By Arun D. csc –
Readings: Gen 28: 10-22a; Mt 9: 18-26
The gospel gives us a test of faith. Two impossibilities become possibilities before our own eyes. A faith that goes way beyond death is witnessed by us in the gospel of the day. A ruler of the synagogue is pleading for the life of his daughter who died.
Apparently the request looks foolish as death is a reality. However, the ruler knew whom he is asking the favor. He understood Jesus as the life giver and a miracle worker. The promise of Jesus to accompany him to his house would have given him great relief.
The woman who was suffering from hemorrhage for twelve years is another example of great faith. Many touched Jesus, but only she was healed because she knew whom she was touching. Both the ruler of the synagogue and the woman were in great pain physical and mental. Loneliness and hopelessness would have marred their lives. Yet, with Jesus they begin a new journey of hope. Both the miracles invite me to surrender my whole life to the Lord because with him I have a new beginning.
Like Jacob in the first reading who has a vision and submits his future into the loving hands of the Lord, I am invited to place all my hopes in the Lord. Though the pandemic has blurred my vision of the future and gives me mental and physical agony, like the woman in the gospel I will gather all my courage to go behind Jesus to touch him that he may restore my wavering faith and promise a future with hope to bring.