Last night I had a dream I was sitting in the hospital holding Vivian, praying over her for her healing. I kept repeating a verse from 1 Samuel, "For this Child I prayed!" over and over. Suddenly the doctor came in smiling and simply said, "She is ok."
Today our Gospel comes from Mark 5:21-43. Ironically, the passage reflects on 2 healings of women; a 12 year old girl and the woman with the hemorrhage. What I always find amazing in reading this passage is the faith of the people asking for the healing. The father of the 12 year old girl comes to Christ pleading that his daughter be healed, begging Christ to come to his house. While walking through the crowd, the woman afflicted for years by the hemorrhage, believes if she only touches Christ's cloak, she will be healed. Of course we know as she does, Christ feels "power leave Him" and the woman "feels the blood dry up". What joy and amazement to be healed in an instant. After years of medical attention and her prognosis worsening, all she did was step out in faith and grab the cloak of the Savior and viola! healed. Christ responds to this saying, "Daughter, your faith has saved you". That same faith is the faith we are welcoming Vivian into the world. We believe that Christ is the ultimate healer, that if He wills her a strong heart, she will receive it.
Let's go back to the father for a minute--his servant meets on the path he was bringing Jesus with the devastating news that his daughter is dead, there is no need for Christ. However, the father still believes Christ can create a miracle. As Christ walks into the house, he commands the young girl to awake and arise. To everyone's shock, she does. The act of Faith the father remains committed to saved his daughter.
It's accounts like these that deepen my faith that Christ still has power to heal. Christ still has power to change the outcome of any situation. Different moments of our lives we are asked to dive deeper into our faith. Why Christ is offering me this invitation to grow in faith now, I don't know.
My Gospel reflection today posed a question that has intrigued me. 'How often do we bring Christ to look for us, to seek us out because we seek Him out?' This question reflects the love Christ has for us to be in relationship with Him, an part of that relationship means deepening and growing in faith. Most especially having faith in the things that seem impossible.
One more idea that makes this more concrete. My mom is not a seamstress. She will tell you she can do enough to make a house look nice (curtains, valances, pillows) but that is it. I think at different times in each of my siblings lives, we have all asked my mom to make something that was out of her idea of what she could do. But we believed without a doubt, no matter what she said about being able to or not that she could do it. It never failed, she always figured it out. Maybe it didn't fit perfectly into the end result we envisioned, but it was awesome because she actually did it, and it would always serve the purpose we asked for it for. That's how I think our faith in Christ should be. We believe that He can do what we ask even if the outcome is not exactly how we imagined. It's still wonderful because He did something just for us. Do not be afraid to ask Christ to do the impossible, especially if it is backed up with all your faith!
Lord Jesus, I imagine what it would be like to be there witnessing these healings that we read in the Gospel today. How amazing to experience Your healing power! Then I think that in my own life, I have experienced your love so real and true that I can place my trust in Your Will; I know I have experienced Your healing love in my life. I give to You today Vivian, all of her, especially her heart because I believe in your ability to heal her. I believe that like the woman with the hemorrhage all we need to do is reach out to You. I do believe Jesus that Your Will is perfect, and believe that if Vivi's heart isn't healed, You will be with us each step of the way and will send all the right people to help her and her heart. For this child I have prayed and I know You hear me, and You always will. Amen
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