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25 Oct 2015 - Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

They spent some time in Jericho. As Jesus was leaving town, trailed by his disciples and a parade of people, a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting alongside the road. When he heard that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by, he began to cry out, “Son of David, Jesus! Mercy, have mercy on me!” Many tried to hush him up, but he yelled all the louder, “Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped in his tracks. “Call him over.” They called him. “It’s your lucky day! Get up! He’s calling you to come!” Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus. Jesus said, “What can I do for you?” The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “On your way,” said Jesus. “Your faith has saved and healed you.” In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road (from Mark 10). Taken from The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2014); actapublications.com; 800-397-2282.

Healing blind bartimaeus

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06 Sep 2015 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns. Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man’s ears and some spit on the man’s tongue. Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, “Ephphatha!—Open up!” And it happened. The man’s hearing was clear and his speech plain—just like that. Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. “He’s done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless” (from Mark 7). Taken from The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2014 ); actapublications.com; 800-397-2282.

Healing

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Exploring the word

28 Jun 2015 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Last winter I couldn’t get anything done. It kept snowing! No matter what task I was trying to perform—cooking, writing, lesson planning, laundry—I’d have to set it aside, put on my winter combat armor, and step outside to shovel more snow. Funny thing is, it’s summer and the situation hasn’t improved. I start a task—and the phone rings, the e-mail bleeps, or my attention is captured by some domestic matter that suddenly appears urgent or irresistible. All excuses aside, life is an endless series of interruptions that are overcome only by the final interruption of our demise. If you’re not being interrupted, you’re not living. Jesus would agree. During his Galilean ministry, he escapes one mob only by taking to the sea. Docking on the far shore, he encounters another crowd. Mark gives us one of his brilliant little details to spice up the scene: As the crowd moves in, Jesus “stayed close to the sea.” Keep the boat handy, boys. We may need a quick getaway! An important man named Jairus breaks through the throng and pleads with Jesus to save his little girl’s life. If Jesus had a sermon planned or any sort of agenda for that crowd, he abandons it lightly to follow Jairus. So too does the large, claustrophobia-inducing multitude. Meanwhile, at least one member of that group has another agenda for Jesus and is determined enough to pursue it. She reaches out to snatch a miracle from him. And guess what? It works. This surprising event—the only miracle in the gospels in which someone initiates or steals a healing— startles even Jesus. This is the sort of interruption that’s downright unique to his otherwise quite singular experience as Son of God. He just has to acknowledge it—and her. Then comes another interruption. Jairus’ daughter has died, and a healer is no longer needed. Jesus interrupts this report with his own message: Now is not the time for fear but for faith! He proceeds to enter the house and interrupt a full mourning committee in progress. “He puts them all out” (Mark telegraphs the scene in his usual economic style, but we can imagine what throwing out a group of wailers and weepers must have been like) and goes on to interrupt death itself by restoring the child, who walks around. Walking around is what children do—under normal circumstances, which these aren’t. This explosively normal activity was the premiere interruption of the afternoon, shattering all expectations. No one seems to know how to hit the reset button and continue with this day. Jesus tells them quite practically to feed the girl. Interruptions, after all, were Jesus’ business. Maybe we should treat our own daily distractions with a little more respect. Related scripture links Death has no sting: Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:55-56 The God of the living: Matt. 22:32-33; Luke 20:37-38 Wages of sin: Rom. 6:23 Every knee must bend before Jesus: Phil. 2:10 Gathered in faith: Matt. 18:20

Authors Alice Camille

Healing Miracle Healer

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The inner word

28 Jun 2015 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Scripture’s marvelous word this week is that God wants creation to live and be whole. You get to wholeness, the readings say, by healing—or, maybe one should say, by getting back to the original wholeness God gave human beings. How do you get the healing that makes you whole? Through faith. Whether you’re like the psalmist who had recovered from a serious illness or the woman with a hemorrhage or the little girl thought dead, the message is the same: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” How can your faith bring you healing so that you “may get well and live”?

Healing

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In other words

28 Jun 2015 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

After Jesus crossed over by boat, a large crowd met him. One of the meeting-place leaders named Jairus came. When he saw Jesus, he fell to his knees and begged, “My dear daughter is at death’s door. Come and lay hands on her so she will get well and live.” Jesus went with him, the whole crowd tagging along, pushing and jostling him. A woman who had suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for 12 years ... slipped in from behind and touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, “If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well.” The moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. She could feel the change and knew her plague was over. At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. He turned around to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”... The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story. Jesus said to her, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague.” While he was still talking, some people came from the leader’s house and told him, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?” Jesus overheard them and said to the leader, “Don’t listen to them; just trust me.” They entered the leader’s house and pushed their way through the gossips and neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: “Why all this busybody grief and gossip? This child isn’t dead; she’s sleeping.” He took the child’s father and mother, along with his companions, and entered the child’s room. He clasped the girl’s hand and said, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up.” At that, she was up and walking around! They, of course, were all beside themselves with joy. He gave them strict orders that no one was to know what had taken place in that room. Then he said, “Give her something to eat” (from Mark 5). Taken from The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2014 ); actapublications.com; 800-397-2282.

Healing Miracle Healer

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