23rd Sunday after Pentecost
In today’s epistle, St Paul admonishes us to live as he lived, that is to say, as the apostles lived. How did the apostles live? They lived in this world, but they were not of this world. They knew they were but wayfarers, passing by for a few hours. How foolish the man who would take a train or a plane to some faraway destination, but when arriving would want to stay on the plane! People who live for this world do exactly that. Despite their best wishes, they are en route towards eternity and will have to leave the plane. St Paul goes on and gives a rather picturesque description of what happens to those who live only for this world: Many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things (Ph 3:19-20).
The servants of Christ, however, seek to already live in eternity: But our citizenship is in heaven, and from there we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body (Ph 3:20-21). Such is, in a nutshell, the way true Christians comport themselves. They are in the world, but not of the world. They are strangers to its ambitions and pleasures. Their aim is higher, much higher.
By the transformation of our lowly bodies, he means that we will one day rise in glory and have bodies like that of our Blessed Saviour. In today’s Gospel, we have a prefiguration of the final resurrection. It is one of only three resurrections performed by Our Lord and presented in the Gospels. The ruler whose daughter had died was named Jairus. He had no doubt heard of Our Lord’s reputation and believed that if only He would come and lay His hand on his daughter, she would live. A magnificent act of faith is given to us here.
Our Lord sets out with him, but on the way, another episode takes place. A woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years comes behind Our Lord and touches the tassel of His garment. At that very moment, she is healed. The faith of this woman is outstanding. She does not ask to speak to the Lord. She does not need to touch Him. All she wants is to touch the hem of His garment, certain that if only she can do so, she will be healed. She succeeds and is instantly healed, and merits to hear from the mouth of Our Lord this apology of her faith: Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole (Mt 9:22).
Let us admire this woman’s faith, but also her humility. The attitude is a touching one; let us be drawn to it and strive to imitate it. We might ask: how can we touch the tassel of Our Lord’s garment today? We all have ailments of various sorts, both of soul and of body. If we have faith, we know that mere contact with the Saviour can heal us if it be His holy will. We can touch Our Lord, and we do, in the Most Blessed Sacrament when we receive Him into our heart, but we might consider that we can touch His garments when we know how to stoop down to make ourselves the servants of other people’s needs, to wash their feet, to give them food, drink and clothing, to visit them when they are sick or in prison, in a word, when we put ourselves at their disposal. Then we are touching the hem of our Lord’s garments and receiving grace to be like Him. If we comply with that grace, we may very well hear those words: Be of good heart, thy faith hath made thee whole, and one day, please God, we will hear those other blessed words: Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the Kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Mt 25).
When Our Lord arrives at the house of Jairus, He finds the official mourners doing their job. But, no doubt to the surpise and even shock of all, He tells them to leave! At first sight, it seems like a bad joke, in any event, a clear lack of tact and respect. It will be likewise when He stops the funeral cortege in Naim. The evangelists tell us that the mourners laughed Him to scorn. But Jesus is not deterred by scorn, nor should we be. He then goes to the young girl’s room, taking with Him Peter, James and John, and He brings her back to life.
There are many profound lessons in these two miracles, but I would like to share just a couple this morning. First of all, we are reminded, quite appropriately, at this end of the liturgical year and in this month dedicated to the Poor Souls, of the dogma of the resurrection of the flesh. Nor is it accidental that Our Lord is mocked. St Paul will endure the same scorn later when he begins to speak to the Athenians about the resurrection at the Areopagus; they, too, will laugh and mock. And in every age, there are those who laugh when we speak of the final resurrection at the end of time, as if it were difficult for God, who created our bodies, to bring them back together again in unity at the end of time. When the saints rise at the end of time, their bodies will be endowed with the four qualities of glorified bodies, namely: impassibility (they will no long be able to suffer or die), subtlety (requiring no material sustenance), agility (capable of moving with the quickness of thought from place to place under the direction of the soul), clarity (full of lightsomeness and splendour, according to the soul’s degree of glory).
The dogma of the resurrection of the flesh teaches us many things about God’s love for humanity and about the goodness of creation. Contrary to both materialists, for whom there is only evolving matter, and spiritualists, for whom matter doesn’t count, the Church receives from the Lord the revelation of the essential goodness of all creation, both spiritual and material. Our bodies, our very own bodies, not those of another, will rise again on the last day to be reunited with our souls, and they will take part in the reward, for good or for bad, of the soul. This dogma clearly has vast implications for the way we live in the body given to us by Almighty God. The dogma of the resurrection is a key element of our faith. It shows us the great value of our bodies, which will not be destroyed, but, on the contrary, will live eternally after the final resurrection. Our flesh is so important that God made it the cardo salutis, the hinge upon which our salvation hangs. We can only be saved in and through the flesh of the Son of God, and our own salvation can only be achieved in and through our own flesh.
The other point I would like to reflect upon is that both the miracles in today’s Gospel concern women. One is sick and she is healed. The other is dead, and she is raised back to life. One of the particularities of the Gospel stories is the importance they give to women. Contrary to the mores of the times for which women had no rights, and were often considered like chattel, Our Lord takes care to show, at every opportunity, that woman is equal in dignity to man, that she too is redeemed, that she too can aspire to sanctity, that she too has an important role to play in salvation. One of the very surprising things about Our Lord’s ministry is that He allowed a group of women to follow Him along with the apostles and serve their needs. It was a very revolutionary thing to do in that day and age, and one that opened Him to criticism, especially when we know that one of those women was well-known for her former sinful lifestyle. But Jesus doesn’t care about what people think. Jesus does not lock people up in their past, no matter how sordid. He comes to set souls free, and that includes the souls of women.
This is also why the liturgy honours numerous holy women throughout the year. Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of one of the glories of the Benedictine Order, St Gertrude the Great. Let’s conclude then with one of the beautiful prayers she has left us:
Lord, behold my heart, detached from every creature. With full freedom I offer it to Thee, begging Thee to purify it by the virtue of the water that flowed from Thy most sacred side, and to embellish it magnificently with the Precious blood of Thy most sweet Heart, and to make it perfectly worthy of Thee by the embalmed aroma of Thy Divine Love. Grant O most loving God, that my heart might always remain at Thy disposal, like one of these bottles presented at the table of the master, so that at any time Thou mayest be able, according to Thy good pleasure, to dispose of its purity, to fill it and to empty it at any time that Thou mayest desire, and for the profit of whomever it may please Thee. Amen.
