The Divine Physician 

By Fr. Christopher Kubat, M.D.

Jeremiah the prophet wrote, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Incurable is your wound, grievous is your bruise.’” (Jeremiah 30:12) There are few things more frustrating to a physician than diagnosing something incurable. But this is what the prophet wrote. Was he talking about something physical? Clearly, he was talking about something spiritual.

When it comes to spiritual wounds, nothing is incurable for the Divine Physician. “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn with world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17) However, our free will can make a spiritual wound incurable. For example, unforgiveness is one of the most common cancers of a soul. Like cancer in the body, if left untreated, it grows and grows as it eats away at the soul. This is one of the most serious diseases of the soul. After Jesus taught the apostles the Our Father, He said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, you heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” 

As surgery and chemo are used to treat bodily cancers, surgery and chemo of the sacraments augmented by the sacramentals can extract and treat spiritual cancers. On Easter Sunday night, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.” (John 20:22-23) He clearly gave His disciples the power to forgive sins. With the grace of this sacrament and especially the Blessed Sacrament, we receive help to forgive others. The grace from the sacraments and a healthy prayer life helps cure the disease of unforgiveness and other diseases of the soul. Let none of us stay away from the healing balm of the sacraments. Amen!

National Chaplain Fr. Christopher Kubat, M.D. is the pastor of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Tecumseh, Nebraska and St. Mary Catholic Church in St. Mary, Nebraska. He serves as a member of CMA’s Health Care Policy Committee, Ethics Committee, Awards Committee and Executive Committee.

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