Touching the Healer in the Eucharist

We all know there are many ways in which healing can occur. For example, many people are healed when they are anointed with holy oil, particularly in the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15, NAB). We also know that many people are healed through the laying on of hands. Jesus said, “These signs will accompany those who believe…; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mk 16:17-18).

In Matthew 8:5-13 and in Luke 7:1-10 we see how Jesus healed the centurion’s servant without being physically present with the boy, and he exorcised the daughter of the Canaanite woman from a distance (see Matthew 15:22-28 and Mark 7:25-30). Remarkable if we have deep faith in Jesus, we are empowered to heal just as he did (see John 14:12).

Nonetheless, in spite of the avenues of healing by anointing, laying on of hands, prayers of petition, and intercession, healing through the Eucharist is by far the greatest way healing can occur. The Eucharist is a healing sacrament because, in receiving this sacrament, we are touching Jesus, the Healer himself, and he is touching us. If we fail to focus on Christ, and if this focus is not a primary dynamic in our spiritual life, our prayer will be flaccid and inefficacious. To understand this spiritual principle, we need only to recall the episode in Matthew 14:22-26 and Mark 6:45-56, when the disciples left Jesus on the shore to pray one evening, while they went on ahead of him to Bethsaida in their boat. In the middle of the night, they saw Jesus walking toward them on the sea and were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they cried out in fear. But Jesus reassured them: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

The passage in Matthew recounts how Peter then said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” So Jesus commanded him to come. Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on the water, just as he saw Jesus do. He was fine until a squall suddenly set the water into a turbulence. Realizing how strong the wind was, he became frightened and began to sink. He took his eyes off Jesus; he was no  longer focused on Christ. He focused on the problem rather than on the problem-solver. As a result, he began to sink. Jesus reached down and pulled him back to the surface of the water with a handclasp. “O you of little faith! Why did you doubt?” he asked.

When we take our eyes off Jesus and when we stop having that Christ-centered focus in our spirituality – especially in our eucharistic spirituality – we will find ourselves swamped with the churning waters of our problems. Consequently, we become far more concerned with our problems than with encountering the One who can solve them. It is so difficult to “see first the kingdom of God” and to focus on the Lord when we are preoccupied with our petty little problems. We learn from this passage in Matthew that we must make it our priority to focus on Christ rather than looking at the waves, the turbulence, and the issues of life around us. The easiest way to focus on and encounter him is by a personal devotion to him in the Eucharist.

Jesus says, “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28, NAB). Do we accept this invitation? Do we really come to him? There are many ways we can come to Jesus, such as through prayer. But to come to him in a personal, physical, and sacramental way, and at the same time to encounter him in his corporate presence in the liturgical assembly, is something totally different. Every time we celebrate Mass together and receive Holy Communion, we are coming to Jesus in these very special ways. This is the premiere form of encountering Christ, the form with remarkable effects. We should cultivate these forms of union with him in a devout way, lest the Mass become ritualistic, routine, or mechanical. We have to be on guard that our eucharistic devotion does not deteriorate. Indeed, we must make every effort to preserve a union with the Healer in which healing can take place in the ambience of his love, within us and among us.

This means learning how to relax in God’s arms, or in the words of Jesus, “to abide” in him. He abides in us when he comes into our hearts at Communion. But do we abide in him? Do we relax in his arms? Do we let ourselves be hugged into holiness and wholeness? All we have to do is surrender in love.

It can be said that, it some way, this eucharistic liturgy is the answer to all of life’s problems. We can encounter love in its most pristine form in Jesus – love personified in the assembly spiritually, and in Communion physically, the one who loves the Father and who is beloved by the Father. Let us remember Jesus’ promise to us: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love” (Jn 15:9, RSV, emphasis added).

Jesus communicates God’s love to us through his humanity as well as his divinity. When we encounter him, we also encounter well as his divinity. When we encounter him, we also encounter the Father (see John 14:7-10) and the Holy Spirit (see John 14:16-17). We are immersed in the very heart of the Trinity, in the very heart of God. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16, RSV).

This excerpt is from the book The Healing Power of the Eucharist, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Books, an imprint of St. Anthony Messenger Press. This and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.