By Fr Agustinus Sutiono O Carm
We find several times the healing stories performed by Jesus without having a direct encounter with Him. A syrophoenesian or Canaanite woman pleaded for her daughter who was possessed by evil spirit and she was restored, the evil spirit expelled away in the same time when Jesus said: “For such a reply, you may go. You have great faith!; the demon has left your daughter.” A similar story happened in the Gospel reading that we heard today. A centurion, who must not be an Israelite, asked Jesus through his messangers to heal his slave and his slave was healed without having a direct contact with Jesus. Interestingly, both this Syrophoenesian woman and this roman centurión gained praise from Jesus for their strong faith. Jesus said to the people and messangers of this centurion: “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
The grace of God is not limited for the people of Israel. His mercy is widely open for all nations, not a monopoly of a certain group of people. The healing of the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman and of the slave of roman centurión confirmed that truth. Thus, our merciful God is a God of all mandkind. Every heart who places his hope and faith in God opens up a spiritual channel that connects his heart to the heart of God. Everyone has the Access to God’s love and compassion. On the basis of this type of pure, simple and total hope is a virtue of humility. The heart of God is touched and moved by compassion upon knowing the existence of a living faith, a living hope in the heart of a simple and humble person. When we notice how the process of those healings happened, we may learn as well that the faith and hope of someone, who is also moved by love and compassion pleading for God’s mercy for their beloved, have the power to move God’s heart too to show mercy to them. It means that we can pray for others because of moving of compassion of heart.
It often happens that people panic themselves looking for priests to pray for their causes. Any times meeting a priest, he or she says: “Father, father, please, please pray for me, or please pray for my daughter, my son, my husband of my wife.” Why panic yourself? Regardless of their wrong perception that a priest is an agent of God, I think it is better if we do not represent tour oun heart to other people. Pray with your own heart for your own concern because you are the only one who knows the intensity of your cause. Pray with your humble heart. Pour out your heart directly to God.