THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

5 November 2023

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends,

We are shown two miracles in today's Gospel reading (Saint Matthew 9:18-26). There is the healing of a woman who was troubled by an issue of blood for twelve years and then the raising to life of the twelve-year-old daughter of the ruler of the synagogue.

In the death of the ruler's daughter, we symbolically see the Chosen People (Israelites) spiritually dead. Just as the daughter was blossoming into adulthood, she died. Just as Israel was to bring forth the New Law in Jesus Christ, she had fallen dead. This spiritual death of the Chosen People made them deaf to the Words of Jesus, so they begged through the ruler of the synagogue to see the works of Jesus. Jesus loves the Israelites, so He is willing to raise the ruler's daughter back to life.

On the way, Jesus is interrupted by the woman troubled with an issue of blood. Jesus welcomes this interruption to allow more people to see and accept the young girl's death, just as He waited before raising Lazarus from the dead. This woman began to suffer when the girl was born. The woman represents the Gentile Nations, and the girl represents the Israelites. When the Israelites began or were chosen by God and separated from the other nations, the Gentiles began to suffer. The Chosen People are now dead, and the Gentiles are in constant pain and suffering.

While Jesus came first to the Israelites, the Gentiles rushed in to receive Jesus before the Israelites. The woman interrupted Jesus' journey to raise the ruler's daughter back to life. She tried by surreptitious means to obtain the miraculous cure for her condition. However, nothing is unknown to God. We may even understand that God inspired the woman with this very idea and her profound humility. Jesus wanted the woman to interrupt His journey: 1) to bring health to her, 2) to demonstrate that though the Israelites were first invited, because of their lack of faith, the Gentiles were to enter first, and 3) to allow more time for the knowledge of the girl's death to become known so that the miracle would be better believed and circulated among the people. The reason for her cure is clearly stated by Jesus: "… your faith has made you whole."

Faith is the key to everything, but sadly, the Israelites were not as eager to believe as the Gentiles. Jesus waited long enough for the multitude and the flute players to gather for the girl's death. When Jesus announced that the girl was not dead but was sleeping, they laughed at Him. There was no doubt about her death. However, Jesus is God, and death is but sleeping to Him.

In a commentary on this passage from the Fathers of the Church, we are told that the multitude of the world entices us to sin/death and then soothes and entices us to remain in that state forever: "Figuratively, the maid dead in her house is the soul lying dead in thought. But He says the girl is but sleeping, for they who sin in this life can still be restored to life through repentance. The flute players are flatterers who encourage the dead (in sin)." Though we may be dead in sin, if we are still in this world, we are not bound to remain in that state. We may rise from this spiritual death through repentance. The devils and the world entice us to stay spiritually dead and thus drift calmly into the eternal depths of Hell. We must shake off the lethargy of sin and drive out the flute players who strive to make sin (spiritual death) appear as good and acceptable.

Commentary from the Fathers of the Church continues: "The multitude is put forth, that the maid may be restored to life: for unless the throng of worldly cares are expelled from the depths of the heart, the soul that lies dead within shall not rise from the dead. The maid in the house arose in the presence of a few witnesses; the young man, outside the town gate; Lazarus, in the presence of many: for a public fault calls for a public remedy; a light one, a lighter remedy, and a secret fault can be wiped away by repentance."

Once we are restored to spiritual life like the maiden, our eternal life depends on us adopting the humility and faith of the Gentiles represented in the woman cured on the way.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us!