There's much talk and discussion of the COVID-19 vaccine that is soon to be made available. Currently these vaccines consist of having two doses for them to be effective. As good as these vaccines may be for our bodies, there's another two-dose remedy that's even better, and it's one that vaccinates our souls, keeping them healthy, dispelling evil, and making them ready for eternal life.
Matthew writes in his Gospel that Jesus went up to a mountain and that people came to Him including those who were lame, blind, deformed, mute, and those with many other maladies. Jesus cured them, and He can cure us if we just let Him.
Jesus is the Divine Physician, and He is waiting for us in the confessional. Because of original sin, all of us are spiritually ailing in one way or another. Using an examination of conscience guide or by reviewing the Ten Commandments and being honest with ourselves, God will make it clear to each of us how and where in our spiritual lives we are lame, blind, deformed, and mute. Just as Jesus healed the people who came to Him on the mountain, Jesus will heal those of us who come to Him in the confessional.
As we continue in Matthew's Gospel passage, we read the crowd of people stayed with Jesus for three days. This may seem crazy when many of us start squirming when a Mass lasts more than an hour! But they did stay, and they also became so famished to the point that Jesus told his disciples that he feared the people may collapse as they left if they didn't eat. With seven loaves and a few fish Jesus fed them all.
Jesus feeds us with His Word and His very Body and Blood when we come to Him by going to Mass. If we do not eat His Body and drink His Blood, we too will collapse on our journey to eternity and not make it to Heaven. We need Him to nourish us.
The rains, the floods, and the winds also mentioned in Matthew's Gospel are the perils and evil of our world. Our souls will not be able to withstand those storms if we are not inoculated against them by keeping our souls clean by regularly receiving the Sacrament of Confession and by having our souls made strong for the journey to Heaven through the frequent reception of the Eucharist. The eternal destination of our souls depends on us regularly receiving this two-dose remedy directly from our Lord, through His Church.