15^th. Sunday of Year (B)

 (Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-10; Mark 6:7-13)

This sending out by the Lord of His chosen Twelve had two purposes: salvation was to be proclaimed and offered first of all to the Chosen People; and, at the same time, the Apostles were being prepared for the commission Jesus would give them after His Resurrection, to go out and preach His Good News to all mankind.

Let us look at this preparation of the Apostles.  Above all they needed to gain confidence in the Lord Who was sending them out on their first mission, because this mission to the Jewish people would be much easier than the one to come, which would be directed first of all to the sophisticated pagans of the Roman Empire, and then to the ignorance and violence of the largely uncivilized world beyond.  Jesus, however, apparently made this mission to the People of Israel more difficult for His Apostles by His injunction:

To take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts -- but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.

Nevertheless, when they returned, Jesus asked them:

When I sent you out without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  They said, "Nothing." (Luke 22:35)

Evidently, their experience on this first mission to the People of Israel had been such as to give them confidence that the Lord would be with them in all their future needs.

Moreover, their being sent out without bread, bag, or money in their belt, with only sandals on their feet, and, according to Matthew and Luke, without even taking a staff with them, would have helped the apostles appreciate that they were on a sacred journey:  for -- according to the Rabbis -- worshippers ought not enter the Temple precincts bearing staff, shoes (notice, sandals were permitted), or with a money belt. The disciples were, therefore, being manifestly sent out with those same dispositions of mind and heart ideally required for entering the Temple to worship and glorify God.  The immediate purpose of their mission was to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins to the people of Israel, a message which only they -- God’s Chosen People -- could at that time rightly understand and respond to; ultimately, however, they would be called to proclaim God’s salvation to the whole world, and, to undertake and serve that sublime calling, they had to learn first of all to put their whole trust, with confidence and joy, in name of the Lord Jesus.

Today the Catholic Church continues the mission of the Apostles, and the work required of her is still the same: a sublimely holy work to be done in the name and for love of the Lord Jesus, trusting in the Gift of God which is His Spirit; a work for the fulfilment of His Father’s plan for the salvation of mankind.

The response of men and women of our times and indeed, of all times, can be set out as Jesus put it before the Twelve.  First of all, we might note that, according to St. Luke (10:3), Jesus warned them that He was sending them out:

As lambs among wolves.

With such a warning the Apostles should not have been surprised at anything.  However, in our Gospel reading today, Jesus deals first of all with the response His disciples should give to those who would apparently welcome them:

He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there until you depart from that place.”

Matthew (10:11-13) again adds a few more details:

Now, whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out.   And when you go into a household, greet it.  If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.    

They were to enquire, literally “question carefully”, about who might be “worthy” enough to give them hospitality.  However, the fact of giving hospitality would not, of itself, be sufficient.   On entering that household, they were to give it their greeting and blessing, but if it proved to be unworthy, that blessing of peace would be lost to it and return to the Apostles.   Jesus would Personally guarantee the blessing of His Apostles, and therefore that blessing was not to be pronounced lightly: the gift of hospitality was not enough, the giving had to be done in the right spirit:

If it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

People of God, there is something there which modern people, even modern Catholic people, might find remarkable -- and indeed, somewhat unpalatable -- for it is quite obvious that for Jesus -- and He certainly wanted His disciples to have the same attitude as Himself -- those who received the Apostles sent in His name were the ones receiving a blessing, and they were the ones who should, ultimately be grateful.  Not that the Apostles were not to be feel, or express, gratitude for such hospitality, but they were in no way to feel personally beholden to their hosts: for their hosts would be superabundantly rewarded by the Lord Himself through the blessing given by the Apostles for whatever kindness and assistance might have been provided.

This appreciation is confirmed for us when Jesus goes on to tell His Apostles:

Whoever will not receive you or hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.      

Such a symbolic gesture of shaking off the dust from their feet in testimony against that place and the people living there would serve as an indication that the ban of the Lord was resting upon that place.

In the legislation of the book of Deuteronomy, the people of Israel were instructed (13:17):

Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand.

The Rabbis’ teaching explained that anything of this sort, clinging to a person, was metaphorically called “the dust”: for example, “the dust of an evil tongue”, “the dust of usury”.  With such a background we can understand the significance and awesome threat implied in the Lord’s command to His Apostles:

            Shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.

Who would, however, be so foolish as to incur the ban of the Lord?

