“What Ails You?” This was a question that our sister Mila Yamamoto kept asking during the CFC Theme Discernment Weekend. What ails you? What ails your marriage? What ails your family?
This was also reminiscent of the vision of Nina Ponte, that Couples for Christ will heal the world for Christ. As we approached the 41st Anniversary of CFC, we aired the YouTube exclusive “What Ails You?”, where we discussed different aspects of our lives that manifest some ailment and dissonance. With Jesus our Great Healer, we will start with ourselves.
Our pilot episode features our Chairman and President, Bro. Joe Yamamoto, who will speak of how God will win over everything that ails us.
The transcript is available below the video.
Transcript
ROBERT LABAYEN
Hello brothers and sisters! Welcome! We are now celebrating our 41st Anniversary as a community and what a great blessing it has been for all of us. Yes, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, but we also continue to witness how healing is becoming a part of our lives.
Our anniversary theme this year is “Heal the World for Christ” and we give to you this online series that we call “What Ails You?” We will be covering so many relevant topics—from family, to finance, to society. So, I hope that you can watch all the nine episodes. I am Bro. Robert Labayen, and I will be your host for this series.
(Title card)
ROBERT
What ails you? That was a question asked by our sister Mila Yamamoto during the CFC Theme Discernment Weekend. What ails you? What ails your family? What ails your life? We all have triumphs in our life, we all have victories, we have joy. But I’m sure that we also have pain, sorrow. All of us are going through something.
Do you all remember the vision of sister Nina Ponte? This year’s theme is reminiscent of that vision: that Couples for Christ will heal the world for Christ.
In this series, we will be discussing different parts of our lives where ailments have been evident, and how Jesus, our Healer, continues to heal us. This is also our way of sharing how we can move forward with our faith, hope, and love.
I’m sure you are all as excited as I am! Now, let’s go to the main part. Our guest for today is a doctor—respected doctor— a cardiovascular surgeon, and most importantly, he is the chairman and president of Couples for Christ. Brothers and sisters, let us all welcome our Bro. Joe Yamamoto!
JOE YAMAMOTO
Hi Bro. Robert! Hi everyone! It is good to be here.
ROBERT
Bro. Joe, you look good as always. How have you been in the past two years?
JOE
Well good, you know. God has been so good, and has always been our guide and our provider, and truly the last two years perhaps were the most trying times for each and every one of us, even in the community. But God is so good that He has allowed Couples for Christ to thrive even in the midst of the pandemic. And come to think about it, you know, this pandemic not only challenged us but we did suffer personal losses. And you know, this is something that we will be taking part of in our discussion. And personally, I also—together with my wife and the rest of my family—have been victims of COVID-19. But praise God, we all recovered and here well enough to be with you in this interview.
ROBERT
Thank you, Bro. Joe. It’s always a joy to listen to your stories and sharing, and right now, we are excited to hear about what you can about healing in our lives. Because we’re all different, we all have common experiences when it comes to pain.
So what do you think are our common pain points at this time?
JOE
Well at this point, Robert, what I’d like to do is to jump off from what our beloved Pope Francis has made as a description of the coronavirus. He said, and I quote: “It is a small virus and continues to cause deep wounds and to expose our physical, social and spiritual vulnerabilities.”
While it is really true, it has also “laid bare the great inequality that reigns in the world.” There’s just so much apathy; that you can highlight the inequality of opportunity, of goods, of access to healthcare, of technology, even education. Nowadays, millions of children cannot go to school. And so the list goes on, and on.
Another point are the troubles of the world. We’re continuously affected by environmental degradation, poverty, social injustice, and of course anti-life forces, economic instability and many more. In our country today, in our Philippines—beloved Philippines at that—we can add to the list the transition that our country is experiencing under the new leadership.
ROBERT
Yes Bro. Joe, transition real at this time. As you said, we are moving into a new administration. And also, our health situation is also transitioning from another phase: from the pandemic to what is hopefully a more normal time. But also, there are more diseases, more viruses coming.
JOE
Robert, you know, we are actually in exciting times. Now in the Philippines we have the governmental transition. We have a new administration. But nonetheless, our health and wellness are threatened by many things. Somehow we still experience the persistence of the COVID-19 virus. There are of course resultant and prevailing mental health conditions. We have encountered a lot of depression especially among the young ones, and heightened anxiety. And there’s of course the threat—a real threat—of new variants and other re-emergent viral infections. Over these last two years millions of people, not only in the Philippines but also around the world, were lost during this pandemic. And many families are affected by the death of their loved ones. And this is magnified even more because of the continuing global health crisis.
ROBERT
I believe that each of us here in our community must have lost a relative or someone close to them. And they are still grieving as of now. And aside from those deaths from illnesses, we carry our own personal wounds, personal brokenness. Would you like to talk about it?
JOE
That’s true, Bro. Robert. You know, we all have our own challenges. We have experienced our own losses in our family; we lost our eldest brother Tony to COVID-19 and its complications.
