Day 13: His Healing Touch and Voice

I would love to share your testimony with others of how the Lord has touched your life and brought healing to you through this retreat. You can simply reply to the email you received if you’re on my mailing list or go here. Just write a few sentences or a short paragraph. It can be anonymous if you choose.

WE are not abandoned. We are not orphaned…

Let us begin Day 13: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Come Holy Spirit, Divine Comforter, and fill me with Your presence. More so, fill me with a trust that even when I cannot feel my God as I wish, even when I cannot hear His own voice, even when I cannot see His face with my eyes, that I will love Him yet in all the ways He comes to me. Yes, come to me in my weakness. Increase my faith and purify my heart, for “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” I ask this through Jesus Christ my Lord, amen.

IT was a stormy winter night that evening in New Hampshire. I was scheduled to give a parish mission, but it was snowing hard. I told the parish priest that if he needed to cancel, I understood. “No, we need to continue, even if only one soul comes.” I agreed.

Eleven people weathered the blizzard. Fr. began the night by exposing the Blessed Sacrament on the altar. I knelt down and began to quietly strum my guitar. I sensed the Lord say in my heart that someone there did not believe in His Real Presence on the altar. Suddenly, words just popped into my head, and I began to sing them:

Mystery upon mystery
Candles burning, my soul yearning for You

You are the Grain of Wheat for us Your lambs to eat
Jesus, here You are…

I would literally sing one line and the next one was right there:

In the disguise of Bread, it’s just as You said
Jesus, here You are…

When the song finished, I could hear someone weeping in the small gathering. I knew the Spirit was working, and I just needed to get out of the way. I gave a brief message and we went back to adoring Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

At the end of the evening, I saw a small gathering in the middle of the aisle and went over. Standing there was a middle-aged woman, tears streaming down her face. She looked at me and said, “20 years of therapy, 20 years of self-help tapes and books… but tonight, I was healed.”

When I arrived back home in Canada, I recorded that song, which we can make part of our opening prayer today…

Here You Are

Mystery upon mystery
Candles burning, my soul yearning for You

You are the Grain of Wheat, for us Your lambs to eat
Jesus, here You are
In the disguise of Bread, it’s just as You said
Jesus, here You are

Holy place, meeting face to Face
Incense burning, our hearts burning for You

You are the Grain of Wheat, for us Your lambs to eat
Jesus, here You are
In the disguise of Bread, it’s just as You said
Jesus, here You are
I’m on my knees right now, ’cause You are here somehow
Jesus, here You are

Here I am, as I am
I believe Lord, help my unbelief

You are the Grain of Wheat, for us Your lambs to eat
Jesus, here You are
In the disguise of Bread, it’s just as You said
Jesus, here You are
I’m on my knees right now, ’cause You are here somehow
Jesus, here You are
The angels they are here, saints and angels they are here
Jesus, here You are
Jesus, here You are

Holy, holy, holy
Here You are
You are the Bread of Life

—Mark Mallett, from Here You Are, 2013©

The Healing Touch

Jesus promised before He ascended into Heaven that He would remain with us until the end of time.

I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. (Matt 28:20)

He meant it literally.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world… For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. (John 6:51, 55)

When the brutal reign of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu collapsed in 1989, photos of thousands of children and babies in state orphanages appeared in the Western media. Nurses were overwhelmed with the number of children, confined to metal cribs, and changed diapers like an assembly line. They didn’t coo or sing to the babes; they simply stuck bottles in their mouths and then propped them up against the bars of their crib. Nurses said that many babies died for no apparent reason. As they later discovered, it was due to a lack of loving physical affection.

Jesus knew that we would need to see and touch Him. He left us a most beautiful and humble gift of His presence in the Holy Eucharist. He is there, in the disguise of Bread, there, living, loving, and pulsating with mercy toward you. So why aren’t we approaching Him, who is the Great Physician and Healer, as often as we can?

Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. (Luke 24:5-6)

Yes, some are seeking Him literally among the dead — the dead word of self-absorbed therapists, pop psychology, and new age practices. Go to Jesus who awaits you; seek Him in the Holy Mass; seek Him in Adoration… and you will find Him.

Before Jesus entered His Passion, He thought of you and me, and prayed: “Father, they are your gift to Me.” ^[1]John 17:24 Imagine that! You are the Father’s gift to Jesus! In return, Jesus gifts Himself to you in each and every Mass.

The Lord has begun a great work in many of you, and these graces will continue through the Holy Mass. For your part, cultivate a love and reverence for Jesus in the Eucharist. Make your genuflection a true act of worship; prepare your heart to receive Him in Holy Communion; and spend a few minutes after Mass loving and thanking Him for loving you.

It is Jesus in that Host. How can it not change you? The answer is that it won’t — unless you open your heart to Him and let Him love you, as you love Him in return.

The Healing Voice

I once read a psychologist say that, while he was not a Catholic, what the Church offered through Confession was really what he tried to do in his practice: let people unload their troubled consciences. That alone began a great healing process in many.

In another article, I read a police officer say that they will often leave the files of “cold cases” open for years because it is a fact that murderers eventually just have to tell someone, at some point, what they did — even if they are obscure. Yes, there is something in the human heart that cannot bear the burden of its sin.

Jesus, the Great Psychologist, knew this. That’s why He left us the incredible Sacrament of Reconciliation through the priesthood:

He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:22-23)

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

That you may be healed. An exorcist once said to me, “One good confession is more powerful than one hundred exorcisms.” Indeed, I have experienced the liberating power of Jesus from oppressive spirits on so many occasions through Confession. His Divine Mercy spares nothing to the contrite heart:

Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s mercy! —Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 1448

It is necessary, therefore — since Christ instituted it Himself — that we make Confession a regular part of our lives.

“…those who go to Confession frequently, and do so with the desire to make progress” will notice the strides that they make in their spiritual lives. “It would be an illusion to seek after holiness, according to the vocation one has received from God, without partaking frequently of this sacrament of conversion and reconciliation.” —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Penitentiary conference, March 27th, 2004; catholicculture.org

The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds:

Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful…

“Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession.” There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the sacraments. He personally addresses every sinner: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” He is the physician tending each one of the sick who need him to cure them. He raises them up and reintegrates them into fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God and with the Church. —Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), n. 1458, 1484

My dear sibling in Christ, if you want to be healed and strengthened in these days of battle, then reach out frequently and “touch” Jesus in the Eucharist so that you remember that you are not orphaned. If you have fallen and feel abandoned, listen to His soothing voice through His servant, the priest: “I absolve you of your sins…”

And so in the sacraments Christ continues to “touch” us in order to heal us. (CCC, n. 1504)

What Gifts Jesus has left us: His very self, His merciful assurance so that you may remain in Him, as He remains in you.

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Take a moment to write in your journal what is on your heart… a prayer of thanksgiving, a question, a doubt… and give space for Jesus to speak to your heart. And then close with this prayer…

Remain In Me

Jesus I need You here in me now
Jesus I need You here in me now
Jesus I need You here in me now

Remain in me so I’ll remain You
Abide in me so I’ll abide in You
Fill me now with your Holy Spirit, Lord
Remain in me so I’ll remain in You

Jesus I believe You’re here in me now
Jesus I believe You’re here in me now
And Jesus I believe, O You’re here in me now

Remain in me so I’ll remain You
Abide in me so I’ll abide in You
O, fill me now with your Holy Spirit, Lord
Remain in me so I’ll remain in You