Reflection for Tuesday, March 20, 2012: 4th week in Lent.

Abstract

Healing the soul heals the body. This is the message I get today from the Gospel. When I was preparing this reflection, a detail caught my attention: The man had been sick (probably an invalid) for thirty-eight years. 38. That is my age.|And then a link between the Gospel and my life sparked: I had had an "issue" with my body since I have recollection of myself. For many years I thought that was OK. Then I realized it was not "OK" and did not know what to do. Then for several years I tried different approaches to alleviate it but only now, when I am 38, I feel I have it pretty much under control. And I feel so at peace with my body ... So I wonder why finally I have successfully taken control of my "issue". As I reflect about my life and try to elaborate an explanation for my healing I realize I misplaced a couple of sentences in this paragraph: I believe I was first in peace with my body and then I could manage my "issue".|As a biophysicist, I have some understanding at the molecular level of diseases that attack the human body. Nonetheless, there is a whole different scenario when looking at the person, the one who bears the disease. How challenging it is, I imagine, to live with the disease. Thanks to God none of my closest loved ones nor myself have a life threatening disease. But friends and colleagues do. Could I help them, my friends or colleagues, be in peace with their body so that a new healing stage in the disease is reached? Or does that peace come from the inner most of the self? When is the right moment for the help to be effective? ("Do you want to be well?").