Healing Mass 2026

Muy buenas tardes a todos.

For those who don't know what that means, it means good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Before Father Ben gives his homily in English, he has permitted me to say a few words in Spanish.

And so in Spanish in English.

Is that okay if I say a few words in Spanish?

Yes.

Okay.

In Spanish, in this padecemos de muchas enfermedades.

How many people here suffer from some kind of sickness?

Padecen de alguna enfermedad.

Did anybody not raise their hand?

Alguna persona no levantó su mano?

You're already holy, you're already in heaven.

Todos padecemos de alguna enfermedad.

Ya sea enfermedad del cuerpo, ¿verdad?

Cuerpo, dolor de cabeza, dolor de la espalda, dolor del estomac, dolor de rodillas, dolor de todo.

Dolor de todo en el cuerpo.

Enfermedades del cuerpo.

Y ah, mejor yo le doy el micrófono.

Usted da la humildad, ahí voy.

Del cuerpo.

También tenemos enfermedades de la mente.

Sickness of the mind.

Ansiedad.

Depresión.

Esquizofrenia.

Las químicas in balance en la cabeza.

Enfermedad de la mente.

Sickness of the mind.

Ahí voy donde usted va.

Luego, enfermedad del corazón.

Sickness of the heart.

Soledad.

Corazón roto.

Una falta de sentido en el corazón.

Enfermedad del corazón.

Enfermedad en el alma.

Espiritual.

Sickness of the soul.

Sickness of the heart.

Sickness of the soul.

I said I would do Spanish, but I'm mixing English and Spanish, yes.

Enfermed corazón.

Loneliness.

Broken heart.

Sin above all.

Enfermedad el corazón.

Enfermedad del alma. ¿Qué tal?

Enfermedad en familia.

Sickness in the family.

Cuantas personas padecen enfermedad en la familia.

How many sickness in the family?

What do I mean?

Problemas.

Distancia.

Rabbias.

Rencores.

Resentimiento.

Falta de perdón.

Enfermedad in la familia.

Family sickness.

Sickness in the world.

Guerra.

Odious.

Resentiments.

Hatreds.

Padecemos de allá class of enfermities.

We suffer from all kinds of sicknesses.

Jesus has come to heal us of our sickness.

Now for some of us, for all of us, la sanación viene immediato.

For some of us, the healing comes immediately.

If that's going to be you today, what a blessing.

For others, la sanación va a tomar tempo.

For some of us, healing will take some time.

And still for others, I'm going to brace you with some bad news, okay?

Mala noticia.

For some of us, healing will not yet come in this life.

Sometimes we don't understand why.

It's in the perfect plan of God.

We only find perfect healing in heaven.

La sanación perfecta solamente viene in el cielo.

Okay.

I've talked too much, I've taken away time for Father.

Okay.

Let's open our hearts today to receive the healing presence of Jesus.

Amen.

Okay.

Now we're going to hand it over to Father Ben.

Let's give him a round of applause.

I'm going to preach in English and Father Jorge, he's going to preach in Tagalog.

Just kidding.

The greatest healing is not physical.

It's spiritual.

The physical don't doesn't last.

The spiritual is forever.

How many of you want to experience more peace?

Raise your hand.

We want more peace.

We need peace.

How many want more hope?

How many want, as you can see in this beautiful chazu, divine mercy, Jesus, I trust in you, right?

How many want more trust?

How many want more faith?

Forgiveness.

Be careful what you ask for.

If you want more peace, you're going to face problems.

If you want more faith, you're going to face frustrations.

If you want more hope, you're going to face hardships.

If you want more trust, get ready for trials.

Why do I say that?

Because in order to have faith, trust, hope in God, God will not make us comfortable.

He will stretch us to where we trust in him and him alone.

Not by our own power, but his strength.

The greatest obstacle in faith and trust is fear.

We all in life will face fear.

What is your biggest fear?

Rejection?

What else?

Purgatory.

Purgatory.

Hell, I'll put hell in there.

Purgatory, there's hope.

You're still on your way to heaven.

Father Martin, what's your greatest fear?

He doesn't have any fear.

