Fr. Paul Campbell’s article for July 2

Wisdom 1: 13-15, 2:23-24                        2Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15            Mk 5:21-43

I have always wondered what happened to the people that Jesus healed.  Did they leave everything they had and follow Jesus like his disciples did?  Perhaps they returned to their daily routine and tried to live a normal life as if nothing had happened.  Did their reception of Jesus’ blessing alter the manner in which they lived?  In today’s gospel Jesus is touched by a woman who tells herself “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured” while later on in the gospel passage Jesus takes Jairus’ daughter by the hand and restores her to life. Mark tells us that Jairus’ daughter got something to eat and the woman whose hemorrhage was cured went in peace. Yet if we look at the gospels as just a collection of Jesus’ miracles we are missing the challenge he made to his followers.  The miracles of Jesus are woven through Jesus’ message of personal conversion. He challenges his followers to be lamps for others, to take his message to the ends of the earth and tell others what they have seen and felt.  Personal conversions begin with a realization that we have been blessed.  The response to that blessing is twofold.  It creates a thankful heart within us while we look for opportunities to bless others. I would like to believe that those who Jesus touched went forth and healed others by their words of encouragement and the gift of their time. In the reading from Corinthians Paul challenges the community of Corinth to be not only thankful but willing to share so their “abundance at the present time should supply” the needs of the Christian community in Jerusalem. The members of the early church realized the response to acts of kindness was not to expect more but to go forth and share.   Nowhere in the gospels does it mention that those whom Jesus touched continued to follow him so they could have more miracles performed on them.  How many of us continue to pray so that things will work out for us the way we want them to?  I remember going to a concert in college and expecting the band to play a particular song that I liked.  They didn’t and I went away disappointed.  They had let me down because they didn’t do what I wanted.  How many of us have said at one time or another “God let me down”.  God is not a bank with an unlimited amount of miracles available twenty four hours a day for our every want.  As I have said before even Jesus had to get out of town once in a while so he could recollect his energy.  When he did they came looking for him because they wanted to see more miracles. Authentic followers realize the truth in the words of an old song, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might just find you get what you need”.    We must realize that they are responsible for their own happiness.  Each of us has the same source of energy available to us as Jesus.  That source is the Holy Spirit.  I have taken Eucharist to a woman for the past three years.  Over that period of time her health has deteriorated yet she is filed with a spiritual energy that lifts me up each time we visit. Her joyful hope challenges me to bring that hope to others. As the Spirit has touched her she has touched me.  May all of us honor the blessings in our lives not by asking for more but joyfully witnessing to others the blessings we receive each day.