13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 (B)

INTRO: These are some present realities in our parish, but to tell you the truth also everywhere …….

1. Parishioners here have difficult and strained dealings with estranged children and or siblings.

2. There are parishioners whose children are either diseased, depressed, drug addicted or born with bodily deficiencies.

3. Also, some of our parishioners lovingly care for their spouse or parents afflicted with dementia or Alzheimer’s.

We all have a story of “being afflicted”.
We all have experienced the trials of being afflicted.
We may wonder why am I being afflicted?

Perhaps the story from the Gospel, the woman with the hemorrhages, can shed some light here to these present realities and afflictions of ours???

If you noticed, and the way I see it, the woman did not want to bother Jesus.
“If I but touch His clothes”

“I don’t need to ask anything; I just need to be close to Him”

Is this the model behavior for us who deal with our afflictions?

I think so!

We can petition to God or to Jesus about our afflictions, it is alright to do that, but GOD ALREADY KNOWS what you and I are going through, and He is holding you up right now and not letting go of you.

Sometimes we get so busy with THINGS that we just do not feel Him holding us, or experience His presence, or delight in His providential care.

God is with us, THE most major tenet of our FAITH! Please believe that!

But what the woman does is ….

SHE GETS CLOSE TO JESUS
SHE GETS CLOSE TO JESUS

The Gospel explains her PROXIMITY, TRUE!!!

but realistically she is telling you and I, during our present ongoing trials and afflictions, we need that special friend, we need that relationship with JESUS CHRIST! We need to be close to him and not give up that reliance upon Him.

I know some of you may feel like you have had enough on your plate. I just know it. There are THOSE DAYS! and you are not alone in this …….. Every one of us has something or someone to bear.

CONCLUSION

Beautiful lyrics to a contemporary Christian song:

May your struggles keep you near the cross
And may your troubles show that you need God
And may your battles end the way they should
And may your bad days prove that God is good
And may your whole life prove that God is good