Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Mk. 5: 21-40

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.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Mark sandwiches two different stories of healing into this Gospel passage in order to represent all of humanity.

There’s Jairus’ daughter, who’s only twelve years old, and a woman who’s been hemorrhaging for the last twelve years.

The young girl represents every child who’s suffered, along with the pain of their parents. The older woman represents those who are aging, whose minds and bodies have grown weak under the slow pressure of time.

Two stories of suffering with varying degrees of faith.

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In the case of Jairus’ daughter, the crowds report to Jesus that she has died; there is nothing more that Jesus can do.

Meanwhile, the woman who’s been hemorrhaging for the last twelve years desperately touches the tassel of his cloak – and instantly, she’s healed.

This happens while the Lord is surrounded by a countless number of people – the sick, the sinful, and the sorrowful, all bumping into Jesus as he moves closer to Jairus’ home.

But this woman touches him in faith.

She needs neither Christ’s attention nor to touch his body; an anonymous brushing with the tassel of his cloak is enough. Suddenly, twelve years of misery are over.

Her faith made the Lord stop as he felt his healing power go out of him.

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As Christians, we’re in constant contact with Jesus. We listen to his Word, we receive Him in the Eucharist, we say his name in prayer.

But is it half-conscious contact like the crowds who bumped into Jesus on the way to Jairus’ home? Or do we touch him in faith like the woman who hemorrhaged for twelve years?

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“Daughter, your faith has saved you,” Jesus says to her.

May the Lord say the same of us, who for our own reasons reach for the tassel of his cloak.

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Image credits: (1) Driven Deep by Paul Moore, Facebook (2) Duc in Altum, Magdala (3) Pinterest

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Gospel: Mark 5: 1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Thirteen out of the eighteen miracles Jesus performs in Mark’s Gospel are miracles of healing. Four of them are exorcisms.

Jesus begins his healing ministry in the synagogue, casting out an “unclean spirit” from a man, as we heard in yesterday’s Gospel. Immediately afterwards, he travels to Simon Peter’s home, where he heals Simon’s mother-in-law.

Then Jesus enters the surrounding towns and villages where he heals a leper and a man who’s paralyzed.

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Mark narrates this healing ministry of Jesus in an outward fashion; the Lord begins his work in his own house, the synagogue. Then he moves outward into Simon Peter’s home, the “domestic church.” Then into the public square.

Finally, today Jesus moves into “defiled” Gentile territory – a cemetery. Mark says this man experienced a “violent squall” within, likely comparing what happened on the Sea of Galilee to what’s happening inside this man’s soul. He’s tortured.

But by the simple power of his voice, Christ casts this demon out, revealing there’s nowhere evil can hide; Jesus has power over everything and everyone.

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After the man is healed, he seeks to stay with Jesus – much like we do after the Lord reveals himself to us. Think about how you felt during a grace-filled period in prayer; during a retreat; or in the middle of a revealing conversation.  

We like to bask in the consolation.

But the Lord says to the man as he says to us, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

Jesus wants this man to live out his newly found faith in the ordinary circumstance of his life – in his home, with his family, with the villagers he once knew.

That is often where the most effective Gospel work is done – in the ordinary circumstances of life. As Mother Teresa once said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” 

Be an agent of healing and reconciliation. 

What does that mean for me today?

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Image credits: (1) A-Z Quotes (2) Wikipedia (3) Pinterest

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Gospel: Mark 1: 21-28

Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said,
“Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When I think of a sacred space, I think of this church. This altar. This pulpit. Our newly installed crucifix. The Saints and the Stations of the Cross that line the outer wall.

Sacred spaces are filled with holy things that point us to God.

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In today’s Gospel, there’s a man with an unclean spirit present in the synagogue. But the synagogue is a holy place, so why is he there?

Surely, he doesn’t belong.  

Or does he?

Maybe he went to the synagogue that day praying for a cure.

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Have you ever wondered who or what possessed him?

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The Gospel only tells us it was an, “unclean spirit.”

In the ancient world, many diseases and conditions which people could neither understand nor control were lumped together into the category of “unclean spirits.”

While this man could’ve been haunted by a demon, he also could’ve suffered from epilepsy; migraines; dementia; or simply an uncontrollable temper. 

Perhaps he was a conflicted man, both a believer and a sinner; a man who knew he was under the influence of something stronger than himself and he wanted to be set free.

Whatever it was, this “unclean spirit” tortured him, isolating him from others. 

That’s the real evil here.

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This becomes the first that miracle Jesus performs in Mark’s Gospel. 

Perhaps Mark uses this man as an image for all Christians. Though believers, aren’t we all in need of the healing power of Christ? 

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Like this man, we, too, can carry “unclean spirits” into sacred spaces – into church, into our marriage, into our families, into our friendships, and into our workplaces. 

In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul cautions us against falling prey to particular vices, including: laziness, immorality, impurity, hatred, jealousy, selfishness, excessive drinking, and envy. 

Even Paul says, “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but what I hate…So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

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What might be an “unclean spirit” lodged in my own heart? And in what ways might the Lord heal us?

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Consider four common ways. 

The Lord heals us in the Eucharist, which is the Promised Presence of Christ. As Pope Francis says, “the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect.” 

It’s a healing balm for the soul. 

The Lord heals us with his Word. As it’s written in the Letter to the Hebrews, “The Word of God is living and effective.” When used to mold our decisions, it becomes powerful, changing lives for the better.

The Lord heals us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, removing guilt and burdens we no longer need to carry. 

And the Lord heals us through the powerful silence of prayer.

Which of these four avenues – Eucharist, scripture, reconciliation, and prayer – am I most drawn to as a source of healing?

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“If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart,” the Psalmist says. 

Our hearts – and by extension, our lives – are sacred spaces. But like the man in today’s Gospel, sometimes “unclean spirits” take up residence within us, which often we do not seek. Rather, it’s part of our fallen nature.

The Lord stands ready to drive those things out of us. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” he says. “If anyone opens the door, I will come in.” Open that door and welcome Him in.

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Image credits: (1) Roberta Winter Institute, Why Did Jesus Heal (2) Reddit (3) Jesus Heals, YouTube