As we continue, we also realize that each and every one of us have our own share of personal wounds. Some of them are caused by sins; many others are caused by brokenness. And yet all these pains inflicted upon us may be also rooted in childhood experiences and trauma—and of course, the pain of loss. It continues over and over again, and you cannot probably underemphasize the reality in our modern society. There is just really so much pain. People can be stuck in a place of great pain or weakness, and unable to move up. There are long periods of time when they have failed to confront and healed of all their challenges.
ROBERT
I’m sorry to hear about your personal loss. And as I said, many of our members have that experience as well. So, the pain in this world right now is overwhelming. But I think you can assure us that there’s a place where we can find healing. Would you like to talk about it, brother?
JOE
You know, I’ve come to the… Over the last two years, I have encountered a lot of people who have said many of these things. For example, and we can all relate to this: “Will I really be healed? I might end up like a lost cause.” Or, “Is there hope for me?” Or another, I know people will say “I have done grievous things in my life. Will the Lord love me enough to heal me or even forgive me?” “Does my past disqualify me from a future of healing?” “Will I really be healed from the wounds of my sins?”
These are actually compelling sharings of people who not only went through these difficulties, especially the isolation during these lockdowns. And yet you can probably narrate and relate them with what we have actually seen, even experienced—and what we have probably even come across in the media.
ROBERT
I can relate to that. I have my own experiences in the examples that you mentioned.
JOE
You know somehow, we get the realization. The world may offer many solutions—I’m sure you are kind of aware—in terms of dealing with our sins, our brokenness, or even wounds. However, these may temporarily relieve the guilt or loneliness. But I’m sure you can agree with me that they will never be able to cure or mend us. In so many ways, what the world has taught us is the temporal approach. Maybe just similar to having a band-aid, or even an emotional trance. But by and large, we in Couples for Christ recognize that there is really an extreme need—perhaps an even urgent need—to run to the Lord to sincerely ask and seek His forgiveness and guidance. In the end, you know, we need to offer our hearts, minds and our whole being so that He may touch them, and we, in turn, can reach out to God. And that alone proffers and offers the hope of healing.
Our beloved Pope Francis, in one of his well-attended General Audiences, described Jesus’ healing to different people. Somehow, you know, you can relate and say, well, “different strokes for different folks,” “one size does not fit all.” In Jesus’ ministry, He demonstrated instances of many healing. As when, for example, he healed Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever. And you know there after, you know that Peter’s mother-in-law started serving the Lord and making herself available, to be able to be of help (Mk 1:29-34).
And of course, people, especially men in the New Testament that were healed of leprosy (Mk 1:40-45), and people with paralysis (Mk 2:1-12). As when also, when Jesus restores sight (Mk 8:22-26; Jn 9:1-7). And there are many episodes or people with impediments of speech or hearing (see Mk 7:31-37). In reality, Jesus takes time, not only to heal physical illnesses, or even instances by the way of physical evil. Though through it all, He heals the entire person.
In that way, we see that Jesus restores the person back to the community fully healed. He liberates the person from isolation after He has healed him or her.
Christ heals! It is the Lord! And you can see that exciting Biblical passage in John 21:7. There is no other way; only through Jesus, in Jesus and with Jesus! God is indeed bigger than our sins, greater than our pasts, and is the promise of our future.
We have a sovereign God in the heavens, and I’d like to iterate that over and over again: that God is so powerful; He is the sovereign God in the heavens, the ruler of the universe. Let us bring all our challenges, pains, and difficulties to Him. He will heal us.
ROBERT
Okay, that’s very encouraging; hat you said, Tito Joe. I would like to remember that always, that God not only heals the physical ailment, but the entirety of the person. He heals our spirit, and he restores us to fullness again. So I’d like to repeat that for our brothers and sisters listening, let’s say it again: “Christ heals! It is the Lord!”
One more time, “Christ heals! It is the Lord!” That’s very comforting, Tito Joe. Through Him, in Him, with Him—we can find true healing. Now, how do we move forward from these things that ail us?
JOE
Bro. Robert, I’d like to share three things. You know, I’d like to keep it simple because you know, in my own experience as a teacher and professor, I always like to keep things simple. And I say, three things. Because you know, you can always remember that internalizing.
The very first thing that I would like to share with you and the rest of our audience out there, is first: keep our eyes fixed on the One who loves us. In short, fix our eyes on Jesus. You see when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we acknowledge that He is our Savior and the Healer of the world. (cf. Hebrews 12:2) That is actually enough for us, as something that we can grasp and share to the world: that it is with Him that we can fight against discouragement. Unfortunately, many people will succumb to the lure of the enemy to make us think that God cannot do anything with our sins, or troubles, or pains.
Brothers and sisters, God is more powerful; after all, He is a sovereign God. His mercy is more powerful, more compelling than our works—at all times, not just exceptional times. God wins! Repeat that with me: God wins, all the time. He transforms our wounds—heals our wounds over. He forgives them, and heals them.
The next thing of the three items is: believe and commit to Christ. We plead that through God’s mercy that we may be given the graces. After all, without the graces, we can do nothing. But with His graces, we need to believe, surrender, and be faithful to the Lord.
