Fr. J. D. Ousley

One of the most difficult and perplexing issues facing our society is health care. And many of the worst problems about health care don't concern disease but money!

How do we pay for doctors and hospital visits and medicine? How much should health care professionals earn? What surgical procedures should government and private insurance provide -- and who should get them?

Of course, in these debates, no one questions that we need some kind of health care! No one advocates dismantling all insurance companies and medicare. No one suggests that doctors and nurses should find new professions.

Whatever it costs, there must be some kind of health care system. And it's this factor of need that seems to be the hidden point in the analogy Jesus draws between medical and spiritual doctors.

In today's Gospel, Christ is accused, as he often was during his ministry, of associating with disreputable people.

Christ says this in his defense: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick ... I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

Partly on the strength of this text, Jesus has come to be known in Christian tradition as "the physician of souls." Jesus is a kind of spiritual doctor; the religion he brings can heal the inner problems that plague our souls -- just as a medical doctor uses scientific practice to heal the problems that harm our bodies.

Yet, it's interesting that we rarely hear Jesus referred to as "the physician of our souls." I wonder if this analogy isn't popular today because people don't like to think of themselves as spiritually "sick."

Folks hesitate to admit that they have souls that might possibly be in need of healing. They hesitate to describe themselves as "sinners" seeking divine forgiveness. They even question whether they have any need for religion at all.

But, in fact, Christ's analogy is right on target. And we can see the point of Christ's comparison by noting that medical doctors also find their ministrations rejected!

For many persons have a tendency to ignore the advice they get from their physicians. They fail to exercise when they should; they eat or drink more than they're supposed to; they decline to take the medicine their doctors prescribe.

Some don't want to go to doctors at all, even for check-ups. (I know that type since I'm one of them!)

All of us in those categories forget that doctors are there to help us -- and we need help! All of us mortals need to have our health monitored. Even if I'm in top shape, I can't pretend that there won't be a future time when I'll need to consult and I want that doctor to know me and my history and be able to give me sound advice.

Now the same is true of religion. We all have a need for religious health as we have a need for physical health.

Some Christians who understand this look for someone who functions for them like a doctor. They take their religious problems to a "spiritual director."

These religious advisors give them counsel when they have trouble praying. They help them when they struggle with perplexities and doubts.

For other Christians, though, the religious need for Christ the Physician is more than a human spiritual mentor can handle. We know that bodies are complex; all kinds of things can go wrong with them. So we take vitamins and medicines and exercises to treat deficiencies we may not remotely understand.

Now the same is true of the soul; our interior needs are many and diverse.

I have a friend, for example, who travels a great deal for his work. He was telling me the other day how he tries to attend church wherever he happens to be on a given Sunday morning. He finds that he needs the time in church even though the place is unfamiliar -- so he can think and meditate and get a perspective on what is going on in his life.

My friend thus has discovered that he has a particular yearning for worship. But it must be said that not every Christian feels that spiritual need.

Other Christians will want to be part of a community -- a community of faith that reaches out to those in need. They'll demand a religion that includes outreach.

As for their inner lives, they may find that the problems in their souls are healed by the work they do to help others.

And so it goes. Everyone requires a different spiritual prescription. Many of my priestly colleagues feel incomplete if their Sunday doesn't feature a lengthy high mass with incense and elaborate vestments. Their worship habits reflect a need they have found in themselves.

I don't share that need -- yet I'm a fellow Christian of theirs, I belong to the same church they do.

There is no one-size-fits-all religion. Jesus, the physician of our souls is able to treat all kinds of spiritual ailments.

All kinds. Even spiritual problems we aren't aware of. Just as a doctor can diagnose high blood pressure and prescribe medicine to heal a problem you didn't know you had, so in your prayer and your meditation, Christ the physician of souls can address problems you didn't know were there.

You feel anxious. You have a touch of depression. While nothing is terribly wrong, everything isn't fine, either.

One more time when you need that Physician for your soul. You need the one who said, "Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy-laden, and I will refresh you."

And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.