The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 205: Christ the Physician

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

Sickness and suffering bring us face-to-face with our fragility and limitations. While they might cause some to lose hope and become bitter, we can also endure them in such a way as to grow in maturity and trust in God. Jesus not only heals the sick in the Gospels but also plunges into suffering’s depths. In this redemptive work, we know Jesus as the physician of soul and body. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1499-1505. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year Podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down to the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's families we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 205. We're reading paragraphs 1499 to 1505. As always, I'm using the ascension edition of the Catacism,

which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catacism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catacism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash the IY CYY for Catacism in a year. And you can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Thank you so much, just a word of a note. For all those who have assisted and supported

the production of this podcast with your prayers and financial gifts, could not do without you. We definitely could not make it to day 205 without you. Also, you made it to day 205. This is, I've been reflecting on this kind of a lot lately, actually even a little bit this morning, but yesterday for sure, just that sense of, oh my gosh, the number of people here you are who just keep pressing play, that that sense of, I'm talking to somebody recently who said that, yeah, you know, you're, you are,

bring a lot of excitement to the, to the Catechism in here. Sometimes I'm wondering like, what is he so excited about? I was like, yeah, I get it. I, there's sometimes just a little bit of, there might be some manic in that too, in the nonclinical sense, but that sense of just, you know, here we are. Here you are, pressing play, and taking that next step every single day,

which is remarkable, you know, we just concluded yesterday the Sacramento Reconciliation and now we're onto the second sacrament of healing, which is the anointing of the sick. You might notice in your catechism, if you're following along, there are some words to know, the anointing of the sick, extreme function, the anointing of the sick used to be called extreme function.

It's still, that term can still be used. It's not prohibited at all, but it was changed. I heard it was changed because, you know, same with last rights. It was changed because the church is saying, no, this is, yes, I mean, yes, there are the last rights. There are those final rights of passing from this world to the next world where you have that last Holy Communion

to be able to come, where you have that last anointing of the sick extreme function. But you can also, I mean, this is a sacrament of healing that it doesn't always end in death. It's sometimes actually grants life. And so we're gonna talk about that today. In fact, where we're gonna start talking about the sacrament of anointing of the sick is we're going to talk about the foundations of anointing of the sick, or even Jesus is

healing in the economy of salvation. So in order to do that, we have to talk about the reality of illness and human life. We're also going to talk about the sick person before God. So what is it that happens? What is it that sickness? What is it that sickness? What is it that suffering does to us? What is it that illness does to us? As well as we're going to conclude today essentially by reflecting a little bit on Christ

the physician. So those are kind of our three movements today. The reality of illness in human life, who we are when we're sick, when we're suffering before God, and what that does to us sometimes, as well as Jesus Christ the physician. So in order to prepare our hearts for this, let us call upon that same Jesus, the power of His Holy Spirit, and we pray, Father, and Heaven. We thank you because you have sent your Son to heal us. Not only to physically heal us, you sent your Holy Spirit to heal us, not only to physically heal us. You have sent your Holy Spirit, you have sent your Son to give us a deeper healing, a healing

that no one else can give. You have sent your Son to give us a spiritual healing, you sent your Holy Spirit to reconcile us with you, you sent your Holy Spirit to kill the spiritual illness in the depths of our hearts and the depths of our souls. We ask you God this day, give us patience and suffering, give us understanding, help our hearts become softer, not more brittle in the midst of sickness, help our our wills and our minds become more open to you and more inclined to you in the midst of our minds become more open to you and more inclined to you in the midst of our own pain and the pains of others. Help us all to grow in maturity and entrust in you in the midst

of our suffering, not in despair, and not in resentment in the midst of our suffering, or the sufferings of others. But please, like you always do, meet us in our suffering. Be with us at this moment, at our best moments, at our worst moments, and at every moment. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the name of the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit, amen. It is day 205 of reading paragraphs 1499-1505. Article 5. The anointing of the sick. By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests, the whole church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that He may raise them up and save them.

