Thirteenth Sunday. "... power had gone out from him": the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ alone will heal the world

Cancer is a lethal threat which seems to afflict ever greater numbers of people. Everyone here has either suffered himself or herself, or knows someone who has, from this devastating disease.

"Cancer is a genetic disease resulting from a variety of mutations and alterations either inherited from our parents or, more commonly, acquired over time due to environmental exposures and behaviors, such as smoking and poor diet. These alterations turn off important cell growth regulators allowing cells to continually divide unchecked, explains Luis Diaz, a clinician-scientist in Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics. This type of cell is called a malignant or cancer cell. Among the trillions of cells in the human body, inevitably everyone has some abnormal or atypical cells that possess some of the characteristics of cancer cells, most resolve themselves and never result in cancer, says Diaz.

"There is no single or standard test for cancer. There are ways to screen for certain cancers with tests such as colonoscopy for colon cancer, mammography for breast cancer, PSA for prostate cancer, and the Pap smear for cervical cancer, and these tests can detect cancers in a very early and curable stage. For many cancers, there currently are no screening tests, and they are diagnosed when they begin to cause symptoms." (Source: Kimmel Cancer Center)

In every body except one there are pathologies. In each human nature except that of Jesus Christ we find the potential for illness and the certainty of death.

Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect Man. He is Life and He gives Life.

"There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured."
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction."

--Mk 5:21-43

The first healing that God gives to every man and woman is the unction of truth: the truth that we have sinned and lost the grace of God. The Psalmist expresses this truth which illuminates the experience of every human person:

"There is no health in my limbs, my guilt towers higher than my head: it is a weight too heavy to bear."

The truth of God spoken by Christ the Lord teaches us that far worse than any bodily suffering which is limited to this life and to this world is the malady of sin which "can cast both body and soul into Gehenna": the separation from God that lasts forever. We touch Christ sacramentally so that His mercy might heal us of this everlasting pain. The blood and water that flowed from His side as He hung on the Cross continues to flow in and through the Church as His gift in the Holy Spirit.

"Sacraments are 'powers that comes forth' from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are 'the masterworks of God' in the new and everlasting covenant. (CCC 1116)

"though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich."

Does not Saint Paul describe in his letter to the Hebrews the total self-gift of God in Jesus Christ, whose side is pierced once again on the Cross, in an unbloody manner, each time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered? Does not God, rich in Divinity, become poor for our sake, making us rich by the outpouring of His love and grace for sinners through forgiveness?

Today we do more than merely touch the hem of His garment: we eat and drink no less than His very Body, Blood Soul and Divinity. In the sacramental life which He left the Church, as the Apostles handed down, we live the very life of the healing Christ here and now. In this moving Gospel passage about the woman suffering from a hemorrhage the Church has always seen its own story of sacramental life in which "power goes out" continually from Christ the Lord to heal and save the members of His mystical Body on earth.

"Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant's union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ." (CCC 1416)

The waters of Baptism and the Blood of Christ, indeed all the sacramental life of the Church came forth, once for all, from the side of the Lord on the Cross.

"The Greek word mysterion was translated into Latin by two terms: mysterium and sacramentum. In later usage the term sacramentum emphasizes the visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation which was indicated by the term mysterium. In this sense, Christ himself is the mystery of salvation: "For there is no other mystery of God, except Christ." The saving work of his holy and sanctifying humanity is the sacrament of salvation, which is revealed and active in the Church's sacraments (which the Eastern Churches also call 'the holy mysteries'). The seven sacraments are the signs and instruments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ the head throughout the Church which is his Body. The Church, then, both contains and communicates the invisible grace she signifies. It is in this analogical sense, that the Church is called a 'sacrament.' " (CCC 774)

"Consequently, St. Peter can formulate the apostolic faith in the divine plan of salvation in this way: 'You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers... with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.' Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death. By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in the form of a fallen humanity, on account of sin, God "made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."(CCC 602)

"Often Jesus asks the sick to believe. He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands, mud and washing. The sick try to touch him, 'for power came forth from him and healed them all.' And so in the sacraments Christ continues to 'touch' us in order to heal us." (CCC 1504)

Image: Fresco, Catacomb of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, Rome, early 4th Century showing the haemorrhissa being healed by touching Christ’s garment (Mk 5:25–34).

First Holy Martyrs of the Church of Rome: "they will kill you"

But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

-- Matthew 24. 4-13

It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance. Christ's gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. Everyone should always ask for this grace of light and strength, frequent the sacraments, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and follow his calls to love what is good and shun evil.

-- CCC 1811

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles: "I, Paul, am ... being poured out"

... and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.

From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.

-- 2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18

The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.

-- CCC 2015

(Photo: Image of a 1600-year-old fresco discovered in a Roman catacomb on June 19, 2009 and published by L'Osservatore Romano. It is believed to be the oldest known image of Saint Paul. More on the story here and here. Pope Benedict has also announced that what appear to be bone fragments of the saint have been discovered in his tomb at the Basilica of Saint Paul-Outside-the-Walls in Rome. More on the story here.)

Wednesday, Week 12: "Beware of false prophets"

who come to you in sheep's clothing,but underneath are ravenous wolves.

-- Mt 7:15-20

Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.

-- 150

Tuesday, Week 12: "Enter through the narrow gate"

How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

--Mt 7:6, 12-14

The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."

-- CCC 1036

Monday, Week 12: "Give up your evil ways"

Stop judging, that you may not be judged.

--Mt 7:1-5

"Man, enticed by the Evil One, abused his freedom at the very beginning of history." He succumbed to temptation and did what was evil. He still desires the good, but his nature bears the wound of original sin. He is now inclined to evil and subject to error:

Man is divided in himself. As a result, the whole life of men, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle, and a dramatic one, between good and evil, between light and darkness.

-- CCC 1707

Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist: Born to be prophets for Freedom in Christ

St John the Baptist was guilty of getting entangled in the politics of his day. Herod through his immoral adulterous lifestyle flouted God's laws about marriage and scandalized others into disobedience. The last and the greatest of the prophets, Saint John, challenged him on it. As a result of his courage to speak out, Saint John lost his head.

But he gained heaven.

Our Catholic Faith is given in Christ by God for the purpose of gaining heaven as Saint John the Baptist did. On our way to that place of eternal happiness, laughter and love with God and all the saints we need to be able to act at all times in accord with our Faith and to speak out, preaching the Faith in our words and actions as did Saint John the Baptist. If we act ashamed of God before the world in this life by refusing to publicly witness to the truth as did Saint John the Baptist, Jesus Christ has promised us that He will be ashamed of us before His heavenly Father.

It is providential that this feast of the last and the greatest of prophets falls within the Fortnight for Freedom led by our Catholic bishops in order to draw attention to the necessity of religious freedom, the first of our rights. Without the freedom given by God and respected by the state, we cannot live out our Baptismal vocation as called to by Almighty God. Faithful citizenship, as taught by our bishops, demands full and active engagement with the society and culture around us in order to bring the light, love and salvation of Christ to the whole world.

John live in faithful and prophetic witness to Christ, made necessary by love, until the end.

"Going before Jesus 'in the spirit and power of Elijah', John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom." (CCC 523)

Unlike Saint John, who received the fullness of the Holy Spirit while he was still in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, we were born into the Holy Spirit after our birth through the sacrament of Baptism. Like John, though, we have been given the Spirit of God who is love in order to witness in love to others. Witness means showing consistency between what we believe and how we live. Witness also sometimes means "martyr", as for Saint John, giving our lives for God in order to remain faithful to the end.

Image: Luca Giordano, The birth of Saint John the Baptist