The Church honors Saint Peter Claver, SJ, the Jesuit Slave of the Slaves who lived from 1581-1614.  He left his homeland of Spain to work among the slaves in the New World.  Saint Peter Claver gave from his heart, in love that was displayed through holy ministry and in holy deeds alleviated the suffering of the slaves.  Saint Peter Claver, thus. by attending to the disparity of the slaves his ministry worked to bring attention to and healing and hope to the sad communal illness and injustice of slavery present during Claver’s life.  A well known quote of Saint Peter Claver fits our message from the Gospel of Luke for the day – “We must speak to them with our hands, by giving, before we try to speak to them with our lips.”

Jesus brought healing in this day’s Gospel from Luke to the man with the withered hand.  One of the interesting aspects in every one of the stories of Jesus’ healing found in our gospels is that those needing healing had to act out of their faith first.  In the faith of reaching out with a withered hand, or reaching out to touch a hem, or the picking up of one’s mat,or the lowering a paralytic through a hole in a roof, humankind’s faith and working with Jesus, brought healing to those needed healing.  In Jesus’ healing those who had faith and in those needing healing through their faith together in relational reciprocity of care both worked together to bring physical, spiritual emotional healing to those suffering but this action also healed the person to the community, but this also brought healing to the community.

 This healing action not only restored the person to the fullness of life now healed, but also restored the unhealed, now healed, to community, and in this process modeled a way for all people to change their own Pharisaical attitudes that can so often turn their (our) heart away from those who need healing.  Further, in turning our hearts and healing love away from those who need healing, restoration, hope, refuge, we also stop reaching out with Christ to  bring communal healing love wherever God’s light does not shine, and where injustice’s injury still stings.

St. Peter Claver worked with Jesus Christ out of his faith  and did not turn his heart away from the personal healing of the slave and the communal healing needed away from salvery’s injustice.  Where in our life do we need healing, where in our hearts do we have stumbling blocks to faith in a divine love that heals, and thus healed, how are we going to use our hands by giving, restoring hope and healing to the withered hands of our world’s ever present darkness, injustice and need for healing and hope?