Word to the Wise
Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - Tuesday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 12:1-4 and Mark 5:21-43]"If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." [Mark]
The lady who made her way through the crowd next to Jesus was desperate. We are told that "she had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse." We are also told that "she had heard about Jesus."
This woman represents the kind of person to whom Pope Francis has been calling the attention of the entire church. They are people who have heard about Jesus and are trying to reach him, but the crowd next to him is making it difficult. We might find it easy to characterize the "crowd" as being the "institutional church." There would be a lot of truth in that, but not all the truth. The lady in the gospel just wants to "touch his clothes." Jesus responds dramatically in the midst of the shoving and pressing crowd, and the lady finally gets to meet him face to face and hear the words (remember, she has already been "cured"): "Daughter your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."
All she wanted to do was to be free of her suffering, but her small faith brought much more to her. She is not only "cured," but she is healed and saved as well. The rest of the truth is that we must ask ourselves personally about those who are making the first steps toward the Lord with small faith. We may be the ones whom those folks are reaching out to - the clothes of the Lord, as it were. Are we so focused on our own faith that we cannot feel that touch? Perhaps we can do what Pope Francis is suggesting and get out of the crowd and go to the edges ("peripheries" as he says) and see who is out there trying to get in. That is what is meant by missionary discipleship. I hope we can all try it. AMEN
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