulses of these powers of ours. In fact, we should rather purify
them, filling them with the assurance of our faith. We have to repeat
many times, “Lord I believe, but help my unbeli