Today, the wounded are plentiful, but the healers are scarce.

In the book of Matthew, the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest is great, and the laborers are few" (Matt 9:37, Aramaic Bible in Plain English).

 

People need the Lord; we need the Lord—this is an eternal reality!

 

We need the Lord to live and die, in joy and sorrow, when everything is well and when all is wrong. All need the Lord's love and care.

 

Today, the people who need care and those who provide care are amid hatred, divisions, wars, violence, and, much worse, this paradoxical restrictive liberty. All these promote sorrow, perplexity, and brokenness.

 

The wounded are plentiful, but the healers are scarce.

 

Our mandate is not only to become agents of change. But more importantly and urgently, to become channels of healing. Many are wounded and distressed; we too are. Many desire comfort and peace; we too do. We are tempted every day to reciprocate these hatreds, to feel ill toward those who do not support what we believe in, and to return their very vacuous approach.

 

The challenge here and now is how to become a healer while in pain.

 

In this endeavor, the reflection of Henri Nouwen about spiritual paradox may offer a solution: "What’s most contemplative is most active".