The Healing Power of the Eucharist
By Dr. Bob Schuchts
We are in the midst of a Eucharistic revival in the United States. It reached a crescendo with the Eucharistic Congress, preceded by the Eucharistic processions from the four corners of the continental U.S. What a great and glorious celebration of our Catholic faith!
I was privileged to attend the Congress and invited to speak about the healing presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I felt a little intimidated at first, since the audience ranged from infancy to mature adulthood. I wasn’t sure how to reach all the ages at once. After asking for God’s wisdom and grace, I was inspired to ask the attendees to share their favorite healing miracles from the Gospels. Several different kinds of healings were mentioned.
One of my favorite healing stories involves the woman who suffered for 12 years with a hemorrhage (see Mark 5:25–34). Isolated and alone, and not able to worship, she felt unworthy of love and rejected by God. She could not touch anyone, or else they too would become “unclean.” But with great faith and courage, she reached out to touch the tassels of Jesus’ robe, and healing power came out from Him. Jesus’ powerfully transforming love healed her instantly.
This encounter with Jesus also healed her soul. It dramatically affected her relationships—now she could reengage in normal community life. We can accept in faith that her healing inaugurated a new and vital relationship with Jesus and became a witness, leading many others to put their faith in Jesus. Tradition tells us that this woman was Veronica. During Jesus’ Passion, she wiped the blood from His face. How ironic, that the One who stopped her bleeding and brought her back into community, bled for her and was ultimately rejected by the people.
During the Eucharistic Congress, I re-affirmed what the participants already knew and believed. This same Jesus, who walked the streets of Palestine 2,000 years ago, is present today in all the sacraments of the Church. He is most powerfully present to heal through the Eucharist. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this very clear:
“Heal the sick!” The Church has received this charge from the Lord and strives to carry it out…. She believes in the living presence of Christ, the physician of souls and bodies. This presence is particularly active through the sacraments, and in an altogether special way through the Eucharist, the bread that gives eternal life and that St. Paul suggests is connected with bodily health (1 Co. 11:30). (CCC, #1509)
When speaking of all the sacraments, the Catechism emphasizes their healing power. “Sacraments are ‘powers that come forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever living and life giving” (CCC, #1116). Did you notice the phrase “powers that come forth” from Christ’s Body? Those words are the same ones used to describe the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage in the Gospels. I hope these words will help strengthen all of our belief that Jesus is still healing today, through all the sacraments, and in the most direct way—through the Eucharist.
Jesus’ mission is healing (see Isaiah 61 and Luke 4)! His name in Hebrew (Yashua) literally means: “God’s salvation,” which is another way of saying “God’s healing.” Jesus came to earth to heal the whole person, the whole family, the whole Church, and the whole world. This healing is meant to touch our bodies, souls, and spirits, and to bring us back into communion with the Trinity and one another.
If you examine every healing story in the New Testament, you will notice that they have at least these four things in common. The first and most important common element is Jesus. He is the one who brings about each healing. This is essential for us to know. Jesus alone is our Healer. Even when Jesus gives His power and authority to the disciples, they are quick to point out that it is Jesus who brought about the healing. For example, in Acts 3, Peter and John drew on Jesus’ name and authority to heal the crippled beggar, and were insistent that it was Jesus and not their own power or piety that had healed the man (see Acts 3:6–12).
The second thing in common in each healing encounter with Jesus is faith. It is Jesus’ powerful love which heals. But our faith is essential. Faith opens us to receive His healing love. Most of the time it is the faith of the person being healed, which draws on Jesus’ healing power, like the aforementioned woman with the hemorrhage. Jesus said to her: “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction” (Mark 5:34). But sometimes, the faith for healing comes from others, such as with the paralyzed man brought in on a stretcher by his friends (see Luke 5:17–26). Jesus affirms the faith that trusts in Him and draws out His healing power.
The third thing we see in all these healing accounts is that the person who receives the healing is restored to wholeness in some way. That is what happens when we encounter Jesus: He brings us into greater wholeness, body, soul, and spirit (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23). Sometimes we experience immediate and dramatic healing, but more often our encounters with Jesus slowly increase our wholeness in all these areas. Consider all the different kinds of healing in the gospels. Matthew, Zaccheus, the Samaritan woman at the well, and the woman caught in adultery were all healed in their souls; the demoniacs and many others experienced spiritual freedom. And many who were blind, lame, or had other bodily ailments were healed physically. All of it is a testimony to God’s merciful and compassionate love and demonstrates that Jesus’ salvation is total and complete—He has come to heal the whole person.
The fourth and final feature common to all the healing experiences in the New Testament is that each person is restored to greater communion with God and other people. This is one of the primary marks of healing. It is not enough for us as individuals to become more whole; if we stop there we risk becoming more self-reliant. Jesus came to bring us into communion with the Father and with one another (see John 17:11). In each situation of healing in the gospels, Jesus restores people to their family, their community, and a relationship with the Father. He does the same for each of us.
If Jesus is truly the Divine Physician present in and through the Eucharist and the other sacraments, then these four conditions must also be present. First, we need to recognize that Jesus is our Healer. The rest of the world offers relief to our symptoms, but only Jesus can make us whole and bring us into communion. That is what all the sacraments are meant to do. Each one is a particular way Jesus heals us and makes us whole. Each of the sacraments, when received with faith, bring us into communion with the Trinity. They are also meant to bring us into greater communion with the people around us.
With these thoughts in mind, I want to encourage you to expect to meet Jesus, your Divine Physician, the next time you participate in Mass and receive the Eucharist. Prepare your heart throughout Mass for this encounter. As you examine your conscience at the start of Mass, confess areas where you lack faith. Also bring to Jesus your needs, the areas in your life which need healing, and any areas where you have experienced broken communion with friends, family members, people at work, or where you are at war within yourself. Bring these broken places into your worship. Give glory to God from your heart as you sing and pray. Listen to the readings and homilies with the intention of hearing Jesus speak to your heart regarding these areas of your life and relationships. In intercession, bring these to Him in the silence of your heart. Offer these areas in the Offertory, with thanksgiving. Lay them on the altar in your thoughts and allow Jesus to offer them to the Father during the Consecration. Pray the Our Father and truly forgive and ask forgiveness, so that at the exchange of peace, your heart is reconciled to all in your life.
As you prepare to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, acknowledge your unworthiness, and trust Him to speak the words to heal you. As you go to receive Him, recognize, with St. Thomas, that this is your Lord and your God. Let your “Amen” be a heartfelt expression of your faith. Then as you receive Jesus, acknowledge that He is your healer. Receive “the powers coming from His body” and allow that power to touch those areas that need healing. Whether the healing is miraculous or unobservable, thank Jesus for hearing your cry and coming to you. Praise Him for restoring you to wholeness and for bringing you into deeper communion. Ask Jesus for the grace to live in communion with Him and be an agent of His love to all you encounter.
As St. Augustine said in a homily to first communicants, “What you have received, you have now become.” You carry Christ and are a vital part of the living body of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12). Let the healing love of Jesus, which you have received, also heal those you encounter.
Healing is an ongoing encounter with Jesus’ love and truth, and it brings us into greater wholeness and communion. Each time you receive Him with faith, you become a little more whole, and grow in communion. You also become His healing to the world around you. What we need now is to understand these truths more deeply that we may live them more fully.
Dr. Bob Schuchts, Ph.D. is the founder of the John Paul II Healing Center and the author of the best-selling book, Be Healed: Encountering the Powerful Love of Jesus in Your Life, and other numerous titles. He spent more than 30 years as a therapist, while also teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in marriage and family relationships, human development, applied psychology, and marriage and family therapy.