Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Fresco from the catacomb of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Rome, from the beginning of the 4th Century A.D.

The scene above depicts the encounter of Jesus with the woman suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years.

This woman who suffered for many years was healed by touching the cloak of Jesus through the power that "had gone forth from him."

READING

Gospel Mk 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

Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?"

While reading this Gospel, this question came to mind... Why does Jesus tell the woman cured of the hemorrhages, "Daughter your faith has saved you." And then Jesus says to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith."

Jesus' messages are timeless. Why does the Catholic Church, Jesus' church, continue to cycle Jesus' Words in the Liturgy of the Word? Remember that "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8-16) So, what do we need to know about Jesus' healing power.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has the answer. "The sacraments of the Church now continue the works which Christ had performed during his early life. (CCC 1115) The sacraments are as it were "powers that go forth" from the Body of Christ to heal the wounds of sin and to give us the new life of Christ. (CCC 1116)

This image thus symbolizes the divine and saving power of the Son of God who heals the whole man, soul and body, through the sacramental life.

We through Jesus' anointed ones, the priests, (who continue Jesus' salvific mission through the guidance of the Holy Mother Church) must have faith in the "power" given to them for our healing in the sacraments.

This is why Priest Always Prayer Apostolate (PAPA) is important. Our Lady of Good Success appeared in Quito, Ecuador (1594) and warned us to pray for priests. She predicted a decay of morality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She said that Satan wants to destroy the priesthood. She says we must "fervently pray for priests." Without priests, we will not have the sacraments to heal us.

Prayer is powerful. Join PAPA and help us pray for priests to be holy, in love with Jesus, the Holy Eucharist, and His Holy Catholic Church. Here is the link to our PAPA Prayer for Priests.