This guy's fearless.

No.

I know.

Oh, do you fear?

Not open to God's will.

Not open to God's will.

I know another fear you have.

We're really close.

He's afraid of getting sick.

As a priest, the last thing you want is to be sick.

I remember COVID.

You remember COVID?

How many were sick?

We're very afraid of COVID.

He got COVID because of me.

But he was such a good friend.

He was fine.

So many fears.

Fear of spiders.

Fear of darkness.

Fear of death.

How many afraid of heights?

I used to be not afraid of heights, but as you get older, something happens.

A few years ago, a friend of mine, a confirmation director, he invited me to go on a trip with his confirmation teams for a conference.

And it was held at the great amusement park of Magic Mountain.

And so he said, Father, the teens would love to have you with them.

And I said, Okay.

But don't expect me to get on your rides.

But how can you say no to these cute teens?

And they they convinced me to go on a couple of rides.

I went on Colossus and Batman.

And that was it.

I was like, that was it.

I'm not going anywhere.

So I thought.

Until they persisted.

They said, Father, there's one more ride.

You have to try it out.

It's the best ride in the park.

And I said, no, no.

And then they kept persisting.

And then I got that little FOMO, fear of missing out.

I was like, okay, I'll go with you guys.

And so we get to the ride.

It's called X2.

I knew right the name of it.

I was like, it's like execution, X2.

Like.

So I get on, and I was a little gung-ho, and I was with another teenage boy, and I said, let's go in the front.

And so we get on the front.

And you know when this is not a good ride, when the seat is not face forward, it's in reversed.

And then it reclines.

And so when it's starting to ascend, up the I'm looking at the sky.

I'm like, is this the damn meeting with you, Lord, today?

And then when we get to the very top, how many of you get into X2?

Anybody?

Wow.

Brave, brave.

So I get it to the top.

And then the thing I didn't realize was they designed this chair, it swivels.

It moves right, left, forward.

And so when it went to the top and it went down, it flipped.

And I saw my life flash before my eyes.

I looked down and we plumbed my face to the to the earth.

I was like, and I closed my eyes.

I said, Lord Jesus, I trust in you.

I trust in you.

I closed my eyes the whole time.

Except for once.

I'm not peaked.

I was like, oh no, no, I can't just watch it.

We got to the ground safely, and I told the teens.

That was awesome.

I want to show you a picture.

Right there.

Okay, you look at me.

Look at the boy next to me.

Who's having fun?

Who's not having fun here?

I am scared.

And why am I afraid?

What am I afraid of?

Heights and dying.

This boy was not afraid.

He was having the time of his life.

In our lives, we will go through circumstances that are out of our control.

And it's very human to experience fear.

Anxiety.

But here's the powerful thing.

Jesus gives us the grace to still have peace.

That boy.

Where's the picture?

You can either choose to be like me, or you can be like this boy in the roller coaster, having a time of his life.

He's not scared.

He was part in praying to the Holy Spirit more than I was.

Well, what I'm saying is this, brothers and sisters, the resurrection of Jesus is not a moment that happened two years ago, 2,000 years ago.

Jesus wants to be resurrected in our hearts.

We hear in the gospel today that the disciples went on a roller coaster ride with Jesus.

They were in one moment joy.

Remember Jesus coming to Jerusalem?

Hallelujah.

And in one instance, he's on the cross.

And he died.

And so we hear in the gospel today, they are huddled together in the room.

And it's powerful that the gospel says they were huddled in the room.

And the doors were locked.

And they were locked inside the ruins because of fear.

Fear.

Fear, persecution.

They were followers of Jesus.

Would they end up like him?

They don't want to be exposed to be his followers.

Peter denied Jesus three times.

Fear of the unknown.

They had their whole life already planned out.

Jesus, the Messiah, remember their vision of Jesus was a political ruler.

He was the new King David.

He was going to overthrow the Roman government.

But now Jesus is dead.

What's the future hold for them now?

Fear of uncertainty.

And then on a deeper level, the fear and shame of disappointing Jesus.

They were his most trusted friend.

Peter said, Even if I should die, I would never deny.

