A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

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 today’s Gospel, Mark describes Jesus’ entrance by boat to Gennesaret. The passage follows the story of Jesus walking on water toward the disciples. Mark says that people scurried about the surrounding country to find Jesus, bringing the sick to him on mats. To scurry about means to run hurriedly with excitement. The people from that region who had heard of Jesus knew that something spectacular was happening that no one would want to miss. What was it they sought? His healing. That healing was connected closely to his preaching the Kingdom of God. The Gospel acclamation from Matthew says, “Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people.” Today, the Church remembers Saint Paul Miki and his companions, martyrs of Japan. While hanging on a cross, Paul Miki also preached the Gospel, saying: “The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die.”

God, help me understand your universal call to holiness, no matter our station in life or where we live. It’s unlikely that I would be called to martyrdom. Yet, just as Paul Miki died willingly for the sake of his faith, I must always be willing and prepared to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and be a means of healing.

Lord, grant me the faith of those who brought to Jesus their sick, begging for his healing. When you created the heavens and the earth, you said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. I ask for your grace today, Lord, to bring light to my life.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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