Jesus,
the Divine Physician of Souls, Came to Call All Sinners to New Life!
This last Saturday,
Our Gospel account clearly underscores, in
the call of the Apostle Matthew to “Follow Him”, that Jesus from the very
beginning only had sinners among men to choose.
As a Divine Physician, a Healer
of Souls, Jesus, gives new life to all sinners who believe in Him. In the
waters of Baptism, believers encounter the first of God’s Divine Mercy when
they are washed clean of Original Sin.
In the Sacrament of Reconciliation a person maintains the spiritual
health of soul by regular ‘check-ups’ through an examination of conscience and absolution from Jesus
acting through the person of those whom He called to serve His people as
priests.
The priest is privileged, by no merit of his own, to receive the graces of ordination and to be used by the Divine Physician, in spite of his own weaknesses, to offer Jesus’ healing to souls lost in the sickness of sin and the evil effects of sin. The people of God are called to pray constantly for their priest, who is an especially marked target of Satan, to be protected by God from temptation and sin. With the aid of the prayers of the people, a priest puts on the sacred vestment and makes Christ present in Word and Sacrament to those in need of spiritual healing. The prayers and sacrifices of the priest for the people and the prayers of the people for a faithful and dedicated priest allows for Christ to bring new life to all people. Let us pray for our newly ordained priests to persevere and embrace the gift of priesthood and for our young men to generously offer themselves to serve God and His Church as priests.
