July 1, 2012
- Category: brdaniel
- Published Date
- Written by Br. Daniel Thomas, OP
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Thirteenth Sunday of the Church year.
Saint of the day: Blessed Junipero Serra (1713-1784)
Scripture readings for today's liturgy:
Wisdom 1:13 … 24
Psalm 30
2 Corinthians 8: 7 … 15
Mark 5:21-43
“I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.” (today’s response verse)
The opening words of today’s first reading are the perfect way to begin our reflection: "God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.”
Then Mark takes us on a wonderful story of two healings sandwiched between Jesus’ preaching. My first thought after reading this Gospel is that Jesus – who is the Way the Truth and the Life – performs these healings “on the WAY.” Once again we are reminded that our healing encounter with Jesus happens out there where we live and struggle to keep on the way. On the one hand we have a “Synogue Official” who boldly approaches Jesus to ask for healing of his daughter. On the other side, a woman who wants to remain anonymous and unknown. She sneaks up to Jesus from behind to just “touch the hem of his garment.”
I think that most of us would more readily relate to the woman’s way of meeting Jesus than the way the Synogue official did.
But we can’t forget that any encounter with Jesus can never remain anonymous. In this Gospel account we are told that Jesus knew that someone had touched him even though they were in the midst of a large crowd. Then, in the middle of all of this Jesus is told that the little girl has died and there’s no point in troubling Jesus. Yet he says, “Do not be afraid. Just have faith.”
So encounter with Jesus can happen in any circumstances: near or far away. This should be good news to all of us whether we slink up to Jesus or boldly approach him. He wants to make us whole. If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God how can we think that he doesn’t know what our deepest needs are and wants to make us whole? Just for today try to reach out to touch just the hem of his garment. This is what’s called “mustard-seed faith” that really can move mountains. It really can happen. “I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.”
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