And so they failed Jesus.

And then all of a sudden, Jesus appears in the midst of the chaos.

And the first words he says is, He doesn't say, What kind of friends were you guys?

He doesn't say, you guys are disappointments.

You failed me.

He doesn't say that.

He says, peace be with you three times.

And then he goes beyond expectations.

He breathed.

He breathed the Holy Spirit and gave him the power to forgive sin.

Jesus of the resurrection wants to break the doors of our hearts.

Amen.

What locked doors are we carrying?

What have we locked ourselves in that is not allowing the grace of God to change us right now?

I want to reflect on three locked doors.

Unforgiveness.

Resentment.

You know, Jesus says you must forgive not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Why?

Because Jesus understands that when we have resentment, we have bitterness, unforgiveness, it hardens our hearts.

When we have resentment, we are replaying the past of the injury or the wound that that person inflicted.

We're living the past, we're not living in the present.

It's robbing us of the peace.

And so when we forgive, it leads us to freedom.

When we don't forgive and we have vengeance, it's like someone said, we wish the other person were dead, but we're drinking the poison.

So how many of us right now are carrying unforgiveness?

The locked doors that we're locked in right now.

So I want to invite us.

Who wants to be free of unforgiveness?

Raise your hand.

I invite us, I want to lead you to this prayer with me.

We're here for healing.

Jesus comes to set us free.

I invite you to close your eyes.

God came to not make us nice people.

He came to make us new creation in him.

I invite you to place your right hand upon your heart.

And I invite you to make an act of faith and trust.

Forgiveness is not easy, but it's an act of faith.

And I invite you to think about that person that has hurt you.

Person that has wounded you, betrayed you, with their words, with their actions.

Could be a family member, dad, mom, brother, or sister, a friend, a co worker, someone in the past, an uncle, an aunt, teacher.

Jesus is here.

He wants to invite you to have the courage to forgive this person.

And I want you to think about what that person did that wounded you.

That really hurt you.

When you think of that person, think of his or her name.

And I invite you to repeat these words with me.

Jesus wants to heal us tonight of this locked door.

Repeat these words in the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus.

I place myself under your authority.

Under your power, your lordship.

And I surrender my control.

In the name of Jesus.

And think about that person and what they did.

I want you to repeat these words to Jesus.

I forgive.

And if you can just whisper the name, I'm going to say out loud.

Whisper the name of that person to hurt you.

Lord, for instance, I forgive my brother for abusing me physically or verbally.

I forgive my dad for being absent in my life.

Forgive my mom.

Whoever it is, tell Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, I forgive this person.

I'm about you to take a deep breath.

In the name of Jesus, I forgive him.

I forgive her for not being perfect.

For hurting me.

For not meeting my needs.

For betraying my trust and disrespecting me.

In the name of Jesus, I surrender this person to you, Lord.

You are just God.

You are in control.

In the name of Jesus, I ask you to bless.

Say the name of that person, whisper them, to bless them.

Sometimes the unforgiveness is not just towards a person outside of us.

Sometimes the person we need to forgive is ourselves.

Many of us carry shame and guilt for our past mistakes.

Jesus didn't come to condemn the disciples for their mistakes and failures.

He came to forgive them.

And so we need to forgive ourselves.

And so I want to invite you to pray for forgiveness for yourself.

Whatever mistakes in the past, failures, invite Jesus.

Think about whatever that moment that caused you to feel like you deserve condemnation, you don't deserve love, made you feel like you're not good enough or unworthy.

Whatever that happened in the past, Jesus invites you to forgive yourself.

And so repeat these words.

In the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, I forgive myself from my flaws, my mistakes, from my imperfections.

In the name of Jesus, bless me, heal me, in the name of Jesus, I receive your love and your presence.

Amen.

You're open up your eyes now.

That's the peace.

Second door is more.

Control.

Self-sufficiency.

You're like me.

I want control.

I want control.

We want everything to be comfortable and convenient.

We want to follow our agenda.

It's the American way, brothers and sisters.

You know the specshanatra song.

I did it my way.

But the road to freedom is doing it God's way.

Amen.

