Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 27, Sunday

 

God Is Pro-Life

      Two great enemies in life are death and illness. Almost every one of us is scared of them. Are we convinced that God too is pro-life, that he is an enemy of death? Even the Old Testament assures us: “Death is not of God’s making.” Jesus’ resurrection is the sign that death has been overcome in its roots. It is the gate to life. In this Eucharist we express our faith that we believe in Jesus as the Lord of life.

 

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

Call me “the Quester.” I’ve been king over  Israel  in Jerusalem. I  looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there’s not much to write home about. God hasn’t made it easy for us. I’ve seen it all and it’s nothing but smoke — smoke, and spitting into the wind.

Life’s a corkscrew that can’t be straightened, A minus that won’t add up.

That’s when I called it quits, gave up on anything that could be hoped for on this earth. What’s the point of working your fingers to the bone if you hand over what you worked for to someone who never lifted a finger for it? Smoke, that’s what it is. A bad business from start to finish. So what do you get from a life of hard labor? Pain and grief from dawn to dusk. Never a decent night’s rest. Nothing but smoke.

The best you can do with your life is have a good time and get by the best you can. The way I see it, that’s it— divine fate. Whether we feast or fast, it’s up to God. God may give wisdom and knowledge and joy to his favorites, but sinners are assigned a life of hard labor, and end up turning their wages over to God’s favorites. Nothing but smoke— and spitting into the wind.

 

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

This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too.

 I’m not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians’ enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.

So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written,

Nothing left over to the one with the most,
Nothing lacking to the one with the least.

I thank God for giving Titus the same devoted concern for you that I have. He was most considerate of how we felt, but his eagerness to go to you and help out with this relief offering is his own idea. We’re sending a companion along with him, someone very popular in the churches for his preaching of the Message. But there’s far more to him than popularity. He’s rock-solid trustworthy. The churches handpicked him to go with us as we travel about doing this work of sharing God’s gifts to honour God as well as we can, taking every precaution against scandal.

 

Gospel: Mark 5:21-43

A Risk of Faith

After Jesus crossed over by boat, a large crowd met him at the seaside. One of the meeting-place leaders named Jairus came. When he saw Jesus, he fell to his knees, beside himself as he begged, “My dear daughter is at death’s door. Come and lay hands on her so she will get well and live.” Jesus went with him, the whole crowd tagging along, pushing and jostling him.

A woman who had suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years—a long succession of physicians had treated her, and treated her badly, taking all her money and leaving her worse off than before—had heard about Jesus. She slipped in from behind and touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, “If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well.” The moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. She could feel the change and knew her plague was over and done with.

At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. He turned around to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”

His disciples said, “What are you talking about? With this crowd pushing and jostling you, you’re asking, ‘Who touched me?’ Dozens have touched you!”

But he went on asking, looking around to see who had done it. The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story.

Jesus said to her, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague.”

While he was still talking, some people came from the leader’s house and told him, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?”

 Jesus overheard what they were talking about and said to the leader, “Don’t listen to them; just trust me.”

He permitted no one to go in with him except Peter, James, and John. They entered the leader’s house and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: “Why all this busybody grief and gossip? This child isn’t dead; she’s sleeping.” Provoked to sarcasm, they told him he didn’t know what he was talking about.

But when he had sent them all out, he took the child’s father and mother, along with his companions, and entered the child’s room. He clasped the girl’s hand and said, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up.” At that, she was up and walking around! This girl was twelve years of age. They, of course, were all beside themselves with joy. He gave them strict orders that no one was to know what had taken place in that room. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.”

 

Prayer
Father of all that breathes and lives,
your Son Jesus Christ touched people
and they were healed and they lived.
Let him take us by the hand
and raise us up from sin and discouragement.
Let him touch us with his body and blood
and make us fresh and new again
to live his life and to go his way to you.
Let him touch us with the warmth of his love
that our love may revive others,
especially the poor and those who suffer.
All this we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Life

Today’s gospel passage narrates two healings performed by Jesus: the one of the woman who touched his garment and was healed, and then the resuscitation of the daughter of
Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue of Capernaum. These two healings have in common
references to biblical images. It is about two women; therefore, the immediate reference is to life. In the book of Genesis, the man gave a name to his wife, he called her ‘favá. He called her thus because she is the mother of all living.

What about these two women in the gospel passage? The first one has had blood-loss for
12 years; therefore, she is impure; she cannot generate life. The young daughter of Jairus is of marriageable age at 12. But in her, life is interrupted, she dies.

These two women represent Israel. The first one refers to Israel being the bride of the Lord,
who abandoned her husband, became impure. She cannot generate life. Only when this wife finds Christ will she be cured of her illness, she will be able to be fertile again.

The daughter of Jairus also refers to Israel. We know that Israel is the bride of the Lord but if she is not taken by the hand of her husband, if the bridegroom does not raise her up, she remains dead. This young woman is of marriageable age, of being able to generate life but, now she is dead.

Let’s keep in mind that these are two women who have no name; they represent the condition of each one of us who is called to build life. In the Bible blood indicates life. To lose blood means to lose life. From the moment we are born, every moment that passes is a loss of life. try to hold on to it a little longer; we run to doctors, but still, life is gone. And all the attempts of humanity, with all its capacity, cannot end this loss of life.

People are willing to give all their money not to lose their lives, but as Psalm 49 says, ‘No
matter how much you pay, it will never be enough to redeem your life and live forever.’
This woman has heard of one who can stop the loss of life; she believes in him and says to herself: ‘If I succeed, even if only to touch his mantle, I will be saved.” She does not say ‘healed’ but ‘saved.’ Salvation means no more loss of life.

In the Eucharist, we have the opportunity to touch him and in the lives of all the people around us we have the opportunity to touch the image of God. To be saved, all we need to do is to touch Him in the sacraments, in the Word of God and in the lives of people around us.

 

Video available on Youtube: Life