Tuesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint John Bosco, Priest
Hebrews 12:1-4 | Psalm 21(22):26-28,30-32 | Mark 5:21-43
‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. (Mark 5:28-29)
This story of the hemorrhaging woman is often cited as a clear example of the power of faith, but I see it embodying a related and even more powerful message: “Dare To Dream Of Eternity!”
Many of us, confronted with a major illness that defies all medical intervention, are simply content to live with our condition as best we can.
This woman dared to dream: “I can be cured, and Jesus is the One who’ll cure me!”
From such dreams will spring lasting faith.
Adrian, you’ve really lost it this time! What nonsense are you spouting?
Let me explain…
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What sort of faith do we practice, brothers and sisters?
Is it an intellectual faith, one based on the clockwork belief that “if we give alms to the poor, clothe the naked, etc. so forth, we will be doing what the Father wants, and will therefore be reunited with him”?
Or is it a faith based on hope, one that says “Lord, have pity on me, a sinner, and guide me to the path of life”?
I think the former is in fact more akin to Mosaic law, the very mechanical call to obedience that Jesus came to supplant! “So boring, so tedious, and I’m not seeing results!”
The latter, on the other hand, starts with a dream, that we shall one day be reunited with the Father.
A dream that imbues us with the desire to be reunited with the Father.
A dream that gives us hope when life itself turns against us, and we are beset by difficult people and irresistible temptations, tormented by the worry that we might not be judged worthy.
A dream that compels us to reach out to Jesus amid life’s difficulties, to acknowledge that He can guide us through it all, and lead us to eternity with the Father.
So let us dare to dream: “We have been saved, and Jesus will show the way to claim our eternal prize! We have but to reach out and touch, and to follow Him.”
Amen.