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“When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.’ He said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’ …Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith…You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.’ And at that very hour (his) servant was healed.” This gospel reminds me of times when we pray for ourselves or someone else to be healed of a disease. Always, this has been a great mystery for me…especially when my mom, dad, and aunt died from Alzheimer’s disease and related complications. It was especially difficult when my mom said to me: “I must have been very bad in my life that God would give this (Alzheimer’s disease) to me.” I knew from theology classes that my response should be that God was not sending her a disease. But how does a daughter/caregiver explain to her mother, suffering with Alzheimer’s disease and related complications, something that would be honest and comforting to her? What does one say to the question: “Why do I have this?” I said, “Mom, we will all die from something…because out bodies are weak. You happen to have Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t know why. But you always have taught me that there is a reason for everything…even though we can’t see it. God knows and cares. We’ll find out some day.” Today, at the noon Mass the homilist made comments like: “At those difficult times of trying to understand ‘why’ something happens, our thoughts can often be: ‘Why me? Why this?’ We would do well to try to have the prayerful attitude of: This is an opportunity for me/us to say: ‘What is God calling me/us to understand/do….in this situation?’” Today, I would like to pray with caregivers of the
sick and dying: |