WASHINGTON (CNS) -- All Catholics are called to be "instruments of Christ's healing," and Catholic psychotherapists especially are called to "heal the brokenness in the mind and heart," said Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Virginia, in a homily Oct. 23.

"Through the healing you provide to those in need, you bring hope to the world," he told members of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association gathered for Mass at the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Bishop Loverde was the main celebrant and homilist at an early evening Mass that opened the association's fourth annual conference, held Oct. 23-25 in the Arlington Diocese. It drew more than 300 people, including 30 clergy and religious and 70 students.

In his homily, the bishop discussed the day's first reading from Chapter 20 of the Second Book of Kings, in which God hears the mortally ill Hezekiah's cry for healing, "and in his mercy" promises to heal him.

"When the prophet Isaiah tells him to 'put his affairs in order' as preparation for his death, Hezekiah turned to the Lord ... in hope, and in return his trust was rewarded with healing," Bishop Loverde said.

"As Catholic men and women dedicated to assist those suffering emotional and psychological wounds, you, too, are witnesses of that same healing and hope," he continued. "Not some pie-in-the-sky version of hope, but the real hope that is rooted in a real person whose name is Jesus Christ."

Bishop Loverde opened his homily by reflecting on Pope Francis' description of the church as a "field hospital after battle."

In an interview published in English by Jesuit -run America magazine in September 2013, the pope said: "I can clearly see that what the church needs today is the ability to heal wounds and warm the hearts of faithful."

"Like Pope Francis, as the community of Christ's disciples, the church, we recognize that healing mission as well, and are called to share it with those we encounter," the bishop said. "The healing of Christ first and foremost embraces the salvation of souls, but throughout Scripture, we find Jesus healing the body as well by curing wounds and illnesses, and even raising the dead."

He "cast out the demons" and in intervening on behalf of a woman about to be stoned for adultery, he forgave her sin, Bishop Loverde noted.

Jesus healed minds and hearts, too, he said, "offering the peace that can only come through the proper relationship of each of us to God and to our neighbor."

In focusing on the body, mind and soul -- the whole person -- Jesus "teaches us how interconnected our wounds are, how one kind of healing needs to take place before another can, and also how prominent a factor sin is in our woundedness," Bishop Loverde said.

"As Catholic psychotherapists, you follow Christ's example by offering healing for the whole person, and through the power and truth of Jesus, you are able to heal those you encounter in charity and hope," he said.

All those in ministry in the Catholic Church are able to bring healing and hope to a world that "so desperately needs it," he said, "because we have heard and accepted and responded to the mandate" Jesus gave to "go into the whole world ... and proclaim the Gospel."

For Catholic psychotherapists, it means going into "the world of emotional and psychological turmoil" to share "the good news that Jesus came into the world and is present to heal us and to save us," Bishop Loverde said.

"You not only believe and accept this mission, but you also live it through your practice whose goal is the healing of the whole person," he added. "Remember the promise of Jesus: 'In my name they will drive out demons.' In your healing mission you drive out the demons of anxiety, despair and depression."