A Reading from the Gospel of Mark

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Reflection

We are made to be in a communion of persons.
It is necessary to be vulnerable to enter into a communion of persons.
It is hard to be vulnerable because we have been hurt and we feel shame.
Our shame protects us from being vulnerable when it is unsafe to do so, but it also inhibits us from being vulnerable when it lies and tells us we are unworthy of love and belonging.
When we are able to be vulnerable with a trustworthy person and enter into a communion of persons, however, we can experience a profound healing.
Like St. Peter when Jesus brought his shame to the surface and helped him to be vulnerable, we too can experience the healing that comes from being loved in our vulnerability.

In fact, what we learn from the Scripture is that vulnerability can release the power of healing in itself.
The most striking example of this is the account of the man with the withered hand.
I imagine that man stayed out of the way.
Furthermore, he probably kept his withered hand hidden, tucked away or covered up in his garment.
Such defects were a cause of scorn and evoked disdain from others.
It was presumed that defects came from sin (cf. John 9:2) and so it was very vulnerable to let them be seen.
It was already vulnerable for him to respond to Jesus’s call: “Come here” (Mark 3:3).
After a brief interaction with the Pharisees and others in the synagogue he invited the man: “Stretch out your hand” (Mark 3:5).
The Gospel tells us that the healing happened in the very act of vulnerability: “He stretched it out, and his hand was restored” (Mark 3:5).
Jesus took no further action—no speaking, no spitting, no touching.
The vulnerability itself was enough to receive the healing.
We see a similar dynamic in the healing of the ten lepers: “[Jesus] said to [the lepers], ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed” (Lk 17:14).

This might surprise us that the path to healing is not a path of accomplishments, but a path of vulnerability.
The principal challenge for us is not to achieve stellar results, but rather to share our hearts, especially the most vulnerable places in our hearts, with another person.
What is the role of spiritual disciplines then?
Our efforts matter!
That is to say, our efforts matter in so far as they are aimed at the same result—a communion of persons built on the service of love.
Both our strengths and our weaknesses are necessary for that communion of persons.
We must learn to put our strengths into the service of others.
In particular, we must learn to become a safe place for the vulnerabilities of others.
We must work to be trustworthy.
This requires overcoming our selfishness and making virtuous choices.
At the same time, it requires us to share our weaknesses, be vulnerable, and let ourselves be loved and served as well.