Tin Mừng cho chúng ta thấy hai phép lạ của Chúa Giêsu thứ nhất là chữa bệnh xuất huyết cho người phụ nữ bị xuất huyết nặng bằng cách cho bà chạm vào chiếc áo choàng của Chúa Giêsu và thứ hai là đà cho cô con gái trẻ của viên chức hội đường Do thái được sống lại. Đức tin của chúng ta có bao giờ mạnh mẽ như người phụ nữ bị xuất huyết trong tin Mừng? Vì bà đã tin rằng nêwsu chỉ được chạm vào áo choàng của Chúa Giêsu thì bà ấy sẽ được chữa khỏi? Và bà đã được chữa khỏi.
The Gospel reading narrates two miracles of Jesus: the cure of the woman with the severe bleeding merely by her touching the cloak of Jesus and the bringing back to life of the young daughter of the synagogue official. Is our faith ever as strong as the woman's who believed that by merely touching the cloak of Jesus she would be cured? And she was cured.
In the first reading we hear Jacob making a vow to God, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac. Our faith in God is tested in difficult times, in unexpected tragedies, when we have great disasters in nature, when we see disease and unexpected deaths. We do not understand why. And yet we know God does not cause evil things to happen; he allows evil things to happen.
We may not have the strong faith of the woman with the severe bleeding or of the synagogue official who believed that Jesus could bring her daughter back to life. Let us pray that God would give us such strong faith.
There is a song which goes, "There can be miracles when you believe; though hope is frail, it's hard to kill. Who knows what miracles you can achieve when you believe that somehow you will? You will when you believe."
While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples. A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” Matthew 9:18–21
Call to mind one of the most painful and difficult moments in your life. Perhaps you endured a serious illness or the illness of a loved one. Perhaps you suffered a deep humiliation or walked with someone close to you through his or her humiliation. Maybe you lost a job, faced mounting bills, and felt helpless. Suffering comes in many forms, and God only permits such trials because, in His wisdom, He perceives a greater good that can come through our patient endurance—if we place all our hope and trust in Him.
In today’s Gospel, we meet two unrelated individuals, each burdened with intense suffering. First, a father kneels before Jesus and sorrowfully announces that his daughter has just died. In a remarkable act of faith, he pleads with Jesus to come and lay His hand on her, confident that she will live again. As Jesus proceeds with him, a woman who has suffered silently for twelve years from a hemorrhage approaches from behind and touches the tassel of His cloak, believing that even such a simple act will bring her healing.
The sudden death of a beloved daughter and twelve years of physical and emotional anguish are heavy crosses. Though our own trials may differ, we are invited to see ourselves in both of these suffering souls, especially during times of great hardship.
The grieving father likely also felt powerlessness. He who had lovingly provided for his daughter from birth—feeding her, protecting her, guiding her—now stands helpless before death, a force he cannot overcome. Or so it seems.
The woman with hemorrhages suffered both the physical toll of her affliction and also the social and spiritual isolation imposed by the Mosaic Law. According to Levitical law, her continual bleeding rendered her ritually unclean and cut her off from public worship and communal life. Because her bleeding was constant, so too was her separation—a painful, unending exile. There was nothing she could do to fix her condition. Or was there? In the face of suffering, each of us must choose: Either we turn to God in radical faith and surrender, or we fall into despair, resentment, and rebellion. Suffering rarely leaves us indifferent—it either purifies or hardens the heart. That is why every trial poses a question to us: Will I respond in faith or retreat into bitterness?
What the Mosaic Law deemed unclean, Jesus welcomed and restored. He is not defiled by the woman’s touch—He makes her clean. In this, Christ reveals that He is the fulfillment of the Law, the source of every true healing, especially the healing that comes through the Sacraments. In the Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick, we too may “touch His garment,” and receive the grace that restores what is broken.
Reflect today on the consoling truth that no suffering is too deep, no exile too long, no loss too final for Christ. Whether your wounds are fresh or old, whether you can cry out or can only whisper a prayer in silence, reach for Him. Kneel before Him. Touch the hem of His garment in faith through prayer, the Sacraments, and trustful surrender. He will not turn away. He sees your pain, and if you let Him, He will enter into it, speak words of courage, and raise you up.
My empathetic Lord, You see the sufferings of Your people, and Your Heart is moved with compassion for us. When trials arise in my life, help me to see them as gifts—opportunities to step out of my indifference and trust wholeheartedly in You. I believe that You will never permit me to endure anything for which Your grace is not sufficient. Jesus, I do trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you ask me to reach out to you in faith and respond to your generous and merciful love. I am surrounded by unbelief in you and the devastating effects of sin. Do not let me be overcome or fail when I am tempted. If I do fail, bring me back to you, forgive me, and wash away my sorrowful tears.
1. Your Faith Has Saved You: The ten mighty works of Jesus in Matthew 8-9 look forward to the mighty sacramental works of the Church. In today’s Gospel, we hear about two of Jesus’ mighty works: curing a woman suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years and restoring a young girl from death to life. The woman only had to touch the tassels of Jesus’ cloak to be healed. The tassels themselves were not magical. Jesus emphasizes that it was her faith in him, not the tassel, that cured her physical illness and saved her from her spiritual illness. When we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we, like the woman, seek to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak. We believe that Jesus has granted authority to his apostles and their successors to forgive sins. Even if we have suffered the effects of our sins for twelve or more years, we know that they can be forgiven through the sacrament. Like the woman who heard the words, “Courage, daughter. Your faith has saved you,” we hear words of consolation when we are dismissed from the sacrament: “The Lord has freed you from your sins. Go in peace.”
