| THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARTIME Through Faith Awaken and Be Reborn in the Kingdom of Heaven First Reading ( Wis 1:13-15;2:23-24 ): God wishes us to be imperishable
Second Reading (2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15 ) : Those with much should share with
those who have insufficient
Gospel ( Mk 5:21-43 ) : The healing of the hemorrhaging woman,
Raising of Jairus’ daughter to life
Chinese classics:
- “In poverty to heaven call”(1)
- “With great awakening, then know that it is but a big dream." (2)
- “I know that to regret the past is vain, but I can still use the years that remain; I lost my way but not too far astray, now I act despite the mistakes of yesterday.”(3) Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk been depleted a person easily turns to God. It is sometimes called ‘coming to the end of my rope.’ When people have reached the limits of their endurance, then they turn to God. It is similar to the Chinese saying, “In poverty to heaven call. ”(1) So the woman tried to touch Jesus’ garment. She thought, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” ( Mk 5:28 ). Immediately power went out from Jesus and she was cured. This didn’t come from Jesus’ garment, it came from Jesus himself. The real reason was her faith. So Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." ( Mk 5:34 ) Meanwhile, people came to tell Jairus that his daughter had died. There was no need to bother Jesus again; once dead, the person could not rise again. In words that became famous, Jesus only said “Do not fear, only believe !” ( Mk 5:36 ) No matter what the time or circumstance, we also must have the same unshakable faith. in God. It was because of this absolute faith that the first miracle of raising from the dead recorded in the Gospel became a reality. A person who had died met the Lord of life, and received life once more. Today we may not see a person raised from the dead. But there are many kinds of death, physical, spiritual, psychological; individual, communal, even death of the whole human race. Resurrection can happen, it should and continually does happen,
right until the time when we see our eternal God face to face. Resurrection means that we have another chance, we can try again, re-organize our lives, start a new life. This is what Chuang Tze meant when he said, “With great awakening, then know that it is but a dream. ” (2) Tao Yuen Ming had the same sentiment, “I know that to regret the past is vain, but I can still use the years that remain. I lost my way, but not too far astray; now I act despite the mistakes of yesterday.”(3) For all of this, we must have faith in Christ. “Do not fear, only believe !” Believe in the power of Christ, trust that we ourselves can rise again in Christ, and that all things can be renewed.
人窮則呼天。 有大覺，而後知此其大夢也。
悟以往之不諫，知來者之可追；實迷途其未遠，覺今是而昨非。 |
