The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
When I look at the date of this Sunday, June 30th, my mind immediately refers to the birth of my youngest daughter who was born on that date. Then my mind jumped to my other daughters and the years my wife and I spent raising them. How many times were we forced to alter our plans because something unexpected happened? Illnesses, accidents, last minute functions and the like often interrupted our plans.
If we read the short form of today’s Gospel we miss the hemorrhaging woman’s interruption, a tiny detail that links us to Jesus. I’m certain Jesus had similar interruptions in His ministry as we have in our everyday lives. I’m sure Jairus, as a synagogue official, had similar frustrations in his line of work.
In today’s Gospel we see both Jesus’ and Jairus’ plans for his daughter’s healing are interrupted. Having daughters, I put myself in the place of Jairus. He must have said, if not out loud at least to himself, “Come on woman, can’t you see we are in a hurry? I was here first!”
How were Jairus and the woman able to have so much faith in Jesus? Evangelization, I think. Maybe they had heard from others a few weeks before that Jesus said “Remain in me” 8 times. Perhaps they heard from others who witnessed His other healings.
We can put ourselves in the shoes of Jairus and the woman. We are those who have not seen yet still believe. Where did our belief come from? For many of us our parents modeled their faith for us. For others of us we had to develop our own faith as we learned to put our trust in the Lord. And in hearing this Good News, we can place our faith in Christ when interruptions get in our way.
When life throws us curve balls that challenge our faith, let’s remember this Sunday’s Gospel. By imitating Christ we can handle the interruptions and frustrations life sends our way.
Deacon Julius Laurent was ordained in June of 2022 for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He and his wife, Erin, who met on a college Catholic retreat, have been married for 40 years. They create balance in their life by spending time with family and friends, attending music festivals and fitting short trips around Julius’ diaconate responsibilities. Julius was a choir director for 20 years before entering Diaconate Formation. He writes a short column in the parish bulletin called “Deacon Meets World” highlighting his experiences as a Deacon in the secular world.