THE WORD
Gen 1,20-24 / Mk 6.53-56
After making the crossing, [Jesus and his disciples] came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.
IN OTHER WORDS
The gospel reminds me of Pope Benedict Vl’s reference to a shrine as a “privileged place” of healing and conversion. Saint Jude Shrine in Manila is very popular among pilgrims because devotion to the saint has generated stories of healing miracles.
As Rector in this Shrine for almost a decade, l’ve heard a number of pilgrims say that coming to Saint Jude has always been an experience of intense encounter with something sacred, like being touched by some “holiness” in the devotion. This l understood as a special character of a shrine or any place of worship, as a precious place of evangelization and encounter.
This view about healing miracles and other spiritual gifts relates to a similar attractive character of Jesus as a miracle worker, or as a divine healer in particular. For a good number of sick people, by just touching the tassel of His cloak was enough, and the many who did so were healed. Such attraction to Jesus as divine healer commenced a privileged encounter through which people were eventually led to faith and conversion.
The Church as the sacrament of God’s presence among people should never lose such attraction. Her mission should at all times be in keeping with such attraction. Meaning, people from all walks of life should keep coming to the Church because they feel the attraction of some holiness, of some encounter with the Divine. The Church continues to grow in such attraction because God never runs out of himala (miracles) and tuwa (joy) for people touched by His holy presence. Worth pondering then is: As a follower of the Lord, in what way does my life attract people to the faith and to a life of conversion‘?
• Fr. Roland U.Aquino, SVD (CTManila)
The Word in other words 2017
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
