Today’s Gospel talks about the paralytic who was brought to Jesus by his friends and who was forgiven his sins and healed by Jesus. Just yesterday we were talking to one of the doctors in our network, Dr. Sunjay Wagle, who always says that “without forgiveness the body can’t heal.”

Curiously Jesus heals the paralytic in a particular order. First He tends to his spiritual health and then his physical health. No doubt He could have chosen the other way around. We constantly see people who come to our Center for Healthy Lives and our retreats with chronic diseases that they have not been able to resolve for years. Again and again we find a lack of forgiveness in their lives, either to themselves or others, which makes their improvement that much more difficult. After our processes they begin to see improvement and together with their doctor they can start a process of healing.

Research supports these results. Increasingly it supports the relationship between forgiveness and emotional and physical stability. In this case we are talking about forgiveness of others and oneself, but the same thing happens when God forgives our sins. First, because when we pray Our Father we directly ask to forgive us in the same way we forgive others. And second, because He tells us that whoever have to forgive someone do it before asking God for forgiveness.

We see for example that forgiveness has a great relationship with our levels of cortisol, which in turn affects our mood, stress levels, depression and anxiety. When we are not forgiving someone or ourselves, we are in a state of suffering and pain that increases our stress level, which may despair us leading to depression and anxiety. And those high levels of cortisol are closely related to increased inflammation in our body which complicates, and can even cause, chronic diseases such as diabetes, thyroid disorders and cardiovascular disease.

Our emotional state, mental health, physical health and spiritual health nurture each other, for better but also for worse. If one of them is out of balance, it produces an imbalance in the others. That’s why we say that when one does not forgive or is not forgiven by God, the body does not heal. When we are in a state of sin or in a state of suffering, we do not allow our body to function as it should and our health does not improve. It can even worsen.

However when we forgive and let God forgive us, like the paralytic, we give the opportunity for our body to respond to treatments and thus improve our health. The effect of forgiveness in reducing our stress, depression, anxiety and isolation rehabilitates our immune system. This, experts tell us, has a positive effect on diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and even cancer.

Meditate today on what and who you may need to forgive or ask for forgiveness. And then enters a process of forgiveness to learn how to forgive completely and lead a healthy, happy and holy life.

If you have any questions or need help in learning how to forgive, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks!