3rd Sunday - Rejoice in God's Healing

 
This is the third Sunday of Advent called “Gaudete” Sunday or “Rejoice Sunday”. Today, we light the rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath, the priest wears rose colored vestments and the Church celebrates with joy.

We should celebrate because we are more than halfway to Christmas! Today’s first reading, from the prophet Zephaniah tells us God rejoices. The Lord rejoices because the waiting time is over. Just as God’s people longed for the Messiah, think about how much Jesus longed to come in the world! How happy He must be when He came to earth as a little baby to eventually redeem humanity by His Cross and Resurrection.

God exults when we accept the salvation He has for us. Each person who turns to Him-- makes the Lord’s Heart sing with gladness. He rejoices over one repentant sinner. He rejoices each time He renews us in His love. He delights to take each wound and heal it. To take each sin and forgive it. To take each hurt and soothe it. Every time we come to Him with our needs or open our hearts to His healing, He rejoices. He rejoices when comes in our heart in Holy Communion. He rejoices when we come before His Eucharistic presence in Adoration. He rejoices when we turn to Him in all our needs.

A few weeks ago, I said we should go to God first before we call a doctor or a dentist or marriage counselor. Not that we don’t go to them, but we first should go to God and then to them. God works through them and we should thank Him for helping us.

I also mentioned how I was healed of lactose intolerance after over 25 years. The Lord wants to help us in all our needs. He wants us to depend upon Him and by doing so, God rejoices because then we are not turning to the world or to think we can solve our own problems without God.

Confession is the primary place for us to be healed of sins and that is why we should to confess frequently. Through Confession not only are our sins forgiven, but we receive graces to overcome our sins. Through Confession we discover God’s infinite mercy. In Confession our soul is washed in the blood of Jesus. The more often we go to Confession the quicker we overcome sins. We sin less and less. God rejoices when He is able to alleviate misery caused by our sins. Jesus rejoices over one repentant sinner. He said, “When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep. For he was once lost has been found.” Confession is a primary way God wants to heal our soul and He rejoices when He does.

But God also wants to heal other wounds, such as wounded emotions or trauma’s in our life. Have you ever wondered why you keep having angry thoughts towards someone even though you have forgiven them? This is because our emotions are also wounded. We can’t control our emotions perfectly because we suffer from original sin. Can someone stop laughing hysterically, or someone crying can’t immediately stop crying. We are not robots or computers. When someone hurts us, often our emotions are hurt as well. When our emotions are wounded, they can be somewhat healed in confession when we confess our un-forgivess or our anger. But God has given us supplemental means to heal our emotions, such as through prayer, love and good works. Through St. Ignatius of Loyola’s discernment of spirits, we can discern the difference between a desolation and a consolation. A desolation is not of God, such as anger, depression, or unhealthy fears. By using his prayer method from his Spiritual Exercises Jesus can and wants to heal our emotions and even do physical healings.

Here are some examples: If a child was made fun of for being overweight, she may end up becoming anorexic. Because there is a fear of being overweight and fear of being made fun of. So if these emotions are healed, the fears go away and the child no longer has an unhealthy image of herself.

Another example. If a person is traveling 65 miles an hour and suddenly someone runs a stop sign and there is no time to stop and there is a terrible accident. The people who ran the stop sign are killed and the driver of the car going down the highway is unhurt. Its not the fault of the person traveling down the highway, but the person develops false guilt and they have a fear of driving. The accident haunts the mind of the person who survived. But if the emotions of false guilt and fear of driving are healed the haunting image goes away and the person lives in reality—it was a terrible accident, but it was not the drivers fault and there is no longer any fear of driving again.

Attached to the bulletin this weekend is a method of prayer, which can and will heal emotions. This prayer method can also be used for physical healings, such my lactose intolerance or diabetes. I used this prayer method to be healed of the fear of talking in front of a group of people, which was due to a play I was in when I was a child. To me, it was a greater healing to be healed of that fear than to be healed physically. Personally, I have always been healed of emotions when I have prayed it.

I will briefly describe the method. First, you close your eyes and picture Jesus and Mary standing before you. Then you say, “Jesus, your looking at me and I am looking at you. Mary, you are looking at me and I am looking at you.” Repeat this a few more times.

Then read a short scripture about the life of Jesus and place yourself in the scriptural event, such as Jesus calming the water. You see the disciples trying to guide the boat but its being tossed about in the waves and wind. Then suddenly Jesus stands up and calms the water and says, “Be calm!” Then He looks at you and says, “Why were you afraid?”

Then ask Jesus for a specific healing with regard to a past event or to heal a particular fear or emotion of some sort. Then in your mind re-experience the event as it first occurred and allow your self to each emotion that went with it. So if you were humiliated by a bully - feel what you felt at the time it occurred. Feel the anger toward the bully and the embarrassment or perhaps the depression or helplessness it caused. Stay with the emotion until it slowly dies down. As the emotion is dying down Jesus is healing you. Then later you no longer have periods of helplessness or times when your anger would have suddenly come out. It no longer bothers you. Then thank the Lord for healing you. If the event was very traumatic, you may need to repeat the exorcise several times for a full healing.

It’s very helpful to do this during your Holy Hour or to do it in the privacy of your room. I personally think adoration is best as long as no other people are present. There is nothing wrong with crying in the presence of Jesus or allowing anger to come out in the presence of Jesus. He knows and experiences all of your feelings and thoughts. Our loving Lord wants to heal your wounded emotions and soothe your heart afflicted by the pain you experienced.

Before you do this, its important to be in the state of grace, so we should have confessed any mortal sins. Otherwise, Jesus may not be able to heal you as He would like. What event or emotion in your life do want Jesus to heal? God can and does heal wounded emotions. If you would like some help in doing this, give me a call.

First allow Jesus to heal your soul by coming to Confession and He and you will rejoice in God’s mercy. Second allow Jesus to heal the wounds of your past life. Whether that’s your emotion from the way you were treated, and from a traumatic event. This method of prayer is especially helpful for veterans, policemen and first responders, who experience terrible tragedies. Just imagine going through rubble from a tornado finding hurt people from a tornado.

God wants to rejoice in healing you from the miseries of your life. Give Him the opportunity. As St. Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always! I shall say it again: Rejoice! Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

O Mary, Mother of the afflicted, by your motherly intercession ask Jesus to heal our wounded heart so that we rejoice by experiencing the tender healing mercy of Jesus.