Last Sunday, we celebrated the feast of Archangel Michael and his army of angels. It is composed of his loyal warriors, and our guardian angels are among them. They accompany all our lives from baptism, interceding for us before our Lord. They protect us, invisibly from wrongful thoughts and actions and work hard to keep us strong in our faith.
By calling ourselves Christians, we enter a struggle against the evil within and also around us. We are not fighting by ourselves - we have our guardian angels with us. And faith is essential to our victory. No believer will ever say, “I am lonely, everyone has left me.” None would complain that nobody listens or that their loved ones are far away - For they have their faith in Christ and their guardian angels with them.
In our Gospel readings today we read about a woman who had spent all her money on doctors but to no avail. In the torments of her illness, she learned about our Ultimate Doctor. She touched him in faith and found healing. We also read about Jair the Synagogue leader whose daughter is dying. Someone comes from his house and says “She is dead. Do not bother the teacher.” But Jesus said, "Just believe, and she will be healed."
Recently, a woman came to our Convent. Her husband was in intensive care with massive damage to his lungs. The doctors' prognosis was grim. We prefer to lay all our hopes on human inventions but place little faith in God's power. We have convinced ourselves that our human condition has changed little since biblical times. Yet Christ is always the same, and so is His grace, while our faith has dwindled. We forget that God loves us and He holds our lives in His hands. The woman prayed at our Church of Saint John of Shanghai. She kneeled before the Healing Icon of the Mother of God, pleading tearfully for the salvation of her husband. She came back several days later to tell us that her husband was recovering.
Prayer can work miracles and acts across great distances. It is our experience of the life to come; a taste of eternity. When our hearts are full of pain and sorrow; when we worry and grieve for our loved ones, we should never lose the hope of our salvation lest we fall into despair and darkness.
When we find God, we make our lives whole. We become confident of His ever-presence. The gates of Hades will not overcome our Church. The Church is the body of Christ. We are all a part of His body. So let us ask God to give us strength in our faith. May God save you all.
We cannot know how long we will live on this earth, but how good our lives will be is up to us.
