(Optional Memorial for Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr)
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| “Woman Healed Touching Jesus” by Alexandre Bida 1874 |
Reading 1: Hosea 2:16,
17c-18, 21-22
Thus says the Lord:
I will allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there as in the
days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt
On that day, says the Lord,
She shall call me “My husband,”
and never again “My baal.”
I will espouse you to me forever:
I will espouse you in right and in
justice,
in love and in mercy;
I will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the Lord.
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Commentary on Hos 2:16, 17c-18, 21-22
The Prophet Hosea, voicing God’s
hope for the people of Israel as husband might speak to a wife who was unfaithful,
exhorts the people to turn from idolatry (the worship of Baal). He tells them
that if they will be faithful, God’s love and mercy will be theirs: it is
eternal, and God is always faithful. In Hebrew tradition "espousing"
would include the gifts for the bride (cf. Genesis 24:53). It is
thought by many scholars that the prophet went through a personal trial with an
unfaithful spouse which colored his prophetic writings, using the analogy of
Israel as the espoused people throughout this book.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:2-3,
4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8a) The Lord is gracious
and merciful.
Every
day will I bless you,
and I
will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is
the Lord and highly to be praised;
his
greatness is unsearchable.
R. The Lord is gracious and
merciful.
Generation
after generation praises your works
and
proclaims your might.
They speak
of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell
of your wondrous works.
R. The Lord is gracious and
merciful.
They
discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and
declare your greatness.
They
publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully
sing of your justice.
R. The Lord is gracious and
merciful.
The Lord
is gracious and merciful,
slow to
anger and of great kindness.
The Lord
is good to all
and
compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and
merciful.
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Commentary on Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm 145 is a hymn of praise.
These strophes (because it is in the acrostic form, each verse beginning with a
successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) although loosely assembled, praise
God for his mercy and compassion and give thanks for his creation and
redemption.
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Gospel: Matthew 9:18-26
While Jesus was speaking, an
official came forward,
knelt down before him, and said,
“My daughter has just died.
But come, lay your hand on her,
and she will live.”
Jesus rose and followed him, and
so did his disciples.
A woman suffering hemorrhages for
twelve years came up behind him
and touched the tassel on his
cloak.
She said to herself, “If only I
can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”
Jesus turned around and saw her,
and said,
“Courage, daughter! Your faith has
saved you.”
And from that hour the woman was
cured.
When Jesus arrived at the
official’s house
and saw the flute players and the
crowd who were making a commotion,
he said, “Go away! The girl is not
dead but sleeping.”
And they ridiculed him.
When the crowd was put out, he
came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
And news of this spread throughout
all that land.
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Commentary on Mt 9:18-26
Jesus continues his journey in this
passage from Matthew’s Gospel. Again he engages in healing those who have faith
in him. First, in a situation similar to the incident with the centurion's
servant (Matthew 8:5-11; Luke 7:1-10), he is
asked to help an official. As he is responding to that request, a woman with a
hemorrhage approaches Jesus and reaches out to him. As she touches the tassel
of his cloak, she experiences healing in that touch. In Mark and Luke the story
is much more detailed. The Lord feels this touch and seeks out the woman (see Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48).
It is important to note that the
woman, because of her hemorrhage, would have been considered "ritually
impure" and excluded from all communal worship (Leviticus 15:19-23).
Through Christ's touch, she would have been allowed to return to God in
worship.
Jesus arrives at the official's
home and heals his daughter. In Mark’s Gospel (Mark 5:23) she was
at the point of death, here she had already “fallen asleep,” meaning she had
died. Again, Jesus, seeing the faith of the requester, raises her from her
deathbed to new life.
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Reflection:
Heavenly Father, we
humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to
full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be
calmed through the Holy Spirit.
Please pray for the soul of Deacon David ("Coach") Lawrence, and for his family.
In Christ’s name we
pray. – Amen.
If we truly believe in the authority of Christ over death,
death itself ceases to be a cause for fear. If we truly believe Christ can heal
us, a touch of his cloak will accomplish that healing. How difficult it is to
take that leap of faith. The Lord was wise indeed when he said “whoever does not accept the kingdom of God
How can we come to such faith? We know and understand that
faith is a gift from God, and that through it flows all the grace and strength
we need. We know that faith, like physical strength, can be grown through
proper exercise and diet (exercise for faith is practice and diet is the Word
and sacraments). And herein lies the paradox. As we mature in our faith, we see
all the depth and complexity of the truth Christ was pleased to reveal to us.
We hear his command to love God and others. We can comprehend that this is done
most completely by an innocent child (before they are taught by us not to trust
or even speak to strangers). How insidious is the evil one, who forces us to
take away that innocence for their protection.
Yet our own experiences of life force us to take a more
mature view of the world and people around us. Our experiences of being hurt,
having our trust violated, and being hated by others causes us to reject the
innocent faith we need to embrace Christ’s teachings. Always it seems that even
as we reach out to touch that tassel of Jesus’ cloak, we pull back, afraid of what
will happen (or what will not).
Today we pray for faith, the innocent faith of a child, that
through it we might experience the healing miracle of the woman with a
hemorrhage, who through her faith was cured. May God grant us trust in his
infinite love and compassion this day.
In this strange year where many
of us will not be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament or celebrate as a
community in our houses of worship, we must be prepared to receive spiritual
communion in prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most
Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all
things,
and I desire to receive
You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this
moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually
into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself
wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Pax
[1]
The picture used today is “Woman Healed Touching Jesus” by Alexandre Bida 1874.
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the
psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
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