Saturday after Ash Wednesday
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”
– Luke 5: 31-32
Only those who admit that they are ill will find help from a doctor. If despite pain, wounds, and other symptoms of needing immediate medical attention; if in spite of all that a person still insists, “I’m fine”, there will not be an opportunity for a doctor to help. It is only when we admit that we need help, only when we are no longer “fine” with our condition, that we welcome the diagnosis and treatment the physician has to offer.
So too for our souls. If despite indulging in talking bad about others, ignoring the hunger of the poor, using Sunday for all sorts of things besides honoring the Lord at Mass and taking some rest, (all the habits to be turned away from according to Isaiah); if in spite of all that we still insist “I’m fine”, there will be no opening for Christ to help. Only when we recognize that such a life is lacking in the love, joy, peace and satisfaction that we are made for, only when we are no longer “fine” with the spiritual need in our hearts which we have numbed; only then will we find that we are ready for the healing that Christ has been waiting to offer.
This Lent, let us allow the prophets and the Evangelists to lead us in an examination of our conscience. Let us be prepared to admit our need. And let us turn to Christ anew in the sacraments: bringing our wounded hearts to Him in confession, receiving the cleansing power of his forgiveness; bringing our hunger to Him in Holy Communion, and receiving the new health and strength that the physician of our souls knows how to give since He has experienced our weakness.