Society's Lepers

You'll have to forgive my missing a few postings, here and there.  I'm kind of in "vacation mode;" although I'm not on vacation. I guess it's the hot weather; that's as good an excuse as any.

OK.  I'm lazy.

But I've been thinking of what to post ever since Monday's Sunday Mass.  See my "cloistered brothers" can't get a priest on Sunday.  Hence, their Sunday Mass is Monday.  And I am blessed to attend two Sunday Masses.

Father Jack Sullivan

7:30 AM Mass on Sunday, the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time at my parish, found me reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. Not many were awake enough to hear me tell them to open their wallets and give.  And they didn't even wake up to listen to Father Jack  tell them about Jarius' daughter coming back from the dead.  So it's a good thing he skipped over the part about the woman with the hemorrhage.  That story didn't fit into his excellent homily.

Our God is not God of the dead.  He created us to live forever.  Don't forget that fact.  This life is temporary.

Although, I don't think there's a woman alive who doesn't think of the hemorrhaging woman, once a month.  So about half of the population (women) know this story.

Msgr. Peter Conley

And it's exactly this story, that Msgr. Conley focused on, in his homily.  You see, back in the day (Jesus' time), blood meant disgustingly unclean.  When a woman was menstruating, she kept herself separate from the rest of society because she was dirty.  And this poor woman was bleeding for twelve years!  Think suffering, emotionally distraught from isolation and rejection.  No wonder the poor woman snuck up on Jesus to touch Him.  If people knew, they would have pushed her out of the crowd.  She probably thought Jesus was going to reject her also.

Isn't this exactly how my "cloistered brothers" feel?  They, like the hemorrhaging woman are considered the "lepers" in society--rejected and isolated from society.  Msgr. Conley hit a home run with this homily.  I as a female identified, and my "cloistered brothers" as inmates in a prison, identified.

But what does Jesus tell this "leper" from society?  "Your faith has saved you."

Thank you, Jesus.

Death

It's inevitable.  "God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living." (Wis 1: 13) This is the first line we read in this Sunday's readings, Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  I think that's one reason we have for a life after our physical death.  God will take us in.  Faith says "Death where is your sting?" It's not a "sting;" it's a sling shot into eternal life.

The gospel for this Sunday has Jesus raising a little girl from death.  (Mark 5: 21-43)  See.  God intends for us to live.  I love the word Jesus uses to command the girl to "Arise!"  Arise was the name of my other blog, I used to have when my parish participated in the Boston Archdiocese's renewal program.

And arise we all shall right into eternal life, just as God intended in the first place.  God promises this in every Eucharist we receive.  It's a taste of heaven.  The psalm for this Sunday has us thanking and praising God for the promise of eternal life "for You have rescued me."  (Ps 30: 2)