In today’s gospel, the official and the woman suffering from hemorrhages have complete faith. The official didn’t ask Jesus to raise his daughter from the dead or wonder if Jesus was capable of doing it. He knew the truth about Jesus and said to him, “Come, lay your hands on her and she will live” (Matthew 9:18). The woman did likewise, saying to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured” (Matthew 9:21). They both were confident in Jesus’ ability to heal. Jesus said to the woman, “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you” (Matthew 9:22). It takes courage and humility to approach Christ.
All of us have wounds from the past. Sometimes these wounds are deep, they cripple us and prevent us from becoming the person God created us to be. They cause us to live in fear and are unable to trust. We live our lives from our wounded center, rather than our true center, when we focus on our suffering. But only God can heal our pain and He can only do this when we have the courage to step out in faith. “It is from that true center alone that they as adults take their place in Christ’s suffering and in His cross. That is where they die with Him to the pain, releasing it all into Him, and then go on to grow up into the most astounding maturity in Him” (Restoring the Christian Soul by Leanne Payne, p.120). It is a painful process, one that we cannot do alone, but absolutely necessary in order to live in freedom.
In his homily yesterday, the priest mentioned that as Christians, we are called to be irrational. Believing that you can be healed by touching the tassel on someone’s cloak is irrational. It doesn’t make sense. But that is what faith is, believing in what we cannot see. God is beyond our comprehension. Just by the sound of his voice, the heavens and the earth were created! If we only trust or believe in the things that can be explained then there will be no joy or wonder in our lives, we won’t truly be living at all.
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know” (Job 42:2-3).
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