Readings:
Hosea 2:16,17-18,21-22
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 144(145):2-9
Matthew 9:18-26
Today’s Gospel and readings are filled with promise, hope and healing. The woman’s issue with blood is a story that speaks about hope and faithfulness in a God who promises great things for those who believe. I can imagine this woman’s life filled with despair and the “why me’s?” as she struggles and endures for 12 years with a blood issue that had considered her unclean and rejected by the community. The grit and resilience of the women who fought for a life better than what she was dealt with. Finding no answers from medical professionals… she needed Jesus, she needed hope and she needed to put herself in a position to allow healing to take place. “If only I touch his garment than I’d be healed…”. This woman had hope and resilience to not let her story be the only story she lived. She wanted a better one. Filled with hope and determination she fought through the crazy crowds to get to Jesus… to touch him and he rewarded her with healing.
I wonder if we too could take on a bit more of this grit and determination to fight for a better story than what we have now? To know that our circumstances can change if we do the work and seek out a God of faithfulness and love.
The first reading completes the Gospel as it speaks of God reaching out to his people. God’s desire to speak to our hearts.
May this Gospel speak to your heart today, as Jesus seeks to remind you all is not lost, have hope and be healed.
Jo McDade is the Team Manager of The Passionist Youth Retreat Team, Wife and Mother of 4 kiddos and basically a spiritual person on a human experience!