Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Happy Sunday Brothers and Sisters,
This Sunday we have a powerful Gospel from Mark, which contains two miracles revealing God's desire for our healing and deepening in faith.
So what exactly is faith? Great question! The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines faith as the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God.' For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will (CCC 1814). Thus, faith gives us the ability to believe that our Creator can and will do amazing works, prompting us to know our God more fully, leading us to search for His Goodness, Beauty, and Truth.
Moving to the wonders of the miracles, the first one is the healing of the hemorrhaging woman. Imagine the faith she had that led her to say “if I but just touch his clothes, I shall be cured” after she has been suffering with this ailment for 12 years with the help of doctors to no avail. And we see how the Lord delights in her belief as He says “Daughter, your faith has saved you”. May we cling to His garments, reaching out in faith for healing from whatever afflicts us.
The second miracle we see Jesus perform is the healing of the synagogue official, Jairus’ daughter with the instruction: “do not be afraid; just have faith”. With the Lord we never have to fear because with faith we have the ability to know that our God will take care of all things even when at times it's not how we would have wanted Him to. I'm sure Jairus would have preferred if his daughter never had gotten so ill or was never pronounced dead, but Jesus shows He is in control of all things by healing this girl- “Talitha koum–Little girl, I say to you arise!” So maybe none of us are physically dead, but what are the things we need to arise from that are holding us back from being fully alive?
Let us praise the Lord, because our God is a God of miracles, hope, and all things good. God wants us to go to Him, the source, to receive all the glorious things that faith offers!
Dominique Brutus, Drexel FOCUS Missionary