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Reading 1: Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24
Responsorial: Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13
Reading 2: 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Gospel: Mark 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062721.cfm
https://www.deaconrudysnotes.org/
Welcome back for another edition of deacon rudy’s notes! I’m Deacon Rudy Villarreal, and together we’re going to break open the Word!
In today’s Gospel we hear the familiar story about a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. According to Scripture, she also suffered at the hands of her doctors spending everything she had.
Can you imagine what that must have been like? I’m sure there are people among our family and friends who’ve spent fortunes trying to address a medical issue, not making any progress. Add to that the cultural issue, and we can begin to understand her distress.
You see, in that culture, the woman’s hemorrhages – her blood – made her ritually impure. No one should touch her or else they would also become ritually impure. Not only was she kept at arms length by those who had to interact with her, but she was probably ostracized by friends and family who didn’t want to risk it. Scholars suggest that a person in her situation probably had to avoid the market and the well during peak times lest they accidentally touch someone.
She was desperate and alone.
Maybe she heard about a teacher who was healing people in the name of God as he traveled. She probably figured she had nothing to lose. She surrendered herself to God and ventured out into the crowd – out where she wasn’t supposed to go. A person like this was probably skilled and trying to go unnoticed – at being invisible. Her survival depended on it.
But should she risk her life? Motivated by her faith, she convinced herself that if she touched Jesus’s clothes, that would be enough. She would be healed. Risking everything, she reached out.
As soon as she touched Him, Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Scripture tells us that the woman approached Jesus in fear and trembling. She’d broken the rules and she knew it!
Can you picture the crowd? Did they begin to realize what had happened? As people began to realize what happened, their faces probably filled with surprise, anger, rage even. The woman, Scripture says, was fearful.
What does Jesus say? “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
Wow! Her faith saved her! But that’s not the only takeaway. Jesus’ words are a testimony against all the people in the crowd who had rejected the woman. Once again we see that the ritual law had been distorted. The purpose of the Law is to know, love and serve the Lord. Any idea that the ritual – that church – is more important than serving someone in need does not understand what it means to love and serve God!
The irony of this story is not that woman needed to be healed, but that the people who rejected this woman were the ones in need of healing. They were the ones in need of saving. But unlike this woman who was filled with faith, they had not reached out and surrendered themselves to God.
Homework! Nourished by the Word of God and the Eucharist, I invite you to reflect on the following two questions.
First, are there people around us in our community who we write off because they’re different from us like the homeless or immigrants or addicts?
Second, turn to God in prayer and ask for the grace to serve those on the margins.
I think doing our homework will help us be the missionary disciples we are called to be! Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! Now go make disciples! May Almighty God bless you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. +Amen!
You’re listening to deacon rudy’s notes. Thank you for joining me today. Our theme music was composed by Silent Partner. You can find all sorts of helpful information on the website at www.deaconrudysnotes.org. I’m Deacon Rudy Villarreal. Join me again next weekend as we break open the Word. Peace!
Image: Artist Unknown. JPEG.
Bibliography/Suggested Readings:
1. Healy, Mary. The Gospel of Mark. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008. Kindle.
2. Montague, George T. SM. Mark: A Popular Commentary on the Earliest Gospel. Steubenville, Ohio: Franciscan University Press, 1992.
3. Stegman, Thomas D. SJ. Second Corinthians. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2009. Kindle.
Catechism References http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm:
1. Jesus raises the dead: 548-9, 646, 994
2. Death transformed by Christ: 1009-14
3. Hope for a new heaven and a new earth: 1042-50
4. Collection at Mass: 1351
5. Jesus hears our prayer: 2616
6. Sharing of material and spiritual goods: 2833
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062721.cfm
Lectionary: 98
Reading 1
Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world are wholesome,
and there is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who belong to his company experience it.
Responsorial
Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13
R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the netherworld;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Reading 2
2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Brothers and sisters:
As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse,
knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you,
may you excel in this gracious act also.
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.
Not that others should have relief while you are burdened,
but that as a matter of equality
your abundance at the present time should supply their needs,
so that their abundance may also supply your needs,
that there may be equality.
As it is written:
Whoever had much did not have more,
and whoever had little did not have less.
Alleluia
Cf. 2 Timothy 1:10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat
to the other side,
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
“My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live.”
He went off with him,
and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”
But his disciples said to Jesus,
“You see how the crowd is pressing upon you,
and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her,
approached in fear and trembling.
She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
While he was still speaking,
people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said,
“Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
“Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep.”
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child’s father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,”
which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.
OR:
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat
to the other side,
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
“My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live.”
He went off with him,
and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said,
“Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
“Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep.”
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child’s father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,”
which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.