THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (B)
First Reading (Wisdom 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24)
God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the netherworld on earth, for justice is undying. For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 30: 2, 4-6, 11-13)
Refrain: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
1) I will extol you, O Lord, for you drew me clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you brought me up from the nether world; you preserved me from among those going down into the pit. (Refrain:)
2) Sing praise to the Lord, you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. (Refrain:)
3) Hear, O Lord, and have pity on me; O Lord, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing; O Lord, my God, forever will I give you thanks. (Refrain:)
Second Reading (2 Corinthians 8: 7, 9, 13-15)
Brothers and sisters: As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also. For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written: Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.
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 and pressed upon 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 Jesus, "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.
Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Copyright 1970, 1997, 1998 Contraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
The English translation of some Psalm responses, some Alleluia and Gospel verses and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, some Summaries, and the Titles and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass copyright 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., Washington D.C. All rights reserved.
The poetic English translation of the sequences of the Roman Missal are taken from the Roman Missal approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, copyright 1964 by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. All rights reserved.
It is said that laughter is the best medicine. I think this is very evident from the following story. The author says:
- My father-in-law, who was suffering from brain cancer, came home from a hospital stay. It was his and my mother-in-law's anniversary, so I suggested that they invite a few friends over for dinner. Jimmy managed to get out of bed to join us. The strain of feeding himself and the presence of guests were obviously tiring him. Knowing that he could not hear very well, my mother-in-law passed a note to me to give to him. I read it and laughed hysterically. The note said, "Happy Anniversary, dear. Do you want to go to bed?" Jimmy read his wife's note, looked across the table, and with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face said, "I would love to, dear, but we have company." (1)
I think we would all agree that there are times, such as the one mentioned by the author of this story, when laughter is essential. But there are times when even laughter is not enough.
In today's gospel passage, we hear of two people who were desperate. First, we heard about Jairus who asked our Lord to cure his daughter. We can safely assume that Jairus had come to our Lord only as a last resort after all other possible remedies had been exhausted. Just how desperate he was can be seen from the fact that he himself comes to Jesus to plead for the life of his daughter. This certainly must have been a difficult decision for him to make, as it would have been for any father. Here was his daughter on the verge of death. He could either send an emissary to Jesus on his behalf and remain at his daughter's side as she slipped away, or leave his daughter and approach Jesus himself. He obviously decided to come to our Lord personally.
Once having decided on a course of action, we have to then realize what impact this decision would have had on his reputation. Since he was a leader of the synagogue, he would have been one of the most important and respected men in the community. His duties would have included being president of the board of elders who would have been responsible for the management of the synagogue and the conduct of services. Therefore, he would have been more accustomed to having others beg him for favors than for seeking help himself. Also, as a ruler, there can be no doubt that prior to this event, he would have been very skeptical of our Lord, just as other temple leaders were. Thus, he risked everything in seeking our Lord's help.
It is interesting to note several other facts about the raising of Jairus' daughter. First of all, "in the first century, sixty (60) percent of all those who were born only lived until their mid-teens". Secondly, "the fact that the Greek gospel retains Jesus' Aramaic words "Talitha cum" reflects the ancient belief that power is in the original words and not in a translation". Thirdly, "the crowd's laughter at Jesus' claim that the girl is only sleeping challenges his honor. Jesus' command that the family say nothing is his way of getting even with them". And lastly, "Jesus' command that she eat with the family is proof that the girl is healed and restored to her rightful place in the community. Jesus the healer restores meaning to life and returns people to communal solidarity." (2)
Then we have the woman with the hemorrhage, who was desperate too. She was at the opposite end of the socio-economic ladder from Jairus because she had unsuccessfully spent her fortune on trying to find a cure. As Mark tells us, she "had received treatment at the hands of doctors of every sort and exhausted her savings in the process, yet she got no relief; on the contrary, she only grew worse". The social implications of her ailment were also severe. We have to understand that "her condition would have rendered her unclean and not only prevented her from entering the Temple, but also required that she remove herself from the community, the equivalent of social death in the Mediterranean world." (3) In other words, the effects would have been similar to having leprosy!
One last point: in seeking to discover who had touched his clothes, our Lord sought not to humiliate the woman, but to demonstrate that he was aware of the healing and that it did not just "happen". But when the woman comes forward, note the tenderness with which our Lord addresses her. This is the only instance in the New Testament when our Lord addresses someone as "daughter".
Both the nameless woman with the hemorrhage and esteemed leader of the temple, Jairus, benefitted from healings that day. But it was their faith in Christ that gave them the courage to risk everything to secure those healings.
I believe there are many similarities between the two miracles in this gospel passage and the miracle in this story. The author writes:
- Every Sunday morning, I see a very special person sitting about ten rows back on the right side of the auditorium. His name is Stanley Reimer, and he's an elder on our church board. I'll never forget the day when I received the news that Stanley had had a heart attack. He was a chemist with a large company, and the news was that he had a twenty-two-minute cardiac arrest. Twenty-two minutes! You know what that means. There was a considerable amount of time when oxygen did not reach the brain. And if Stan survived, he would probably be a vegetable all of his life. They managed to get him breathing again, but he was in a death coma. He was placed in the intensive care unit immediately, and his body was breathing on its own, but he was still in a coma. There was no sign of life other than the breathing that was going on.
The neurosurgeon told Stan's wife that there was no hope. "If he keeps breathing, he'll be a vegetable all his life. He'll never close his eyes. They'll be open in a death stare as you see now. Totally, a vegetable."