And indeed, she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the people of God by freely uniting themselves to the passion and death of Christ. Its foundations in the economy of salvation. Illness in human life. Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death. Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against

God. It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often, illness provokes a search for God and a return to him. The sick person before God. The man of the Old Testament lives his sickness in the presence of God. It is before God that he laments his illness, and it is of God, master of life and death, that he implores healing.

Illness becomes a way to conversion. God's forgiveness initiates the healing. It is the experience of Israel that illness is mysteriously linked to sin and evil, and that faithfulness to God according to his law restores life. As God said, For I am the Lord your healer. The prophet intuits that suffering can also have a redemptive meaning for the sins of others.

Finally, Isaiah announces that God will usher in a time for Zion when he will pardon every offense and heal every illness. Christ the physician. Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendent sign that God has visited his people and that the kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins. He has come to heal the whole man, soul and body. He

is the physician, the sick have need of. His compassion toward all who suffer goes so far that he identifies himself with them, saying, I was sick and you visited me. His preferential love for the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of Christians toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of tireless efforts to comfort them. Often Jesus asks the sick to believe. He makes use of signs to heal, spittle and the laying on of hands, mud and washing. The sick tried to touch him for power came forth from him and healed them all. And so, in the sacraments, Christ continues to touch us in order to heal us. Moved by so much suffering, Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick,

but he makes their miseries his own. He took our infirmities and bore our diseases. But he did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical healing, the victory over sin and death through his Passover. On the cross, Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the sin of the world, of which illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the cross, Christ has given a new meaning to

suffering. It can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with His redemptive passion. All right, there it is, paragraph 1499 to 1505. There is so much that is said in this. And I just, this is one of those days, I think, that we're, where we just say, okay, Lord teach me. And our posture, I think, in so many ways, has to be, the facility, you know,

the facility is true, the facility, is just being open to being taught, that we all come before this day, we all come before God, with our experiences. We all have experiences of loss and of pain and of illness and of suffering, not only our own, but also the people around us. And sometimes, as we know, it is even harder to experience and witness the pain of others, the illness of others than it is our own. And yet, here is the church. Here is the Lord teaching us through the church of like, okay, what should our posture be? And so it could be a challenge, though, right? Because it's like, we can show up today saying, actually, no, I'm bitter. I can, I, here we are talking about illness and talking about

suffering. And I look at my heart and I just find resentment. And yet here is the Lord that invites us through the church to let down our guard and to say, okay, what is it that we that's really happening in these moments? So very, very first article 1499. It just kind of tees up and says, okay, when it comes to the sacrament of theointing of the sick, what's going on? And so let's just highlight that because that's going to, that's going to be the thread that continues even after we pass through the reality, illness, reality of this sickness. We're going to talk about

healing. So here's the, here's the quote in 1499 says this, by the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests, the whole church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord that priests. The whole church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord that he may raise them up and save them. That's the heart of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. There's the secret of anointing and there's that prayer of the priests.

And that comes from James chapter five and we're gonna talk about that as days go on. That is so important. Is there any sick among you? Let them send for the priests of the church that the priests pray over them, anointing them with oil and the name of the Lord. Their prayer of faith will save the sick person. If the Lord, if they've committed any sins, their sins will be forgiven them and the Lord will raise them

up. This is just the core here of the sacrament of anointing of the sick. It goes on to say, indeed she or the church exhorts them to contribute to the good of the people of God by freely uniting themselves to the passion and death of Christ. So not only is the anointing of the sick, this sacrament of healing and forgiveness, it is also a commendation for those people who are actually experiencing the suffering, experiencing that illness, maybe even death,

to freely unite themselves to the suffering, the death, the passion of Jesus Christ. We recognize that Jesus, we get this in paragraph 15 or 5, we recognize that Jesus, by his passionate death on the cross, has given a new meaning to suffering. A new meaning to suffering. He's not removed it, he's redeemed it. He hasn't taken it away, he's transformed it. But in order to look at this, let's, we have to get there.

