The healing ministry is part and parcel with the Christian message of salvation. In the tenth chapter of both Matthew and Luke’s gospels Jesus commissions his twelve apostles and the seventy to “Heal the sick” (Matt 10, 8; and Luke 10, 9).

Unfortunately there are misconceptions regarding the healing ministry. First of all there is the tendency of giving much importance to the physical healing. When Jesus healed, he did so in order that the person involved would move from an inferior to a superior type of healing, namely the healing of her/his spirit. No wonder why in the gospel of Mark, which emphasizes a lot of healings and exorcisms performed by Jesus, the very first words Jesus proclaims are: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1, 15).

The final goal of physical healing is that of leading the person who is healed to encounter not just the healing Jesus but, and most important of all, the forgiving Jesus. It is interesting that in both the Matthean and the Markan account of the paralytic there is the same pattern that goes on. In the said accounts Jesus says the healing word to the paralytic: “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven” (Matt 9, 2) and “My son, your sins are forgiven” (Mk 2, 5). In both episodes the physical healing that takes place after, attests and emphasizes Jesus’ authority of forgiving sins. “But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he then said to the paralytic – ‘Rise, take up your bed and go home’” (Matt 9, 6; see also Mk 2, 10-11). Thus, what is central in both gospel pericopes is the primacy of spiritual healing over the physical healing, and the latter as the first step towards the fullness of healing; that is spiritual one.

This biblical belief concerning healing is also faithfully and scrupulously endorsed by the Catholic Revival Movement. It is interesting that in the healing service of Friday, 21 August, which took place at the Thy Kingdom Community’s premises Land of the Father in Ghaxaq, the message was crystal clear during the proclamation of the Word of God. The major healing that occurs in any healing service is the spiritual one, namely “Your sins are forgiven”. A healed eye, leg, shoulder etc are nonsense when divorced from the conversion of the heart, mind and will to Christ. As a priest I was very touched and encouraged when it was emphasized how the sacrament of reconciliation is the venue where the real healing occurs in a person’s life. What a prophetic word for a prophetic year dedicated to us priests was this proclamation! When healing services are merely presented as a preparation that leads to the confessional then the physical healing becomes faithful to the gospel message of the forgiveness of sins. Besides that such healing services would be giving due importance to the sacraments and the priests who administer them in persona Christi.

I highly encourage those who come for healing services to open up their hearts to receive the inner healing first and then, if it is God’s will, they can also receive their physical healing as well. God does everything possible to draw us to his heart, especially when He sees us so stuck in our ways of unbelief. May the physical healing we undergo in these healing services be the decisive point where we move from the visible to the invisible dimension of our faith. From “Lord heal my shoulder, arm, etc” to “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Ps 51, 10). Thus the ultimate aim of healings services would be fulfilled.

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

San Gwann