GENUINE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS

There were a couple of students in the Colegio who caught flu in recent days. It was probably brought about by the wet season, when students were exposed to extreme and irregular weather. After a few days of rest and taking up some medicines, they were back on their feet. Others, however, after recovering from flu, would again be absent from their classes, for they have caught the flu a second time. Even after recovering from sickness, others would not take the necessary precaution and would simply repeat what they had been doing before. Thus, they got sick again. Full recovery from illness should be accompanied by change in one's lifestyle to avoid relapsing to the same fate as before.

In the Gospel (Lk 8:1-3), the Lord healed certain people from various afflictions. Some of them were women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and others. The healing that Jesus gave to them brought not only physical health and comfort. The Lord strengthened their drooping spirits too. This is evident in the new ways they trod (following Jesus) after being healed.  They followed Him and even accompanied Him in His preaching ministry together with His apostles. The full restoration of one's health is manifested in the new life a person assumes. After suffering so much trouble due to sickness, one is truly healed as he learns the causes of his illness. As he recovers, he would try his best to avoid the things that may have caused him his sickness. He would change the course of his life, and ways of living just so he may maintain his newly regained strength. The women who had been healed by the Lord may have had a different kind of life and profession (sinful) that may have led them to sickness. But once they met Jesus, they were healed. They were changed. That was an authentic and genuine change. They were transformed into becoming like Jesus, providing for their preaching band out of their own resources.

St. Paul urges us (1 Tim 6:2C-12) “As children of God, we are to pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.” After our baptism, we become children of God, healed from the afflictions of original sin, and directed towards God our Father. 

We often meet Jesus. We experience His healing presence in the Eucharist. But have we truly been changed? Have we genuinely appropriated our way of life into the life He desires for us to live? Or rather, after being healed, we simply tread the same path? Same, same lang? Balik sa dating gawi?