Catholic homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B (2)
Catholic homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Theme: STRONG FAITH …..“ Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be free of this illness”
By: Fray Valentí SERRA i Fornell
Homily for Sunday June 27 2021
Today Saint Mark presents us with an avalanche of needy who approach Jesus-Savior seeking comfort and health. Even that day a man named Jairus, the head of the synagogue, made his way through the crowd to implore the health of his little daughter: “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” (Mk 5:23).
Who knows if that man knew Jesus by sight, from seeing Him frequently in the synagogue and, finding himself so desperate, decided to invoke His help. In any case, Jesus, grasping the faith of that afflicted father, agreed to his request; only while going to his house did the news come that the girl had already died and that it was useless to bother Him: “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” (Mk 5:35).
Jesus, realizing the situation, asked Jairus not to be influenced by the pessimistic environment, saying: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” (Mk 5:36). Jesus asked that father for a greater faith, capable of going beyond doubt and fear. Upon arriving at Jairus’ house, the Messiah brought the girl back to life with the words: “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” (Mk 5:41).
We too should have more faith, that faith that does not doubt in the face of life’s difficulties and trials, and that knows how to mature in pain through our union with Christ, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI suggests in his encyclical Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope): “It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.”
Fray Valentí SERRA i Fornell
(Barcelona, Spain)