Cycle B - Year I:

27 June 2021: Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24

Second Reading:   2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15

Gospel:  Please Read  Mark 5:21-43 

"Do not be afraid, have faith!

How often do we talk to God?  Do we start our day talking to Him in prayer?  Or as we wake up we just go on with our usual daily routine; perhaps log on immediately to social media, group chat or contact friends?

Least we forget, God wants to talk to us, too.  And He speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings.  The Sunday connection provides useful background and activities to understand better and grown in faith, helping us to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.

The Gospel for this Sunday from St. Mark narrates two contrasting stories of healing by our Lord Jesus Christ.  One story tells us about a father's great love for his daughter who was gravely ill and in the brink of death. The other story tells of a sick woman desperate in seeking healing from Jesus.

Very different circumstances are represented by the lives of each suffering person in the Gospel story.  The contrasts between Jairus, the father who seeks help for his daughter, and the woman with hemorrhage are stark and revealing.  One is a man, the other is a woman. One is a public official, an important person in the community. The other is a woman who has lost everything she owned to find a cure to her affliction that separated her from the community. One approaches our Lord Jesus publicly. The other approaches Jesus secretly.  Yet, in each case, faith leads them to seek out Jesus in their time of need.  Thus, in the stories before us today, the request for healing from Jesus is by itself a courageous act of FAITH.

It was faith that brought Jairus to his knees in front of Jesus, and that faith raised his daughter back to life. It was faith that propelled the woman to touch Jesus' cloak and cured her.

Now, how does our Lord respond to their need?  In both incidents, Jesus shows His personal concern for the needs of people and His readiness to heal and restore life.  In Jesus we see the infinite love of God extending to each and every individual as our Lord gives freely and wholly of Himself to each person He meets.  Do we also find time when someone needs us?  Giving time to someone in need is like giving our very self.

The second point in our reflection is the healing itself.  The bleeding woman was restored to health and the dead child brought back to life through a personal encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ.  They keep faith in Jesus' healing power and allow God's gift of compassion and mercy to work in them.  In the case of the sick woman, Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."  And for the dead child, it was her father's faith in Jesus that brought her back to life.  In other words, when we pray for God's healing, it is not just a magical cure from bodily sickness that we should ask God for, but a true life in Jesus Christ that overcome all illnesses.  "Do not be afraid, only have faith," the Lord says.  If we really learned this  one important lesson this Sunday, it would revolutionalize our lives.

Do we approach our Lord Jesus Christ with expectant faith, confident in His power to heal us?

Let us conclude our reflection with these inspiring words from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (July 2012): "We rightly ask God for so many healing form our problems, from concrete realities. But what we must ask for insistently, is a more solid faith, so that our Lord might renew our life and a firm trust in His love, in His providence that does not abandon us."

A blessed Sunday to us all.  And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!