The Divine Physician
by Father Paul A. Duffner, O.P.
Various persons may visit a Medical Doctor for help, each having a different Problem or
Illness. For each he will prescribe a Special Remedy to get at the Root of the
Illnesses. Whether we know it or not, each of us has
Spiritual Illnesses — Weaknesses
and Attachments— that tend in some measure to
Enslave our Will, making it Difficult
for us to Surrender our Will to God's Will.
Our Heavenly Father, the Divine Physician, knows our
Weaknesses and Attachments that Interfere with our Total Surrender to
Him. And in His Loving Concern for us,
He not only offers Strengthening and
Healing Graces, but He uses
Human Instruments as part of the Healing Process.
For example, He lets People touch the Sensitive
areas of our Ego (Inordinate Self-Love), with incidents that Upset,
Irritate, Frustrate etc.
He does this not only to make us aware of Hidden Attachments that often
make us respond Impatiently, or Angrily, or
Uncharitably; but in hope that we will see His Hand
allowing it, and Surrender to His Action. Because of the Wounds
of our Fallen Nature referred to above, that Surrender will not be without
Pain. Yet each time we can manage to do so with a “YES, FATHER,” . . .
His Action chips away ever so slightly at that Attachment,
and our Action has both a Meritorious and Satisfactory
value. That is, it not only Merits an Increase of Grace,
but in some measure pays the Debt of Temporal Punishment due to
Sin.
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Jesus performs the Easy task of healing the Blind Man. The
Difficult task of healing his Soul remains.
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There are certain basic Weaknesses and Faults
in our makeup that we will never overcome by ourselves alone. We need God's
Help, not only to overcome Them, but even to be clearly aware of
Them. But God will not do it alone.
He demands our Cooperation, our Surrender to His Action.
He supplies the opportunities that Test our
Patience, our Charity, our Humility,
our Trust, etc. But those Opportunities will be Lost
if we fail to recognize His Hand in them, and respond in our
Heart with a “YES, FATHER.”
We all need to undertake a certain amount of Mortification of our own initiative in
overcoming our Weaknesses; but those opportunities for
Mortification which God provides, where
He takes the Initiative, are far more Important and Efficacious in getting at the Root of our
Spiritual Problems and
Healing the Wounds of our Fallen
Nature, if only we see His Hand and Submit to
His Action. With every Cross He
sends, there is an accompanying Grace to Help
us to bear it.
What we have been saying does not mean that we should not defend ourselves or others against some Unjust
Action, or remind another of something that is Out of Line. It refers more
to those cases where Emotion takes over and Blinds us to the
Hand of God providing an opportunity of Self-Discipline, and our
Hurt Pride causes us to respond in an
Uncharitable, or Impatient, or
Angry Manner.
One with Deep Faith sees the Providence of God
in all that is beyond his Own Power to Control, and Trusts that God can bring
Good out of every situation. He follows that Straight and Narrow way where
God is his Guide, his
Provider, his Physician. It is a road that
he could never find of himself, nor would he of himself choose, for it is rough going in places. Yet the more he gives
God a Free Hand in guiding him, the
Richer will be his Inheritance when he arrives at that Final Destination.
A Power Point Presentation (PPS)
by an Unknown Author
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Christ, the Divine Physician