Through Lent with Pope Francis
Sometimes we are tempted to be that kind of Christian who keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’s length. Yet Jesus wants us to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others. He hopes that we will stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other people’s lives and know the power of tenderness.
Evangelii Gaudium 270
Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people, to be part of a people
Scripture
Mark 5:25-34 NCB
There was a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. In spite of long and painful treatment at the hands of many doctors, her condition not only had failed to improve but had actually become worse, and she had spent everything she had. Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she thought, “If I simply touch his clothing, I shall be made well.” And immediately her bleeding dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Instantly aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothing?” His disciples said in reply, “You see this vast throng pressing upon you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” However, he continued to look around to determine who had done it.
Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling.
She knelt before him and revealed to him the whole truth.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your affliction.”
Thought for Today
Where are we desperate for the touch of Jesus in our lives?
Where are we invited to touch the suffering flesh of others?
Music
A Touching Place – written by John Bell