Once more, Pope Francis reminds: “Let’s think of the beautiful account of the healing of the paralytic at Capernaum (see Mk 2:1-12).” I think this is one of my favorite stories in this New Testament, and I’m sure it is also yours. But let us go over to some of the more salient details. While Jesus is preaching at the entrance to the house, four men comes along to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. Not being able to enter because there was such a great crowd out there, they decided—on their own initiative—they had to make a hole in the roof and let the stretcher down in front of Him.
Imagine the kind of confidence to, you know, to open a hole in the room, and at the same time, lower their paralyzed friend in front of Jesus. That is audacity at its very best. Jesus was preaching then, sees this stretcher coming down in front of Him. Jesus recognized faith. When Jesus saw that faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven’ ” (Mark 2:5). And then, as a visible sign, He says: “Rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” (Mark 2:11)
People were scandalized. People were so incredulous. But here, you see Jesus—that so we will be convinced of the truthfulness that He is the healer, also compounds the understanding by saying “your sins are forgiven.” What a wonderful example of healing, brothers and sisters.
Christ’s action is a direct response to the faith of those people. And we can be those people. To the hope they put in Him, to the love they show that they have for each other. And so, Jesus heals, but He does not simply heal the paralysis. Jesus heals everyone. He forgives their sins, unconditionally. He renews the life of the paralyzed man and his friends. He makes them born again, let’s say it that way. It is a physical, and simultaneously, a spiritual healing—all together, the fruit of personal and social contact.
Imagine Jesus not only demonstrating this kind of special friendship, and addressing the faith of those present in that house. You know, I’m pretty sure they would have been, you know, jumping with joy with Jesus’ action, that healing encounter with Jesus. Truly unique. Truly special. Truly extraordinary.
And last but not the least, Robert, is to hope in the Lord. We may navigate the difficult waters of our time, yet we have been gifted by the Lord with faith, hope and love. These are the gifts that heal us. These are our own sense of being able to touch the Lord. And you know what? We can all claim the power of healing as co-healers to the power of Jesus Christ. In Romans 5:3-5, you know, we are affirmed: “We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
ROBERT
Thank you for that Bro. Joe, I love that story of people raising the sick person on the roof to the floor is very vivid, and very inspiring. It tells is, we are reminded that we must have total confidence in the promise that we will be healed, and the Lord will not disappoint us or not deny our request. That really affirms me.
And now let me recap what you said. Because you’re a teacher, and you might give a surprise quiz (Joe laughs). So let me recap what you said. You said that we must keep our eyes fixed on the one who loves us, that we must believe and commit to Christ, and last but not the least, hope in the Lord. These are words that affirm—affirms us, and really affirms me. And you remind us, reassure us that God will not forsake us, because He has shown His love, his healing to many people. I think healing is His language of love.
JOE
Amen.
ROBERT
That’s true. And so as we close this first episode, I pray that all of you who are watching may receive some healing in the words that our brother Joe shared with us today. It is Christ healing us, true, Bro. Joe. And so, would you like to lead us in a closing prayer?
JOE
Yeah. Thank you very much, Bro. Robert. Before I lead the audience and ourselves to a closing prayer, I’d just probably like to share with you a sense has continued to build up within the last few weeks, maybe about three weeks. And this is really our own learnings. Our own experiences really shaped us. And one prayer time, I asked the Lord: “Lord, what is it that you want us to think about?”
And the Lord gives me this sense: maybe it’s about time to start thinking, planning, or casting a wide net—and maybe, “what can we do? What else can we do for our brothers and sisters?” And as a physician, I sense that the Lord is telling me: Build my hospital. Build the healthcare facility for Couples for Christ. And I hope that the Lord will honor that kind of prayer. But let me lead you to a short personal prayer, that I would like to share with the audience. Let us come before the presence of the Lord.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thank you, Lord God, for this encounter with You. We know, Lord God, that You have brought us into a sacred space. You have allowed us, Lord God, to feel Your presence within us. Our words, Lord God, aren’t our words—but they come from a sense that You are in charge, and that You are a God who loves His people, and leads Your people to where You have always wanted us to be.
And so, Lord God, as we close this episode, we yearn that You may continue to pour upon us Your limitless graces. That You will also allow us, Lord God, to experience Your warm embrace. That Your sense, Lord God, will always be inside of us. To lead us, to guide us, and to provide for our needs.
With You, Lord God, we do not fear anything. Lead us by the hand. Lift us, Lord God, when we fall. And Lord God, with You, nothing can fail. All this we ask and proclaim in your mighty and glorious name, with the intercession of Mary, our Mother, and our beloved guide, Saint Joseph.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
ROBERT
Thank you, brother Joe, a powerful prayer. Now we share your vision of building the hospital for Christ. It will be a reality, sooner than to be imagined.
JOE
Thank you very much for that, Bro. Robert.
ROBERT
Thank you, brothers and sisters, for being with us in the first episode of “What Ails You?”. If you know anyone who might benefit from the learnings today and the sharings of Bro. Joe, please share this video with them. And if you click “like”, this video will reach more people. If you want to be notified of the coming episodes, just click subscribe and the notification bell.
May we never forget that through, in, and with Christ, there is healing. I’m Robert Labayen, your host, and see you in the next episode. God bless!
(Outro)
