Daughter,
your faith has saved you.
Mark
5:21-43
There are a few old books
on my shelf that I cannot get rid of, no matter what! They were the sources of
great breakthroughs in understanding. Such is the case of Fr. Louis Evely’s
insight on faith healing.
Father Evely makes the
case that the phenomenon known as a “healing miracle” is simply an abnormal
acceleration of natural healing processes that are triggered by faith. A
“miracle” he says, does not occur from the outside in, but from the inside out.
Christ did not tell those he cured, “My power has cured you.” Instead, he said,
“Your faith has cured you.” Today we have the cure of a woman with great
faith, but in the next chapter of this gospel, Mark reports that Jesus
could work no miracle there because of people’s lack of
faith.” Still later Mark says that people were begging to brought to the
marketplaces so that they might touch the tassel of his cloak, and as many as
touched it were healed. It was not a holy tassel that caused the woman’s cure in the gospel today, it
was her faith that
triggered her cure! Her faith triggered an acceleration of natural healing
processes.
What about the miracles
that have been recorded at places like Lourdes? Well, there have been miracles
at every shrine
of every religion, and
most of these have been miracles of healing. Father Evely notes that the sole
characteristic of a miraculous cure is the extraordinary acceleration of the
natural healing process. That which cannot be healed by a natural process is
not susceptible to a miraculous cure; an amputated leg or am, for example, has
never been re-grown miraculously – not even a finger. So, it seems that such
acceleration of the natural processes of healing can be triggered by faith.
It’s not the sacred stone, the holy relic, the water from a mysterious water
source or even the tassel of a Jesus’ cloak that causes the healing, but the
intensity of faith of those who believe that triggers their extraordinarily
rapid healing processes.
I believe in the
possibility of faith healing us physically. When I was in the Home Missions, I
anointed an old German man who had a deep, but simple faith. He had an ulcer on
his hand that had not healed for years. He wanted it to be anointed, believing
that God could heal it for him. I accommodated him without much hope, but guess
what? He came back a few weeks later and, sure enough, his ulcer was gone!
When my mother was dying
of cancer, we gathered in the living room for a celebration of the Sacrament of
the Sick. We anointed her, with prayers that she would be healed. She was not
healed physically, but she certainly was healed spiritually. After that
anointing, she accepted her condition with an amazing peace and calm from that
day forward.
Even doctors will tell
you that people have mysteriously gotten well when they are able to believe that
getting well is possible, while they have mysteriously lost patients who gave
up on their treatment.
The Church has anointed
the sick since the very beginning, but it has gone through a great
transformation in our lifetime. The oldest written gospel, Mark’s, records
these words: “They expelled many demons, anointed the sick with oil, and worked
many cures” (Mark 6:13). These original disciples passed this practice on to
their followers. We read about it in the Epistle of James: “Is there anyone
sick among you? He should ask for the presbyters (priests) of the church. They
in turn are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name (of the Lord).
This prayer uttered in faith will reclaim the one who is ill, and the Lord will
restore him to health” (James 5:14-15).
The sacrament of the
Anointing of the Sick began its demise in the twelfth century when it started
being called Extreme Unction or Last Rites. It began its comeback in 1974 when
we began to call it again by its correct name, Anointing of the Sick. For the
past eight hundred years, it was given almost exclusively to those whose death
was imminent. The person receiving it was often unconscious. Today we celebrate
this sacrament with those who are seriously ill—physically, emotionally, or
spiritually. (Let me insert this admonition. For God’s sake don’t wait till
someone is minutes away from death and then try to find a priest, unless there
is a serious accident! Worse still, don’t wait till they are dead and then call
a priest for this Sacrament! “My mother just died, will you come and give her
the Last Rites?” Call the priest when they are still conscious if possible!
Call at the beginning of their serious illness! Call it by its real name,
Anointing of the Sick, not Last Rites!)
There is no question
about it: Jesus was a faith healer. The gospels are filled with stories of
cures he brought about. There is no question either that Jesus gave his
disciples a share in this power and told them to use it. The oldest written
gospel, Mark’s, records these words: “They expelled many demons, anointed the
sick with oil, and worked many cures” (Mark 6:13).
Down through the ages,
people of every culture have believed, almost instinctively, that somewhere
there resides a healing power that can be activated under certain conditions
and that the alleviation of human suffering will follow. The power to evoke
this healing is usually attributed to holy men and women, who evoke it directly
from God through various ceremonies, such as the laying on of hands,
anointings, prayers, or the touching of relics and images. Even modern science
has admitted that these healers have often obtained dramatic results where
medical skill has failed.
How does healing work?
How do these healers effect their cures? In a nutshell, their cures are due to
the belief of the sick person that releases the healing power already resident
in the subconscious mind. The belief of the sick person, encouraged by the
“healer,” triggers an abnormal acceleration of a natural, God-given, healing
power we all carry within us. The healer elicits belief from the sick person.
That belief triggers healing power. Health is the result. This healing power
was given to us when God created us. In that sense, God is the source of all
healing.
In the New Testament, we
read about Jesus the healer. He used touch, spit, water, and words, but he
always insisted upon faith. “Because of your faith it shall be done to you,” he
told the sick (Matthew 9:29). Jesus evoked faith inside the sick. That faith
triggered healing. Health was the result. Jesus, the person cured, and the
people all around gave God the praise.
The process of all
healing is a definite, positive mental attitude, an inner attitude or way of
thinking, called faith. If you have this faith, you will get results. The
problem is getting past the skeptical conscious mind and into the subconscious
mind, where all healing takes place. The subconscious mind is very
impressionable to the power of suggestion, but the conscious mind is constantly
sabotaging the process with negative messages of “can’t happen.” Faith is an
intense, positive, “can happen” suggestion to this impressionable part of our
brain where all healing takes place. It is this part of the brain that knows
what to do to repair or heal a cut without the conscious mind’s even having to
be aware of it.
If you have a physical
ailment and you can muster the faith, the Sacrament of Anointing is for you.
Your faith and our prayers, the blessed oil, and the laying on of hands can
bring about physical healing. If you are carrying around an old grudge that is
making you sick and keeping you from enjoying life, anointing is for you. But
you must believe that you can let go of that grudge completely. Your belief and
our prayers, the blessed oil, and the laying on of hands can bring about spiritual
healing. If you feel spiritually sick, without a personal, loving contact with
God, anointing is for you. But you must want a new relationship and believe that
you can have one. Your faith in having such a relationship, our prayers, the
blessed oil, and the laying on of hands can bring about a melting of all the
resistance you have carried to such a relationship.
Faith is more powerful than you know! It can trigger healing of the body, mind and spirit! We often say, "I will believe it when I see it!" Actually, it is the other way around. "When you believe it, then you will see it!
