In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Thursday 7 January 2021

Word for today
The Gospel of Matthew 4:12-17.23-25

Heal everything

Jesus heals every illness and disease, literally all illnesses and diseases. The Greek word nòsos, "sickness, disease," is also translated as "evil, harm,"  Jesus cures all illness and all who are sick because He knows, as no one else, the true origin of evil and diseases.
They brought to him all who were sick. The Gospel text sheds extraordinary light on the origin of disease and it does so via the word "sick" or in Greek ècho kakòs. The verb ècho is the verb of possessing, of holding something tightly, of keeping something steady and consequently also of keeping a thought, of maintaining, of considering; the adverb kakòs, united with it, literally means "badly, miserably, wrongly, with malice, in a harmful way, dangerous, evil, wicked, depraved." One could therefore translate those who are ill, echòntes kakòs, with "those who hold in their thoughts badly," or "those who hold onto with malice or in a bad way.” 
The idea to hold badly, and all the more so to hold on badly with the mind provide us with unexpected insight.
Sickness, human disharmonies, are born out of our capacity to hold onto badly, be it consciously or not,  the events of our lives and our incapacity to let go of evil which we may not recognize as something coming from within. Holding in angry thoughts is to hold badly within;  holding in jealous thoughts is to hold badly within, holding in vengeful desires is to hold badly within. Holding in competitive tension is to hold badly within. Holding in judgments and condemning ourselves or others is to hold badly within. Holding in anger, annoyance, personal dissatisfaction and/or disappointments is it to hold badly within. Holding badly within is the perfect way to keep evil inside.
There is only one way in the world to free our mind, heart, soul, and body from the dangerous, toxic poison of holding in evil in all its forms. There is only one way to avoid holding in evil, and it is not by letting it explode into violence or anger, but by melting it in forgiveness: in forgiveness that we need to ask God on our knees for all the missed opportunities to love and by letting go of our mistakes forever; and in forgiveness to offer others for offenses received and suffered, letting go of the harm that we were subjected to. Forgiveness frees us from being possessed by evil, it frees us from the attitude of holding onto badly and leads to healing. Just as there is no disharmony and suffering that does not find its roots in an unforgiving attitude, in the same way there is no disharmony or suffering that cannot be healed by a forgiving attitude. Forgiveness dissolves the poisonous, the toxic acids of holding onto badly within oneself. Forgiveness is letting go, in a loving, grateful way, what life, an enemy, or an event has already taken away from us. Forgiveness is melting attachments to the very things we were attached to and do not want to let go of.
Jesus heals everyone and everything because knowing, as He did, the origin of human disharmony before and better than anyone else He indicates forgiveness and compassion as the way that frees the heart from possessing and retaining badly within.