The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9:21-22

The woman who was suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years sneaked up behind Jesus to touch the tassel of his cloak because she believed that if she could just touch his cloak she would be cured. This incident tells us much about the quiet power of faith in the lives of those who trust in the Lord.

The woman’s faith in today’s gospel was so strong and personal that she did not need to bother the Lord; she did not need to make demands on his time; nor did she see a need to disrupt what he was doing. All she needed to do was to demonstrate her personal faith in him, anonymously, by touching the tassel of his cloak. She thought nobody saw what she was doing, and indeed, Jesus’ disciples saw nothing for when the Lord asked them, “who touched me”? they denied any knowledge of the incident, declaring that “the people are all around you and crowding in on you.” (Luke 8:43-48)

Jesus replied to his disciples, “someone touched me, for I knew it when power went out of me.” The woman’s silent anonymous faith connected with the Lord and the ‘power’ went out of him to cure her. This woman’s faith was personal; it was unobtrusive; it was real. She trusted in the Lord, and her personal trust in him saved her.

Faith, as I mentioned before, is a gift but it is a multifaceted gift.

There is faith as belief such as the profession of faith which we recite every Sunday during mass. But faith is more than the mere recitation of doctrines just as prayer is more than the mere recitation of words.

Faith is a matter of the heart; it is trust in the Lord who helps us and saves us in good times and in bad. It is interior attitude like that of the woman in today’s gospel, who had such trust in Jesus that, unknown to the disciples and all those crowding around the Lord, the power went out of him to cure her.

Fr. Hugh Duffy

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