There are people around me whom I turn to when I need help. When I have medical issues, I ask my nurse friends and relatives or go to my doctor for a checkup. When I have questions about driving or anything car-related, I ask our truck driver friend. When I need a sounding board on life questions, I talk to older friends who have more experience. I depend on these people because I have confidence in their ability to solve my problems. 

Similarly, the father in our verse today had confidence in Jesus. Instead of crying or getting depressed, the man went to Jesus and confidently asked for His help. 

Do we also go to Jesus when we have questions, challenges, and problems? While many will say yes, several of us probably prequalify the things we approach God for. Our Lord is not just an expert at life-and-death matters; He’s a Master at everything. So, yeah, we can—and should—go to Him for anything and everything—from the minutest detail of our day to the biggest issues in our life. Joyce Roa (jsosoban@gmail.com)

 Reflect:

Do you talk to God about all areas of your life? 

Dear Jesus, help me to have confidence in Your love for me, so I won’t be ashamed or shy to talk to You about everything under the sun. 

Saint Withburga, pray for us.

The prophet Hosea introduces a new imagery of God’s relationship with His people. The covenant is expressed in terms of love rather than of laws. Couple this with the marriage imagery, we discover an appealing way to examine this. It sets the scene for some of the teachings of Jesus that focus on love.  

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. ¹⁷ She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt. ¹⁸ On that day, says the Lord, She shall call me “My husband,” and never again “My baal.” ²¹ I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; ²² I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the Lord. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R: The Lord is gracious and merciful.  

² Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. ³ Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. (R) ⁴ Generation after generation praises your works and proclaims your might. ⁵ They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty and tell of your wondrous works. (R) ⁶ They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds and declare your greatness. ⁷ They publish the fame of your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your justice. (R) ⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. ⁹ The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. (R) 

Gospel | Matthew 9:18-26

The two miracles in today’s Gospel show Jesus’ power and authority over sickness and death. Let us believe that God heals us when we are ill. But if we do not ask Him, how else will we discover what His will is in any situation? We may not always understand why God does or does not do things, but we should still ask Him for what we need or desire. 

Gospel Acclamation

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel. 

¹⁸ While Jesus was saying these things to them, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples. ²⁰ A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. ²¹ She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” ²² Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured. ²³ When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they ridiculed him. ²⁵ When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. ²⁶ And news of this spread throughout all that land. 

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 6 - 10 today.

A few verses before our Gospel story (Matthew 9:12), Jesus commented to the Pharisees: “It is not the healthy who need a physician but they who are sick.” From there, He went on teaching about fasting, about the newness and the sense of joy that He brought as Messiah. In the midst of all these, a situation developed. Jesus was approached by the village official, who knelt before Him to beg Him to come visit his daughter who had just died. The evangelist tells us how Jesus left all, arose and followed the official into his house. Thus, His words turned into a fruitful act. 

Maxims, wisdom sayings, and “hugot” lines are very good. They synthesize for our memory and learnings some essential virtues and values—whether human, spiritual, or religious. They inspire us. One of my favorites in this regard is the seven-volume Mga Tilamsik ng Diwa of the late Social Democrat Senator Soc Rodrigo (1914-1998), who is also a very devoted Catholic layman, lawyer, and politician. His thoughts are practical, poetic, simple yet profound, very Catholic, and very Filipino. 

The challenge of life, though, is our readiness to live out and apply these maxims and wisdom sayings. Like Jesus, we have to be able to recognize the moments and events that are opportunities for action. This means we should have an ever open and listening attitude to events and persons around us. Never to be too absorbed in our own schedules and preoccupations, but always having that disposition of detachment and tentativeness, being always a believer in life as a mystery and in the action of grace and Spirit. Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

 Reflection Questions:

Can you recall situations and events that had challenged you to act on your favorite principles and sayings? How did you respond to these moments?

It is so easy to speak, Lord. But to live out what we speak of is a different matter. Help me to do so. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ________________________________________