“Wholeness and Holiness” – Fr. Bob’s Homily for Sunday, February 11, 2024

I am sure that you have heard the term “holistic healing”, based on the belief that the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of a person are closely interconnected both in the development of illness and recovery. These days, when treating physical infirmities, a doctor is much more ready to consider the effects of heredity and lifestyle, diet and nutrition as contributory causes to the sickness. I am indebted to Deacon Louis for opening up my eyes to the role proper eating habits can play in treating various diseases, and I must say that he certainly is a good example of its effectiveness. 

As someone who has carried out inner healing for many years, I have come to realize and appreciate the importance of understanding the underlying causes of physical sickness, which lie in the mind and heart and spirit of a person. Unforgiveness, resentment, negative feelings about oneself, all of this and more can lead to a person suffering such diseases as cancer, heart issues, arthritis and more besides. If I am praying with someone who exhibits symptoms like these, I will often gently question them to find out if there is someone in their life whom they need to forgive, even if it themselves or God, or family members, and , if so, I will lead them into repentance and forgiveness before proceeding to pray for the physical symptoms

It may be a surprise to learn that this awareness of the interaction between body and spirit is not new. It goes back even into biblical times. As clearly seen in the book of Job as well as numerous other biblical texts, common Jewish thought was that physical suffering was the result of sin and physical well-being the reward for doing God’s will. As the book of Job shows, such a way of thinking can lead to a too facile belief that, if something bad happens to you, like sickness or tragedy, it must be because you are a sinner, since God never lets bad things happen to good people. So leprosy, for instance, was considered a physical manifestation of a spiritual illness. In that context, it is not surprising that the Jewish priest, as we see in our first reading, was both the spiritual and medical authority of his community and the person to whom the leper would go both for diagnosis as well as restoration into the community.

As an aside, I am so glad that this practice has long since been discarded, as I am not sure I would have continued my seminary training if I had known I would have to spend some of my priesthood examining people with various blotches and blemishes on their skin to see if they had leprosy or not! However, there is still a connection here with the priest’s role today, as leader and representative of the parish community. This is not to do with leprosy of the body, but leprosy of the spirit, which is sin. Sin held in and not confessed can lead to various mental and emotional, as well as physical symptoms, as I have already pointed out. Someone who has sinned has weakened both his relationship with God, but also with the community he is a part of. Strictly speaking, he or she should ask forgiveness both of God, but also of his brothers and sisters in Christ. Since, in any fairly large parish, it would be impractical to have someone coming to confession to go and ask forgiveness of all the other members of the parish, the role of forgiving the sinner on behalf of God and the community fell to the priest.

Nowadays, with the practice of private confession, this dual role of the priest is hard to see. Someone, however, recently asked me “Why do I have to confess my sins to a priest? Why can’t I just say, “I’m sorry” in the privacy of my own heart?” I explained to them that the priest represents both God and the community, both of which relationships have been offended and weakened by a person’s sin. If you ever hear anyone asking the same question, or if you personally have wondered the same thing, there is your answer.

Our responsorial psalm today expresses the idea of a link between sin and suffering, or, we might say, between wholeness and holiness. The psalm needs to be read in its entirety to get that point. In the verses not read today, the psalmist says that “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away. / I went around groaning all day long / For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was all dried up”. The writer is describing vividly the effect serious unconfessed sin can have on a person’s physical, and emotional, well-being, driving them at last, in their distress, to make a confession of their sin and, thereby, experience joy and freedom, and lightness of heart. I hope you have experienced that sometime yourselves, brothers and sisters, for I certainly have.

The psalm today goes on to draw the lesson of keeping short accounts with the Lord, in other words the benefits of regular confession: “Happy the one whose offence is forgiven . . . so let every good person pray to you in their time of distress . . .I acknowledged my sins, my guilt I did not hide. And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin . . . So, let every faithful one pray to you in the time of their distress…for you surround me with great joy as you deliver me . . . Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright of heart healing?”