Jesus’ healings reveal his human heart

“‘I turn to You, O Lord, in times of trouble and You fill me with the joy of salvation.’ The Responsorial Hymn sums up our faith in the Lord and our God to whom we can turn to in any situation and He will heal us.” The Apostolic Nuncio to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino, said this in his homily on February 10, 2018 at the evening Mass celebrating the annual parish feast of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes.The theme was Mary: Walking With Us Through Life.

The Nuncio also presided at the trilingual Mass concelebranted with Msgr Mitchel Anthony, Fr Joseph Pereira, Fr Vincent Thomas, Fr David Reegon OFM, Cap, OLL parish priest Fr Frederick Joseph, assisted by Deacon AP Thomas.

Archbishop Marino said, in the day’s Gospel, the leper reveals his terrible suffering. He wanted to be healed of leprosy, a dreadful disease that brought with it the social stigma of rejection, isolation and forced one to live outside the city. A person with leprosy was considered unclean, separated from all human beings.

The leper said to Jesus, “If you wish, Lord, You can make me clean.” Jesus healed the leper. He didn’t heal to show His power as Son of God but to reveal His human heart. Jesus had pity and sympathy for the leper and understood the suffering of another human person.

Archbishop Marino continued, “When we think about the leper, when we sin, are we not alienating ourselves from the Lord? If we wish, we can ask the Lord to forgive us. As human beings and as Christians, we turn to you, Lord, and you will give us your compassion and healing. Even today, the Word and the sacraments are the visible signs of the Lord’s presence.”

After Mass, the Nuncio presented the Papal Blessing for the 90th anniversary of the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes to parish priest, Fr Frederick Joseph, witnessed by the other priests and the congregation. The apostolic blessing of Pope Francis is for the parish priest and parishioners of this historic parish, established in 1928.

Fr Frederick remarked that this 90 year-old parish has produced 10 priests todate for the archdiocese. He said the first priest ordained from OLL was Fr A. Amalanathan in 1968, and on Dec 8, 2018, we will celebrate his Golden sacerdotal anniversary. He also thanked all those young people who had answered the call of God.

A procession in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes took place along Jalan Tengku Kelana and back to the church grounds.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online