Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (July 1st 2012)         

Mark 1:29-39

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio considers the story of the woman with the haemorrhage to provide a classic account of the stages of being healed by the Lord. The Gospel passage reveals what it is that prompts us to seek encounter with Christ; it tells us how to approach him; how to touch him; and, finally, how our encounter with the Lord must be proclaimed aloud.

SUMMARY OF THE HOMILY

1. Awareness of the shame of one’s own wounds can prompt encounter with Christ

2. It is vital that we stop trying to heal our spiritual ailments with the false solutions that are the idols of this world

3. The first step in the road towards healing is to receive witness from others regarding Jesus of Nazareth

4. The fringe of a cloak for the Jews was a reminder of the covenant with God. Healing involves remembering the covenant and following the Lord in obedience

5. What brings us into contact with Jesus? For all of us there are different “fringes of his cloak” that bring us into the presence of the Lord

6. There are various levels of coming into contact with Jesus. Do I come into genuine contact with him in the sacraments, or have I made myself impermeable to his grace?

7. Our experience of encounter with Christ is not a private thing and must be proclaimed aloud

Awareness of the shame of one’s own wounds can prompt encounter with Christ

The Gospel passage for this Sunday tells of the healing of a hidden wound, the sort of intimate wound that touches a person on the deepest level. The embarrassment and shame of the lady is evident in the way she approaches Jesus furtively from behind, hidden in the midst of the crowd. This is relevant for our own approach to Christ, because the story highlights the fact that encounter with Christ is prompted by awareness and shame of one's own wounds.

It is vital that we stop trying to heal our spiritual ailments with the false solutions that are the idols of this world

The second point emphasized by the passage is that many of the cures and treatments that we undergo for our wounds end in miserable failure. False solutions to our ailments abound. We seek to heal our internal "ulcers" in many different ways, and these "solutions" are the idols of this world. It is vital that we bring to an end this process of pursuing false solutions to our problems. The fact is that we are continually turning to new “solutions” and futile "therapies", instead of accepting that certain illnesses can only be healed by God. Medical science is limited by the laws of nature, in which nothing can be created or destroyed, whereas God is capable of making us into a new creation. Only God can change us in the depths of our being.

The first step in the road towards healing is to receive witness from others regarding Jesus of Nazareth

The lady with the haemorrhage heard about Jesus of Nazareth. This is an important theme of the passage. She didn't take the initiative and discover Jesus by her own efforts of research. Instead she received the word about Jesus from someone else. And this is how it is for all of us. It is not that we wake up in the morning and decide that we are going to find Jesus. Rather, someone bears witness to us of him. It is important that we store in our memory the things we hear of Jesus, and in this way we too will emerge from the crowd and arrive at his shoulder, as the woman with the haemorrhage did.

The fringe of a cloak for the Jews was a reminder of the covenant with God. Healing involves remembering the covenant and following the Lord in obedience

When the woman approaches Jesus, she says to herself that she will be contented if she only manages to touch the fringe of his cloak. The fringe of a cloak has a special significance for the Jews. Orthodox Jew to this day carry fringes, tassels or cords with knots whose function it is to remind the bearer of the covenant with God and to dissuade the bearer from doing things that are not in keeping with the covenant. The covenant is the fringe or "knot" that ties God and us. Jesus, it appears, wore a cloak with a fringe, and the woman sought to touch this fringe. As such, she sought to touch the most minimal part of him. She did not seek to touch his body, or any other piece of clothing, except for the part that was most external.

What brings us into contact with Jesus? For all of us there are “fringes of his cloak” that bring us into the presence of the Lord

There is a distinct movement in the text. First one must be aware of one's own wounds, and the futility of the solutions that the world offers us. Next one must receive the word about Jesus and begin to approach him.  Then one must know how to touch him. What are the things that bring us into contact with Jesus? These are things that one knows by intuition. We can encounter Jesus in the word of God, in the reception of the sacraments, in life of the church, in the living out of good habits, and through prayer. In our hearts we can come to know how to touch Jesus. In the Gospel passage, a huge crowd is pressing on Jesus, but only this lady is healed, because she has understood how to make contact with him. It is not that she has approached Jesus with a sense of obligation, believing that if she forces herself to pray to him in a certain way then something might be conceded to her in return. Instead, she spontaneously prays and touches the fringe of Jesus cloak, and enters with faith into a sacrament of healing.  We too must use our intuition in the way we approach Jesus, remembering the things that brought us into contact with him in a natural and effective way. We must not be afraid to repeat the things that bring us before God, the things that help us to face tribulation and that give us peace.

               

There are various levels of coming into contact with Jesus. Do I come into genuine contact with him in the sacraments, or have I made myself impermeable to his grace?

The woman then feels herself to be healed. This feeling is not some sort of bureaucratic statistic of the action of God, such as we find in the parish baptismal register. Here we have a personal experience of the power of God, of the healing influence of touching the fringe of his cloak. Jesus then begins to ask who has touched him. The disciples reply, "The crowd are pressing in on you and you ask who has touched you!". "No!" Jesus replies, "Someone has touched me". Here we have a distinction of different ways in which we can make contact with Christ. Many people receive the sacraments without being in the least bit touched by the Lord. They remain completely resistant to the bountiful grace of the event.

Our experience of encounter with Christ is not a private thing and must be proclaimed aloud

Jesus looks around and waits for the woman to emerge from the crowd. Why does Jesus does this? Is this an aggressive act on his part by which he brings the woman and her former ailment out into the open? No, this is an essential element of the life of the church. Faith is something explicit that must always be proclaimed openly. The Christian faith is not about going into church in private, saying one's own prayers to God, and engaging in hidden acts of adhesion to the Lord. The Christian faith is an ecclesial thing and must be manifested publicly. There is a widespread notion that faith is private and individualistic, a belief that the Christian life is all about my own spiritual wellbeing. This is a mistake and faith instead must be a relational thing. The woman must proclaim what has happened to her. She must speak the complete truth and in this way possess her own story. A person only comes to fully possess the work of God in their lives when they proclaim their story to others. It is not important that they be great orators, only that they express their story honestly and completely. They must emerge from the crowd. This thing that was once hidden and private must be proclaimed and manifested publicly. What a wonderful Gospel for setting down the stages of healing! Let us assimilate these stages, because all of us have need of healing. All of us need to walk in the way of the lady with the haemorrhage.