Post-feast of the Exaltation of the Cross; Our Venerable Father Eumenes, Bishop of Gortyna
Read
Galatians 3:15-22; Mark 6:7-13
Today we hear about how the apostles received authority over unclean spirits, the mandate to preach repentance and heal people with holy anointing with blessed oil. This mandate the Church continues to actively uphold even today. We call this the healing ministry of the Church: exorcism, the preaching of repentance—the sacrament of Holy Confession—and the Sacrament of Holy Anointing, or Holy Unction. Too often we misunderstand the meaning and the need for these sacraments and see them only as last rights—needed only at the final moment of our life. Exorcism is the only healing ministry of the Church that is less prominent; although, of late there is an alarming increased demand for this healing ministry. On the other hand, the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Unction are given to us as a gift for regular use on the journey of our life.
The Sacraments of healing are God-given opportunities to receive spiritual balm and cleansing through the washing away of that which separates us from the source of our life—that is, sin. God is the source of our life, our strength, our harmony, our peace and without union with God we lack the ability to live as we were created to live. Without God, we lack the ability and power to become better human beings—to transcend our fallen condition and become selfless people of love. In other words, the Sacramental life is gifted to us for our healing and growth. The more we regularly with a genuine and repentant heart make use of them the more we keep close to the Living God, who desires to transform us in and through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Regular confession and Holy Anointing, when serious illness befalls us, are intended to be the normal path through which we stay close to the source of our existence and slowly grow in the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit.