How can we deepen our understanding of the need for faith in the healings of Jesus? Pope Benedict XVI explained it well in an Angelus address on the healing of the ten lepers. In his preaching, Jesus refers twice to doctors: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do” (Mt 9:12), and “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself’” (Lk 4:23). As for specialties, we could say his healing work encompassed ophthalmology (opening the eyes of the blind), ENT (curing the deaf), dermatology (healing leprosy), rehabilitation (curing paralysis), hand surgery (healing a withered hand), plastics and reconstruction (repairing a severed ear), neurology (treating a boy with convulsions), critical care (saving the slave of a centurion who was about to die), to name but a few. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them” (Lk 4:40). Jesus exercised the ministry of healing, and the gospels are littered with examples of him curing the sick: “At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. How to live with sickness? Is there a connection between sin and sickness? What reasons can maintain our hope? The following article is adapted from this talk. I focused on various aspects of Christ as the Divine Physician and posed various interactive questions to the audience: what did the healing work of Jesus consist of? What is the role of faith in healing? Is it wrong to desire good health? Participants included healthcare workers as well as breast cancer patients, survivors, and their relatives and friends. I was asked recently to give a talk at the “Forum for Breast Cancer,” held at Makati Medical Center, Manila.
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