INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 9th Friday in
Ordinary time is, “Healing Techniques.”
Today’s first reading, from the Book of Tobit, has a very
unique healing technique or method.
Tobiah’s father is blind because of bird droppings.
Raphael, the angel, offers to rub the fish gall into Tobit’s blindness. His
cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes. And he is healed. He is able to
see the light of day.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a weird,
strange and different medical or healing technique.
And if you have been coming to Mass every day this week
and you’ve been listening to the First Reading - you have heard some strange
readings from the Book of Tobit.
This reading for today is one more example of a strange reading.
SICKNESSES
All of us have need of healing from time to time - inwardly
and outwardly - of physical, spiritual and psychological hurts.
Live long enough and we experience various wounds and hurts.
What have been your health issues, questions, problems, or what have you?
Have you ever been seriously wounded?
The Bible talks about the incurable wound.
Don’t get one of those.
THE BIBLE ON
HEALING
Medical researchers step back at times and look at how other
cultures, places and times deal with specific medical problems.
The Bible is one great archaeological site for research
into how people try to get healing. It talks about healing techniques from long ago.
The one in today’s first reading - the use of gall for healing - has often intrigued different folks. Surprise. Look it up. People around the world
still use gall and bile for
healing. Doctors up till the 1800’s used
fish gall for the healing of eyes. One
interesting component is that there is a bit of pain involved in the process.
Come to think about it, every once and a while we read
about researchers using stuff from fish and sea life for healing. We also read
about the use of plants and herbs and roots and seeds for healing.
We can fish through the Bible and get stories about
healing processes from way, way back.
How about the use of leeches, marijuana, fish oil, and
mold (from which Louis Pasteur came up with penicillin).
How about alcohol?
How about Jesus using spit or saliva in healing someone.
That might draw an “Oooooh!” - but come to think about it, when we cut our
finger, we often immediately put spit on the cut.
HOW ABOUT PRAYER
And if we look at healing practises from around the world
- but especially from the Bible - we see people praying. We see the question of
faith being brought into the desire for healing.
We also know that some religions won’t allow for the use
of medicines. They want to rely only on
faith.
I love the saying, “Pray for potatoes, but pick up a
shovel.”
I would stress, “If sick, pray for healing, but find a
good doctor.”
We pray for doctors and nurses - but we also still anoint
people with oil - something that medicine men and women have used down through
the centuries.
CONCLUSION: A QUESTION AND A COMMENT
Let me conclude with a short question and a short comment.
The question is the doctor’s question: "Where does it
hurt?"
It’s important to get a good diagnosis - before we choose
a prognosis.
The second step is the Kojac comment: “Talk to me!”
Pain and hurt can sometimes get us to talk to one
another.
In fact, people often joke about old age being an organ recital.
It’s good to talk to others about who the best doctor is
- or about some of the problems of aging.
It’s also good to practice some silence -if all we do is talk about our
health.
