Scala News offers this Holy Week the article by Fr. Víctor Chacón CSsR published in the Formation section of the magazine Icono, which every month presents current issues and Christian reflection. Here is the complete article and further down the link to the magazine Icono.
We believe in an infirmarian God
We believe in a God who wants to heal his people, a God who is a doctor or perhaps a nurse, who is ever closer to the patient and more in contact with his skin and his wounds, with his suffering.
A few months ago, I started my day as usual, early in the sacristy to read the Word of God for that day, preparing for the Mass that I would celebrate early in the morning. Many days I read and let myself be surprised by that Word, but that day God shouted his message with strength and insistence. It was the turn of Isaiah 30: “The light of the sun will be seven times greater, like the light of seven days, when the Lord heals the wound of his people and binds up the wounds of his blows.” And then Psalm 146: “He heals the broken-hearted, binds up their wounds.” And finally, Matthew 9:35 and following: “Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity. He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal every disease and every infirmity. Go and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse people with leprosy, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
It was not difficult to understand God’s message that day, which was as coherent as it was strong and consoling. We believe in a God who wants to heal his people, who wants to cover their wounds, to make them heal. “He heals the broken-hearted, binds up their wounds”, he is a God who is a doctor or perhaps a nurse, who is ever closer to the patient and more in contact with his skin and his wounds, with his suffering.
Preface VIII of the Mass also helps us and makes us see Jesus as the Good Samaritan: “Because he, in his earthly life, went about doing good and healing those oppressed by evil. Even today, as a Good Samaritan, he approaches every man who suffers in body or spirit and heals their wounds with the oil of consolation and the wine of hope. Through this gift of your grace, even when we find ourselves immersed in the night of pain, we glimpse the Easter light in your Son, dead and risen.” We need to invoke this God who heals more, to draw closer to Him, to go to his “consultation.” I am sure that He will not make us wait long. Even if perhaps the cure will not always be what we expect.
It is good to remember the teaching of St. Ambrose of Milan: “I must always receive it, so that it always forgives my sins. If I sin continually, I must always have a remedy.” St. Ambrose uses the word “remedy” in the classical sense of the term. “Remedy” is that healing ointment prepared in the pharmacy by the pharmacist, it is therefore a medicine! St. Ambrose is telling us that the Eucharist is the medicine for us who are weak and sinful. And if I stopped taking the medicine, my health would get worse. How much damage have sermons and catechesis done to the Church that have distanced the faithful from communion, from receiving the medicine! With false pretexts of purity and dignity they have distanced believers from their medicine. As if anyone could boast of purity or believe himself worthy. With St. Paul we can warn some: “Let him who thinks he stands firm be careful not to fall” (1 Cor 10:12). Better to walk with humility, tread gently on the ground and take the medicine that heals us and unites us to Him.
Fr. Victor Chacón, CSsR.
(ICONO Magazine, by Perpetuo Socorro Publishing House, No. 4, April 2025)
