The following was written by Deacon Jesmer, but he was unable to present it in Mass due to an illness. Bless you and get well soon, Deacon.
SCRIPTURE:
1ST Reading: Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24
2nd Reading: 2 Corrinthians 8:7,9, 13-15
Gospel: Mark 5-21-43
Nearly all of us has experienced the frustration of trying to repair or put together some complicated mechanical or electrical contraption without much success. Finally , After all other efforts have failed, we READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. Usually I am reminded at this point by my wife, who sees the mess I am making and says sweetly, “Have you read the instructions?”
The step that we should take first doesn’t even enter our minds until we have tried everything else. We are somewhat like the woman in today’s gospel. She had suffered from a hemorrhage for 12 years and had received treatment at the hands of many doctors of every sort, and exhausted her savings in the process.
Yet, she got no relief. On the contrary, she only grew worse, until she sought out Jesus. He cured her immediately and said, “Daughter, it is your faith that has cured you.” Further on in today’s gospel reading, just before bringing the little dead girl Talitha back to life, Jesus says, “Fear is useless, what is needed is trust.” After all, isn’t trust the by-product of faith?
God uses His Word on this occasion to show us the importance of faith. It is not something we can take or leave as we choose. He cares for us. We are under His protection. Even though sometimes we become stressed out, troubled by the day to day grind, or have long standing, deep seated problems, He’s going to bring us through alright.
This brings to mind a short story about a girl named Maria. She said, “You know Father, my family and I are very grateful to God because we’re not poor and sick at the same time. We are just poor.”
Fr. Robert Jalbert went on to say, “I literally had no response for Maria’s simple but profound statement. What could I have said? Maria reminded me that in her daily life the glass is half full rather than half empty. And this is the attitude and deeply felt belief of most of these people who face such difficulties.”
“She helped me to see that she and her children do not complain to God or to others about their material poverty or their lack of housing security, but rather they recognize that the good health they enjoy comes from a loving and caring God and that it is important to give thanks to God for the gifts that one has in life. At that moment, I, who had gone to proclaim the Good News to Maria, had the Good News proclaimed to me.”
(Fr. Robert A. Jalbert is a Maryknoll Missionary priest serving in Tanzania and Kenya.)
This is the faith that Jesus calls us to have. You know, we look at the Saints, capital S, like St. Thomas Aquinas, St Terese of Avilla, St John the Baptist, of which we heard about last Sunday, and all the canonized saints of the Church, for the way to live our lives, for the way to become holy, for the way to have faith.
In our hurried lives , we see mostly the wide angle view of things, “The Big Picture.” There are saints, little s, that are hear among us, ones that live lives of faith that will propel them on their way to holiness. We need only to open our eyes and take notice.
There is this person whom I have been ministering to for the past 5 weeks. Now this person was struck with paralysis from the waste down and has developed Paulsey where it is very difficult to hold on to anything. Before my first visit, I was asking God to give me strength not to show pity and wisdom to give me the words to say.
About two or three minutes into our conversation this person said, “There are others who are worse off that I am.” Like Fr. Jalbert, I believe I was being ministered too. Yes, a saint I believe, small s, but never the less, a saint.
The first reading from Wisdom tells us, “God did not make death; nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.” The Psalm says., “I will praise you Lord, because you have rescued me.” We often fail to believe that God will protect us from evil, and we also have difficulty believing what great plans He has in store for us.
Wisdom says again, “For God formed man to be imperishable, in the image of His own nature He made him.” In Baptism God gave us a share in His own life. If we believe in the basic truth, we must act as if we believe it. It should change our lives.
Paul, in our second reading today, is talking to us as well as the Corinthians when he says, “Just as you are rich in every respect, in faith and discourse, in knowledge and total concern, and in our love for you, you may also go about in your works of charity.”
God wants more for us than we could imagine for ourselves. He wants us to be people of fulfillment, but in a special way that will really make us happy, now and forever, not just satisfy some whim of ours which may or may not be in our best interests.
This thing we call faith is a precious gift from God. We don’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, we don’t even understand fully why God gave it to us instead of someone else. But it is precious. It is our most prized possession. It must be preserved and strengthened. How do we do this and how do we keep from losing it? Avoid sin, stay close to the Church. That means not just on Sundays. Receive the sacraments often, especially the Eucharist, our food for faith. Make an act of faith daily.
Be proud of your faith. Stick up for it. Defend it. If you don’t feel well enough to properly defend it, study it. Learn more about it. There are many happenings in our parish to help you. Ask questions. Pull your bible off that closet shelf, blow off the dust and read it. And most important, pray daily.
Faith is not like money. If you have three dollars and give one away, that leaves you with two dollars. But when you share your faith with others, the faith you have left is stronger and deeper than the faith you had before you shared it.
So, as we proclaim together our profession of faith today, make it not just a repetition of somebody else’s words but a sincere expression of your own individual and collective beliefs. Let these beliefs, through faith, change you so that you can, by your example and prayer, spread this precious gift with others while strengthening and deepening your own.
And you won’t finally call on Jesus in time of trouble, after you have tried everything else. He will be uppermost in your mind. You will call on Him first because you really believe that He is your Savior. He loves you. He will help you. He will protect you. He will rescue you. And if you find yourself trying to put that complicated mechanical or electrical contraption together and do call on Him, just think; He will probably give you the gift of patience.