Jesus the Divine Physician - Essay by James McTavish, FMVD

“Write down all that you see”

(Rev 1:11)

Recently an essay of James McTavish won 1st place for best essay in the Scholarly magazines category of the 2019 Catholic Press Association (CPA) awards of the United States and Canada. The essay, entitled “Jesus the Divine Physician,” was published in the Linacre Quarterly, the journal of the Catholic Medical Association of the USA.

The essay discussed the ministry of healing of Jesus and how the Church and her members have the ongoing task of continuing this healing work in the world of today. Various questions were dealt with including what did the healing work of Jesus consist of? What is the role of faith in healing? Is it wrong to desire good health? How to live with sickness? Is there a connection between sin and sickness? What reasons can maintain our hope?

On being asked about the award James said “I was happy to receive the award this year. Last year, an essay of mine won second place so now it is nice in 2019 to get a 1st place although I always remember that all glory and honor is yours Almighty Father! I believe that as Verbum Dei we have a great richness to contribute which is the written Word coming from our prayer and our theological reflections.”

James is still writing his reflections and his latest article is called “Priesthood and Same Sex Attraction.” He is a member of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC) and is supportive of their efforts to enhance connections and networking between theological ethicists.

We are encouraged in our Verbum Dei spirituality that the Word have an impact on the society around us (see Verbum Dei constitutions, no 55).
​
May we all be faithful to the Holy Spirit in transmitting our written reflections to the world of today - from our posts on Facebooks, to the news items we share on the Verbum Dei webpage, and even our theological reflections – knowing that as 1 John 1:4 tells us “We are writing this to you to make our own joy complete.”

The essay “Jesus the Divine Physician” can be viewed on the link below. 
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0024363918761707

Or download the PDF file below. 

jesus_the_divine_physician.pdf
File Size:	312 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---