Help with Healing

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to treat the decay and desperation we encounter at times with the healing example of care, compassion, and love offered by Christ for everyone.

Healing and Hope

The Reading from the First Letter of John proclaims that Faith is Victory over the World.

* [5:6–12] Water and blood (1 Jn 5:6) refers to Christ’s baptism (Mt 3:16–17) and to the shedding of his blood on the cross (Jn 19:34). The Spirit was present at the baptism (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:32, 34). The testimony to Christ as the Son of God is confirmed by divine witness (1 Jn 5:7–9), greater by far than the two legally required human witnesses (Dt 17:6). To deny this is to deny God’s truth; cf. Jn 8:17–18. The gist of the divine witness or testimony is that eternal life (1 Jn 5:11–12) is given in Christ and nowhere else. To possess the Son is not acceptance of a doctrine but of a person who lives now and provides life. (1 John, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 147 praises the creator who provides food to animals and human beings; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created.

* [Psalm 147] The hymn is divided into three sections by the calls to praise in Ps 147:1, 7, 12. The first section praises the powerful creator who restores exiled Judah (Ps 147:1–6); the second section, the creator who provides food to animals and human beings; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created and made the place of disclosure for God’s word, a word as life-giving as water (Psalms, PSALM 147 | USCCB, n.d.).

The Gospel of Luke presents the Cleansing of a Leper by Jesus.

* [5:12] Full of leprosy: see note on Mk 1:40.

* [5:14] Show yourself to the priest…what Moses prescribed: this is a reference to Lv 14:2–9 that gives detailed instructions for the purification of one who had been a victim of leprosy and thereby excluded from contact with others (see Lv 13:45–46, 49; Nm 5:2–3). That will be proof for them: see note on Mt 8:4. (Luke, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

 

David Crawford comments that we can learn a lot from this “man full of leprosy” who received the gift of being healed.  He did not resign himself to suffering.  Instead, desiring to be healed, he brought his illness to Jesus and asked for healing – a good lesson for us all.  Our Alleluia verse reminds us that Jesus “cured every disease among the people,” so we should bring all our afflictions to Jesus – physical, emotional, spiritual … all of them.

But we can’t overlook what followed, how powerful a witness the man became, not because of anything he said but because it was apparent to everyone that he had been healed and changed.  We, too, have that potential to show the impact Jesus has had and continues to have on our lives …  to borrow the words of an old hymn, “let others see Jesus in you.”  We must surrender our anxieties, fears and doubts so that we can fully experience the joy that comes from Christ, so much so that it will be apparent to everyone that we have been healed and transformed.  We must give up our angers, frustrations, insecurities and judgmentalism so that we can truly love our neighbors and ourselves.  We must forgive and be forgiven so that our relationships with one another and with God can be restored.  We must swap self-centeredness for compassion and arrogance for humility so that caring for the “least” ones (i.e., the hungry, the thirsty, the unwelcomed stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned listed by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46) becomes second nature – and as we, with service and compassion, show others they are loved, we will be powerful witnesses, just like the man healed of leprosy in today’s Gospel. (Crawford, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes “Jesus' healing demonstrates the power of the kingdom of heaven,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

"The authority of power in the Lord is here compared with the steadfastness of faith manifest in the leper (Luke 5:12-13). He fell on his face because it is a mark of humility and modesty that each feel shame for the sins of his life, but shyness did not restrict his confession. He showed the wound, he begged for the remedy, and the very confession is full of piety and faith. 'If you will,' it says, 'you can make me clean'" He conceded the power to the Lord's will. But he doubted concerning the Lord's will, not as if unbelieving in piety, but as if aware of his own impurity, he did not presume. The Lord replies to him with a certain holiness. 'I will: be clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.' For there is nothing between God's command and his work, because the work is in the command. Thus he spoke, and they came into being (Psalm 33:9). You see that it cannot be doubted that the will of God is power. If, therefore, his will is power, those who affirm that the Trinity is of One will affirm that it is of one power. Thus the leprosy departed immediately. In order that you may understand the effect of healing, he added truth to the work." (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 5.2-3) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 John 5:5-13 shares that belief, John tells us, goes beyond intellectually accepting a doctrine of the Church. It also involves accepting the “testimony” of three core elements of Jesus’ life: “the Spirit, the water, and the Blood” (1 John 5:8, 9).

The Spirit testified to Jesus from the very start. It was the Spirit who overshadowed Mary at her Annunciation so that she conceived a child who would “be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35)...

The water testified to Jesus when John baptized him in the Jordan River. It enveloped him and covered him with all the sins of the world—including our own—so that he could carry them to the cross… 

The blood testified to Jesus when it flowed from his hands, feet, and side on the cross. As it spilled out onto the earth, that precious blood bore with it the power of Jesus’ love even for those who caused him such agony:

The Spirit who fills us. The water that refreshes us and brings us joy. And the blood that redeems us. Holding fast to these three witnesses, we can overcome everything!

