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13thSunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Terranova Hermitage
July 1, 2018
The Touch, Wholeness, and Hope of Scripture
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
A Smorgasbord
Have you ever been to one of those Amish smorgasbord restaurants up in Lancaster?
I have been to two or three of them. There are lots and lots of delicious dishes – soups, salads, meats, fish, homemade rolls, and cakes, pies, and ice cream for dessert.
It’s hard to come away without feeling full. And that’s an understatement!
Well, today’s Gospel can serve as a kind of spiritual smorgasbord. There’s lots in here to feed and satisfy us spiritually.
I have decided to pick out just three items. In a way, they are separate and distinct.
But in another way, they are all united by Jesus and our faith in him. So, let’s approach the smorgasbord and dig in!
1. Touch
First, notice that the man named Jairus asks Jesus to come to his home and place his hands upon his daughter so that she may get well.
When Jesus eventually gets to the house, the daughter has died. But, Jesus touches her – takes her by the hand and heals her.
Along the way, before getting to Jairus’ home, we hear of a woman who has been suffering for years from a hemorrhage. She reaches out and touches Jesus’ cloak and feels healing in her body.
What’s going on here is the Jewish belief that physical touch can communicate God’s life and healing. We as Christians and as Catholics have the same belief.
That’s why there is some kind of touch in each of our seven sacraments. Right here in the Eucharist, the touch is the giving and receiving of the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ.
I recommend that we approach the Eucharist in the way that Jairus and the woman in the Gospel approach Jesus. We need to come to Communion with faith that power and grace of God comes to us here.
I recommend that it would be good to have a very short, personal prayer that we pray and repeat as we come to Communion. For example, “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”
“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”If we approach Communion with this kind of faith, then we open ourselves to experience the grace and power of Jesus, of God.
2. Wholeness
Now, notice that the woman with the hemorrhage feels healing.
Jesus also senses that this healing has taken place, but he still wants to see the person who touched his cloak.
And this is significant. It is the seeing – Jesus seeing this woman and this woman seeing Jesus – it is this personal encounter that leads to fuller healing.
Because of this woman’s illness, she was excluded from the community, alienated, treated as unclean. But Jesus, through the eye-to-eye contact, brings her fuller healing.
He calls her “Daughter.”He gives her a personal relationship to himself and with it, social and spiritual healing.
Yes, Jesus gives her wholeness as a person and he wants the same full healing and wholeness for us.
For this to happen, I recommend that we need to have that personal encounter with Jesus through a regular reading of passages from one of the Gospels.
Let Jesus speak to you and look at you here. And, in turn, listen to Jesus and look at him.
Over time, this will develop a personal relationship between Jesus and us. It will also bring us a wholeness, a full personal healing just as Jesus brought to this woman in the Gospel.
3. Hope
Finally, notice what I have always thought was a coincidence.
This woman had suffered with a hemorrhage for twelve years. And the daughter of Jairus was twelve years old.
I have always thought that number twelve here was a coincidence. But, I got a new insight from my reading this past week.
The number twelve in that culture stood for completeness. So, in these two instances of illness, what is being conveyed is complete hopefulness.
Apparently, Saint Mark carefully recalls this detail to convey that no matter how hopeless something or someone seems to be, we can still turn to Jesus for help.
There is always room for hope with Jesus.
Conclusion
So, I have limited us to three items on this spiritual smorgasbord.
Maybe we can remember them with these words: 1) Touch, 2) Wholeness, and 3) Hope. How easy it is to come away spiritually nourished and fully satisfied.
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