13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wis 1:13-5; 2:23-24, 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mk 5:21-43
Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
When the woman with a years-long hemorrhage touches Jesus, the LIFE that is in him flows through her like an electric current. Connected to that flowing radiation of the fullness of life, her whole being – body and soul – is reset. The inner wound that for twelve long years, day and night has been draining away her life is healed at last!
In this woman the manifestation of the wound was apparently gynecological, causing not only physical discomfort but also intense social shame and isolation. Many people carry similar inner wounds, though not all are manifested in actual physical bleeding. The characteristic of such an inner wound is that it is hidden, shameful, hopeless, and deadening. It convinces a person that fullness of life is only for other people; their own life is inferior and unimportant. Such a person avoids too much connection with others for fear of the shame of the wound.
When the woman in the gospel saw Jesus, something amazingly different happened. She perceived that the flow of life in and through this man was so radical that she was already connected to him, even before she touched him. This gave her the courage to take the step that, for twelve years, she had been too ashamed to take: she reached out to connect herself deeply to another person’s flow of life. She did it surreptitiously, still driven by shame. Jesus, however, would have none of that. He wanted to celebrate her breakthrough and embrace the fullness of life!
All the readings for today join in that celebration of the abundance of life that God is eager to bestow upon all the inhabitants of the Earth community. The Book of Wisdom even asserts that “God did not make death!” Scientifically, that is hard to reconcile with the reality that the cycle of life and death is essential to the continuation of life, since all living beings sustain their lives by feeding on other living beings in one way or another. Yet what the scriptures make clear is that God did not intend death to have the final word.
Death is not meant to be terrifying, but rather to be experienced as an essential element of the fullness of life. Jesus shows us this in his Eucharistic self-giving: his death feeds and sustains others so that they can live in abundance. To live fully is to be willing to hand one’s life over into the great communion of ongoing life. The way First Corinthians articulates this is to say of Jesus, “for your sake he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich.” Amen!
“The ways of the Lord are mysterious, but comforting.”
This Saturday, June 26, 2021 Bruce Scott our son, will be ordained as permanent deacon. I would like to thank God for the call to his service and love. Together with his fellow deacons, he will be receiving this great gift of deaconate. It is a gift that has been possible by the prayer and support of people of St. Mary’s, St. Aloysius, and friends.
Also, I would like to ask for your prayers that he may be docile instruments of God’s love. May he be guided in times of doubt and confusion; that he may bring Christ alive to all those who have lost faith or hope; but above all that he may be faithful channels of the love and mercy of Christ, the Supreme and Eternal Priest from whom all good springs.
Peace and all good!
Fr. Valery Burusu
Parochial Administrator