THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, JUNE 30, 2024

MASS READINGS

Gospel

Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-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 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.

REFLECTION

"Do not be afraid; just have faith."

We relate to this Gospel reading out of experience. We all want relief of illness and death, tensions and problems.

Many times we have knelt before God praying for a loved one, praying for someone who asked us to plead for them for their healing, or success in their given vocation. Knowing we can always go to God and that we can trust His will, we present our needs to Him who saved us from death...that we don't lose a loved one to drugs, mental or physical illness and tragedy; that they be converted, peace in the world, end of abortion, change hardened hearts, a child, a good marriage, and the list goes on and on.

We spend hours praying for our wayward children, our agnostic or atheistic friends and family. If there was a vending machine with a cubby hole for what we want, we would be there paying, no matter the cost, for our prayers to be heard. Is it $100, $1000, or more...if we can afford it or even if we have to take out a loan or do without... if we knew we could punch a button for whatever was our prayer and we would get our answer, would we not spend that money? That ready satisfaction of getting our needs answered overwhelms us and we seek it out.

We go on cruises, Safari experiences, own several cars, live in mansions, eat out, press that Amazon" buy it now" button , and not be bothered at the expense. We get the immediate satisfaction receiving what we want.

Yet, when we are asked to donate to a good proven cause for saving souls we hesitate. When we are asked to donate our time for helping without any pay back of "thank you", we hesitate to be generous. Do we want the laurels, the "oohs" and "ahs", our name on the list, impressing others for our good deeds?

Our Lord knows what we need, what we pray for, our intentions, and our deeds. And when we look back and see His hand in our lives, we realize that He has been and continues to be most generous to us. None of what we ask needs to be answered by God. None. Yet we see the beautiful display of His creation, His love, His peace and His unbroken promises.

“Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full.”

Luke 6:38

God bless you