“All praise to you, Jesus, for giving me a share in your victory!” (Meditation on 1 John 5:5-13, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that the reading in the last chapter of 1 John is a concluding message. It reminds us the “world” is that part of reality that opposes Jesus as the author warns of concupiscence in our environment. Jesus' testimony is presented in water, blood, Spirit and Flesh. The Passage implies Jesus coming in the Spirit in the Water of Baptism and in the Body in the Eucharist. We live in Jesus through the Sacraments. We are already living His promise when He lives in us In life.  The leper asks Jesus for healing and He extends His cleanliness to the leper. In Luke, Jesus tries to fulfill the commandments of the Law. Note that as a Stoic, Luke would hold to a pattern in life from God. Friar Jude reminds us that just as Jesus goes to a desert place to recharge, we have to recharge too, so we renew our will to follow Christ.

Father Richard Rohr introduces Episcopal Bishop Barbara Harris (1930–2020) who describes how encountering Jesus offers each of us an opportunity to make a choice for wisdom.

My friends, we thirst after many things in this world. We thirst after money, power, prestige, position. We put our trust in them; we may even pray for them. But like our Lord, we are at a crossroads in the church and in society. We still have a choice and the question our Lord is asking us is, “Do we have a thirst for the kingdom?”

Jesus is asking us, “Are we content to settle for the temporary thirst quenchers of life: the material values of this world, the right connections, the proper credentials, the things on which this society places so much value, things that will never slake the thirst of your parched, dry souls? Or do you thirst for righteousness, for peace, for justice, for the liberation of all God’s people?” (Rohr, n.d.)

We are reminded that the Sacraments provide a real connection with the healing and support offered by Christ to the workers in His vineyard as they strive to cultivate full life in the Kingdom of God.

References

Crawford, D. (2026, January 9). Daily Reflection January 9, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved January 9, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-january-9-2026 

Luke, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 9, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/5?12 

Meditation on 1 John 5:5-13. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved January 9, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/01/09/1477008/ 

1 John, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 9, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1john/5?5 

Psalms, PSALM 147 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 9, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/147?12 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). A Thirst for the Good News. CAC.org. Retrieved January 9, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-thirst-for-the-good-news/

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Lord, You Can Make Me Clean. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 9, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Grace and Growth

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to assess the tensions in our life that threaten to draw us away from the nourishment of communion with God and people that is necessary for our growth.

Growth in Season

The Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans contrasts The Flesh and the Spirit.

* [8:1–13] After his warning in Rom 7 against the wrong route to fulfillment of the objective of holiness expressed in Rom 6:22, Paul points his addressees to the correct way. Through the redemptive work of Christ, Christians have been liberated from the terrible forces of sin and death. Holiness was impossible so long as the flesh (or our “old self”), that is, self-interested hostility toward God (Rom 8:7), frustrated the divine objectives expressed in the law. What is worse, sin used the law to break forth into all manner of lawlessness (Rom 8:8). All this is now changed. At the cross God broke the power of sin and pronounced sentence on it (Rom 8:3). Christians still retain the flesh, but it is alien to their new being, which is life in the spirit, namely the new self, governed by the holy Spirit. Under the direction of the holy Spirit Christians are able to fulfill the divine will that formerly found expression in the law (Rom 8:4). The same Spirit who enlivens Christians for holiness will also resurrect their bodies at the last day (Rom 8:11). Christian life is therefore the experience of a constant challenge to put to death the evil deeds of the body through life of the spirit (Rom 8:13). (Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 24 accompanied a ceremony of the entry of God into the Temple.

* [Psalm 24] The Psalm apparently accompanied a ceremony of the entry of God (invisibly enthroned upon the ark), followed by the people, into the Temple. The Temple commemorated the creation of the world (Ps 24:1–2). The people had to affirm their fidelity before being admitted into the sanctuary (Ps 24:3–6; cf. Ps 15). A choir identifies the approaching God and invites the very Temple gates to bow down in obeisance (Ps 24:7–10). (Psalms, PSALM 24 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke presents A Call to Repentance using The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.

* [13:1] The slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate is unknown outside Luke; but from what is known about Pilate from the Jewish historian Josephus, such a slaughter would be in keeping with the character of Pilate. Josephus reports that Pilate had disrupted a religious gathering of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim with a slaughter of the participants (Antiquities 18:86–87), and that on another occasion Pilate had killed many Jews who had opposed him when he appropriated money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem (Jewish War 2:175–77; Antiquities 18:60–62).

* [13:4] Like the incident mentioned in Lk 13:1 nothing of this accident in Jerusalem is known outside Luke and the New Testament.

* [13:6–9] Following on the call to repentance in Lk 13:1–5, the parable of the barren fig tree presents a story about the continuing patience of God with those who have not yet given evidence of their repentance (see Lk 3:8). The parable may also be alluding to the delay of the end time, when punishment will be meted out, and the importance of preparing for the end of the age because the delay will not be permanent (Lk 13:8–9). (Luke, CHAPTER 13|USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Anish Kochanichottil, SJ, comments that the story of the fig tree and the gardener is, at its heart, a story of hope and patience.

The gardener sees beyond my present barrenness and believes in what I can still become. He pleads for another chance, trusting that with care, pruning, and time, there will be new growth. Often, those painful moments of pruning, correction, struggle, or loss are the gardener’s way of helping me grow stronger and more fruitful.