And that means we have to ask the Lord to break down the doors that lock us into control and self-sufficiency.

Amen.

Like the other day, I was in my house and I woke up and I started the day.

It was going to be a perfect day.

I had my coffee and my breviary.

I'm praying.

And I say, Lord, thank you for this day.

And then my phone rang.

And he said, Father, you have mass right now.

I usually don't have mass on that day.

But it woke me up.

And I said, You're in control, God.

And the Lord, somehow the Holy Spirit got me there on time.

And uh I think my homily was okay.

We'll see.

I don't know.

But it made me realize in life, there's gonna be moments where we're not in control.

And God wants us in those moments to cling on to Him.

He's in control, amen.

It's not my life.

It's God's life in us.

Comfort.

The third and last door, lock door.

That's a good one.

Busyness.

As Americans, we pride ourselves in busyness.

More efficiency.

To the point where when we relate to each other, sometimes we don't realize it.

We don't look at each other as as human beings anymore.

We're like transactions.

You ever feel that way?

People walking around.

We can't even sit still.

After a moment, we're on our phones.

We're so busy, you know the acronym for busy?

B-U-S-Y.

Being under Satan's yoke.

Ooh.

And God wants to break the stronghold of busyness and distraction that rob us of communion.

Of love.

COVID didn't help with that.

But now we're, praise God, we're coming back.

People coming back to church.

Why?

Because they're hungering for communion.

Amen.

Jesus didn't create us for comfort.

He created us for communion.

And we need every day to make choices what leads us to communion with God or to isolation.

And God, the Holy Trinity, is a communion person.

And he created you and I in his image and likeness.

And in order to experience freedom is to be in communion.

That's why the whole thing of I'm spiritual but not religious doesn't work.

Because we're not meant to be Lone Rangers.

We're meant to be connected in community with one heart and one mind.

That's why the first reading is so powerful.

The early church, they live in a community.

They sold everything they have for one another.

They experience the joy.

And we need to rediscover what it means to be a community again.

By breaking the locked doors of busyness.

Amen.

And so I'll invite us to stand right now.

And I'm going to just say a prayer to renounce these strongholds, these locked doors in our hearts.

Invite you to just place your hand again on your heart.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Repeat these words.

Lord Jesus Christ.

You came that I might have life and have it in abundance.

You came to proclaim freedom.

Lord, I stand before you.

I renounce every stronghold that has enslaved me, that has locked me in.

I renounce the lie of self-sufficiency.

The belief that I do not need you.

That I only need to rely on myself.

Jesus, I surrender my control.

Jesus, draw me into communion.

Your sacred heart that I might see my brothers and sisters.

With the eyes of compassion and love.

In Jesus' name, I renounce renounce the idol of busyness.

The lie that my worth is measured by what I produce.

What I accomplish.

Free me, Lord.

And teach me to slow down and be present.

I renounce a spirit of comfort.

That I am what I have.

My possessions, my compulsions, my addictions, my unruly attachments, to social media, to television, to news, to gossip, to shopping, to gaming, to gambling, to drugs, to alcohol, to food, to lust, I renounce the spirit of addiction that robs my intimacy and friendship with you.

Holy Spirit, come and fill the places of my heart that is empty.

Heal my wounds.

Soften what is hardened.

Awaken what is numb.

Come, Holy Spirit.

I humble myself.

I trust and surrender my life to you.

Take a deep breath.

Jesus is here.

I'm just going to say a closing prayer for all of you.

Heavenly Father, we just thank and praise you.

We ask, Father God, that you anoint each and every one of your children tonight.

You have called them here, Lord, for a reason.

And you, Jesus, coming to them where they're at, Lord, whatever their struggles, their burdens they're facing right now, meet them where they're at.

Just as you enter the locked doors, touch us, heal us, renew us, transform us.

Set us free, Lord, and deliver us, Lord.

That we might know and be convicted that you love us, Lord.

You would never abandon us.

You are walking with us.

Thank you, Jesus.

We praise you, Lord.

We ask all this through Lord.

Amen.

And in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

What's next?

Praise the faithful.

Praise of the faithful.

Okay.