On Saturday night, my dad and I watched the movie, Father Stu Reborn. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the story of a man whose life is full of family heartache and personal struggles who discovers a loving God and ultimately becomes a priest … but not without trials.
As I prayed over today’s gospel, it caused me to raise a question: “What needs to be healed in your or my life?” Or, to put it a different way, like in my physical therapy days, “What hurts the most?” It’s not too hard to answer about physical pain: a knee, back, or shoulder.
But what about the emotional and the spiritual? In those areas, what do we need to be healed? In the movie, Stu Long had lots of experience with physical pain from his career as a boxer and heavy drinker, yet he always seemed to be able to recover from those injuries.
But what didn’t heal and only became worse over time, was the emotional pain of the death of his younger brother, whom he deeply loved. In addition, his parents were overcome with grief. His Dad tried to ease his pain by getting drunk and became a meanspirited father and husband, who eventually moved away.
I won’t spoil the movie by telling you more than what you can tell by the title: that Stu Long became a priest through the grace of God, his search for truth, and his courageous faith.
Every one of us develops scar tissue on our hearts, the kind that comes from disappointment, mistakes on our part, and hurtful actions of others. The reality is that we, like the people in the gospel, can approach Jesus, even as awkwardly as Stu Long, and find healing.
Sometimes, people look with envy at those who actually saw and heard Jesus while He was on earth. And, yes, that would have been incredible. But Jesus has made available to us through the Sacraments of Confession and the Sacrament of the Sick the very means of His healing power.
I’ve been blessed to experience, as a penitent and priest, hearing Confessions, the healing power of Jesus. Times when it seemed as if there was no hope became grace-filled encounters of the mercy of God and a renewal of faith.
I’ve also seen both physical and spiritual healing through the Sacrament of the Sick, both in the person who is ill and their loved ones. Recently, a woman shared that her husband, who she has been praying would return to church while in the hospital awaiting heart surgery, received the Sacrament of the Sick and gave thanks to Jesus for his getting a second chance at life.
What needs healing in our lives? It’s not easy to ask, but it's important to take an honest look and then, like those in the gospel and Stu Long, reach out to Jesus, who is waiting for us to open up.
Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
