Today is the feast of St. Luke, “the beloved physician” (Col 4:14).
Honor physicians for their services,
for the Lord created them;
for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,
and they are rewarded by the king.
The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,
and in the presence of the great they are admired.
The Lord created medicines out of the earth,
and the sensible will not despise them.
Was not water made sweet with a tree
in order that its power might be known?
And he gave skill to human beings
that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.
By them the physician heals and takes away pain;
the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.
God’s works will never be finished;
and from him health spreads over all the earth.My child, when you are ill, do not delay,
but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,
and cleanse your heart from all sin.
Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
do not let him leave you, for you need him.
There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
for they too pray to the Lord
that he grant them success in diagnosis
and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
He who sins against his Maker,
will be defiant toward the physician. (Sirach 38:1-15)
Perhaps the good doctor will join me in my prayers today for my cousin Darien, and perhaps some of you will, too. But even if I pray alone, God is faithful, and God is the source of all healing.
Almighty God, who inspired Your servant Luke the Physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of Your Son:
Graciously continue in Your Church the love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of Your Name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
(Prayer of the Order of St. Luke the Physician)
