The first reading of this Sunday (Wis 1:13-13, 23-24) speaks about how God values human life and it says “God did not make death ….but through devil’s envy death entered the world”. God created the humans with love and He wants us to live. “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23). He died so that we can live and live with dignity. We are called to know the value and dignity of our own lives and live a dignified life till it’s natural end. The beginning and end of our life is in the hand of God. “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17). The gospel speaks of two healing stories where Jesus shows His compassion and acts upon it. In these two healing stories Jesus’ love for us and his desire for us to give life is evident. He wants us to live happy. “I came so that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10)….And again, ”so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.(John 15:11). 

The gospel stresses the fact that God acts upon the faith of the person or the community. “Your faith has made you well”. In the case of Jairus’ daughter, it is her father’s faith and in the case of the woman with the hemorrhages, it is her own faith that has brought the desired healing. This is also evidence to God’s continuous love and care of humanity.  

What is the message for us?

At some time in our lives, we all could find ourselves in overwhelming situations that we do not know how to deal with. It might be a personal illness or life-threatening illness of a family member or unexpected death of a loved one or a case of serious depression or having to deal with some kind of personal addiction or of a family member. Just as the saying goes, "desperate times call for desperate measures"; hence, desperate situations call for desperate faith. Faith in itself is meaningless, but faith in the all-powerful God means everything.

Our Lord has demonstrated His power over evil spirits by casting out demons from the people that are "possessed", over natural elements by calming the waves and the wind during a violent storm, over bodily illnesses and diseases and death. He does the same for us if we truly seek Him, even in the most desperate times. He enters into our lives in our hopeless moments and brings us hope. He comes with His healing power when no healing is possible.

Faith is also believing that God will do what is right at the right time. Sometimes, He works the miracle of physical healing; sometimes, He brings the spiritual healing. He may not always come when we want Him to come, and He might not always answer our prayers the way we want Him to, but we must always be faithful and patient, know and believe that He will help us. Sometimes, He does what is right by not doing anything right away or by doing something other than what we want Him to do.

In times of desperation, and like Jairus and the woman, we have our Lord Jesus who does not ignore our plights nor turn away from us but who wants to hear from us and heal or save us or meet our needs. Hence, we do not have to be afraid; we just have to keep faith in Him. 

I wish us all a faith-filled week!