It is said that nothing that only takes and never gives can truly live. The barren fig tree drew life from the soil but gave nothing in return. In life, too, we are called not only to receive but to give, to put back more than we take. In the end, we are all debtors to life. We have received love, faith, and freedom through the sacrifices of others. Our task is to pass them on, bearing fruit that nourishes others and leaves the world a little better than we found it. (Kochanichottil, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The Lord's three visits through the Patriarchs, Prophets, and the Gospel,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"The Lord also has something very fitting to say about a fruitless tree, 'Look, it is now three years that I have been coming to it. Finding no fruit on it, I will cut it down, to stop it blocking up my field.' The gardener intercedes... This tree is the human race. The Lord visited this tree in the time of the patriarchs, as if for the first year. He visited it in the time of the law and the prophets, as if for the second year. Here we are now; with the gospel the third year has dawned. Now it is as though it should have been cut down, but the merciful one intercedes with the merciful one. He wanted to show how merciful he was, and so he stood up to himself with a plea for mercy. 'Let us leave it,' he says, 'this year too. Let us dig a ditch around it.' Manure is a sign of humility. 'Let us apply a load of manure; perhaps it may bear fruit.' Since it does bear fruit in one part, and in another part does not bear fruit, its Lord will come and divide it. What does that mean, 'divide it'? There are good people and bad people now in one company, as though constituting one body." (excerpt from Sermon 254.3) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 13:1-9 asks “Who would have thought that animal waste could be so important?” But that’s exactly why Jesus included it in his parable of the fig tree. He was saying that God often uses the messy “fertilizer” in our lives to help us grow.

You may look at your life as it is right now and wonder whether your potential will ever emerge. You may look at your current circumstance and wonder how God could possibly be working in it. But don’t just look at whatever mess you might be in; look at the One who is actively at work to transform you through it. And follow his lead. When you practice patience in suffering, when you speak a word of peace rather than division, you are telling him that you are willing to trust him. Never underestimate what the Master Gardener can do when you let him go to work!

“Jesus, help me to bear fruit for your kingdom!” (Meditation on Luke 13:1-9, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that, in Romans, Paul contrasts the flesh with the spirit and our concupiscence that takes us from what God wants. The Spirit wants, to fill us with the life of God and live it in our everyday life and be aware of the things they may take us away even seemingly small things of health, judgement of others and neglecting their dignity. Jesus looks at accidents and disasters to take it as a warning and convert as in funerals or accidents that we should take note. The fruit tree, cut down after three years, seems too short, but Friar Jude has learned that the young tree is actually left to build in the fifth, sixth or seventh year to bear fruit after the perfect number in time. Friar Jude notes the tree is given another year, even after the perfect amount of time, and is a gracious extension. Friar Jude notes there is a time of judgement and we consider that today is the day we might meet the Lord.

Fr. Mike Schmitz gives us context for the beginning of 2 Maccabees and recounts the story of Nehemiah’s discovery of the sacred fire. He also offers a reflection for those struggling with grief and death, which serves as a reminder to all about the blessing of our lives and the lives of those we love. Today’s readings are 2 Maccabees 1, Sirach 40-41, and Proverbs 24:1-7.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces social justice movement lawyer Alison McCrary who offers ten practices to create a contemplative foundation that supports the work for justice.

As we work for this [more just] future as people on a spiritual journey, engaging in action for liberation in accordance with our Christian tradition, we are called to cultivate a contemplative life. “Contemplative activism” can be embodied through these ten practices:  

1. Ground ourselves in spiritual practices. Know our practices. Cultivate an inner life. 

2. Decolonize our lives and the systems that perpetuate colonized behaviors and mentalities. 

3. Listen deeply to others, especially those on the margins of the margins. 

4. Have a willingness to challenge power and build collective power. 

5. Follow the leadership of those closest to the pain or the problem. 

6. Build genuine relationships with those you are working with and advocating for. 

7. Cultivate community and care. 

8. Maintain an ever-evolving and deepening political analysis, values, and language. 

9. Take risks. 

10. Hold onto radical hope. 

Each of the above practices also calls us to cultivate a practice of presence: to the divine, within our bodies, with our feelings (grief, joy, despair, hope), to and with another person, in the face of a person or institution causing harm, with nature, and to what is wanting to be revealed and created…. 

Being present, living into the ten practices of a contemplative activist, and staying grounded in our contemplative practices can awaken us to a new awareness of the divine dwelling within and among us as we work for good and move Martin Luther King Jr.’s “arc of justice” toward liberation. (Rohr, n.d.)

We ponder the “fertilizer” in our life that is the sign that God is offering the support we need, perhaps in contemplative activism, to enrich the harvest of love, faith, and hope in our environment.

References

Kochanichottil, A. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-october-25-2025 

Luke, CHAPTER 13|USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/13?1 

Meditation on Luke 13:1-9. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/10/25/1414199/ 

Psalms, PSALM 24 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/24?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC.org. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/christianity-a-living-tradition-weekly-summary/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?1 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Unless You Repent - You Will Perish. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/