So let's walk through what it talks about here, 1501. Illness in Illness and human life, illness and suffering, have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. And this is the reality, of course. You know, at the same time as Aquinas, maybe I mentioned this recently, I know in some context that I have, but Aquinas, in writing the sum of theologica, write this summary of the faith, he asks the hardest questions. And he answers them, he gives the best answer he could at the time, he asks the hardest questions. And he answers them. He gives the best answer he could at the time, and he's a genius. One of the questions he said was the hardest, the most

difficult question to even respond to is, if God is all good, and if God is all powerful, then why is there evil in the world? Like it's called the Odyssey, right? It's the problem of evil in the world. And it's been among the gravest problems confronting human life. And I love this because it goes on to say, in illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death. Just think about this. Think about the fact that you can be anyone, you could be as powerful a person in the world. You could be the president, you could be a king or queen, you could be a billionaire. And yet a germ could take you out, you know, a cold pneumonia. I think I remember being a kid. There was this, I remember that there was this book called the book, the book and movie, the best Christmas pageant ever. They were telling these kids of

the story about, you know, Herod, telling these kids of the story about, you know, Herod who had slaughtered the innocents, you know, looking for Jesus, he had killed all these innocent infants. And at one point, it said, the Herod died in his bed of a cold. And this, that was, I don't know if that's accurate. But I remember the kids in the book, and then I think they made a movie about it.

But the kids in the book thought that was fair, that was just that, yeah, this king who killed all these you know did horrible things in it and in real life He did in rest of his life. I mean he did additional horrible things But that he yeah a little cold took him out and I don't know if that's accurate that he died of a cold But the truth is every king every queen every, every billionaire, every dictator, every everyone, the greatest athletes in the world, every one of us. We experience powerlessness and illness. We experience our limitations in illness.

Every illness can make us glimpse death. Have you ever thought about the fact that when you don't have a sore throat, you never think about not having a sore throat, but when you have a sore throat every time you swallow, it's all you can think about. Or when you don't have a stuff you know, you never think about not having a sore throat, but when you have a sore throat every time you swallow It's it's all you can think about or when you don't have a stuff You know you'd never think about not having a stuff. You know, you just breathe But when you have a stuff. You know, all of a sudden everything you know everything has to stop and maybe I'm just talking for myself But this reality of course that every illness can make us glimpse death it mixes realize our limitations It's not just abstract. It's very concrete. Oh my goodness

This is the only body I have, this is the only life I have, and I am so, so fragile. If you ever have broken a bone or torn some kind of, you know, tendon muscle, something like this, you know what that's like, that sense of, I am not indestructible. And it can make us realize the shortness of our lives. There's something about this though, that illness can, this limitation, right?

This can lead to anguish, can lead to self-absorption, it can lead to sometimes even despair and revolt against God. Again, let's think about ourselves the last time you were sick. I know that, man, when I'm sick, all I can think about is my being sick. I don't want to. It's one of those situations where it's just, yeah, but that's all I can think about is my being sick. I don't want to. It's one of those situations where it's just, yeah, but that's all I can think of. It says here, self-absorption.

Man, that's why it's so remarkable when you find people who in their illness are asking you how you are. Because illness can also, it doesn't have to just do that. It doesn't have to lead us to despair or revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature. It can also help a person to surn in their life. What is not essential so they can turn to that which is. And he goes on to say in the Catechism, very often illness provokes a search for God and

a return to him. I know that has happened. Again, some people bitter in their illness, bitter in their limitation, bitter in their finitude, and others. If you've probably maybe heard people say, it makes them, doesn't make them bitter, it makes them better. It takes some of those edges off. And I've seen this so often that people just, oh, I realize life's not about me. And then they turn to love the people around them. They turn to be more patient. They turn to the Lord. There's this elderly man that I met with the first time a couple years ago. And he is now in his 90s. And it took him a long time, but because he was powerful. I

mean, literally, he was a powerful individual. He was incredibly intelligent, incredibly successful in his career and just kind of dominated life. I mean, there was a wake of brokenness there too, broken marriages, broken family relationships, broken other relationships, but it was when he is old age, in his limitation, in his illness, that something happened, something just moved and he had this incredible conversion back to the Lord. And it wasn't just a situation where, okay, I feel really bad because I'm coming to the end of my life and so I probably should clean things up before I have to see the Lord face to face. I'm sure there's some of that. But it was a deep conversion of just, oh my goodness, I have been driving my life