2. The Little Girl Arose: The second mighty work in today’s Gospel also points forward to the Church’s sacraments and our future resurrection from the dead. Jesus did not become ritually unclean when the woman with a hemorrhage touched the tassel of his cloak. Nor did Jesus become ritually unclean when he touched the dead girl’s hand. Instead of becoming ritually unclean, “Christ’s divine power goes out from him to raise the child from the dead” (Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 136). In the same way, the Church, through her Bridegroom, has the divine power to purify us from our uncleanliness and sin. As Christians, we believe “in the resurrection of the body from the dead.” What does “rising from the dead” mean? The Catechism answers: “In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus’ Resurrection” (CCC, 997). We believe that our mortal bodies will one day come to life again. But how the resurrection of the body will come about exceeds the possibilities of our imagination and understanding.
What a tremendous amount of faith this woman had! She had suffered for many years and continued to suffer with her hemorrhages. How did she know that touching Jesus’ cloak would cure her? The only answer to that is faith. Faith is not just wishful thinking or hoping. Faith is a certain knowledge, given by a special grace and revelation from God, by which a person freely assents to belief. God spoke to her heart, she listened, she responded, and she was cured.
One thing that is very inspiring in this Gospel story is the humility with which this woman approached Jesus. She didn’t feel as though she needed to bother Jesus, to speak to Him, or to trouble Him with her problem. Instead, in her humility, she presented her need to Jesus through her gift of faith, interiorly and silently, and the grace of God was given her because God sees the heart and responds to such humble and sincere faith.
Imagine if everyone had this depth of faith in our Lord. Imagine if all of us knew, with the deepest conviction of certitude, that God would take care of every need we have. And imagine if we turned to our Lord with this deep conviction of certitude every day with every need. If we could do that, then our Lord would be able to continually care for us in every way.
One key component to this woman’s healing is that it was God the Father who spoke to her and invited her to touch the cloak of His Son Jesus. And it was Jesus who sensed the healing she received, since He was in perfect union with the will of His Father. Therefore, touching Jesus’ cloak was not simply a magical act by which whatever this woman wanted would be granted to her. Instead, it was a response to the interior invitation she was given by the Father.
In our lives, we must work to do the same. Too often we present our preferences to God and tell Him what we want Him to do. God does not respond to such requests. Instead, we must seek His will…and His will alone. This woman knew she would be healed, because God the Father spoke to her in her mind and heart and inspired her to touch the cloak of Jesus His Son, and she responded, and the healing took place. God must speak first, we must hear and respond, and then His will is accomplished.
Reflect, today, upon the gentle Voice of God as He speaks to you in the depths of your heart. Do you hear Him? What is He inviting you to do? What healing does He want to bestow? As you ponder God’s Voice, try to respond only to Him. Set aside all of your own preferences and ideas of what God should do and seek only what He is speaking to you. Say “Yes” to Him, do so with certitude and conviction, and trust that whatever He speaks to you, if you have faith in what He says, He will do it.
My gentle Lord, You speak to me day and night, calling me to the healing I need. Help me to hear Your Voice and to respond to You in faith. May my faith and confidence in You grow strong and become the source of Your glorious action in my life. Jesus, I do trust in You.
1. Come, Lay Your Hands on Me: This Gospel presents a Jewish official who approaches Jesus with faith so humble and sincere it practically bleeds through the page: He kneels before Jesus, presents the case of his dying daughter, and begs that Jesus come and lay his hands on her, “and she will live.” This man has something of that confident intuition that can come only from faith. He knows Jesus will not deny an honest and humble plea. This humble faith is something we can learn for ourselves from the official. Lord, lay your “hands” on me in the Eucharist and through others!
Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, there is never a time I do not require your healing touch. My body and soul long for the perfect health to which only you can restore me. Help me to have the faith to reach for even the tassel of your cloak, to know that even a moment in your presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament can be a healing encounter, every single day.
Encountering Christ:
1. Faith Revealed in Humility: The Roman official understood the custom when approaching someone in authority. He knelt down before Jesus and asked boldly for a miracle, for his daughter’s very life to be restored. Likewise, the suffering woman was willing to endure the shame of appearing in public in her condition on the small chance that she might get close enough to Jesus for a healing encounter. Like these two believers, we need to approach Jesus with our pride pushed aside. If we truly want him to heal us, we must get beyond the embarrassment of our past sins and abandon the false facade we put on in front of the world. Jesus knows how sick we are! He will heal us if we only ask.
2. Jesus Knows Our Continuing Needs: Jesus did not simply heal the sick and leave them be. Notice what he said to the cured woman: “Courage!” He knew that her belief in him, and the witness of her renewed health would require her to be bold in her faith and in her testimony. He would accompany her for the rest of her life, making his dwelling with her (John 14:23) if she would allow it. Jesus led the revived little girl “by the hand,” offering her guidance even after the crisis had passed. Jesus is “Emmanuel,” God with us.
3. Has Everyone Heard, But For Us?: The Bible tells of many encounters between Jesus and those who were physically ill or spiritually tormented; again and again, the sick were healed by his touch, his presence, and his voice. What, then, explains our own reluctance to seek his aid when we are sick in body, mind, or soul? He is there waiting for us. We may not need a dramatic encounter, a lightning strike, or a violent wind—just the quiet presence of the Lord with us in prayer, in the Blessed Sacrament, in thoughtful reflection on his word. Why do we hold back? Do we prefer to remain “sick” because we don’t have the courage to witness to the healing? Or, like the crowds outside the Roman official’s home, are we already mourning for what we think is lost?
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