Christ has given new meaning to death and suffering.

REFLECTION

Today we are faced with the 2019 novel corona virus which posses threat to anyone, and which has claimed lives especially in China. The numbers of fatalities are growing and is seen to continue growing as long as contamination of the virus from one person to another is likely. There is widespread threat leading to locking down of airports and banning Chinese people from entering countries refusing entry for Chinese people. Along with this rejection of entry is the emerging vicious cycle of hatred towards the Chinese people in general because the virus originated from Hubei province of China.

In the face of threat of the corona virus, Jesus reminds us today that in every sickness and even in the face of death, he requires faith and reflection. Jairus’ faith lead him to throw himself at the mercy of the Lord, the Woman who suffered bleeding for 12 years touched Jesus’ cloak, knelt before the Lord. It is always faith that makes the ill well. It is his requirement to those whom he made well; the woman who bled for 12 years, and the daughter of Jairus.

During these times of uncertainty and fear, we need the faith that is being required of us by God, faith that leads to reflection. For it is by faith that we could acknowledge the universality of suffering and death and sickness. In our first reading, the King grieves the death of Absalom. But in our Gospel, Jesus makes the little girl and the woman well again. It is by faith that we could acknowledge that death has been conquered by Christ, and that he has given suffering a new meaning.

It is by reflection that we are able to see ourselves in the suffering of others. What if I am the one infected with the virus? What is I am a family of a victim? What would I feel? Perhaps, when we do reflect upon the face of human suffering in the victims of virus and in the people afraid right now in China, may be we could all realize that we have one thing in common: we are one people, one world, one humanity.

While suffering and death are universal, our humanity is also universal. While there are people infected with the virus, we could also be infected by the virus. While the pandemic had befallen our brothers and sisters, we are put in a rather better condition than them and so we have no right at all to judge and render hate speech against the Chinese people, but are given the position of power to help with our prayers.

At some point, I am guilty of this. But reflecting upon the presentation of the Lord in the temple, the feast we just celebrated last Sunday, I came to the realization that Christ is the Lord of the Gentiles. The light of Christ is for all. It is therefore our mission to shine the light of Christ to the gentiles, this time to the people of China the light of Christ in the time of darkness. How? Avoid racist statements, do not judge them but instead pray for them, and to figure out how we could be of help to them, and how the virus could be contained and eliminated totally.

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FIRST READING

2 Sm 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30; 19:3

Absalom unexpectedly came up against David’s servants.

He was mounted on a mule,

   and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large terebinth,

   his hair caught fast in the tree.

He hung between heaven and earth

   while the mule he had been riding ran off.

Someone saw this and reported to Joab

   that he had seen Absalom hanging from a terebinth.

And taking three pikes in hand,

   he thrust for the heart of Absalom,

   still hanging from the tree alive.

Now David was sitting between the two gates,

   and a lookout went up to the roof of the gate above the city wall,

   where he looked about and saw a man running all alone.

The lookout shouted to inform the king, who said,

   “If he is alone, he has good news to report.”

The king said, “Step aside and remain in attendance here.”

So he stepped aside and remained there.

When the Cushite messenger came in, he said,

   “Let my lord the king receive the good news

   that this day the LORD has taken your part,

   freeing you from the grasp of all who rebelled against you.”

But the king asked the Cushite, “Is young Absalom safe?”

The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king

   and all who rebel against you with evil intent

   be as that young man!”

The king was shaken,

   and went up to the room over the city gate to weep.

He said as he wept,

   “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!

If only I had died instead of you,

   Absalom, my son, my son!”

Joab was told that the king was weeping and mourning for Absalom;

   and that day’s victory was turned into mourning for the whole army

   when they heard that the king was grieving for his son.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R. (1a) Listen, Lord, and answer me.

Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,

   or I am afflicted and poor.

Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;

   save your servant who trusts in you.

   You are my God.

R. Listen, Lord, and answer me.

Have mercy on me, O Lord,

   for to you I call all the day.

Gladden the soul of your servant,

   for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

R. Listen, Lord, and answer me.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,

   abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.

Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer

   and attend to the sound of my pleading.

R. Listen, Lord, and answer me.

GOSPEL

Mk 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.

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 him,

   “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.