Weekly Reflection: Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Reading References:

First Reading: Wis. 1:13-15,2:23-24
Psalm: Ps 29:2.4-6.11-13. R.v. 2
Second Reading: 2 Cor. 8:7,9,13-15;
Gospel: Mark 5:21-43

Up to this point in Mark’s Gospel we have seen a series of parables, miracle stories and various teachings of Jesus and back in Chapter 3 we see the Pharisees and Herodians already conspiring to destroy him. He has turned their self righteousness on it head and exposed its meaninglessness.

But today we see the “synagogue official” asking Jesus to “lay your hands on her” because she was very sick – his daughter was at the point of dying and Jairus was going to pull out all stops to try and save her – he would try anything.

The woman with the hemorrhage however wouldn’t dare touch him because the nature of her illness made her ritually unclean, but she believed “If I can touch even his clothes” that she would be well again. This woman’s life had been almost destroyed – she was alienated from her community, she had endured incredible suffering and had spent all she had in an attempt to be “well again.” It was clear that all she wanted was life – nothing else mattered.

As an aside for a moment it is a source of great curiosity as to why in the Sunday Missal the story of the woman with a hemorrhage can be excluded to accommodate a shorter version of the reading. It is surely the intention of the author that these stories go together?

What this story indicates to us is our ultimate desire for life. Jairus would have known the contempt many in the synagogue had for Jesus but his desire for life for his child overrode all that. Likewise with the woman, all she wanted was life itself. But for both of them it was FAITH that was going to be the key.

Jairus would have been considered a leader and a leader of importance in his community. The woman with the hemorrhage was an outcast in that same community.

Both of these people came to Jesus wanting LIFE. But as we see with Jairus’ daughter, the life that Jesus offers goes beyond death.

This raises two questions for reflection:

· Do we believe that Jesus is the source of our life and if so how does our life reflect this belief?
· Who are we to exclude anyone from our communities?

Both people in our gospel today are at desperation point – their lives are in crisis – that fine line between life and death. Jesus tells Jairus “Do not be afraid; only have faith.” But the woman who had been shunned by her community already had faith.

Jesus is not interested in the games of who is “in” and who is “out” that we seem to put a lot of energy into playing. In itself it is a most sinful practice, but we all seem to do it in some form. We judge certain things to be sin that are not and we judge the sin of others to be somehow worse than our own. We are often so blind to our own sinfulness – so therefore how can we possibly judge the sins of others. None of us are worthy to come to Jesus (“Lord, I am not worthy to receive you”) and yet Jesus welcomes EVERY HUMAN BEING regardless of who they are – we must pray for the courage to do the same.

Do we really understand the LIFE that Jesus is offering each of us in today’s Gospel? It is a life that will be given us in faith. It is not a life that we will KNOW in this life we currently live but we will experience minute glimpses of it. Do we put all our faith and energies into this promised life or do we seek out something more certain in this life. Do we seek out our own comforts, our own ambitions, our own standing in the community, our own crucifying judgments, our own self righteousness, our own black and white laws that help us feel more certain in this life? -and the list goes on and on. If we have allowed the scriptures to truly touch our hearts then we will know the absolute futility of this way of being.

Both Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage CAME TO JESUS – so must we. They experienced fear – so will we. We must be courageous enough to break through all our barriers and come to him. Hiding behind laws that alienate and hiding behind our own self importance have nothing to do with COMING TO JESUS. We come to Jesus through humble prayer. Yet this prayer of communion can be such a struggle for all of us - but it is really the only way we can come to know Jesus.

Let us pray for the courage in the coming week to break through our own barriers so that we can come to Jesus and hear him say to us “My daughter, your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint” OR “Do not be afraid; only have faith.”

No Weekly Reflection for Twelfth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year B

Reflections will resume next week for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Blessings,

Annemarie

Weekly Reflection: Trinity Sunday, Year B

Reading References

First Reading: Deut. 4:32-34.39-40
Psalm: Ps 32:4-6.9.18-20.22. R. v. 12
Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

The instruction from Jesus in today’s gospel is very clear: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations;……”

This very beautiful feast of the Trinity in the Church is most simply put as the communion of Love. This great mystery holds EVERYTHING in its embrace and draws everything to itself. As Paul says: we are the children of God therefore we are also the heirs of God. We are part of the Trinity.

When we look back over the history of the Church (and it is very important to do so in order to move forward) we can see that many aspects of this great mystery of the Trinity have been rejected or lost and it seems very evident that now we are dealing with the fall out of a hierarchical institution that over the centuries has become highly dysfunctional in many areas.

Some of the errors were confronted in Vatican 11 but we have a long way to go in a rapidly changing world. Perhaps the greatest gift of Vatican 11 was that the whole “people of God” were openly recognized in a way they had not been in the past. It was finally recognized that the “faithful” were not just bystanders we were active participants – we were part of this Trinitarian mystery.

Some have caught on to this liberating insight but others sadly haven’t. So we have a Church that is torn. We see increasing divisions, increasing frustration, increasing despair, increasing aggravation, increasing resistance etc right across the board from clergy to the faithful.

Difference will always be a part of the Church and necessarily so. But when that difference becomes divisive and when it generates ongoing hostility and contempt for each other or when people just walk away in disgust or bewilderment then we must all step back and take a good look at what is happening.

The days are gone when the “faithful” will be dictated to on mass as they could be in the past. Theological education is no longer the sole privilege of the clerical system and this has been liberating for many people and brought with it a whole new level of wisdom. The “faithful” are questioning the institution of the Church in a way they have never been able to do in the past – well not as openly as is possible in our time and still remaining part of the Church.

We live in exciting but uncertain times. Times of change. Times of questioning. Times of “hesitation”. Times of turmoil. Times of fear. Times of enormous creativity. Times of new frontiers. Times of new beginnings. But with all of this we must not forget that we also live in the time of the Spirit. Today’s feast reminds us that all of creation is being drawn into this communion of Love. However bad we might judge things to be, this is our ultimate belief and our ultimate reality. When we can truly believe this we will be able to endure the suffering knowing that the Spirit is at the heart of everything.

However hurtful we might find being part of the Church at the moment and for whatever reason, we must pray to never take our eyes off the Spirit knowing this Spirit is drawing us into the communion of Love. This is the key for all of us.

The hierarchical structure of the church which can be a source of enormous frustration and suffering for many and for many reasons, is only one very small part of the Church. The “people of God” are where we should begin when we associate ourselves with Church. This communion of Love drives us to care and support each other in our every day lives. Jesus says to ALL OF US today “make disciples of all the nations.” Surely we must begin at our own back door – our own family and friends, our neighbours, our work places and our wider world. If we cut ourselves off from Church because of one small part of it, then perhaps we need to re examine our understanding of Church.

Perhaps some reading this may think: Well that’s all very well to say but this “small part of the church” has total power and authority. When we think like this we underestimate the power of our own Loving. If the whole “people of God” embraced what is in our readings today, I ask you to consider: Where would the power and the authority be then?

To make disciples of all the nations we must live what we believe. We must be attractive – in other words we must LIVE LOVE. The greatest teacher is our lived example not bombarding people with empty words filled with self righteousness and condemnation. The example of our lives is what will “make disciples”. The whole Church (and this includes the hierarchy) must know this – we must live this.

Let’s pray in the coming week that this Trinitarian Communion of Love will turn our despair into hope, our frustrations into missionary energy and our fears into Loving so that the mystery of the Trinity will be revealed to the whole people of God.