Presence is a powerful thing. There is nothing that compares to being in the presence of a person you love, a pet you love, or even a place you love. People, pets and places have a way of impressing themselves on your heart. For me, it was great to return home, even though my pilgrimage to Portugal, Spain and France was incredible. I saw some pictures of Benny while I was overseas, but nothing compares to getting a nice, big lick from him and giving him a hug.
The main reason I was gone for two weeks on pilgrimage was to help others encounter Jesus and Mary in a deeper way as we visited several different holy sites, and to encounter their powerful presence myself. There is definitely something powerful about the sites where Mary has appeared to different people. I celebrated Mass at the altar in Fatima, which is set up on the very spot where Mary appeared multiple times to the shepherd children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia. In Lourdes, I got to concelebrate at the altar set up right by the grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette and told her to dig to find water. Since that time, countless people have found healing from the continual flowing spring of water there. I was blessed also to concelebrate Mass where Mary appeared to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris and described to her the medal that she wanted her to have made. This medal is now known as the miraculous medal and has been worn by millions since then.
Mary’s presence is still palpable in those places. She is there with her motherly care to draw people closer to her Son, Jesus. Her presence is the reason that those places are constantly visited by people from all over the world. It is a similar impulse to that which drew both the synagogue official and the woman with the hemorrhage in the Gospel we heard this weekend. They wanted to be close to Jesus! Today, people’s faith draws them to these places where the Mother of God has appeared. They want to encounter Mary and through her, they too want to be drawn in close to Jesus.
The beautiful reality that the Father invites us to ponder today is the fact that we can encounter Jesus and Mary regardless of whether we go on pilgrimage to those holy places. They are special places of encounter, but so is every church where the Mass is celebrated! People have been drawing close to Jesus in the Mass since the earliest days of the Church, and as they hear the inspired Word of God in Sacred Scripture and receive Jesus, risen and alive, in the Holy Eucharist, they encounter God. In these holy encounters, deep healing is available to each of us, the healing that our hurting hearts need in order to make it through the difficulties this life throws our way.
And we don’t need to be troubled if the physical healings we seek don’t come. Sometimes we find ourselves in deep physical suffering, like the woman with the hemorrhage. Jesus knows our faith and sometimes does wish to grant physical healings. We shouldn’t stop requesting them from Jesus. But just as important, if not more important, is the need for healing and strengthening of our spirits, which are so often crippled by sin. When our spirits are weak, we approach Jesus wondering whether He can actually give us what we really need! This lack of faith pains our Lord’s Sacred Heart. He says to each one of us in our struggles and doubts the same thing he said to the synagogue official: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
Don’t be afraid of those bodily sufferings that seem so powerful; the Lord is with you in the midst of them to bear you up with His powerful help. Don’t be afraid of any of the trials and difficulties of the world, because Jesus tells us: “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Don’t be afraid even of death, because like that little girl, Jesus can wake you from the sleep of death with a single word and take you to that place which is beyond the sufferings of this world.
Jesus wants to give all of us at this Mass and every Mass the eyes of faith to recognize His powerful presence. He wants to help us know, with faith, that He is here with us, to raise us up when we are low, to heal and strengthen us in the ways that will most help us make it to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is our goal. The question is, will we open ourselves to His Presence here?
+ Jesus, help us have open hearts to encounter your Real Presence here in the Holy Eucharist we are about to receive. Help us to receive you in faith so that we can find the healing you so want to give us. Heal us of the faith and doubt that too often creep in to stifle the work you want to do in and through us. Lord, there is nothing like being in your presence, being in the presence of You who have loved us and known us since even before we were born. Help us each to feel the healing power of your love right now. Lord, we know that when we come into your presence, we also come into the presence of all the members of your mystical body, the Church. So we thank you this day for the blessing of being in the presence of Mary, our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, our spiritual father and all the angels and saints. Grant us deeper faith!
Father, thank you for the blessing of being in the healing presence of your Son and experiencing His touch in the Eucharist. Help us to rest in your presence as we encounter Him at this Mass. Holy Spirit, heal the wounds of our hearts so that we can more fully turn them to Jesus in faith and be healed. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. +