This morning’s Gospel reading is Mark 5:21–43:

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to Jesus, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

 Over the last month, and of course over the last several years, I got opportunities to fill in for my friend Drew Mariani on his Relevant Radio® show. As a guest host on anyone's show, I always strive to deliver the kind of show that the listeners expect from the regular host. It's a huge blast to guest-host any radio show; I do it fairly regularly for Hugh Hewitt and occasionally for Mike Gallagher on Salem too. But doing Drew's show is particularly attractive to me because it gets me out of my usual political paradigm, allows me to explore new topics, and to connect to my Catholic faith more directly.

One aspect of that comes with the chaplet of divine mercy, a call-in prayer segment at 3 CT, the second hour of the show. For about 30 minutes, Drew takes calls with prayer intentions and leads the chaplet. Before Friday, I would turn that over to my friend and Relevant Radio producer Maggie and provide the responses while she took the calls and led the prayers. Maggie has a new baby, however, and I had to lead the chaplet myself on Friday.

This is an amazing gift, but I felt the responsibility palpably as we proceeded. Many of the prayer requests involved family and friends with serious illnesses; a couple of them were for people about to pass to the Lord. I call it a 'gift' because the callers offer us their trust and hope, as well as witness their incredible faith in Jesus with these petitions. They pray for the best but want mainly to embrace Him and feel His embrace in return. 

Today's readings reflect this in a couple of ways. In our first reading from Wisdom, we hear that death, disease, and decay come not from God but from "the envy of the devil." The Lord created us and the world for the close embrace we seek; He made it all imperishable, and therefore without need of grief or worry. 

But of course, we rejected this -- through "the envy of the devil" but also by our own impulse to become gods ourselves -- and the world changed because of it. Our natures remain as fallen as at that moment, too. We spend much of our time attempting to reorder Creation to suit ourselves rather than to serve the Lord, and in doing so keep us separate from Him. However, when we experience the pain of loss and the suffering of those we love, we instinctively know that this is not what the Lord wants for us, and our impulse is to come back to Him for strength and comfort, and we seek to band together with others in faith communities for support and solidarity.

Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians that we are meant to share with each other constantly, so that those who have abundance can provide comfort to those who suffer at all phases of our lives:

For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written: Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.

This describes what the chaplet of divine mercy on Relevant Radio does. It binds us together as a community, while offering our strength in prayer to those who have an acute need of it. At times, we may need to call for prayers from those around us to lift us up, or those we love; at other times, we need to help provide that strength and support. 

This is what the Lord calls us to do, and to be -- a community of His children working in cooperation for the sake of His Kingdom. We are called to serve life even when death is all around, because our God is the Lord of Life, not death. He wants us to live and thrive, and all of His will and commandments are set in that direction. 

We see this in today's Gospel readings as well. The longer version above describes two miraculous healings, one of which was almost accidental. Jesus had gone to save the life of a little girl, but while among the crowd, a hemorrhagic woman reached out and touched his garment and was healed immediately through her faith in Him. Jesus had healed her without knowing it, rescuing her from a slow death in both physical and social contexts. He then healed the little girl, rescuing her too from death.

Why did Jesus heal the sick and raise the dead? He wanted to show everyone how He can rescue all of us from death. God did not make death, and God does not want death for us, but instead wants eternal life. That is the Good News of the Gospels, but also of the scriptures throughout the Old and New Testaments. He calls us to salvation, individually but also communally, through the Word and the Great Commission.

When I wrap up guest-hosting gigs on Relevant Radio, I like to take stock of what I did well and (maybe more) what I didn't do so well. I think about the great conversations with interesting guests, and hope that the listeners felt well served by the discussions. But as Friday reminded me, perhaps the most important part of what I did was just sit, pray, and be engaged with the listeners and those calling in their prayer requests, because that is the work of the Lord of Life.  

Previous reflections on these readings:

• Sunday reflection: Mark 5:21–43 (2015)

The front page image is "Christ Healing the Lame at the Pool of Bethesda" by Pieter van Lint, c.1640s. On display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Via Wikimedia Commons.

“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.