In Sunday’s Gospel, a leper comes directly up to Jesus and says: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus’ response is stunning in its simplicity, and vast in its meaning: “I do will it.”
There’s no preconditions, no deals, no bargaining, no qualification. “I do will it. Be made clean.”
I always think of this story when I hear people saying “It must have been the will of God” when someone suffers much, or dies tragically. If this is the case, then Jesus should have said to the leper: “I do not will it … I want you to suffer.” I can’t imagine this happening. Can you?
God wills our healing … always and everywhere. Admittedly, our prayers for healing might not have the dramatic impact of the leper’s healing, or our prayers won’t be answered as quickly, but the healing is always there. We are ALWAYS given what we need for that particular moment in time. The trouble is, we’re not too good about living just in the present moment.
I know I’ve prayed many a time for help, for release from pain (physical, mental, spiritual, emotional). And I cannot recall a single instant when a prayer was answered instantaneously. But I can recall plenty of times when I prayed for help for this moment, and made it through that moment, and the next, and the one after that, and the one after that … until a big chunk of time had passed and I was either healed or was still mucking along. The ability to muck along can itself be God’s answer to our prayer. All I know is that it is God’s will that I be healed … the details are not mine to dictate.
Letting God handle all the details … that calls for a lot of trust, doesn’t it?
Be God’s smile for someone today!
Fr. Herb, C.S.C.
