September 2
Jesus, Our Physician
Preparation. - In vain do we labor to heal our spiritual diseases, if we do not have recourse to our heavenly Physician. Wherefore we shall meditate, first, on His qualities, and secondly, on the remedies He uses to cure us. We shall then conclude by resolving often to have recourse to Jesus, for of Him it was said: “He healed all manner of sickness and infirmity” (Mat. 4. 23).
I. Qualities Of The Physician Of Our Souls
Our divine Redeemer, whose mission it was to remedy our ills, is a kind, compassionate and devoted physician. “The Sun of justice shall arise,” says the prophet, “and health in His wings” (Mal. 4. 2), for He is come to heal all diseases. He came down, observes St. Augustine, to the bed of the sick, assuming our body, the bed of our diseased soul. Without requiring or awaiting that we should take the first step, He lowered Himself down to us by the greatest of prodigies, the Incarnation. O ineffable kindness of the infinite Being, who abased Himself to our own nothingness!
And how can we sufficiently admire His compassion for our souls, for it surpasses all we could have hoped for. Other physicians, however much they may love a patient, do not and cannot go beyond restoring him to health. None of them has ever gone so far as to assume the diseases of his patient. Thou alone, O Jesus, hast been able to do it, and hast actually done it, by taking upon Thyself our iniquities, and undergoing the punishment we deserved, in order to effect our cure. O truly divine charity. “Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Is. 53. 4).
And how devotedly did Jesus labor all His life to restore us to perfect health. Never did He refuse to undergo hardships, humiliations and torments. How much annoyance, disgust and sadness He endured for our welfare! “Shall I not drink the chalice,” He says, “which My Father hath given Me?” (John 18. 11) “Must I not cure man of is pride by My ignominies; of his avarice, by My poverty; of his lusts, by My sufferings? Must not My wounds close his, and My death restore his life?” O incomprehensible charity, how can we sufficiently praise and thank Thee?”
“You can do it,” answers Jesus, “by consoling, in My name, the afflicted; by helping the weak and freeing souls from the ulcer of sin, whether by your prayers and counsels, or by the influence of your good examples.” O my divine Master, impart to me, for this object, the kind, obliging, compassionate and devoted charity that overflows Thy Heart. I am resolved to labor without intermission, by means of humility and mental prayer, for my spiritual cure, so that I may be also able to free others from the fearful evils into which our vices and disorderly inclinations precipitate us.
II. The Remedies Jesus Offers Us
How fatal is the disease of sin! It covers our soul with a hideous leprosy, that leads her to death eternal. To cleanse us therefrom, the Redeemer has prepared for us, says St. Bernard, a fountain of mercy, a bath of salvation in the sacrament of penance. Every soul making use of it full of repentance and resolved to amend, were she stained far more than even Judas and Lucifer, will come forth therefrom as pure as the heavenly rays. This is a powerful motive for us to esteem and love this sacred fountain, in which Christ’s tears and blood wash away even our most enormous faults, and dispose us to enjoy perfect health. “Who healeth the broken of heart, and bindeth up their bruises” (Ps. 146. 3).
Thus purified we may partake with greater fruit of the Eucharistic Banquet. Jesus declares that we can do nothing without Him (John 15. 5), and St. Paul tells that in Jesus we can do all things (Phil. 4. 13). “He that eateth Me,” says Jesus, “abideth in Me, and I in him” (John 6. 57). Behold now how our Physician becomes our Remedy! And, O God, what a remedy! A remedy capable of healing all mankind. Let us no longer allege our weakness, for we can draw strength from its very source.
Unfortunately, we fail to profit by this great means of salvation. Often a mere trifle, an attachment, an habitual fault, a slight resentment or aversion, a useless and foreign worry prevents the powerful effects of holy Communion in us. Had we the fervor of the saints, we would soon get rid of all the wounds and infirmities proceeding from our pride and sensuality. But, alas! we often receive holy Communion with but little fervor, and therefore we remain always vain, presumptuous, dissipated in mind, without spirit of recollection and prayer, without the interior life that is nourished by faith, humility, prayer and self-denial. Does it not even happen that after receiving the Lamb of peace and meekness, we soon relapse into our troubles, our worry, our impatience, as if the remedy, which produced so many saints and martyrs, had lost all its efficacy for us?
O great and merciful God, I am not worthy to possess Thee within me, but say only the word, and my soul shall be healed. Through Thy most holy Mother’s intercession, deign to prepare me to receive fervently the sacraments of penance and the Holy Eucharist, the precious antidotes that will purify me of sin, increase grace in me, and will enable me to live by Thy spirit. “And he that eateth Me, the same shall live by Me.”