That, of course, our first reading taken from the book of the prophet Amos showed us; for Bethel was the royal sanctuary of the Northern Kingdom of Israel which had separated from Judah, and the Lord had sent Amos to warn the Israelites of the dangers threatening them.  However, when Amos proclaimed there the word of the Lord, Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, told him to pack off back to Judah saying:

Off with you seer! Flee to the land of Judah and there earn your bread by prophesying!  But never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and a royal temple."  

Amaziah however, even though he was the chief priest of the royal and national sanctuary, was only one priest.   Was he really typical of the Israelites: what were the people as a whole like?  Listen to Amos speaking (3:15) in the name of the Lord of others in the Northern Kingdom:

I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end.  

Obviously, prominent Israelites of the Northern Kingdom ignored the word of the Lord because they were engrossed with their enjoyment of the ‘dolce vita’: winter and summer houses as splendid as if they were made all of ivory; and just listen how they lived it up!

Woe to you who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall; who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.  (Amos 6:4-7)

People of God, you know very well that there are very many such people in our modern and prosperous Western society who, in like manner, are relatively replete with – and wholeheartedly delight in -- possessions and pleasures, power and prestige; and, though being Catholics by reputation, they have no concern for the well-being of Mother Church.  Anxiously seeking the approval of men in all things, they have no confidence or trust in the Word of the Lord.  Will the ban of the Lord be on them?  Was it on the luxurious Israelites in Samaria?   Hear the prophet’s words:

(They) are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, and those who recline at banquets shall be removed. (6:6-7)

Listen again to the prophet Amos (7:17) speaking this time directly to Amaziah the priest in charge of the royal sanctuary:

Thus says the LORD: 'Your wife shall be a harlot in the city; your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; your land shall be divided by survey line; you shall die in a defiled land; and Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land.' 

That, People of God, is the background to Our Lord’s words to His Apostles:

Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.

Oh! dear People of God, compare Our Lord’s directions for those ministering His grace to the lost sheep of Israel with the prescriptions of those in Mother Church today, both high and low, who almost beg people to come to church, to receive the Eucharist and other sacraments – notably baptism and confession – as it were at bargain prices (!) or even no cost at all (!!), traditional requirements of holiness being watered down or washed away, supposedly to demonstrate modern love!  Love of a sort indeed, but not Jesus’ love; rather is it that human emotionalism which imitates and would destroy true spiritual devotion, seeking neither Gospel fidelity nor Christian charity, but social acceptance and popular approval above all!

But what are the promises of the Lord?  What are the blessings He wants to bestow on us; what are the blessings reserved in heaven for those who embrace His Gospel and, by His Spirit. live through love in and for Him?  Listen to our second reading again:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, to the praise of the glory of His grace.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins; in Him also we have obtained an inheritance.  In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in Whom -- having believed -- you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance to the praise of His glory.  

Elsewhere Paul -- finding himself quite unable to express the wonder of our calling and the blessings that await us -- simply contents himself with quoting the Old Testament prophet Isaiah:

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may those promises be fulfilled, those blessings be bestowed, upon you who are now listening to the Word of the God with faith and who will later go out from this gathering enriched with Jesus’ grace to  seriously try to live your daily lives with authentic Catholic love and devotion.                                

14th Sunday Year B 2018

   14^th. Sunday, Year (B)                              (Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2^nd. Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6)

Dear People of God, we hear so little about the Church’s God-given teaching role and authority – stemming from Jesus’ first public words, ‘Repent and believe’ -- and so much about encouraging and comforting suffering members of the Church, very many of whom are ‘suffering’ because things are not sufficiently adapted to their liking in Mother Church’s traditional inheritance, that it behoves us to take notice of the following excerpts from our first two readings today before going on to study today’s Gospel:

You shall say to them: ‘Thus says the Lord God!’  And whether they heed or resist – for they are a rebellious house – they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

The Lord said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in (your) weakness.’

In our Gospel reading we heard how Jesus went with His disciples to His home town of Nazareth and was amazed at the lack of faith He discovered there: His fellows in the synagogue – that is, the religious, the devout, citizens of Nazareth -- were unwilling to accept either His teaching -- which they understood well enough to recognize its wisdom -- or His miracles, which they had seen for themselves, or concerning which they had received unimpeachable evidence from others who had been witnesses.  And this unwillingness to seriously accept and appreciate Himself, His teaching and His miracles, before fully developing into a total rejection of Him, His words and works, was originally motivated by the simple fact that they thought they knew Him and His family; for He had not only been brought up in their midst, but had actually been taught in their synagogue.   What would have become of Him if they had not been at hand to help and guide Him?

