Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mk. 5:21-43) “We All Can Bless Others.”
Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mk. 5:21-43) “We All Can Bless Others.”
We have the custom of offering blessings in the church. We usually feel that this revolves around a formal ritual. The ordained clergy who have faculties, bless people on various occasions. We bless married couples on their anniversaries for example. A blessing, we might surmise, is something that takes place only in a religious rite. We might feel that blessings have nothing to do with us.
But a blessing can be something that happens at any time. Each of us can bless others. We bless another person when we acknowledge them. We also bless others when we offer them encouragement. We might think that this is simplistic. But how often do we all forget these gestures. People can become part of the landscape. We might interact with a person daily, but we don’t even take time to know their name. When we make a deliberate choice to interact with someone it takes energy, but it shows that we have achieved a degree of Christian maturity. And all this is so important.
A story is told of a family that was in crisis. The husband and wife had been married for several years but were having trouble getting along. The couple had one daughter who was about thirteen years old. The father was a successful businessman. He would come home late at night. He would leave early in the morning. If he saw his daughter, he would just say hello as he was going or coming. He would be there if she was participating in a sporting event. He would attend a school play if she was involved. But he seldom offered any feedback.
One day the daughter went to a store by herself. She shoplifted an item that she didn’t need. The store manager confronted her. The police were called. A detective lectured the girl. When he was through, he asked her if she wanted him to call her mother to come to take her home. The girl reached into her pocket, gave the detective a slip of paper with a phone number written on it. She said, “I want you to have my father pick me up. Here is his number at work.” One doesn’t need a degree in child psychology to see what this girl craved.
The woman, with the flow of blood, who touches Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is like the girl in the story. She had been to numerous physicians looking for a cure. We get the impression that she was alone in the world. When she was able to pay physicians, they tried to cure her but now she was penniless. She had become one of the chronically ill people who populated first century Palestine. People who practiced the healing arts weren’t interested in her any longer.
She comes to Jesus knowing that she is dying. She only wants to touch him. The cure happens instantaneously. We would think that would have been the end of the story. But the treatment wasn’t complete. Jesus felt healing power go out from him. We never hear of Jesus curing someone anonymously in the Gospels. He isn’t a magician. He is a minister. He wants personal interaction with those who he helps. He wants to bless the woman he has cured. He looks her in the eye. What does he say? He doesn’t say, “I have cured you,” But he says your faith has cured you.” What must it have been like for this woman to hear Jesus say, “Woman, you are a faith filled person?” She had been taught by religious leaders that her illness was a punishment for a sin she committed. Jesus tells her she is a graced person. Hers wasn’t just physical healing but hers was also spiritual healing.
Part of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is the laying on of hands. The ordained minister calls the sick person by name. The priest takes a moment of silence to touch the person. The priest says, “May Jesus be with you as we lay hands on you in his name.” The priest along with other people present lay hands on the person who is ill. At that moment there is sense of the divine presence. The person isn’t alone in their illness, but Jesus is touching them through the church. All involved feel the love of Christ, his hands are our hands. A sense of solace comes to the one who is ill at that moment.
We can bless others. We do that when we look at them with love. We don’t simply say hello, but we give people a blessing by offering our undivided attention. We offer them a word of encouragement. How good it feels when others do this for us. When we do this for others, we lift them up. We all can bless other people in our life. Doing this can bring the giver and receiver abundant life.
Reflections:
1. Who have I ignored? Can I bless them?
2. Who has blessed my life? How did it feel?
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Dear Parishioners,
When we reach July 4th, we have a sense of melancholy. We are in the middle of summer, but summer is also half over. We start to think about fall. For those who have children there is a concern about children and where they will attend school. I would encourage everyone to consider our Catholic Schools. Both Seton grade school and Alleman High School are registering students. There are incentives to enroll for the first time. We want as many students as possible to receive a Catholic Grade School education.
If you are attending public grade school, I would encourage you to call our office and talk to Debbie Patronagio, our director of religious education. She is registering students for our religious education program. If you have let time slip away and your children have not received the sacraments of initiation, we can help you.
I would also encourage adults who are wanting to find a church home to contact us as well. The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults begins in September. Don’t wait, get an early start on preparing for the fall.
May Our Lady of Peace pray for us,
Fr. Mark
P.S. Thank you to all who planned and led our parish reunion activities. With funds we raised we should be able to pay off another four to five thousand dollars of debt on the Damien Center.