Sunday, June 28, 2009 ~ Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Note: These Sunday & Holy Day Gospel Reflections are written so that mothers may prepare for Holy Mass in advance either as a small group or individually (especially since we are so often necessarily distracted during Mass itself).





Mark 5:21-43


When Jesus had crossed again in the boat
to the other side,
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
"My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live."
He went off with him,
and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured."
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?"
But his disciples said to Jesus,
"You see how the crowd is pressing upon you,
and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'"
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her,
approached in fear and trembling.
She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

While he was still speaking,
people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said,
"Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?"
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
"Do not be afraid; just have faith."
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
"Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep."
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child's father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum,"
which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.




Reflection

Lord, you have the power to heal. You know the depths of my soul. You know me better than myself. You heal all if we but ask. If we allow you to work in our lives - in your way - you bless us with by renewing our hearts, our minds, our souls, and, maybe, our bodies. Sometimes this involves healing we desire. Sometimes it involves the kind of healing that you desire, but we must willingly let you in to the depths of our soul to receive the healing you want to give.

So, why are we so reluctant to let go of it all, to despise earthly sufferings and endure the cross you give? You know what is best, yet often we do not fully trust you with our lives. We say we do, but in truth, we still hold on to that bit of control, rather that figment of control. Those who were healed in the Bible, most of them had complete faith in your will. They allowed you to intimately heal them, completely.

There are parts of us, hidden, embarrassing parts that we will often not give you to heal with your divine mercy. We try to hide our pain and even our grief when you already know it all. All it takes is courage to run out to meet you each day, to ask for healing when so much around us calls us away from you. We must not deny your sovereignty by succumbing to those temptations. You must be our focus. You must have our complete trust, and we must remember that you are always good and we are always loved.

He is always Good. I am always loved.

Change us, dear Lord. Heal us. Give us new life and feed us with your life.