Why did Jesus find that amazing?  After all, He had been living among these people from childhood and must have experienced many of their personal idiosyncrasies through daily contact with them; moreover, He most certainly was endowed with enough wisdom to have gained a truly profound appreciation of human nature in general.  Nevertheless, we are told that He did, indeed, marvel at their unbelief; and time seems only to have deepened that amazement and sorrow, for you will remember that, later on, the experiences of His public ministry led Him to say:

When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?   (Luke 18:8)

In the Gospels, we are told that Jesus only marvelled on two occasions: one, as you have just heard, at the unbelief of His home-townspeople; and secondly at the faith of the Roman centurion whose servant He cured:

When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.  (Matthew 8:10)

This fact that Jesus is only said to have ‘been amazed’ or ‘marvelled’ on these two occasions involving faith or lack of it, seems to indicate that, of all human activities and attitudes, it is ‘faith’ which is the most personal, and also the most significant and ultimately wonderful act of which a human being is capable.

Why is faith so extraordinary?  Because it is a personal G/gift from God the Father; because it is the G/gift on which God’s plan for the redemption and exaltation of humankind depends. Human eyes might, indeed, have enabled men and women to see the wonders that Jesus did, and by their ears they could have heard the words of wisdom that came from His lips, but the transcendent reality at work in and behind those words and deeds could only be recognized and embraced by the humble and loving acceptance of the gift of faith from God’s Gift which is His own Most Holy Spirit:

I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one, as We are One.  (John 17:22)

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.  Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.  For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. (John 17:6-9)

Jesus’ later questioning whether the Son of Man would find faith on earth when He returns, becomes, therefore, more understandable when we consider that faith is truly a most wonderful quality in a human being because it is totally supernatural – a gift, God-given, to raise a weak and sinful creature to the level of a child of God – and, being so sublime, faith can only be rightly received with a corresponding humility.  Did not Our Blessed Lady herself declare:

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; for He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness?

Now, where faith is weak, and when -- perhaps under extreme pressure -- it might seem non-existent, Jesus, indeed, is disappointed and hurt; but He is never said to have marvelled at that: after all, He knows our human weakness.   We can see this, for example, when the disciples were in a storm on the Sea of Galilee:

Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:29-32)

Why, therefore, was Jesus so amazed at the lack of faith of those who seemed religious and even devout in Nazareth; why, indeed, did He marvel their unbelief when He could be so understanding of native human weakness? 

Here we encounter something of the mystery of Jesus, something of the wonder of His Person and the beauty of His character.

He came from the Father and had lived the majority of His life on earth in the home of Mary and Joseph where He had been seen to be daily “growing in favour with God and men”.  You will remember that after having seriously prepared for His long-anticipated reception to manhood-before-God as a young Jew, He had been so fascinated with the subsequent opportunity to talk deeply with the rabbis in the Temple – men learned in the Scriptures and the things of God -- that He forgot all about returning home in the caravan with Mary and Joseph.  And now here, as a fully mature man and an increasingly celebrated ‘rabbi’ back in His home-town synagogue at Nazareth, He likewise rejoiced that He might be able to speak again of the things of His Father with those in whose midst He had grown up, with those He so intimately knew and loved despite their faults and failings, with those who were members of God’s Chosen People to whom He had been sent:

It is written …, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  (John 6:45)

However, He was, indeed, amazed to discover how little reverence and love they had for His-and-their heavenly Father and how little they understood of the spiritual endowment they had received from Moses and the Prophets.  He had spoken of what He had learned from His Father, their God; He had done the works His Father had given Him to do for their enlightenment; and, to the fact that they had both heard and seen what He had said and done, their very own words testified:

What wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands?

And yet, they did not respond to His Father, they would not recognize Himself!

We must appreciate that those synagogue members were not subject to a storm terrorizing their human weakness as Jesus’ disciples had recently been on the Sea of Galilee.  Having heard His words and having either seen His miracles for themselves or heard of them from the accounts of friends and witnesses, they could not deny that Jesus did indeed speak with great wisdom and had, in fact, performed such works.  Their great difficulty, however, was that they were in no way prepared to accept that one who had grown up apparently like any other child in their midst could be fundamentally any better than themselves.  Failure through fear as experienced by His disciples during the storm on the Sea of Galilee was human; refusal from pride as shown by His townspeople in Nazareth was devilish!  Who, indeed, did He think He was?

Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honour except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." So, He was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying His hands on them.  And He marvelled at their lack of faith.

