"If I just touch His clothing...I shall get well."

First reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 30
Second reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Gospel reading: Mark 5:21-43

"If I just touch His clothing...I shall get well."

Mark 5:21-43 tells a story of Jesus' healing ministry. It is the story of Jairus, a synagogue official, who fell at the feet of Jesus and made an earnest appeal for his critically ill daughter.  So the Lord Jesus went with Jairus, while a large crowd followed them. As they went on, there was a woman in the area who had been afflicted with hemorrhage for many years.  Doctors could not heal her ailment, and her sickness grew worse. When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him to touch His clothing - believing that just by a mere touch, she would get well. After she did touch the Lord's clothing, her flow of blood dried up. She got well. Jesus learned what happened, and said to the woman, "your faith has cured you." After this incident, Jesus and Jairus finally arrived at their destination. They entered the house and Jesus saw the girl lying in bed. She took the child by the hand and said, "Talitha koum", which means, "little girl, get up." The girl, a child of twelve, stood up immediately and began to walk around.

This healing story in chapter 5 of Mark's gospel is really two miracle stories combined into one. Bible scholar Wilfrid Harrington in his book, "Mark", teaches that this is St. Mark's "sandwich" technique. Mark uses two verses (verse 24 and verse 35) to tie up two healing stories into one. Harrington then also adds that this technique of Mark presents "salvation and faith" as the major themes of this twin miracles. "Salvation through healing" was made possible by the touch of Jesus. At Jesus' touch, Jairus' daughter got well (verse 23); and the woman with the hemorrhage was convinced that if she touches the garment of Jesus, she will be made well (verse 28).

All humanity share the human condition of vulnerability to ailments and illnesses. However, the twin miracles from Mark's gospel present to us a God who gives genuine hope for healing. We only have to look at our own personal experiences to see that God provides us with enough strength to help ourselves and reach out to Him in prayer. And to believe that miracles still and do happen. Not only do we have strength to help ourselves, God provides us also with family, friends, and co-workers to help us find means to improve our health.. This is a truth we should value well: that God, in the person of Christ Jesus, gives us all the means, that we may hope in Him for anything, especially for whatever health conditions we, or our family members need..

"Who can this be that the wind and sea obey Him?"

First reading: Job 38:1,8-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 107
Second reading: 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Gospel reading: Mark 4:35-41

"Who can this be that the wind and sea obey Him?"

The gospel presents a miracle story: Jesus stilling the storm. This is how the miracle took place. Jesus and His disciples leave the crowd, and ride in boats further out into the sea. At sea, a bad squall blew up, and the waves were breaking over the boat. The disciples became alarmed and went to Jesus - who was in the stern sound asleep. They woke Jesus up, and expressed their alarm - fearing that they would all perish. Jesus immediately responded, rebuked the wind and stilled the sea with a command from His voice. Suddenly, everything became calm. Jesus then said to His disciples, "Why are you so terrified? Why lack in faith?"  A great awe filled the hearts of the disciples, for they have just witnessed something no ordinary man can do - to command the wind and the sea to obey.

In his book, "The Miracle Stories", bible scholar and author Herman Hendrickx says that the previous verses of this gospel passage writes about Christ withdrawing from the crowd. These people flock to Christ whom they have heard to be a healer. But Christ withdraws from certain persons in the crowd whose unclean spirits wanted to make Him known as the "exorcistic Son of God". Fr. Herman Hendricks teaches that Jesus had to withdraw from the crowds because He did not want to be identified as only a "healer-exorcist". And indeed, the miracle of the calming of the storm has proven that the Lord Jesus was more than just a "healer-exorcist". The calming of the storm leads us to see Him in the context of the divine.

It took time before the apostles got to know who Jesus was. It was only with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that they finally learned the whole truth about their Master. Like the apostles, we too have to make sense of who Jesus is for us. In the journey of faith, we will experience many ills and sins healed by God in the sacraments. These are the miracles of grace that we encounter. These are the everyday miracles of faith, courage, hope and holding on to Christ in prayer and the Sacraments. As we experience these "miracles" that save us from the "storms of life", we grow in a deeper knowledge and love of God. It this knowledge and love of God that impelled the apostles to preach the Kingdom. We too, by our baptismal consecration, are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and His apostles.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ - Corpus Christi

First reading: Exodus 24:3-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 116
Second reading: Hebrews 9:11-15
Gospel reading: Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

"'Take this,' He said, 'this is My Body'".

From the gospel of Mark, we find a brief account of the Last
Supper. It begins with the scene wherein Jesus' disciples asked
their Master where He wished to celebrate the Passover supper.
Jesus gave His disciples instructions to go into the city, follow
a man carrying a water jar until he enters into a house, and then
ask the owner of the house for a guest-room for them to eat the
Passover meal. As the disciples followed Jesus' instructions,
they found it just as Jesus told them - and they were given an
upstairs room, spacious and all in order. It is in this upstairs
room where Jesus ate the Last Supper with His apostles. This
gospel passage of Mark reflects what we always hear in the Mass
as the bread and wine is consecrated:


"...He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
'Take this,' He said, 'this is My Body.' He likewise took a cup...
He said to them: 'This is my blood...to be poured out on behalf
of many'".

If we place ourselves in the shoes of the apostles, we would
probably not know or understand well what Jesus meant by this
action of His during the Last Supper. In the gospels, we are
always made aware that even the apostles of Jesus did not
understand what He was teaching or doing. They did not understand
the parables of Jesus unless Jesus explained it to them. This is
because Jesus speaks very deeply about the mystery of God, and the
life God has destined for us. And one of the deep mysteries in
which Jesus speaks about before His disciples, is the mystery of
His Body and Blood. This is the mystery and the miracle which we
witness everyday in the celebration of the Eucharist: the
transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and the Blood
of Christ Jesus - "Corpus Christi".

Just as our bodies need nourishment, so that we may obtain the
strength we need to work well, and be at the service of our
family, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, so too our soul
needs to be nourished with spiritual food. Jesus is our spiritual
food. He is the Bread that came down from Heaven. He who eats
this Bread will have eternal life. By the sacrifice of Jesus on
the Cross, He has given us His very self, so that when we eat and
drink His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we shall also receive
the fruits of the Resurrection: new life, that leads to eternal
life, and communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.