13th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
at St.
Mary’s in Salem
26-27 June
2021
Wis
1:13-15; 2:23-24
2
Cor 8:7. 9. 13-15
Mk
5:21-43
“Do not be afraid; just have faith… Little girl, I say to
you, arise!”
Our Gospel today tells of a lady in the crowd being healed
after reaching out secretively to touch Jesus. Then we hear the account of Jesus
raising from the dead a 12-year-old girl and giving her back to her parents. In
this chapter 5 of his Gospel St. Mark shows us Jesus as God effortlessly
bringing healing and life to those who reach out to Him.
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.” That
is what Jesus says to the girl’s parents. To the woman in the crowd who was healed
by reaching out to touch Him, Jesus reassured her by saying, “Daughter, your
faith has saved you.”
In the face then of two miracles, the inevitable question
seems to be: “How did these people among all others in need, perhaps even in
more desperate need than they, how did these people rate to receive such great
and unexpected favors? And why at this particular moment in their lives?” It is
clear that these two miracles are not just everyday stuff. Even in Jesus’ own
day and time these events were exceptional. In our lives too, we may pray for miracles
of healing, but none of us has any illusion about God stepping in to bring a
loved one back from death. What is going on here? What is the message?
In
its choice of a Scripture passage from the Book of Wisdom to shed light on this
Gospel passage, the Church seeks to help us understand, to understand Who God
in Jesus Christ is and what should be the object of our prayer. Can we or how
should we approach Christ to seek His favor in our time of need?
Certainly,
it is clear to us that we must count suffering and death as our lot in this
life. We cannot escape hardship and perhaps even great tragedy in life. It is
clear to us even before we reach adulthood that none of us is exempted from sickness,
suffering, and death, the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve. The message
for this Sunday, however, is that we are not simply born to suffer and die. Divine
revelation teaches us that God made us for more than the time allotted to us on
this earth between the cradle and the grave. Hence the words of the Book of
Wisdom:
“God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the
destruction of the living… For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of
his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the
devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience
it.”
With this Sunday’s readings, Jesus and His Church seem to
want to help us sort things out offering us a couple of immensely powerful
signs of divine favor, as Jesus brings healing out of suffering to one person and
restores life and family joy to another. Jesus heals and raises up from the
dead freely, gratuitously, and with great compassion. The principal requirement
for sharing life with the Lord would seem to be placing our trust in Him and thereby
parting company with the devil. We cannot have it both ways. “…by the envy
of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company
experience it.”
At
least once a year at Easter we renew our Baptismal Promises, which have us
renounce Satan and all his works and empty promises. But do we really choose
Christ to the exclusion of Satan? Do we truly break with the devil and hold to
Christ? Can Satan claim us as part of his company, yes or no? To say it positively: How do we go about
placing our lives firmly in Christ’s hands? Part of the answer to that question
can be ours if we seek to live our lives reflectively. If prayer is a constant
in our lives and if daily, we examine our behavior and our motives and never
close a day without seeking the Lord’s forgiveness for sins and failures, then
we are on the right path. A good examination of conscience at the end of each
day is an earnest commitment to break with Satan and to seek fellowship with
the Lord. Jesus intervenes where people have faith and confidence in His power
to save.
Do
we love God above all else and our neighbor as ourselves? How do we fare with
the ten commandments? Do we fulfil the duties of our state in life: as a son or
daughter, as a student, as a husband or wife, as a priest, given my relative
wealth or poverty, do I help others in need? Have I broken with Satan’s pride?
More
often than not, people protest their righteousness going through life. They are
willing to complain about others, to criticize and even sometimes condemn
others, all the while insisting on their own decency. They pass through life mediocre
or indifferent by failing to seek the Lord’s forgiveness and His powerful
assistance. They keep Jesus at arm’s length or fail to open up their lives as
did the lady in the crowd to His healing. What should be the result of my entrusting
my life to Christ? What can I expect in life if Jesus is my point of reference
and my consolation? What if in my need I turn to the Lord? What if I take Him
at His word? “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
The
girl was not dead yet when her parents came asking Jesus to heal their daughter.
They came asking the Lord to restore her to good health, already a tall order,
but thinkable and no doubt doable for the Master. Death unexpectedly intervened
and you could imagine how this must have crushed her mother and father, but
Jesus stepped in. The Lord of Life took control of the situation. “Do not be afraid; just have
faith.”
Make no mistake, I am not making a pitch for
the power of positive thinking, but rather asking you to renounce sin and live
in the freedom of God’s children. Much of what we find burdensome in life might
lose its sting or weigh less heavily upon us if we would but cast our cares
upon the Lord as did the people in the Gospel.
Whether
my prayer and virtuous living improves my chances for seeing or experiencing
God’s favor in my life is not the point. Opening ourselves up to the Lord and
burning all of our bridges to stuff begotten of Satan, however, is. If we
consciously seek Christ’s Kingship over us, if we live in His love, hope is
ours. We will most certainly be consoled by the Lord Who wills not death but
life for us. “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
Praised
be Jesus Christ!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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