Jesus marvelled because they refused to marvel at God’s goodness shown to one they considered to be their own, like themselves.  The Nazarenes were very proud -- you will remember how they had been willing to throw Jesus down from the hill their town was built on because they thought He had insulted them -- and they could not accept God’s secret choice of one of their own, because He was – to all outward appearances – like them.  They would not accept that He was, in fact, better than themselves before God.   They would, indeed, accept one more learned than themselves ( some acknowledged and scholarly rabbi perhaps), one stronger (some revolutionary leader perhaps), but not one better than themselves before God: better in His knowledge of, response to, and love for the God Whom they had come to consider as theirs.

The fact is that they were no longer God’s People because they had come to consider Him as their god, just as the pagans all around each had their own god who was no true god. The denizens of Nazareth, having come to think that Israel’s ancient Lord was in fact their own Jewish god, found something deeply offensive in this Man before them demanding that Israel’s God be more truly reverenced and more seriously obeyed, demanding, more strongly than Moses and the Prophets had ever done before Him, that they truly REPENT and learn anew to LOVE the God Who had brought their fathers out of Egypt to this Promised Land.  THIS was the stumbling block over which they fell and condemned themselves: Israel’s God was their god, and this ‘fellow’ had been taught at their synagogue, long before He became famous elsewhere.

St. Paul, on the contrary, told us how he had learnt ultimate humility from God and from his experience of human life and society:

Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.  Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.    Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.  

Faith, dear People of God, is the glory of a human being.  It is a sublime gift of God, as the Gospel tells us, but it is something that can only be be received with humility; for, through faith, the very power of God is at our disposal and we must only use it for His glory, never for our own … most certainly not to make ourselves loved by parishioners, as some aspire to or teach today!    Being born of humility, faith can only be cherished by the constant practice of simplicity and trust in God, for the worries and false solicitudes of the world would choke it, as Jesus lovingly warns us:

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.  (Luke 12:27-33)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you who have all been personally chosen by the Father to be disciples of Jesus and witnesses to the world:  avoid worries and solicitude which sap away the strength of your faith; above all, never indulge doubt which can destroy faith.  Cardinal Newman used to say that a hundred difficulties do not make one doubt.  Do you think, do you fear, that your faith is still weak?  Then humble yourself gladly before God with St. Paul; and never forget what St. John would tell you also, namely, that you can grow in faith by the communion you have, daily, with God.  Would you aspire, finally, to the crown of faith?  Then give yourself in commitment, sincere and total, to God in prayer, to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to the Gospel proclaimed by Mother Church, in all life’s circumstances, big and small; such faith will earn you the eternal reward and crown implied in the words:

            Go in peace, your faith has saved you.  

Jesus was amazed and said to those following Him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.

                                                                                            

13th Sunday Year B 2018

Thirteenth Sunday (Year B)

(Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2nd Corinthians 8:7-9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43)

We have today, People of God, a picture of Jesus which the early Christians loved, one which comforted and strengthened them in their patient endurance of and ultimate triumph over state persecution by the empire-wide, and yet immediate and local, power of the Roman State and the Emperor himself. 

Those persecutions are still difficult for us modern ‘Westerners’ to appreciate for, even though today we find many swathes of peoples are leaving their traditional faith and allowing themselves to rejoice with the increasingly pagan world around them, even though fellow Christians and Catholics are being persecuted and terrorised in many areas of the world today, nevertheless, we can still rejoice in our hearts to read in the papers or to see on the TV news programmes when some ordinary individual has taken on officialdom, and, against all apparent odds, finally received justice; for, in such and similar situations, there is a sympathetic press and some recourse to the law, while we personally  can still gather openly and speak freely with friends and others of like mind.

But the Roman Empire was a universal power, the Emperor’s personal will was law; there was no free press, and Roman society, early on, disliked and even hated Christians and Catholics who behaved so differently from other members of society, openly shunning as evil so many practices and amusements which the poor thronging the cities, especially the capital, loved for the excitement they provided and for the ‘hand-outs’ they lived on: festival occasions such as the circuses and gladiatorial fights, occasions and events which popularity-seeking political and military figures repeatedly provided for their own devious purposes; and never forgetting the pogroms of emperors such as Nero, who himself had a special addiction for public torches fed by burning Christians.  And -- you might say inevitably of course -- the accompanying and wide-spread sexual licentiousness of all sorts was a reliable and uncensored source of public pleasure and private money.

Consequently, there was nowhere to turn for our fellow Christians of the first three or four centuries when the all-powerful, universal, state turned on them.  They had only their own resources, that is, the strength and hope which the Faith gave them; and one of the supreme sources of calm comfort and deep peace for them was this picture of Jesus as the gentle Lord of life and death in today’s Gospel reading:

Jesus took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.  Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."   Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.

On a later occasion John tells us about the death of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary:

Jesus said to His disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."   Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."  However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.  Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.   And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him."   (John 11:11-15)

Jesus knew what death was, and He also knew what sort of death He Himself would soon have to face, but, when He was involved with a “dead” person or when He was invoked, called on, to help suffering loved ones, He preferred to speak of “falling asleep”:

Jesus came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.  When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping."

Our friend Lazarus sleeps … I go that I may wake him up.

In all their many trials and tribulations the early Christians loved to think thus of Jesus raising up His own from what the world called death, but which they believed to be only a “sleep”.  For them there was a life to come, a life where sin and death would be no more.  That is why, only some thirty or perhaps sixty years later when Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written, the author could quote this -- by then already traditional -- Christian hymn (5:14):

Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

Let us now turn our attention to the synagogue leader and to the woman with a haemorrhage, both of whom turned to Jesus in their great need.  Notice first of all, People of God, what a great leveller faith is: on the one hand a prominent member of the local synagogue and on the other this very much embarrassed and unknown woman.  One comes to Jesus openly, falls at His feet and tells of his distress and anxiety with which anyone who heard would sympathize; the other comes up to Jesus secretly with a double-trouble she wished to keep secret, since her serious and debilitating ailment was not only an embarrassment for her but also made her legally unclean and therefore something of an outcast from religious society.  Both, the synagogue official publicly proclaiming his grief and praising Jesus, and the woman anxiously striving to keep her troubles secret even from Jesus Himself, were given what they desired because of one thing only: their FAITH IN JESUS. 

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment; for she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."  

Did she perhaps know what the psalmist (45: 8) had written about the Messiah?   

God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellow kings.   Your robes are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

How beautiful Jesus was, People of God!  And how beautiful Jesus IS!!  That woman only touched His dusty cloak, whereas we receive the full humanity of the heavenly glorified Jesus, in the Eucharist.  Many of you will receive Him at this Mass; let her be your model!  Look at the woman’s faith and hope as she single-mindedly moved through the crowd of people in order to get into a position where she could just touch the cloak of Jesus: now look at yourself, what sort of faith and hope are in your mind and heart as you prepare to receive His very Self in the Eucharist?  Surely, you are not so mistaken as to think you do not have any special needs, even though perhaps, you may have none so immediately pressing as those experienced by the woman in our Gospel story?

Finally, notice that both the synagogue official and the unknown woman came to find Jesus together with His disciples.  They did not try to catch up with, waylay, Jesus in some side alley in the town or find Him walking alone in the countryside: both went looking for Him where they expected to find Him: together with His disciples. That has to be our attitude too, People of God.  Those who would wilfully and knowingly ignore His disciples gathered together in His Name cannot hope to find Jesus.  We come to find Jesus – first of all and above all -- in the Church where He has promised to be until the end of time, for Mother Church was established to lead and help us to Jesus. 

However, although Jesus and His Church are one, they are not the same.  Because we are members of the one, true, Church of Christ, we should never allow ourselves to forget that Jesus alone should be our total aim and aspiration here on earth.  We must never turn aside from Jesus and satisfy ourselves with membership of the Church; rather should we constantly relate to, and aspire to love, Jesus in Mother Church.  When, for example, we are told we should come to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, that we must receive the Eucharist at least once a year, and that about Easter, we cannot therefore think that, having done those things, we do not need to bother any more about Jesus, that we do not need to constantly pray to Him, perseveringly seek to know and love Him, and humbly try serve Him as best we can at all times and under all circumstances.  All that is summed up in what should be our deliberate attitude at Mass: we come to Mass to make a sincerely personal encounter, and establish an enduring personal relationship, with Jesus, whereby, with Him and in Him, we may fittingly -- on behalf of all mankind -- offer worship and praise to the glory of the Father.

And Mother Church assures us that Jesus, for His part, is not only concerned about our spiritual, other-worldly, well-being, our eternal salvation; He is concerned also about our present joy and well-being, as the following words of Jesus make abundantly clear:

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full; (John 15:11)

Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:24)

Dear People of God, we can bring our thoughts today to a fitting close by recalling what Jesus said after He had raised the young girl from the sleep of death:

He commanded them strictly that no one should know it and said that SOMETHING SHOULD BE GIVEN HER TO EAT. (Mark 5:43)

Jesus, our Lord and Saviour is indeed solicitous for our whole human well-being not only for those of our brethren who, like the early Christians, suffer persecution and death today for His Name, but also, for ordinary disciples such as ourselves in the excitement and doldrums, the needs, sorrows, and anxieties, that come our way as we strive to serve Him in all things.

As St. Paul put it, “He is rich” for all who turn to Him:

Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor that you, through His poverty, might become rich.