It was a shocking moment for onlookers: a man full of leprosy comes close to Jesus and throws himself down. Jesus touches him and he is immediately cured. Leprosy was not only horrifying to people at that time, the Levitical Law even mandated that those with leprosy be declared unclean and live in isolation!
Yet Jesus reaches out and touches him.
Healing miracles in the Gospels are intended to show the power and authority of the Christ who worked them, calling all to believe that truly the Kingdom of God was and is among us. This week we celebrate that Epiphany. In Greek Epiphany means MANIFESTION: The cure of the leper is an epiphany event showing symbolically how Christ comes to heal deep wounds within us and between us that separate and isolate us! How we have all felt the pain of isolation during Covid! But still that is only the tip of the iceberg of wounds, typically in families, of separation, division, grudges, and resentment. How are they to be healed?
Our Lady chose Father Patrick Peyton for another epiphany event, in our times, particularly for families. After Patrick Peyton was, himself, miraculously healed from tuberculosis, Our Lady used him to spread her call to Family Prayer of the Rosary in a way that was anointed with grace! The source of healing of wounds and divisions in families IS CHRIST HIMSELF. The way to it is in HIM, in and through the Encounter with Him that leads us on the road to a new way of being and living.
That meeting, the living Encounter with Him that we are to return to each day, over and over: this is what we call prayer! PRAYER! In essence, it’s so simple. Our Lady sent Father Peyton to call families to this prayer! The Rosary is her school of prayer to guide us to this Encounter.
Father Peyton was born on January 9, so, as has become our custom in Family Rosary, we spend the first nine days of each year praying a Novena of Rosaries for the Family, concluding on the Day of his birth. As the whole Church celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord, this a way of praying for an epiphany of strength and healing for all our families. If you have been praying with us already or if perhaps you are just hearing of this Novena, I say, please, let’s continue to pray intently now and with deep and steadfast faith as we come to this Sunday, January 9, the 113th anniversary of Father Peyton’s birth. The family that prays together stays together.
To download the meditations and prayers for the Rosary Novena for Families please visit: https://www.familyrosary.org/advent
