Mk 5,21-43

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: see the scene from the Gospel: Jesus, the crowd around him, Jair, who is asking for healing his daughter and a woman who also wants to be healed.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for the experience of Jesus’ presence that deepens my faith 

1. Faith.

We see Jair who asks for healing his daughter and a woman who believes that touching Jesus will heal her. Jair and the woman receive what they ask for. Note that their attitude does not end only with a request but with undertaking a specific action. Jair comes to Jesus to go with him to his daughter, and the woman touches his coat. In the Gospel we read that the woman was frightened. Both persons could feel fear that did not block them from taking specific steps. So maybe faith does not exclude fear, but it gives you strength to take on what everyday life brings, to stay on the path to the Full of Life. Look at your faith: what blocks you from Life and what helps you go to Life.See also that faith connects with touch here. Touch heals. Touch is also a sign of closeness. This also applies to our human relationships. Each meeting: with God, with man can be a kind of touch (physical, verbal, we can touch with a look, facial expressions). In this sense, how do you touch others and how do you let yourself be touched?

2. Perseverance.

Jair and the woman were persistent. Despite the voices of discouragement of others, they stubbornly strove to meet Jesus. Jesus also does not go out of the pressure of the crowd that Jair is unnecessarily engaged. Today, we would probably use words: you will certainly fail, you can’t do it. You probably know the beliefs that you once said and to this day in many situations you have in yourself. Hear them and think about what they do to you. Maybe is it time to leave them?What is your persistence in life, in pursuit of good, in prayer? What helps you to be persistent?

3. Maybe the words from the book by Silvano Fausti “Consider and proclaim the Gospel” (p. 187) can be helpful in this consideration:

Faith is born of hearing Jesus. It allows us to go from despair because of our powerlessness to open ourselves to his power; it causes him to be touched from behind to become a face-to-face conversation with him.Be with these words, allow yourself to meet and experience the presence of Jesus as you can.   

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar, such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)