Third Sunday of Advent
From Wilshire Advent Devotions 2018
There’s no denying it: Not everyone gets healed from every illness, injury or disease. We can do everything the doctors prescribe, we can pray earnestly and bolster ourselves with prayer chains and warriors, and yet there are no guarantees. Some will be healed, and some will not be healed. Some will leave the hospital and go on to live long sunny lives, while others will be sent home with a few precious days left on the calendar or a lifetime of obstacles to endure. That’s the hard truth, and it hurts. It may make us ask, “What’s the point?”
It’s a fair question and one that my friend Paul had every right to ask. You see, something happened in his childhood, perhaps at birth, that made him different in ways I don’t fully know. He looked a little different, he walked a little different. He struggled in school. He could be a little disorganized and disheveled. And yet he was a master salesman, a friend to all, a savant when it came to classical music, and a passionate follower and lover of the Catholic liturgy. Music and faith fed his soul, often to the point of him shedding tears of joy when describing a symphony or leading a prayer.
When Paul died rather unexpectedly, it was tempting to say that he finally received the ultimate healing. That may be true from our perspective, but he was healed decades ago in ways that transcend the physical. That healing was evident in his attitude and outlook. He had the gifts of perseverance and optimism, and as he got older and began to have more serious physical issues, he worked around them and laughed through them. While his body was faltering, his faith was strong, his mind was sharp, his generosity was overflowing, and his friendship was boundless.
I never heard Paul ask the question, “What’s the point?” because he lived the answer, and it is this: We are not the point; our happy, healthy, perfect lives are not the point. God is the point. We were not put here to be served by God; we were gifted with this life to serve God and each other. We can do that with a wealth of good health or none at all; with 10,000 days or just 100.
That truth is the ultimate healing. We are free from fear of not being complete, not doing enough, not going the distance. We have been given all we need. In God’s economy less is not less. There are no measuring sticks, just measures of grace. That is the great gift of Christmas — the gift that heals.