Psalm 30
Second Reading 2 Corinthians 8:7,9, 13-15
Mark 5: 21-43
Gospel Reflection for July 1, 2012, thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This post marks my first here in my attempt to make Gospel Reflections, through the eyes of a layperson and woman. I have attempted many times to start a blog like this but always to no avail until last night, as I was listening to the Gospel and homily, I thought, maybe the timing wasn't always right. Maybe the time is now. And after listening to the Gospel, I thought I'm going to start again, and the Gospel yesterday could be the perfect start.
The gospel for this Sunday was about two females. The first one -- a woman with bleeding disease, the second was a girl, the daughter of Jairus, who died.
The one word to describe these two miracles is FAITH.
The first woman, was bleeding for 12 years. She consulted many healers and doctors during her time but no one was able to give her relief of her condition. I am a woman, I know how it feels like to bleed monthly. During the days of my monthly period, I feel dirty and messy, no matter how often I wash and clean myself. But that is trivial to the pain during the days that a woman bleeds. You see, a woman is very hormonal. And during her menstrual period, her hormones are at the lowest levels, which is why most women are moody during this time aside from the fact that the outer layer of the woman's reproductive system is sloughed off, which attributes to most of the pain. When I think about it, I don't really know the medical reason why the woman bled for that long and is still alive. But imagine the pain of 3 days of menstrual period stretched for 12 years. And with all her money and property gone to find a cure for her, all she had left was her faith that Jesus could and would heal her. For her, she doesn't even have to talk to him or for him to acknowledge her, all she needed was to touch him and she knew that she would be healed. Imagine that much faith. And true enough a small touch and her great faith healed her.
The next one, is a girl. Jairus' 12-year-old daughter, who died. Maybe because of the crowds, Jesus took longer to arrive at Jairus' house that his daughter died. But even though the people said that the girl was already dead, Jesus insisted that she is just sleeping. With only the girl's parents and three of his followers, Jesus raised her back to life, as if she was just asleep. It was her parents' faith and Jesus' insistence that brought her back.
Two females, a grown woman and a little girl. Two acts of great faith. During the time of Jesus, females were regarded as second-class citizens. They were nobodies in society. A woman is worth nothing without her husband. But in the bible, women are also featured as much as men. They too were healed, raised, forgiven. I think that Jesus looks upon all of us regardless of whether we are male or female. He looks upon our faith.
Before I end, let me tell you a traumatic experience I had a little more than a week ago.
I was in my parents' house when a burglar trespassed at around 3 to 4 in the morning. S/he went through my room's window, and into the connecting bathroom to my parents' room. They took my netbook, camera, two watches -- both of which were gifts -- one from my dad and the other from my ex-boyfriend, bags, my parents' wallets and my mom's iPad. It was our household staff that found out about what happened when they saw the broken grills on my window. They knocked at my window and when I didn't wake up, they knocked at my parents'. When my parents woke up and found out what happened. They knocked at my room very loudly, afraid that the burglar may have hurt me or something. And when I opened the door to let them in, I saw relief on my parents' faces, and me, not knowing what happened just went down to the kitchen to see why everyone was very noisy at half past 4 in the morning. Then that was when we realized that we were robbed. I cried. I started babbling about a lot of things. I called my very sleepy boyfriend and shocked and worried as he was, he told me that he didn't understand much of what I said. I was in shock. The thought of us -- me -- in such vulnerable state, exposed to a potentially dangerous situation rendered me virtually speechless the whole day. The thought of my parents' excruciating moments of knocking on an unyielding door, not knowing if their daughter was still there. I realized that the moment I walked out of my bedroom that morning, I had another lease in life. That my faith may falter many times but God never did. They may have taken material things from us, important in our daily lives, but easily replaceable compared to what we could've lost if we were roused from our sleep and was forced to fight them off. God put us in deep slumber and protected us from more harm.
After that incident, my faith is more stable than ever. I may still be paranoid at times, but that is because I'm human. Being scared is normal. But the gospel reminded me of faith. Faith that God is always in charge. And I should always put my faith in Him.
