🕊️On this XXIII Sunday after Pentecost, the liturgy envelops us in the theme of peace that surpasses human understanding, a peace that is Christ Himself. The Introit of the Mass declares the divine intentions: “My thoughts are of peace, and not of affliction.” This peace is not a mere absence of conflict, but the restorative presence of God that overcomes suffering, illness, and death itself. St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians contrasts the “enemies of the Cross of Christ,” who cling to earthly things, with the “citizens of heaven,” whose hope lies in the final transformation of their bodies into the likeness of Christ’s glorious body. The Gospel powerfully illustrates this hope, presenting two miracles of healing and resurrection that demonstrate Our Lord's authority over life’s greatest afflictions. Thus, today’s liturgy invites us to stand firm in the Lord, finding in Him our true peace and our hope, with our names written in the book of life.
📖Epistle (Phil 3:17-21; 4:1-3)
Brethren: Be followers of me, and observe them who walk so as you have our model. For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping), that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory, according to the operation whereby he is able also to subdue all things unto himself. Therefore, my dearly beloved brethren, and most desired, my joy and my crown; so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beg of Evodia, and I beseech Syntyche, to be of one mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women who have laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life.
✝️Gospel (Mt 9:18-26)
At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitude, behold a certain ruler came up, and adored him, saying: Lord, my daughter is even now dead; but come, lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus rising up followed him, with his disciples. And behold a woman who was troubled with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself: If I shall only touch his garment, I shall be healed. But Jesus turning and seeing her, said: Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus was come into the house of the ruler, and saw the minstrels and the multitude making a rout, He said: Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that country.
🙏Reflections
✨Today's Gospel presents us with two intertwined miracles, both born from a touch of faith. The ruler of the synagogue seeks Christ's imposing touch for his dead daughter, while the woman with the issue of blood seeks, in secret, to touch the hem of His garment. In both cases, faith is the channel through which divine power flows. St. Augustine, meditating on the hemorrhaging woman, distinguishes the touch of the crowd from the touch of faith: “The crowd presses, but she alone touches Him.” Many approach Christ out of curiosity or custom, but few “touch” Him with a living, personal faith that expects salvation from Him. This woman, unclean according to the Law and marginalized by society, teaches us that true faith does not stop at barriers but breaks through the veil of the human condition to reach the Divine. She does not ask, she does not shout; she acts with the inner certainty that simple contact with the sacred will restore her. This is the faith that saves, a total trust that moves the hand of God.
⚔️St. Paul's Epistle resonates deeply with the Gospel scene by contrasting two ways of life: that of the “enemies of the Cross” and that of the “citizens of heaven.” Those who mock Jesus in the ruler’s house, the flute players and the noisy crowd, represent the earthly mentality that sees death as the absolute end and laughs at divine hope. They are the image of those of whom Paul speaks with tears, whose “god is their belly” and who “mind earthly things.” On the other hand, the ruler of the synagogue and the sick woman embody heavenly citizenship. Even in the face of despair—death and chronic illness—they do not fixate on earthly reality but raise their gaze to Christ, the awaited Savior from heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life” (CCC 26). The faith of these two protagonists of the Gospel is precisely this response that opens the doors for the light of Christ to dispel the darkness of death and suffering.
⚓This liturgy, therefore, immerses us in the essence of Christian hope. The resurrection of the young girl is not just a miracle of the past but a prophetic sign of our own resurrection, as St. Paul affirms: “He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” The peace announced in the Introit is not the absence of trials, but the certainty of Christ's presence walking with us through them. St. Thomas Aquinas defines hope as the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust not in our own strength, but in the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 17, a. 1). The faith of the synagogue ruler and the sick woman is the seed of hope that blossoms into a miracle. We are called, this Sunday, to examine our own lives: do we live as enemies of the Cross, attached to what is fleeting and laughing at the promise of eternal life, or as citizens of heaven, touching Christ with daily faith, seeking in Him healing for our infirmities and peace for our afflictions, firm in the hope that our names, too, are “written in the book of life”?
➡️See English version of the critical articles here.
f1descatholica.blogspot.com