Reflection on the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.” 1 Cor 16:13

The gospel reading for this Sunday is one account of Jesus raising someone from the dead, the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue official. It is not as dramatic as the raising of Lazarus, nor do people (Pharisees and Sadducees especially) call for his execution afterwards. It ends with Jesus instructing the people to give the girl something to eat, much like we are instructed to partake of the Eucharist after hearing the Word at mass.

Jairus obviously had heard of Jesus and believed he could heal his daughter. Jesus told Jairus, “Do not be afraid, just have faith.”

There is a second miracle contained in this gospel reading as well. Unfortunately, many will not hear it because, in the interest of brevity, it will be excised under the guise of “the shorter version.” Like the raising of Jairus’s daughter it, too, is a miracle of faith.

This second miracle of faith concerned a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent all she had to be cured but no one had been able to heal her. She was considered unclean and thus was separated from God as she could not enter the temple.

However, she had faith, a very strong faith. Jairus had asked Jesus to “lay your hands on her [his daughter] that she may get well and live.” The afflicted woman had even greater faith. She said to herself, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”

She did not need Jesus to touch her directly but merely needed to touch him through his garment. Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Thus we see that Jesus’s power is not hidden by his garments. We merely need to get close enough to touch him. Once the woman presented herself to Jesus he told her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.” When EWTN broadcasts the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy (3 PM eastern daily) one of the images they show is a woman reaching out to touch Jesus’s garment. The sense of her immense faith always comes rushing out at me when I see that depiction.

That such an important message is allowed to be glossed over is just one example of many that we are being fed a watered-down Catholicism. Pope Francis keeps telling priests to shorten their homilies, first to ten minutes and now to around eight. What kind of lesson can be given to the faithful in so short a time? It’s no wonder they have no thirst for the Word, it’s being kept from them. St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” In the early days of the Church people would travel great distances to hear the preaching of Irenaeus, Ambrose, Augustine and the like. Short homilies will not tell the larger story. This is another reason that the truly faithful in their preparation for mass need to read the whole passages, include the preceding and following ones, of those presented at mass.

When stationed in Guam we had a Naval Reserve Chaplain fill in often for mass. He was a Jesuit missionary to the outer Marianas Islands. When he was on active duty he had been assigned to a unit of Marines. He liked to tell us about the Gunnery Sergeant of the unit who “instructed” him on the attention span of the troops. The sergeant told him that he had fifteen minutes to make his point in the homily after which the troops’ attention would drift. The sergeant would stand at the back of the chapel and when the fifteen-minute mark neared he would start looking at his watch. The priest knew that it was time to wrap up his homily. At that point he would make sure to restate the point of his homily.

Is Francis saying that our attention span is so short that we cannot bear the lesson God has for us? If that’s the case it is a sad state of affairs. Look at how the people followed Jesus and listened to him for DAYS! Are we being told that we can’t bear to hear Jesus’s message for more than ten minutes? It’s no wonder people are leaving the Church. Yes, we need to be sure that our priests and deacons don’t ramble, that they can be concise and to the point. BUT, the message God has for us is so important that it should neither be diminished nor diluted. Think about it. Jesus gave up heaven to bring us that message. And then he suffered and died for us to make the point. His resurrection is the crowning glory of that message - a message we need to take to heart.

Neither should the message that hell exists be ignored. Many today want to present a “kindler, gentler Jesus,” one who tells us we are all going to heaven. But that isn’t what Jesus tells either Jairus or the ailing woman. He tells them that they need faith. At the beginning of his ministry he came right out and said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt. 4:17) Many of his parables referred to the fact that fire awaits for those who do not obey the will of the Father; to follow his commandments.

But, again, many of these lessons are passed over in the interests of brevity and time, as if to say that our time is more important than God. But the time we have is not ours - it is given to us by God, and he can take it away whenever he deems necessary. It is up to us to be prepared. For as Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Mt 24:42)

“Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time will come.” Mk 13:33