"Your faith will make you well"

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“Take heart, your faith will make you well.” In today’s Gospel (Matthew 9:18-26), Jesus performs two different miracles to help two different people. It was the compromising faith of the two that yielded Christ to answer their prayers. In the reading, an earthly ruler of a local synagogue comes to Jesus and kneels before him. He tells Jesus, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." Touched by his faith, he gets up to help the ruler. But before he could come to the aide of the father, a woman who suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years reaches out to touch Jesus’ garment to receive his healing powers. Jesus turned to this woman and said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." Then Jesus went to the ruler’s house and was able to bring his daughter back to life. In both cases, it was the faith of the individuals that Jesus relied upon to help these individuals.

Just imagine, you’re a powerful Jewish ruler and you have to go to Jesus to ask for his help. Not only do the Jews dislike Jesus, they think he is a heretic and one who blasphemies the church. Not only did he go and ask Jesus, but he prostrated himself before Jesus in recognition of who Jesus is even when his followers and friends were laughing at him. He did this knowing that his followers would not respect him anymore. Likewise, the woman that was hemorrhaging was thinking if she could even just touch his garments that would be enough to cure her. So she reached out for him and Jesus, realizing her faith cures her of her aliment.

Belief was not enough. Both people believed in Jesus, but Jesus says, “Take heart, your faith will make you well.” We too must have faith. We must not only believe in God, but we must have faith in his powers. Jesus opened his arms for these people and expressed the deepest form of love. He showed them a love that yielded hope and compassion, at the same time. We too can take our problems and troubles to God. We must be sincere and have faith in what he does. We must be willing to prostrate ourselves before him, even when our friends may make fun of us and laugh at us. It is your faith that will set you free. Through Jesus’ actions, we see the infinite love God extends to all of us. He gave this love freely to each person who needed it. This love was able to cure the sick and raise the dead; it was able to expel demons and heal sinners.

A Simple Prayer Lord God, your love is all I need. It heals my pains and makes me well. Help me to give that same love to others so that I too can be healing.

Yours in Christ Michael Marcon

PS – I am traveling today to Guatemala City to meet my sister who is adopting a new baby. Please extend extra prayers that she and the baby are protected by the loving hand of God and that he will carry them back to Houston safely.