By Prof. Joy Philip Kakkanattu, CMI –
In the Bible, healing and forgiveness are interrelated. This does not imply that all maladies are the result of sin. It may be too simplistic to reduce the mystery of suffering as the result of sin. However, it may help us to pay attention to the spiritual and psychological dimension of sickness. Medical science testifies that there are many physical weaknesses caused by disturbances within a person and hence it speaks of psycho-somatic illness.
Also Read:
Part I: A Biblical-Historical Perspective of Healing Ministry of the Church
Part II: New Testament Understanding on Healing
The desire for and the experience of God’s forgiveness removes the spiritual and mental stress developed due to the problem of sin, and this in turn, will lead to healing of physical sickness also. In other words, spiritual care of the sick is necessary because the human being is psycho-spiritual in nature. Human physiological health depends much on one’s psycho-spiritual health.
As the Bible amply demonstrates, moral suffering caused by the fear of death, the death of one’s own children, and especially the death of the firstborn and only son, or the lack of offspring, nostalgia for the homeland, persecution and hostility of the environment, mockery and scorn of the one who suffers, loneliness and abandonment, the remorse of conscience, the difficulty of understanding why the wicked prosper and the just suffer, the unfaithfulness and ingratitude of friends and neighbours, and finally, the misfortunes of one’s own nation (SD 6) has a “physical” or somatic element.
Application
The healing ministry of the Church draws its inspiration and mandate from the biblical understanding of God as healer of the bruised and infirm humanity. The biblical understanding of human suffering caused by physical as well as spiritual deprivations is always linked to God’s care and compassion for a hope of alleviation. God is presented as having an inclination towards the cry of the afflicted caused by various types of suffering – be it physical, psychological, interpersonal or moral.
In the OT, Yahweh, the covenant partner of Israel is always interested in caring for the maladies of Israel. The prophets accuse Israel of failure to recognize the healing power of Yahweh and of refusing to be healed. Isaiah says: From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds; they have not been drained, or bound up, or softened with oil (1:6). Israel is asked to recognise its sickness and approach the divine healer for cure.
The church is guided in her approach to suffering not only by the Gospel and Jesus, but also a precise view of human being – with God given dignity – that is, human being is not merely in need of physical medication, but also in need of holistic healing, which only will lead of shalom, well-being resulting from harmony of relationships. The Church like the suffering servant of Isa 53:4-5, should offer her time and energy for the healing of others. Thus she becomes an agent of vicarious suffering. Of course for this Jesus is the perfect model, whose altruistic death on the cross becomes a source of healing and salvation for the bruised humanity. In other words, the suffering servant gives us a countercultural model of self-giving for alleviating the pain of others, rejecting “self-sufficiency and despair, and the grace-filled wonder of life given away for others.”
As Salvifici Doloris notes: “In order to discover the profound meaning of suffering, following the revealed word of God, we must open ourselves wide to the human subject in his manifold potentiality. We must above all accept the light of Revelation not only insofar as it expresses the transcendent order of justice but also insofar as it illuminates this order with Love, as the definitive source of everything that exists. Love is: also the fullest source of the answer to the question of the meaning of suffering. This answer has been given by God to man in the Cross of Jesus Christ.” (SD 13)
At a time when diseases and patients are made a commodity for profit-oriented corporate industry of hospital networks and insurance companies, service-oriented health ministries can serve as a countercultural witness. Hence, our heath care initiatives should never be oriented towards profit and income. Pope Francis’ comment is to be noted: “Catholic healthcare institutions must not fall into the trap of simply running a business; they must be concerned with personal care more than profit.”
As we all know from history, the many hospitals built by various Christian religious institutions to provide most of the health care to the poor had open wards to give a humane face to the Church. To quote Pope Francis from his message for 27th World Day of the Sick, “A spirit of generosity ought especially to inspire Catholic healthcare institutions, whether in the more developed or the poorer areas of our world, since they carry out their activity in the light of the Gospel. Catholic facilities are called to give an example of self-giving, generosity and solidarity in response to the mentality of profit at any price, of giving for the sake of getting, and of exploitation over concern for people.”
The healing ministry of the Church should have several dimensions:
- Pastoral care of the sick demands a sympathetic and empathetic relationship to the suffering of the people, due to physical ailment caused by diseases, old age, etc. Health care initiatives of the Church are rooted in the biblical revelation of God as healer.
- It should focus more on the uplifting of the downtrodden from their malaise. Here more attention is to be given to the root causes of many of the diseases: poverty, ecological problems, pollution, etc.
- The physical healing in the Bible transcends earthily medical concerns, touching on various aspects of Israelite and Christian piety and faith. Related concepts include the mental, emotional, social, and spiritual state of the seriously ill. Hence, our healing ministry also should be more holistic in approach. Our health ministry needs to focus more on the holistic understanding of the human person as a dynamic unity of mind, body and spirit. (Kafka story)
- Following the healing ministry of Jesus, our healing ministry also needs to be programmed in such a way as to help the people with socially stigmatising diseases regain their diminished personal dignity and social acceptability.
- The Church should never forfeit the service model of the health care ministry to the growing influence of super-speciality hospital networks, which care less for the person than as subjects for experimentation with different drugs. That implies the Church should continue the tradition of our health care ministry without succumbing to the enticing influence of the more pervasive health care industry.
- As we learn from the Bible, in our illness we can confidently turn our lives over to a compassionate and incarnate God, who shares our experience and who remains the source of healing and renewal.
- Finally we should never depart from the salvific programme of God, who is both the healer and the one who identified himself with the sick. Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’”
Let me conclude with an extract from the souvenir of St. Mother Teresa.
Following your example, help us to recognize the face of Jesus in our suffering brothers and sisters and to serve Him with humility and Joy. Teach us to be carriers of God’s tender love and mercy and so bear witness that God still loves the world through each one of us.
Concluded
Prof. Dr. Joy Philip Kakkanattu, CMI is a Catholic religious priest belonging to the Congregation of the Carmelite of May Immaculate (CMI). He is a resident faculty at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK) Bengaluru for the last 13 years. He is currently the president of Catholic Biblical Association of India (CBAI). He holds a bachelor degree in Chemistry from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Licentiate in sacred Scripture from Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome and Doctorate in Theology with specialisation in Biblical Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. He is a visiting faculty to many theological institutes and formation houses. Besides scholarly articles, he writes and composes Christian devotional songs. He can be reached at: [email protected].