Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Catholic Schools Week

Saints:Saint Brigid of Kildare, Abbess (451?-525); Saint Henry Morse (1595-1645); Blessed Benedict Daswa (1946-1990); Blessed Candelaria of Saint Joseph (1863-1940)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 7:35-43 Humility

Mass: 2 Sm 9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30-19:3; Resp Ps 86; Mk 5:21-43

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me.

HEART OF JESUS, SOURCE OF ALL CONSOLATION,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

Welcome to February 2022. I've been thinking about today's Gospel passage, especially about the dear woman afflicted with hemorrhages for 12 years. Can you imagine? My reflections have been spurred on by a thought-provoking little book I am slowly making my way through. It is Shusaku Endo's A Life of Jesus (Paulist, 1978). It just happens that last evening I was with the author's commentary on this story, what he refers to as a "consolation story" (pp. 50-51). I include the author's words here. Perhaps put yourself in the woman's place and with a similar trembling finger, take your suffering to Jesus, reach out and touch His clothing. Jesus will understand. I believe, help my unbelief.

The event too occurred in a town by the Lake of Galilee. The woman, mingling unobtrusively in the crowd that was pressing in to get a close look at Jesus, had suffered so long from her incurable hemorrhaging that her act of touching a trembling finger to His clothing was like a drowning person's catching at a straw. At merely the touch of this timid finger Jesus felt all the burden of her suffering and the desperation which made her grasp at straws.

"Who touched my clothes" He said, turning to the disciples. They laughed, replying, "You see the crowd pressing upon you and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?' How can you avoid being jostled?"

"No, you're wrong," said Jesus, shaking His head. "Somebody has touched my clothing."

Then among all the faces intently watching Him, He distinguished the frightened look on one woman's face. 

The story leads into a miracle story of how Jesus healed the woman's malady, but to me the affecting part is how Jesus felt all the woman's heartbreaking suffering through the touch of her trembling finger against His clothing-more moving than the sequel in which He cures her ailment with a miracle. The woman's finger reaching furtively from behind other people, and when it barely comes in contact with His outer garment, Jesus turns and understands her suffering. From the single trembling finger we complete the picture of the woman's frightened face and the heart-stricken look from the face of Jesus. 

NB. As I thought might be the case, our litany of saints has grown to include more holy ones to intercede during Catholic Schools Week. 

SAINT BRIGID OF KILDARE,

SAINT HENRY MORSE,

BLESSED BENEDICT DASWA,

BLESSED CANDELARIA OF SAINT JOSEPH,

SAINT JOHN BOSCO,

SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES,

SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON,

SAINT ANGELA MERICI,

SAINT ALBERT THE GREAT,

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS,

SAINT JOHN CANTIUS,

SAINT JEANNE DE LESTONNAE,

SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: "Lake Tahoe on a smokey evening." Another one from a faithful reader.

© Gertrude Feick 2022