{"id":4150,"date":"2012-06-02T08:17:07","date_gmt":"2012-06-02T08:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2012\/06\/men-who-are-able-to-help-the-s\/"},"modified":"2014-06-13T07:00:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T06:00:51","slug":"men-who-are-able-to-help-the-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2012\/06\/men-who-are-able-to-help-the-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Men Who Are Able to Help the Sick in Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"guarigione-del-paralitico-di-cafarnao.jpg\"<\/a>How I love to read the homilies of Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, at the Office of Matins, in the silent hours before daybreak. Today, Pope Benedict XVI is in Milan. This morning he spoke of Saint Ambrose of the other holy shepherds who have illustrated the Church of Milan through the ages. Here is part of the lesson from Saint Ambrose that was read yesterday morning at Matins. It is a commentary on Luke 5:17-26. The comments in italics are my own.<\/small><\/p>\n

First of all, as I have said before,
\nevery sick man ought to ask for prayers to be offered
\nfor his recovery,
\nso that, by means of these prayers,
\nthe weakened frame of our mortal life
\nand the limping steps of our bodily movements
\nmay be made whole again
\nby the healing power of the celestial Word.<\/p>\n

Weakened frame and limping steps: is there anyone who, at least at certain hours and in certain seasons of life, does not recognize himself in this description? Saint Ambrose says that the sick man ought to ask for prayers to be offered for his recovery. This simple statement confesses the Church’s age-old belief that in answer to prayer it pleases God to restore wholeness to the shattered.<\/em><\/p>\n

Therefore, there should be men who are able to help the sick in mind,
\nso that when the soul is depressed
\nby the torpor of bodily weakness
\nthese men can rouse it again to higher things.<\/p>\n

Here, Saint Ambrose recognizes that, within the Church, there is, in fact, a vocation<\/span> to help the sick in mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

By their aid the sick man can easily be brought and laid before Jesus,
\nand be found worthy of the Lord’s glance.
\nFor the Lord does look upon those that are lowly;
\nfor He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden.
\nAnd when He saw their faith, He said unto them,
\nMan thy sins are forgiven thee.<\/p>\n

It is a great and powerful thing to bring the sick before the gaze of the Lord Jesus, either in person or by representing them before His Eucharistic Face.<\/em><\/p>\n

Great is the Lord, who for the merits of some, forgives others,
\nwho tries some, and forgives the trespasses of others.
\nWhy should not your fellow-Christian, O man,
\nhave influence with you,
\nif he has the right to intercede and obtain mercy from God?<\/p>\n

Through prayer, mere men can have influence on God. The humble man, then, will allow himself to be influenced for the good by those whom God Himself deigns to hear.<\/em><\/p>\n

O thou who condemnest,
\nlearn to forgive;
\nthou who art sick, to pray!
\nIf the gravity of thy sins makes thee afraid
\nlest they should not be forgiven thee,
\nbetake thyself to the Church.
\nShe will pray on thy behalf,
\nand God will pardon, as He looks on her,
\nwhat He might deny thee.<\/p>\n

The condemning man must learn to forgive. The sick man must learn to pray. All must entrust themselves to the efficacious prayer of the Church, for she is a merciful mother pleading for us, through Christ, in the presence of the Father of mercies and God of all consolation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Saint Ambrose, Book Five, Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How I love to read the homilies of Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, at the Office of Matins, in the silent hours before daybreak. Today, Pope Benedict XVI is in Milan. This morning he spoke of Saint Ambrose of the other holy shepherds who have illustrated the Church of Milan through the ages. Here is <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fathers-and-doctors-of-the-church","category-florilegium"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-14W","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7359,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150\/revisions\/7359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}