Homily: September 3, 2025, Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time (Healing Hands)

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“At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.”

In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus laying hands on people to heal them from various diseases. The passage begins with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was sick with a high fever. She was lying in bed, unable to get up or get on with her usual chores. In those days, many people, especially vulnerable folks, would die from high fevers which could have unknown underlying causes like pneumonia or organ infection. There was no medication for high fevers in the past.

So, Peter’s mother-in-law was at risk of dying. When Jesus went to her, He simply stood over her, rebuked the fever and it left her!  Instantly, she was well again and was able to get up and serve Jesus and His disciples.

Even today, Jesus continues to effect healing on people, often through the intercession of His saints. 

This weekend, Carlo Acutis will be canonized by the church. He lived in Italy and enjoyed what most young people would enjoy like playing computer games. His family was simple and ordinary, but Carlo was extraordinary, in his faith, in his kindness, in the way he embraced his death. He died when he was only 15 years old, sick with leukemia in 2006.

He loved the Eucharist and so he created a website before he died, to share about Eucharistic miracles because he wanted the world to know the true presence of Jesus in the blessed sacrament.

Despite his sickness, he loved Jesus in the blessed Sacrament, and his faith never wavered. Everyone believes that he is already a saint in heaven, and true enough, there were miracles attributed to his intercession.

The first miracle happened in 2013. A Brazilian boy had a severe pancreatic disorder. He couldn’t eat anything without vomiting, and the doctors could not treat his condition. His mother then took a relic of Carlo to touch her son, and immediately he was healed. For the first time in his life, he was able to eat solid food.

A second miracle approved for Carlo’s canonization happened in 2022. A university student from Costa Rica who was studying in Italy, met with an accident and suffered severe brain damage. Doctors could not treat her and they didn’t think she could survive.

So her mother went to Assisi to pray at Carlo’s tomb. That very day, the girl began to breathe on her own, and the next day she recovered her speech and movement and soon recovered fully. Medical tests thereafter showed that the hemorrhage in the brain had completely healed.

These are just two examples of how Jesus continues His healing power through His saints.

Today, as we celebrate this Mass, let us ask the intercession of St. Gregory and Blessed Carlo Acutis. We might not have obvious health conditions, but truly, everyone needs healing because we are broken in some ways.

Jesus heals through His saints, and He heals through the Holy Eucharist every day. One day, He will heal through us too. Holiness is our call. Let us keep growing in grace.

St. Gregory, pray for us!

Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us!


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