Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes gave a homily in Liverpool during a Mass in Liverpool, 18 February, celebrating the case of John (Jack) Traynor being declared a miracle, saying that God performs miracles to show that he loves all people.
John Traynor was a layman in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, and a WW1 veteran, who visited Lourdes in 1923 and was healed of epilepsy, paralysis of the right arm and paraplegia.
After new medical evidence surfaced, a commission convened by the Archbishop McMahon of Liverpool met in Liverpool last year to validate Traynor’s recovery.
Afterwards, Archbishop McMahon said: “Given the weight of medical evidence, the testimony to the faith of John Traynor and his devotion to Our Blessed Lady, it is with great joy that I declare that the cure of John Traynor, from multiple serious medical conditions, is to be recognised as a miracle wrought by the power of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes.”
During his homily to the people of Liverpool, Bishop Micas said:
“This miracle is now a responsibility for you: to show the men and women of your country that God loves them, that God wants and can cure them of all diseases, true illnesses, those which kill the heart and the soul. John Traynor’s healing is good news for our time: God saves.”
You can read/download the full homily below the gallery of images.
When I was a child, a scene from the gospel always marked me very much. We were made to draw it every year or so, and I am sure that all the children of the world who have done catechism have also drawn this same scene, or played it in the theater for the Christmas party of the parish… It takes place on the shores of Lake Tiberias, in Capernaum. The people block access to Peter’s house, and a paralyzed man is carried by others, then descended before Jesus through the roof of the house.
The dialogue between Jesus and this man, the feelings of the witnesses on the scene and what Jesus tells them also, are of great importance, which also illuminates the gospel chosen for the feast of this day, which also sheds light on what we celebrate about the miracle of Mr. John Traynor’s healing.
“Your sins are forgiven,” said Jesus to the man of Capernaum, “You are now healed; sin no more, something worse may happen to you.” Jesus said to the sick of Bethzatha. There is an obvious link between disease and sin, but not as we imagine it, not as everyone imagines it, in the sense that we believe it most of the time.
Most of the time people think, even believers, and sometimes even Christians, that sickness and misfortune are a kind of consequence of sin, when they are not a punishment of God offended by the sin of men. The whole of the Old Testament is filled with this universal conviction, and in the New Testament people are inhabited by this same universal theology when they ask Jesus: “Is this man who was born blind because of his sin or that of his parents?” – “Neither his own nor that of his parents,” Jesus answers, but so that the work of God may be manifested in him.” The eyes of the blind are opened, so that the eyes of men may be opened to the work of God.
“You are well now. Sin no more, something worse may happen to you.” Jesus said to the sick person in Bethzatha. Jesus reveals to this man that sin is a much more serious disease than he has suffered for over 38 years. Jesus reveals to the paralyzed man of Capernaum that his sins are a much more serious handicap than the one which paralyzes him. The true evil, the true disease, the true paralysis, that which leads to death, is not the most visible one, is not the one that everyone sees and interprets as a punishment from heaven. The true disease, the true handicap, the true paralysis is that of the heart, the look, the mind and the soul of each person. The work of God that Christ reveals is that man was created for life, for light, for the walk to heaven. God’s work is to give sight to the blind, to give life to the dead, to direct us towards goodness, openness to others, love of our neighbour, even of enemies. The work of God is to clear the source, which is full of all kinds of detritus, and to fertilize the earth again from its life stronger than any death.
At Lourdes, Bernadette was invited by Mary to dig in the mud, at the bottom of the Grotto, to find the source where the whole world today comes to wash. It is the pool of Bethzatha for so many pilgrims, since the apparitions. People are immersed in it with confidence, and thousands of people find consolation, renewed hope, faith in life in this gesture. Mr. John Traynor, at the end of hope, and while medicine has gone to the end of what it could do to make his life more human, made this same gesture that pose the pilgrims of Lourdes. Like the sick person of the gospel, he too had heard about this pool, this spring, and wished to be immersed in it. What he did during the first pilgrimage of your diocese to Lourdes in 1923. But as in the gospel, it was when Christ passed that he was healed. Christ, in the real presence of his Eucharist, visited John Traynor, visited the other sick who were with him, visited the hospitallers and the other pilgrims who were with him. Christ, in the real presence of his eucharist, blessed Mr. Traynor and he felt that he was healed, he felt that his body was restored, but also his heart and soul. With the other pilgrims from Liverpool, he began to sing the wonders of God and also committed his life to serving others. His body has been loosened, and also his eyes and his heart…
The misfortune that struck him was certainly not a punishment from heaven for his sins! The misfortune he suffered was the consequence of the evil that tears the hearts and minds of men who make war. But it is also important to say that his miraculous healing is not the sign of his holiness either: John Traynor was not healed by God because he would have been more holy than others… He did not deserve his healing, just as the blind gospel man did not deserve his handicap because of his sins. That’s not how it works with God. The explanation for understanding is given by Jesus himself: “so that the work of God may be manifested”. This is all, dear brothers and sisters. God gives visible signs through some of what he does for all. The miraculous healings that God performs in Lourdes through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, at the prayer of Saint Bernadette, are signs entrusted to some of what he accomplishes for the benefit of all.
This “some-all” report is fundamental. It is the very structure that underpins God’s choice of the people of Israel to reveal themselves to all nations. It is the mission of the Church, which the Second Vatican Council reminds us is like the universal sacrament of salvation, that is to say, that some, the Church, has the mission to reveal that God saves all men and even all creation, this is his work. The miraculous healings performed by Jesus in the Gospel reveal his invisible power, over the forces of death, over sin which is the only true mortal disease that cuts from God, cuts from others, cuts from life. The miracles of today have the same mission: they are signs of God’s work, they are signs in the Church of his universal mission to reveal God who saves from true evil, from eternal death.
With you, dear brothers and sisters, the whole Church rejoices in what God has done for John Traynor. This miracle is now a responsibility for you: to show the men and women of your country that God loves them, that God wants and can cure them of all diseases, true illnesses, those which kill the heart and the soul. John Traynor’s healing is good news for our time: God saves. It is a mission for you: to proclaim that God loves everyone, and saves everyone.
Yes, brothers and sisters, may God be blessed for this new sign of his mercy. May he watch over your diocese and your country. And may he make you joyful “pilgrims of the hope” that he offers to the world, to everyone. May Our Lady of Lourdes watch over you and your families!
Amen!
