Time to open our minds and hearts to the scriptures and begin to prepare to hear the Lord's Word at Mass this coming weekend, the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
You'll find the texts and background material on them in St. Louis and hints for helping children prepare to hear the Word here in New York (both sites only a click away!).
The first lesson, from the Book of Wisdom, answers the question, "Where did death and other undesirable things come from?" (Hint: not from God!)
The second text, from Second Corinthians, contains a number of parallelisms which add a finer literary flair than we may be accustomed to find in St. Paul's letters.
The gospel is a complex text and there is the option of a shorter version which your priest or deacon might select. The longer version tells the story of the raising of Jairus' daughter from the dead. On his way to Jairus' house, Jesus meets a woman suffering from hemorrhages and cures her. (See the sidebar for a widget with a song taken from today's gospel passage.) The text then brings Jesus to Jairus' home and his daughter. (The shorter version inlcudes only the Jairus story.) To compare the two versions, click on the St. Louis site which will offer you a link to the day's scriptures.
(I've not yet decided for which version I'll opt and preach on. Any suggestions?)
Image: EternalEchoes
-ConcordPastor
Do the long one. There's a reason why one story is tucked away inside of another. They belong together.
ReplyDeleteThe faith of the father.
The woman's own faith.
Then the no. 12 sneaks in there twice, leading one to think of all the other 12s in the N.T.
12 = completion. Salvation has been completed in Jesus.
By the power emanating from Jesus, and by faith, humanity is healed.
Do not fear, only have faith.
And there's a daughter in both stories as well. There's definitely a plan in how Mark composed this and I've no desire to toy with that. I need to balance that with an infant baptism at one Mass and preaching in that context. (The infant is a boy - were it a girl I'd have a third daughter in the mix!)
ReplyDeleteI'd opt for the long version, too. There are so many intriguing parallels in the two stories: Jairus, the man, the "synagogue official," approaches Jesus from in front, while the woman, ritually unclean and probably ostracized because of it, approaches him from behind, perhaps on her hands and knees as in the picture. She is healed and restored to newness of life because she has the incredible faith that she needs only to touch the hem of Jesus' cloak; the daughter of Jairus is healed and restored because, responding to the faith of her father, Jesus touches her hand and raises her up to newness of life. Both "touches" flow from faith and are healing. The little boy you'll baptize on Sunday will experience the life-giving touch of Jesus in water and chrism as you initiate him into his pilgrim journey through life. We can hope and pray that he will only know such loving and grace-filled touches on this pilgrimage. We can pray also that he will be strong in both kinds of faith Jesus shows to us in the Gospel: the faith of Jairus, the important man, the synagogue official, to "confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help" (Heb 4:16), as well as the faith of the poor, suffering woman, whom "the law" labels unclean and unworthy, to accept Jesus' invitation to "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28). It's the faith, I think, of both Jairus and the afflicted woman that we Christians (new-born and old!) are called to emulate.
ReplyDelete