“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.”
That’s advice I wish I’d taken sometimes when I’ve been coming down with something and think, “oh, it’ll pass.” The sick need a physician! How often have we had what we thought was a little cold or seasonal illness end up being much worse because we let it go, we didn’t want to go to the doctor?
Anyone who has battled an addiction will tell you how true this is. Many have thought, “Oh, I can stop any time I want.” But they really need that intervention, that twelve step meeting or that time with a counsellor to really do what’s needed. You cannot make any progress in wellness in any aspect of life if you don’t admit you’re sick and accept help. We all have difficulty doing that sometimes, I think, and much to our demise.
It’s important that we learn to do that in the spiritual life. If you don’t think you need a physician for your spiritual life, congratulations, you can skip Lent. In fact you don’t even need a Savior! I say that in jest, but really it’s true. Jesus is very clear today: he came to call sinners to conversion, and that includes all of us. It’s been said that the Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital for sinners. And thank God that’s true, because all of us, me and you, all of us, need the medicine of grace in our spiritual lives time and time again. And the good news is that Jesus gives us Lent to do just that. Let’s be converted, be healed, be made whole so that the glory of Easter can brighten our lives.
So our reflection this morning is two-fold. First, where and how do I need the Divine Physician in my life right now? And second, invite him in and ask him to heal us.