Why Jesus Doesn't Heal Everyone
Of Course I Want To!
“Jesus was in one of the towns when a man appeared, covered with leprosy. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and implored him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once. “ Luke 5:12-16
Jesus healed many people during His public ministry in Galilee and Jerusalem. Jesus continues to heal many people. 1000s upon 1000s of medically verifiable cures have taken place at such Marian Shrines as Lourdes and Czestochowa through prayer and faith. But the fact remains. God does not heal everyone. How do we make sense of this when Jesus said in the Gospel of today, “Of course I want to cure you!” Why doesn’t Jesus cure everyone today?
Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
God allows suffering to happen to good people for two reasons:
1. To help us reach our full potential in Jesus
2. That we may help Jesus rescue souls and save the world from self-destruction
Let’s take the first one: Our Suffering can help us reach our full potential
Hebrews 2:10 Jesus was made perfect through suffering and so shall we be made perfect through suffering
Suffering empties our soul of disordered desires
What have we grown attached to so that our happiness, security and identity is found in these rather than in God?
Our disordered attachments leave little or no room for God.
Suffering strips, purifies and empties the soul to make room for God to flow in
Suffering enlarges the capacity of the soul to receive more of God by increasing our faith, hope and love
Which takes more faith, hope and love:
God giving you every worldly thing you want
God withholding certain things you want
God allowing suffering into your life while removing any feeling of His presence
Which of these takes more faith hope and love?
It is clear,
by allowing suffering, difficulties, trials and dryness into our lives
God is giving us the opportunity to exercise and grow in the theological virtues of faith, hope and love,
the very capacity to receive more of God’s life and love in our soul
Bring Others into Heaven
The second reason God allows suffering is that Our Suffering can help others into heaven
Col. 1:24 “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church.”
What could be lacking in the suffering of Jesus? Our participation!
Jesus is inviting us to help him rescue sinners from Hell. Help souls to holiness by prayer and sacrifice.
Fatima, August 19, 1917
“Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.”
What you
Did not choose
Do not like
Cannot change
Accept with Trust
Offer with love for the conversion and holiness of others
Save More Souls
Diary 1767 My daughter, I want to instruct you on how you are to rescue souls through sacrifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone… I will now instruct you on what your sacrifice shall consist of, in everyday life, so as to preserve you from illusions. You shall accept all sufferings with love. Do not be afflicted if your heart often experiences repugnance and dislike for sacrifice. All its power rests in the will, and so these contrary feelings, far from lowering the value of the sacrifice in My eyes, will enhance it.
Leverage Your Suffering
Archimedes: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
The Cross is a T-bar, a lever to move souls
Leverage your suffering my uniting it to Christ’s to move souls from hell to heaven!