Scripture Reflections for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B, Lectionary 98


God is about life and restoring us back to life when we have fallen into suffering, illness and sin. As God is present in our lives, we must take courage to approach Jesus even as the world discourages us and makes us think we have no value or hope. Let us put aside our positions like Jairus or our fears like the woman with the hemorrhage. Let us focus not on time or the wait but on the love Christ personally shows each one of us as he cures us.

Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: AbundanceAnointingApproachChildrenChurchDeathDevilEfficientEucharistFaithFamilyFearGenerosityHealingHelpHumilityInfectInterruptionJairusLawLifeLonelinessLoveMarginalizedMaryMaterialismPlanPovertyPrayerPresencePrioritizePurityRecognizeResurrectionSacramentSalvationSeekSinSleepSolidaritySufferingTimeTouchTrustUncleanWomen

Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24
Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13
2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mark 5:21-43

“Suffering and adversity can crush us but they can also become instruments of self-transcendence”


Fr. Geoffrey Plant in "Little lamb, arise" (June 23, 2024)
UACatholic

“Is my sense of fear something useful or unuseful? If it is unuseful more drama comes into our life. If it is useful we have a road to freedom.”


Fr. John Paul Forté, OP (June 26, 2021)
Bellarmine Chapel

“The first thing that I think that we’re being asked to do is to recognize one another, is to see one another”


Fr. Damian Torres-Botello, SJ (June 30, 2024)

“If the hem of his garment can bring about such miracle imagine what the whole of Jesus would do”


Fr. Emmanuel Ochigbo (June 24, 2024)

“Because what kind of Church are we? As a body of Christ when people hear about us do they want to grab on to our clothes or do they want to run away? Are we attracting or repelling the helpless?”


Angelo Kurbanali in "Healing touch" (June 27, 2024)
Holy Name of Jesus Church & Loyola Ministry

“he says 'you are clean' and now she's back in community. He solves both of her problems that day. Jesus was being inefficient but he was being loving.”


Fr. Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ in "LOVE VS EFFICIENCY" (June 26, 2021)
Saint Katharine Drexel Parish - Boston, MA

“Jesus the risen Christ is in the business of faith”


Fr. Oscar Pratt (June 30, 2024)
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, Philadelphia

“I do know I see before me Sunday after Sunday people who given their lives over to Jesus. I do know if we come to him it may not always be easy or clean and neat but he's never left you and never will.”


Fr. Stephen Thorne in "Come To Jesus" (July 01, 2018)

“It is not just all about being around Jesus, the disposition with which we come to Jesus is very important. The faith with which we come to Jesus is very important.”


Fr. Emmanuel Ochigbo (June 22, 2021)
Catholic Women Preach

“for today my hope is that we can spend time thinking about and appreciating the living and dying and rising that happens in women's lives over and over again, including in their bodily experience, something that is absolutely core to our Christian story”


Bridget Deegan-Krause (June 27, 2021)
Catholic Women Preach

“dignity is a gift that we can give each other through sororal and fraternal relationships, marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We dignify each other together through daily simple gestures.”


Sr. Gabriella Bottani (June 19, 2018)
Catholic Productions

“what's fascinating here is that she does not think that Jesus will be made impure by her touching him, rather that she will be made pure, that she will be healed by even just touching his garment”


Brant Pitre in "Jesus and the Woman With a Hemorrhage" (February 15, 2023)
Overall Readings
U.S. Catholic magazine

“While not all those who suffer will experience a physical cure like the unnamed woman in Mark, her story offers us an important lesson: God sees our suffering and is right by our side guiding us toward hope and the healing power of love.”


Karen Ross (June 21, 2021)
Saint Katharine Drexel Parish - Boston, MA

“How close are we to touching the garment? How close are we? Is our faith driving us? Are we compelled to be healed, to be restored, to be brought back? Or are we just planning for death?”


Fr. Oscar Pratt (June 27, 2021)
St. Teresa of Avila - DC

“We know that our, our God is a, is still in the healing business. Do we fall down before the Lord, before the Holy Spirit?”


Monsignor Raymond East (June 27, 2021)
Catholic Women Preach

“It is beautiful to hear the word of Jesus addressed to each one of us: 'I say to you, stand up. Go and stand up.'”


Sr. Abby Avelino, MM (June 30, 2024)
UACatholic

“‘I don’t have the perfect solution to solve this.’ People of God, it’s not about having the perfect solution, it’s about being present.”


Fr. John Paul Forté, OP (June 30, 2024)
Catholic Productions

“So Jesus's raising of the little girl in, in this Gospel of Mark, in a sense, it kind of parallels the resurrection of Lazarus in the Gospel of John which is also a sign that points forward to...the triumph over death itself which Jesus is going to bring through his resurrection”


Brant Pitre in "The Raising of Jairus' Daughter and the Origins of Death" (April 12, 2023)