I rushed to the hospital as soon as I could, praying the whole time. "God, what will I say? What will I say to his wife?" And then I remembered what I was taught in theological seminary: Someday, as a pastor, you may be talking to someone in a death coma. When that happens, only think life! Only talk life! If you're ever at the bedside of a presumably dying patient, and he's in a coma so deep that no response is indicated, talk life! He may lack the power to move his lips or manifest a physical indication that he is hearing, but his subconscious may hear! And you must not place a negative thought in that mind!
So I went into the intensive-care unit where he was lying, and there was Billie, his wife, standing at the bedside, tears streaming down her face. My once outgoing friend looked like a statue. He couldn't move--dead for all practical appearances--but he was breathing. His eyes were wide open. I put my arm around Billie and prayed with her.
Then I took hold of his hand and softly said, "Stanley, I know you cannot talk. I know you cannot respond, but I know that deep down within you, you can hear me. I'm Bob Schuller. I've just come from church where everyone is praying for you. And Stanley, I've got news for you. You had a bad heart attack, but you are going to recover. You are going to live, and it's going to be a long battle. It's going to be hard, but you're going to make it!"
And at that point I had one of the most moving experiences of my life. A tear rolled out of my friend's eye. He understood! No smile, no quiver of a lip, but a tear rolled out of his eye. The doctors couldn't believe it! That was over a year ago and today Stanley is able to speak full sentences, he can hear and his faculties are becoming normalized.
A miracle? Remember: "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you can say to your mountain, 'Move' and nothing will be impossible." (4)
In our gospel passage, although it was our Lord who healed the woman and raised Jairus' daughter, he did not take credit for them. Rather, as he points out to the woman, "it is your faith that has cured you". In other words, our Lord was only an instrument of their healing.
I believe that the implication of this statement for our own lives is profound. Although our Lord is no longer present among us physically, healing is possible whenever faith is present. We have certainly witnessed the truth of this statement as we have seen the families of the victims of the shootings in Charleston deal with the loss of their loved ones. How many of them have we heard mention the need for forgiveness in these trying times, a forgiveness which could only be possible through a deeply-rooted faith.
Inevitably, there will be times in our own lives when our faith will be tested. Will it be strong enough to see us through the trials? That is the question. Hopefully our faith will be as strong as that of the woman, or Jairus, or Stanley in our story, or all or those families in Charleston. For, as Schuller reminds us, nothing is impossible with God!
1. Happy Anniversary. Reprinted with the author's permission from The Healing Power of Humor, copyright 1989 by Allen Klein. Also included in Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul, p. 183. Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery and Nancy Mitchell-Autio. Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL.
2. From The Cultural World of Jesus, Cycle B, p. 105. Copyright 1996 by the Order of St. Benedict, Collegeville, MN. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN.
3. Ibid, p. 104.
4. The Faith of Stanley Reimer. Copyright 1999 by Robert Schuller. Reprinted from Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul, pp. 245-246. Copyright 2000 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery and Nancy Mitchell-Autio. Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL.
(Copyright 2012 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan, with a little help from the friends noted above. Permission is freely granted for use, in whole or in part, in oral presentations. For permission to use in writing, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net.)
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Lord Jesus, you came to heal the sick. Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you came to raise the dead to new life. Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you lead us to everlasting life. Lord, have mercy.
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
July 3, 2018
Celebrant: Our Lord became poor like us so that, through him, we might become rich. Therefore, confident that he will intercede for us as only a brother can, we bring our prayers and petitions to the Father.
Deacon/Lector: Our response is "Lord, hear our prayer."
That the leaders of the Church will be instruments of Christ's healing in the lives of the members of his flock, we pray to the Lord.
That the leaders of the nations of the world will govern their people with justice and respect, we pray to the Lord.
That the sick, the terminally ill and those who are grieving the loss of a loved one will come to know the healing touch of the Savior, we pray to the Lord.
That all those who are traveling during these summer months may return home safely, refreshed in body and mind, we pray to the Lord.
That on this weekend before our celebration of Independence Day, we will recommit ourselves to the principle of justice for all, especially the rights of the unborn, we pray to the Lord.
That all of those whose lives were affected by the shootings in Charleston may be strengthened by their faith, we pray to the Lord.
That all of our priests who have selflessly dedicated their lives to Christ will be strengthened and renewed in their vocation, we pray to the Lord.
That all of our brothers and sisters will be treated as our equals in the sight of God regardless of their race, color, nationality or religion, we pray to the Lord.
That all of those who have contracted the Corona virus will be healed, that those who have died will be welcomed into the loving arms of their Savior who suffered for them and that their grieving families will find strength in their faith, we pray to the Lord.
For all of the intentions we hold in our hearts and which we now recall in silence. (Pause) For all of these intentions, we pray to the Lord.
Celebrant: Merciful Father, you sent your Son to heal us of the effects of sin in our lives. Grant us the grace of your Spirit to work tirelessly to relieve the sufferings of others which separate them from our community. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
That all people of good will work together against the increasing threats to the fundamental rights of conscience and religious liberty, we pray to the Lord.
That our lawmakers may have the wisdom and courage to uphold conscience rights and protect all people from being forced to violate their moral and religious convictions, we pray to the Lord.
That all those who are called to heal and cure the sick and suffering may be free to follow their faith while fulfilling their professional duties, we pray to the Lord.
That all churches, agencies, employers, healthcare providers and individuals may be free from government mandates that would compel them to compromise their beliefs, we pray to the Lord.