For the complete Sunday readings click here.

When my sister was in 7^th grade she was playing keeper for her summer soccer team. A hard shot came knuckling towards her and dipped at the last moment. She stopped the ball, but caught it awkwardly, stubbing her thumb. It hurt pretty badly, but she assumed a little ice and rest would take care of the pain. Two weeks later it still hurt, so she went in to have it looked at by a doctor, only to find out she had actually fractured her thumb.

Rarely do we have a physical injury that we don’t know about. But sometimes we don’t realize just how badly we are hurt. Sometimes illness infects the body and we have absolutely no pain or sign. I think sin works like this too. Sometimes when we sin, we don’t realize how bad we are really injured. We think a little time and we will be healed. Other times we aren’t aware how wounded we really are because there doesn’t appear to be any outward sign.

In our gospel this week, we read about Jesus curing the sick, driving out demons, and preaching the good news. Jesus wants to do this for you too. Jesus wants to heal your wounds from sin. He wants to restore you to spiritual health. He came to do just this. All we have to do is ask for his healing power.

The obstacle is that most of the time we don’t feel hurt, injured, or sick. We don’t recognize how sin is hurting us. And if we do recognize our wounds, we think we are the only one and so we hide.

If you want to be spiritually healthy, the first step is to recognize our need for healing. The good news is that Jesus is the perfect doctor. He not only will heal us, but he can help us to identify our spiritual wounds. All we have to do is go to the doctor.

Live It:
Doing an examination of conscious can help us to identify our spiritual wounds. A good selection of examines can be found here. My favorite is the one for married persons. Take 5 minutes this week to read through an examination. If something surfaces, consider receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.