Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020612.cfm

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.


Somewhere during the latter days of the Enlightenment, as science became the new foundation for all belief, Christian churches handed healing over to doctors. Now doctors have been around a very long time; often called upon, always trusted, invariably self-confident and sometimes capable. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the assistance of university research and experimental techniques, doctors became practicing scientists. They discussed what works and doesn't work, compared their research, improved their techniques, and dared to go where no man had ever gone before. And indeed they made progress in healing such as no one ever thought possible. 
When it seemed that science would solve every human dilemma, when some dared to speculate medicine might even annul the universal law of death, doctors were esteemed as god-like creatures.
The story is told of the fellow who was patiently waiting his turn to enter  heaven when a huge motorcade when speeding by. After innumerable limousines had passed, there came an enormous car with God sitting in it, with a stethoscope hanging from his neck. The fellow asked, "What is that all about?" Came the reply: "That's just God playing doctor again." 

In this "post-modern age" we've begun to suspect even science has its limits. There is no cure for death; there is no cure for the human condition. Doctors can help a lot; they can treat many of our problems. They can even urge us to practice healthier life-styles. And they are still improving their techniques at an astonishing rate, especially with the latest tools their science continually creates. Personally I am hoping to outlive the need for colonoscopy; someone must be developing a cost-effective, disposable pill with built in TV camera. Swallow at one end and discard at the other! 

In this post-modern age the Church is rediscovering the role we play in healing. We never quite forgot it: the Catholic Church in particular has called on dozens of patron saints for healing; millions of pilgrims have trekked to Roman Catholic shrines  throughout the world; and when all else failed the Last Rites might do the trick. 

With the growth of the hospice movement, the modern world is coming to terms with death. It's not such a bad thing after all. Who really would want  to live forever, to see everything that was familiar to our childhood disappear, replaced by that which is increasingly unfamiliar? Medicine is learning to help those in transition from life, to ease their suffering and calm their fears -- especially with the support of their faith communities. 

We can treat the shuddering body in the "dying process" with medicine for anxiety. The anxiety is real but it need not be misread as a faith crisis; it's simply a stage in the body's shutting down. Usually we can ease the pain of dying, helping the patient to remain reasonably alert before she descends into the final sleep. We can welcome the family to accompany the patient while the medical professionals stand aside in respectful silence. There is no need for frantic, invasive attempts to reverse the irreversible. 

Perhaps more importantly, medicine and religion can work together to improve our lives while we are healthy and to help us be reconciled to chronic illness. They will remind us that no one has the right to abuse the body. It will not tolerate mistreatment; it will wreak revenge upon the one who treats his body like a disposable toy. Someone has said: God always forgives; man sometimes forgives; the body never forgives. Even if  it forgives, it does not forget. The foolishness of our youth will certainly come back to haunt us. 

Christian healing and modern medicine should always draw inspiration from the universal compassion of Christ. In today's gospel we have heard how he healed everyone who touched even the tassels of his cloak, those ornaments of his Jewish faith. Even the undeserving, who despoiled their bodies with stupid behavior, found compassion in Jesus. 

Complying with the orders of our Divine Physician, we find intense satisfaction in the limited years of our mortality.