A Reflection from the Fuel Daily Readings App for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Click here to read the reading.

When I hear of the miraculous healing that is described in today’s Gospel, I am pretty shocked. I know that Jesus still works miracles today but really, how does he do that… how in our own lives can we receive healing. How is God able to move in our time with the same power and authority that Jesus does in the bible. It’s hard to believe right?!

I know there are times in my life even recently, where I haven’t believed, where I haven’t had the faith to believe that this kind of healing was possible, that it was real? Or if it was it was only for those people, in those times at those places, not for you and me. I think this gospel reading speaks to Gods healing power but also especially to the virtue of faith. It was the woman’s faith that saved her, she knew and had the faith to believe that if she could just touch his cloak, she would be healed. It was the father’s faith that Jesus could raise his daughter from the dead that allowed the power of God to manifest in that time and in those places.

And it’s the same with us today. When we let our faith be strong and we have even a small amount of faith God can do so many things in our lives. I know for me a time in my life when I’ve had to exercise immense faith and trust in God was when I was on mission in New Zealand during the covid lockdown, during that year in my life I had so many doubts and fears and allowed myself to despair especially when the first lockdown came, and our ministry was shut down. I remember just thinking, God, what is the point of me being in another country away from my family if I can’t even minister to young people.

A few weeks later after much-anguished prayer, we were able to continue face to face ministry and the ministry was so fruitful and Good, so many hearts in the students were turned back to Jesus and it was beautiful. God worked through a difficult situation and allowed us to be there in a time when young people were questioning everything about their lives during a pandemic, to allow us to speak the truth of Gods love that doesn’t change.

And this required like that woman and like that faith. FAITH. So much faith. But without that faith and trust in Jesus the healer of all things we would have never been able to minister so authentically and truthfully to those young people and allow them to know him.

+ Lord Jesus help us to have more faith and more trust in you the healer of all things, help us to have faith like the haemorrhaging woman that you will work, and you will move and allow us to be close to you always. When our world is falling apart allow us to remember you are there and when there is nothing that we can do remind us that we can do all things through you. Amen.