by my strength, by my genius, by my own will. And now, I've experienced the limitation of that, and I realize, I'm not enough. And he realized, he himself was not enough in a provoked a search for God, and he returned to God. In these last couple years, he has said, I think it's been two years since his conversion. He's 93, I think he's 93. And he has said that he's prayed more in these last two years,

and his life is more full of joy even though he can hardly walk. He can barely walk. But he says his life is so full of joy because, yes, illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, even to spare him, he vault against God, or it can lead us to becoming more mature. We can lead us to trusting in God more. Now the sick person failed the Old Testament, right? In Israel, the Old Testament,

there are so many stories of people, they just recognize, okay, there's at some mysterious way that my sickness is tied to sin. Now, it doesn't have to be necessarily tied to my own sin. That's in the book of Job, remember we talked about that. Not necessarily like a one-to-one ratio, where if you've done something wrong, now you're sick to that proportion.

No, that's not how it works. At the same time, we recognize that because of sin, the world is now broken. Because of sin, our relationships with God, our relationship with each other, with the world, with ourselves, that's broken because it's out of order. There's illness, because it's out of order, there's suffering. So yes, in some way, every illness is connected to sin, but it's not necessarily that one-to-one, like my personal sin leads to my personal illness. That's not the same kind of thing. And yet, what happens is that we realize that we stand before the Lord in need. And that's what the Old Testament continues to come back to.

It will be come before God, and He is our healer. Now, ultimately, Jesus is the healer. And so important that we recognize that Jesus has come and heals. I mean, think about all of the signs and wonders that Jesus does. He heals sicknesses of every kind, every infirmity. And it's a sign that God is close to us, a sign that God loves us, a sign that we can trust God. And he not only has the power to heal physical illness, he has the power to forgive sins. Why? Because he comes to heal all of us, soul and body. He is the

physician we need. It goes on to say, though, it's very, very important. Jesus doesn't heal everyone. He did not heal all the sick, that all those who came to him, he, yes, he delivered them from their illness, from their infirmity. At the same time, he did not heal all the sick. The healings were signs of the coming of the kingdom of God, and they announced a more radical healing victory over sin and death through his Passover, and that's the reality. And even said this, he said, don't fear those who can kill the body, but fear those who after killing the body can also take the soul essentially. Fear that one.

And so we recognize that there are graver evils, then physical suffering. There are graver evils, then even death. We said this on the thing yesterday, that sin is the worst thing in the world. And Jesus came to deal with the worst thing in the world. And Jesus came to deal with the worst thing in the world. And how do you do it? On the cross, he took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the sin of the world. And illness is just a consequence of that. Now, illness is horrible,

but illness is just a consequence of the worst thing. And last thing, last thing to note, and this is going to be something we come up again and again. Jesus does not remove sickness. He does not remove suffering. He redeems it. He doesn't take it away. He transforms it. That Jesus has given illness a new power. And that power is, we can unite that illness. We can unite that suffering to his suffering. What does his suffering do? His suffering had the power to transform the world

Right as Jesus is saying yes to this on the cross He's saying yes to his suffering not that he wanted it, but he submitted his will to the father's will He said yes to that moment said yes to the cross and in doing so it actually transformed the world it actually redeemed the world it actually saved us when we are willing to unite our suffering, our sickness. And it doesn't have to be massive suffering or massive sickness.

It can be even the small stuff. It can be that sore throat. It can be the stuff you know. It's can be the hang nail. It also can be the cancer. It can also be the dementia. It can also be the broken leg, a broken back, broken hip.

It can be any aspect of life. It can be loneliness. It can be confusion. Every aspect of life can be united to Christ's suffering on the cross. And in doing that, every aspect of life that we live can be part of the redemption of the world. We're going to talk more and more about this as we continue, but just realize this,

that this is not a new problem, this is an old problem. At the same time, it's something that wakes us up. It's something that could make us bitter, or it could make us better. It's the kind of thing that could drive us away from the Lord. Or it is the thing that can spur us on to learn how to trust in Him more and more. We're going to keep telling you to talk about this in the days to come. So keep me in your prayers. I'm keeping you in my prayers. Another way to say it is, please pray for me. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you