You might be tempted to think I picked these readings out specifically for our parish Healing Mission, but no, you can see they are in the Missal, so this is just what the Church gave us for this particular weekend. Or you might think that I picked this particular weekend for our Mission because of these readings, but no, I picked this weekend because there were no NFL football games this weekend! The free weekend between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, no excuses that way…
This is a great Gospel to “kick us off” for this Holy Spirit mission. Mark’s Gospel is filled with these kinds of stories, healings, exorcisms, miracles - throw a dart at almost any weekend throughout this year reading Mark’s Gospel and it would probably work for this mission. But these supernatural signs of God’s presence all confirmed the Kingdom of God was truly at hand.
This Holy Spirit Mission, our weekly Healing Prayer, this is what all of it is about, showing us the Kingdom of God is at hand. God is still present, still with us in our lives. When we know that, when we feel his love tangibly, it is then that we more willingly follow Him and grow as disciples.
I was reading an interesting article in Bishop Barron’s latest Word on Fire publication (here), an article that talked about “Surprise and Surrender” as part of all conversion stories - I had never thought about it like this, but it gave a bunch of examples. A classic one was Paul on the road to Damascus. God surprised him, and then Paul surrendered.
Paul thought he had everything figured out, killing Christians like Stephen the first martyr. Paul thought he was doing the right thing in the eyes of God by persecuting Christians. So God stepped in, surprised him, and then he surrendered.
This word “Surrender” might have a bad connotation to it, like we are giving up, throwing in the towel, raising the white flag, but what it really means to “Surrender” is give up our own will, which is often stubborn and controlling, we have our own program, our own order and our own plan for how everything will go, doing things our own way and not God’s way.
So instead, to “Surrender” is to actually listen to what God wants and do His will, and often a Surprise brings that about. But most of us have this program, or order, or plan for the exact purpose of avoiding any surprises! With God though, inevitably, there are surprises that lead us to surrender.
Sometimes we surrender in moments of extreme turmoil - nothing is going our way, we have tried everything to ease our suffering, and last resort, we surrender to God’s will. This is where Job was in our first reading, life was going so bad he was running out of hope. This was not the end of Job’s story, Job does find happiness again in his lifetime.
Other times, things are going fine, but God just steps in and surprises us completely, but either way, I can really see how “Surprise and Surrender” happens as part of conversions within our faith.
These elements have for sure been present in my life, during big moments of conversion:
Thinking back, it’s kind of wild, when I was in seminary and when I became a priest six years ago, I really thought my life would be dedicated to helping people encounter Jesus only through the Sacraments, that was my plan, my program was to teach Sacraments, figuring that was the only way to encounter God, to encounter Jesus there.
But after I saw those healings, and how the Holy Spirit was actively working, I realized God can do whatever He wants as long as I stay open and obedient to His will, He will work through me and will do even more than I could imagine.
When I was ordained a Priest, I didn’t necessarily believe people could be healed through prayer, even when I anointed people, I didn’t believe. But after that first mission, when I would pray with people in any capacity, I began to believe people could be healed, that God can heal through my hands. I have even come to expect it.
So as a Priest, for the first time, I felt like I was breathing with both lungs. To me, that’s what “Surrendering” and doing God’s will is about, it isn’t about not being myself anymore, rather it is actually unlocking the capacity and potential in our lives that God Himself created us for, and allowing us to really achieve it, when we let go of our small plans and programs, and let Him work through us for His bigger, better plan.
Looking back it makes sense, I’ve always been drawn to the supernatural stuff, the apparitions, the Eucharistic Miracles, the incorrupt Saints, the near death experiences. They are shocking and surprising. Actually, if I was writing a Gospel, I’d write it like Mark did, I need the supernatural to help my weak faith, I like God’s surprises.
That’s what I am hoping with this Holy Spirit Mission, that God surprises you in some way.
When we talk about encountering and receiving gifts from the Holy Spirit, and even receiving healing, we might wonder, “Am I worth it?” or “Does God even care about me?” But He does care about us, even the smallest things, as a parent cares for their child but even more so. If we care about it, God cares about it.
Like Jesus healing Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever. Such a common illness, but still Jesus healed her. Then “the whole town was gathered at the door” and Jesus was healing all who had unclean spirits, surprising them, showing them the Kingdom was at hand, what everyone in Israel had been waiting for was now happening in their midst.
As we heard today, Jesus’ primary purpose was not to heal, He came to preach. But when He surprised people with the healings, the people surrendered to listen to His preaching, then they followed Him and did His will, which was in their best interest all along. So I’d just like to encourage everyone again to put away that control of every aspect of your lives, put away those doubts and fears, and be open to what surprises God has in store for you. God loves you and wants you to know that, just show up with faithful expectation.