Mt 9:18-26 Faith Takes Courage

Monday of the Fourteenth Week In Ordinary Time

(Click here for readings)

A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak.  She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”  Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter!  Your faith has saved you.”  And from that hour the woman was cured.

Courage, daughter!  What impressed me most about this Gospel passage was how the Lord told this woman, “Courage, daughter!  Your faith has saved you.”

Contrary to what some people think, it takes courage, not a weak mind, to believe.  We all know that courageous people are people who can step outside of themselves.  We all know that people of great faith are people who can step outside of their comfort zone.  What few of us realize is that it takes great courage to have great faith.

This woman, who had been suffering for years, stepped out of man’s world and stepped into the Lord’s world.  It took courage.  It took faith.  Courage daughter!  Your faith has saved you.

In my own little corner in my own little chair.  We are constantly trying to make our world smaller.  Why?  So that we can have more control in it.  It’s all about control.  It’s all about escaping reality.   As Cinderella would sing:  “In my own little corner in my own little chair I can be whatever I want to be.” 

So we reduce things to smaller things.  We reduce our Universe to earth; our earth to our nation; our nation to our state; our state to our city; our city to our home; our home to our bedroom.  This is my room!   Why is a teenager’s room so important?  Because they have control over it.  This is where they can escape reality; the reality that they have very little control over anything.

Faith requires courage.  Hope requires courage.  It’s so easy to give up. Just today I read the story of a young woman who went partying with some friends in the middle of Lake Hubbard.  At a certain moment she jumped off the boat and into the lake and saw the boat take off without her.  Not wearing a life jacket, the young woman was stranded in the middle of Lake Hubbard, treading water for nearly two to three hours before being rescued.  She admits she nearly lost hope, but along with treading water she said her prayers and felt "like God was my life jacket and I had a lot of angels with me, carrying me through the water."

Don’t give up!  We need faith.  We need hope.  Lord, increase my courage!

Weak minded individuals try their very best to explain what they can’t explain away.  A weak mind tries to keep everything, as well as everyone, in check.  That’s why dictators are weak minded individuals.  They always seem to have all the “right” answers but they can’t fathom the thought of being “wrong.” 

A modern woman hemorrhaging.  On April 8^th, 2011, Floribeth Mora, a fifty-year-old woman woke up with a severe headache that sent her to the hospital.  Doctors there diagnosed her with a severe migraine.  But the pain lasted for another three days and Mora returned to the hospital, where, this time, a series of tests were conducted.  An aneurysm on the right side of her brain that had begun to hemorrhage had been detected.  Doctors were unable to stop the bleeding and her doctor consulted colleagues in other Latin American countries and Spain, who advised against operating because of the difficult access to the affected area.

Floribeth returned home with the horror of imminent death. 

Her family built an altar to John Paul II outside her house, and while Mora was watching the late pope’s beatification on May 1, 2011, she picked up a magazine and, looking at a photo of the pope, starting to hear a voice.  “It said, ‘Get up, don’t be afraid,’” Mora said.

Mora said she stood up and felt instantly better.  A variety of medical exams revealed that her aneurysm had simply disappeared.  She, along with her doctors, showed reporters photos of her brain taken before and after the miracle.

Guess what?  Some individuals (atheists, I will assume) commented that this was not a miracle but rather a hoax or misdiagnosis.

Really???  Interesting...I guess scientific evidence and hard facts and expert testimony are no longer good enough for atheists but unscientific allegations and zero proof of forgery or misdiagnosis are!  Huh! 

These individuals that claim to be driven solely by scientific evidence (and hardcore facts) are really driven by bias, ideology and blind faith; yes "faith"...in that a mistake was made or "faith" in that this is all a hoax.  Well, they've replaced "the God of the gap" with the “HOAX of the gap!”  Or “The Mistake of the gap!”  Or “The Coincidence of the Gap.”

What they don't understand is that Christian faith is an intellectual response to God's grace.  It is a rejection of reason alone.  It is a rejection of faith alone.  It is faith and reason.

What is striking is that those of little faith CANNOT - WILL NOT – even entertain the thought that this woman suffered an aneurism, and that her faith in God, through the intercession of Pope John Paul II’s prayer, saved her life and restored her to perfect health. 

She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”  Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter!  Your faith has saved you.”  And from that hour the woman was cured.

Déjà vu

It’s a classic example of how some people try to fit the Universe in their tiny little brain, and when it all can't fit in there, the rest must be discarded.  Human experiences go well beyond measurements.

Faith allows us to take a step out of our comfort zone, to penetrate what no eye has seen or ear has heard; to enter a world that we do not have control over.  For this reason faith requires tremendous courage.  The more courageous you are, the more faith you have.

Courage is accepting the challenge of who we really are: small.  And who God really is:  GREAT! 

Do not be afraid!