Genesis 28:10-22 / Matthew 9:18-26
Jacob has a dream; He saw the Lord.
John Buchan, governor-general of Canada in the 1930s, was on an outdoor expedition. One morning he got up, bathed at a waterfall, and lay down in the sunlight, while breakfast cooked on an open fire. The sound of the water, the singing of the birds, and the smell of the cooking food created a mood and a feeling that was out of this world. He said later, '"It was like a glimpse into eternity." Jacob had a similar experience when he slept out under the stars one night near Haran. But Jacob's experience was far more remarkable. It was not a glimpse into eternity; it was a glimpse into God himself.
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Has God ever seemed so close to us that we could almost reach out and touch him? "Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD, your God, is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
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In a time of anxiety and distress, it is difficult to see what God is doing or even where God is. But that is because we are looking more at our own concerns and desperate for solutions rather than to be still and to listen and feel the promptings from God. Yet, it is precisely when everything is spinning and in chaos that we need to stop and look and listen. In the 1st reading, Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. But it was not a journey of leisure or a business trip. Jacob was fleeing from the elder twin brother Esau after he had tricked his father Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau. So, Jacob was running for his life and he was not ready for any kind of God-experience until he had to rest for the night. And there in a dream God spoke to him and made him the promise that he and his descendants shall be a blessing for other nations and that God will not desert him.
Only then did Jacob realized that God was with him and that "the Lord is in this place and I never knew it!"
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On the way to the 20 years exile from his home, God blessed him. He promised him the land and that his descendants would be numerous. God will with him and keep him wherever he goes. In his dream, he saw a ladder reaching from heaven to earth and angels going up and coming down. Once we know the name Jacob gave this place, we understand the dream. He called it Bethel. Beth is Hebrew for the house and El for God: The house of God. The Church is the place where our prayers and good works are taken up to God and where God's blessings and graces come down on us. Jesus applied this vision to himself when he spoke to Nathanael. He is the ladder, as the mediator between God and man. He takes our petitions to the Father and pleads for us. All graces we get from God are merited by him. All our prayers we make: through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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Jesus often stresses faith in connection with a miracle. To the woman who was healed he said, "It's your faith that saved you. "And to Jairus whose twelve-year-old he raised to life, he had said, "Courage, only have faith". What is the connection between faith and the miracle? Is it psychological? The American Society of Mental Health says 90% of all diseases are psychogenic, caused by the soul. The figure '90' may well be an exaggeration. Every doctor knows that many physical ailments have their origin in the soul. They are right, but no one ever raised the dead to life as Jesus did with the 12-year-old girl. Nor was there ever a man born blind given the eyesight. The connection between faith and miracles is: Faith shows to man God as the almighty before whom we are poor. When we have this attitude before God, God helps. "Blessed are the poor in spirit”
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Both individuals in today’s Gospel are aware that Jesus is in some way the walking presence of God among them. The daughter of the official has died and he asks that she be restored to life. The anonymous woman has suffered with a hemorrhage for years without an effective cure. Because of their great faith, both of them receive the desired healing.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that they will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. It is not without reason that people pray for particular benefits. And when people claim that a blessing has been received, why do we not rejoice with them rather than be incredulous? We do believe in the power and greatness of God—but perhaps our faith can run a little thin in practice.
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God has made us for life. In Jesus he shows us that he wants us to be healed, that is, wholly and fully alive and raised from the dead, for by his resurrection Jesus defeats death in its roots. In this eucharist we ask Jesus to raise us up, from the death of sin and ultimately from physical death.
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Prayer
God of all that breathes and lives, your Son Jesus touched people and they were healed and they lived. Let him take us by the hand and raise us up from sin and discouragement. Let him touch us with his body and blood and make us fresh and new again to live his life and to go his way to you. Let him touch us with the warmth of his love that our love may revive others, especially the poor and those who suffer. All this we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen
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Seven Martyrs (Brothers) and Saint Felicity, their Mother (- c.165)
The martyrdom of these illustrious mother-and-sons saints took place in Rome, under the Emperor Antoninus. It was by the public and edifying example of the saintly lady, Felicity and her whole family that many idol worshippers were moved to embrace the new Faith, renouncing all false gods. This provoked the heathen priests and they complained to the Emperor about the boldness with which Felicity publicly practised the Christian religion, emphasizing that, in order to appease the so-called immortal gods, who were considered the guardians and protectors of the empire, it was necessary to compel this lady and her children to offer sacrifice to them.Publius, as Prefect of Rome, having had the mother and her sons hauled before him, said: “Take pity on your children, Felicity! They are in the bloom of youth, and may aspire to the greatest honours and preferments.” Felicity answered, “Your pity is really impiety, and the compassion to which you exhort me would make me the cruellest of mothers!” She then exhorted her children to “look towards heaven, where Jesus Christ with his saints awaits you. Be faithful in his love, and fight courageously for your souls!”
Publius, exasperated at this behaviour, had her cruelly buffeted; then, calling the children to him one by one, unsuccessfully tried with artful speech, mingling promises with threats, to induce them to adore the gods. He next had them scourged, and finally laid the whole process before the Emperor who had the sons judged by different judges who condemned them to various forms of death before having the mother beheaded four months later.
