Father's Reflection 7.7.24

I just returned from the Encounter Conference in Toledo, Ohio with 19 parishioners. The environment of 3,500 people praising God and bringing their expectant faith was very conducive for healing of mind, body, and soul. In fact, during the physical healing service, there were already hundreds of people that reported 80% or better healing in conditions that were measurable, including restoration of hearing and even a tooth being grown back! Amazing! This is to say nothing of the healing of mind and soul that many more experienced.

I am passionate about bringing Jesus’ healing to those who are hurting, and I have found there are some inner healing steps that consistently help open our bodies and souls to receive His healing love. We saw these at work at the conference, and I thought I would share them for everyone’s benefit:

1. Repentance - Sin is the worst kind of sickness, and if we apologize to God because of our love for Him, this helps open our body to be healed. Jesus forgave sins of the paralytic lowered through the roof and then physically healed him to prove His power to forgive sins.

2. Forgiveness of others - Forgiveness isn’t about a feeling or forgetting the hurts done to us. It’s about the choice(s) we make to release another of the debt that they owe us because we have first been forgiven a much larger, infinite debt by Jesus. We can and should have good boundaries from toxic influences in our life while at the same time saying as often as we have been hurt or feel that anger in our hearts: “Jesus, I forgive (their name) for (whatever they did).” Forgiveness is so important that Jesus wove it into the “Our Father”: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

3. Forgiveness of ourselves - Sometimes we don’t feel the relief of being forgiven by Jesus because we have yet to forgive ourselves of what He has already forgiven. Again, this is more about the choice to say, ideally out loud, something like, “Jesus, I forgive myself for (whatever we did). Thank You for Your mercy; Jesus, I trust in You.” 

4. Renouncing lies - We can believe all kinds of lies that also make it hard to receive Jesus’ healing: “I’m being punished by God. Other people have it so much worse than me; why would God care about my smaller suffering? If I am healed, then others might not be (there’s not enough to go around). I have to earn my healing.” Again, it can be helpful to renounce these out loud: “Jesus, I renounce the lie that…” And affirm the truth: “Jesus, I embrace the truth that You love me and heal me freely, and You care about even my small sufferings”, etc. Jesus calls Himself the Truth and the devil the Father of Lies; when we live in the truth, we live in Him!

5. Surrender control - If we surrender our lives and our concerns over to Jesus, we give Him permission to work miracles in our life! He respects our free will and waits for us to trust in His care for us rather than trying to fix everything ourselves. We go to all kinds of doctors, take all kinds of medicines, and undergo lots of surgeries for healing; why is it any more presumptuous for us to ask the Divine Physician directly for healing?! “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will” (Mark 11:24).

Regardless of whether you are seeking physical, emotional, or spiritual healing, I think you will find these 5 different kinds of prayer very fruitful and will experience a new level of peace in His love for you!

Rejoice in hope,

Fr. Joel