Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

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.

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 him, “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 on the gospel: Mark has a particular stylistic approach that he uses over and over throughout his gospel. He starts to tell one story, then he veers off to tell a second but related story. Once he has finished the aside, he goes back and explains the conclusion of the original story. Scripture scholars call this a Markan Sandwich. Over the last several days, we have seen Jesus’ deep commitment to making the wounded whole, and today, the gospel reading continues this theme of Jesus as healer.

A synagogue official approaches Jesus to tell him his daughter is very ill and ask him to heal his daughter. On his way to the official’s home, a woman touches his garment to be healed of a long-standing illness, a hemorrhage that not only was a source of personal embarrassment to her but rendered her ritually impure. Her touch of the Lord heals her. After the encounter, Jesus goes to the little girl, now apparently dead, and commands her to rise. And his command does just that. The little girl is restored.

Both the accounts contain similar elements. Yes, Jesus is so open to healing the brokenness that surrounds him that even when unbidden, the woman’s touch of the Lord’s garment restores her to health. And in the case of Jairus’s daughter, the news that the girl is dead does not stop the Lord’s willingness to go to her. Jesus encourages Jairus to remain confident. Here we also have the other side of the equation: not just Jesus’ willingness to heal but our willingness to believe Jesus will heal. Both Jairus and the hemorrhagic woman place great trust in Jesus’ willingness and ability to heal them. And Jesus places great stock in the faith of both of them.

Both parts of the Markan sandwich point to similar sets of facts: Jesus’ complete readiness to heal, and the trust that the one in need of healing places in the Lord’s ability to heal. Both of these two stories folded into one story speak to Jesus’ willingness to make us whole and his desire that we know this fact about him.

Saint of the day: Today’s example of faithful trust in God’s care, John Bosco, was born in 1815 in Piedmont, Italy. His father died when the boy was 2 years old, and as soon as he was old enough to do odd jobs, he did so for extra
money for his family. Bosco would go to circuses, fairs and carnivals, practice the tricks he saw magicians perform, and then present one-boy shows. After his performance, while he still had an audience of boys, he would repeat the homily he had heard earlier in church. He worked as a tailor, baker, shoemaker, and carpenter while attending college and the seminary. Ordained in 1841, he became a teacher and worked with youth, finding places where they could meet, play, and pray. He would teach catechism to orphans and apprentices. A chaplain in a hospice for girls, he wrote short treatises aimed at explaining the faith to children and then taught children how to print them. He founded the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in 1859, priests who work with and educate boys, under the protection of Our Lady, Help of Chistians, and Saint Francis de Sales. He founded the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians in 1872, and the Union of Cooperator Salesians in 1875. He died in 1888 at Turin, Italy. Thousands attended his funeral.

Spiritual reading of the day: I must and ought to grant that everything that is done is well done, because our Lord God does it all. (Revelations of Divine Love by Dame Juliana of Norwich)

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