THE CALL AS HEALING

Our good Pedagogue, the Logos of the Father,
takes care of his entire creature,
he heals both body and soul at the same time.

Clement of Alexandria

Luke places the episode of the calling of the first disciples (Lk 5,1-11) in a context of healings performed by the Master. In 4,31ff we find a man healed from his impurity, then we have the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, and, finally, we find various sick and possessed people healed and freed. In 5,12-15, Luke narrates another healing, that of the leper. What does all this mean? It seems that for the Evangelist, the dear doctor, as Saint Paul calls him, there is no great difference between the calling and the healing. In a word: the calling follows a healing event. The verbs “to heal” (iáomai) and “to cure” (therapéu) recur very frequently in his Gospel. Jesus thus emerges as the one who came to heal humanity from its mortal wounds. Furthermore, with healing, man recovers his dignity. Man, recovered to himself, is made capable of following Jesus by becoming a herald of the good news of the Kingdom. But not only that, apostolic fruitfulness also follows the healing that has taken place. Peter, having trusted the word of the Master, goes from skepticism about nothing (“We have caught nothing”) to amazement at the enormous quantity of fish. The figure of Jesus as a doctor and medicine is more relevant than ever even in our day. Carlo Rocchetta wrote that «the boom in psychotherapy, in its various forms, as well as the constant increase in the use of psychotropic drugs are there for all to see and represent an index of the serious ailments that characterize today’s consumer society: from loneliness to anxiety, from depression to emotional emptiness, from personal and interpersonal conflicts to youthful maladjustment and dramas in couples and families». On this ground, Jesus presents himself as the one who can heal man from his physical, mental, moral illnesses and above all from the power of evil. According to Tyrell, he was an unsurpassed healer for at least four reasons: because with his presence he embodied God’s salvation; because he healed man in his totality; because he enlightened those who want to undertake a journey of following; because with his Easter he inaugurated the new creation. Saint Ambrose wrote: «Christ is everything for us; / if you want to heal your wounds, / he is the Physician, / if you are burning with fever, / he is the source, / if you are burdened with iniquity, / he is justification, / if you fear death, / he is life”.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey