The image of the Church as a field hospital for sinners – while not exhaustive – draws us back to something essential. “Healing” and “saving” are the same word in Greek, so there is an important meditation to be had on the the overlapping meanings. Christ does not come to heal or save merely as a gesture of superiority or magnanimity. Christ comes to heal and save the one(s) he loves as a spouse. It challenges our faith to consider that the one who created us has such lofty plans for a relationship with us. His actions of healing and saving are expressions of his devotedness – He wants to restore what may seem to worldly eyes to have been lost, defiled, worthless, etc. As a devoted husband only has eyes for his wife, Christ only has eyes for us. And as Christ sees our brokenness, our sicknesses, our weakness, our sin, He rushes in to repair. We must believe and trust that His level of commitment is excessive and that none of our wretchedness deters Him from His mission. He does not fear contamination, nor can He be crushed by the weight of our guilt. Let us fearlessly see ourselves as we are, and humbly touch Him in faith.
Fr. Francis Therese Krautter csj