CCC 1151 Signs taken up by Christ. In his preaching the Lord Jesus often makes use of the signs of creation to make known the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.1 He performs healings and illustrates his preaching with physical signs or symbolic gestures.2 He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover,3 for he himself is the meaning of all these signs.
CCC 1504 Often Jesus asks the sick to believe.4 He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands,5 mud and washing.6 The sick try to touch him, “for power came forth from him and healed them all.”7 And so in the sacraments Christ continues to “touch” us in order to heal us.
1 Cf. Lk 8:10.
2 Cf. Jn 9:6; Mk 7:33ff.; 8:22ff.
3 Cf. Lk 9:31; 22:7-20.
4 Cf. Mk 5:34, 36; 9:23.
5 Cf. Mk 7:32-36; 8:22-25.
6 Cf. Jn 9:6-7.
7 Lk 6:19; cf. Mk 1:41; 3:10; 6:56.