February 5, 2013

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Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Read more about St. Agatha.

Lectionary: 324

Reading 1 from St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews
Heb 12:1-4

Brothers and sisters:
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.

In the previous Chapter, Heb 11, St. Paul went through an entire litany of the Old Testament Saints and explained how they persevered in good deeds and thus by faith and good works, rid themselves of sin and achieved righteousness in the eyes of God.  In this Chapter he says that we should imitate their faith and ourselves persevere in good works, keeping our eyes on Our Lord, who is our leader and perfecter of our faith.

How is Jesus the "perfecter" of our faith?  One way is in being our example.  

1 Peter 2:21

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

If we follow in His footsteps, we will be perfected in suffering as He was perfected:

Hebrews 2:10

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

This is confirmed by St. Peter:

1 Peter 5:10

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

But Jesus is the perfecter of our faith in another way.  The Sacraments.  It is by the Sacraments that we are justified perfectly as only God can do:

Titus 3:4-5

King James Version (KJV)

4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

For the sake of the joy that lay before him
Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

That joy was the joy of accomplishing the Father's will.  The Father's will was the salvation of those who obey His Word.

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,
in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

This is something we should all keep in mind.  We have not endured the faith of Christ to the point of shedding blood.  Therefore, let us keep focused on the fact that Jesus Christ came and suffered and died so that we might be saved.  And remember that He did so in order that we have an example before that we can follow.  As St. Paul said elsewhere:

Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 22:26b-27, 28 And 30, 31-32

R. (see 27b) They will praise you, Lord, who long for you.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him.

I'm a little baffled by "I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him."  I think it means that "I will make my vows before the Church."  That is what we do every time we pray the Creed in the Mass.  We make a public confession of faith.  We make a vow of obedience to God.

In order to fulfill those vows, we must live our lives in accordance with the Commandments.  Which we do where ever we may be and before anyone, believer or non-believer.

The lowly shall eat their fill;
they who seek the LORD shall praise him:
“May your hearts be ever merry!”
R. They will praise you, Lord, who long for you.

All who believe in God will be rewarded:

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
All the families of the nations
shall bow down before him.
To him alone shall bow down
all who sleep in the earth;
Before him shall bend
all who go down into the dust.
R. They will praise you, Lord, who long for you.

In the end, all the nations, all people who ever lived will acknowledge that God is Lord.

And to him my soul shall live;
my descendants shall serve him.
Let the coming generation be told of the LORD
that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born
the justice he has shown.
R. They will praise you, Lord, who long for you.

And all of us who believe in God today must teach our children to believe in Him and proclaim to all people the goodness of the Lord.

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.

Jesus was on the shore and a large crowd gathered  around Him.

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.”

Jairus appeared before Him and requested that He come and save his daughter who was dying.

He went off with him
and a large crowd followed him.

So Jesus went with Him, the large crowd following.

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.

A certain woman was afflicted with a blood disease for many years and doctors could not help her.

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.

This woman had heard of Jesus and when He came near her, stretched out her hand and touched His clothing.  Immediately, she knew that she was cured.

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.

At the very same time, Jesus knew that someone had touched Him and had been cured. So, He stopped and asked the people in the crowd, "who touched me?"  

The disciples were amazed because everyone was touching Him as the crowd was so thick.  But Jesus asked again, "who touched me?"

The woman, realizing what had happened to her,
approached in fear and trembling.
She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.

The woman, realizing that Christ was talking about her, stepped forward and explained.

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

Jesus praised her for her faith and sent her forth with a blessing.

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?”

At that moment, people came from Jairus' house reporting that his daughter had died.

Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”

Jesus disregarded the message and advised Jairus to 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.

When they arrived at Jairus' home, Jesus only permitted Sts. Peter, James and John to enter with Him.  

So he went in and said to them,
“Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep.”

He tried to calm the crowd with a word of encouragement.

And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.

They did not believe Him and acted rudely towards Him, so 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.

So He took the parents and the Apostles He had chosen and walked into the room where the child lay.

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.

He took the little girl's hand and said, "Arise!"  And she got up immediately.  At that, all present were astounded.  But Jesus simply gave orders to give the young girl something to eat and otherwise remain silent on what had happened.