Word to the Wise
Monday, July 10, 2023 - Monday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 28:10-22a and Matt 9:18-26]A woman suffering hemorrhages came up behind [Jesus] and touched the tassel of his cloak. She said to herself, "If only I can touch the tassel of his cloak, I shall be cured." Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, "Courage daughter! Your faith has saved you." And from that hour the woman was cured." [Matthew]
Jesus' power to heal is on display in today's gospel scripture, but so is the faith of the woman with hemorrhages. Jesus goes on to the official's house to raise the little girl from death, but the lady in the crowd always captures my attention because of an incident in my own pastoral experience. I was "on patrol" during a Sunday Mass and found some teens sitting in the vestibule. I invited them to go into the main assembly and they did so. I turned around and there was a woman and man standing together in the same area. I invited the lady and her companion also to join the congregation. She said, "No, we prefer to be out here." I replied, "But the Church is gathered inside!" She replied, "The Church is gathered out here, too!" That shut me up but good. She was a "tassel-toucher." If the vestibule is as far as some folks feel they can come, I am reluctant to insist that they moved closer. I may invite, but I have to respect their faith where it is at the moment.
The faith of the woman in the crowd was enough to catch Jesus' attention. There was no power in the tassel. The power was in her faith and in Jesus' reply. My experience in campus ministry and itinerant preaching has taught me to breathe gently on the spark of faith that I encounter in the "tassel-touchers." AMEN