Holy Family

Holy Family

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Feast of Saint John Bosco

In today’s Gospel there are two stories of healing, both involving faith and overcoming the fear of reaching out for love. In the first instance we read of a leader in the synagogue, a man by the name of Jairus, whose daughter is at the point of death. Jesus reaches out to Jairus in love and tells him not to be afraid, but to just believe. Jesus takes his daughter by the hand and she comes to life. The other story is about a woman with a chronic loss of blood who out of fear of being discovered secretly reaches out and touches Jesus’ cloak. It is faith which overcomes her fear and she was immediately cured. In both instances the power of our Lord’s love overcomes the fears and uncertainties life presented in the lives of these two people in the town of Capernaum. As we read in the Gospel of John, "There is no fear in love." In both instances extraordinary things resulted as a result of faith and love.

It now seems like so very long ago that she was first diagnosed. We for some time prior to her being diagnosed had some sense that things were not right. Then, what now seems so long ago, there would be numbness and fatigue, and occasionally she would lose the ability to walk, her legs just giving way from underneath her. There are times when her body just seems to take on a life of its own apart from any will on her part. There are increasingly, as the mysterious disease (MS) progresses, areas where feeling has seemingly left for good. There is treatment with possible delay of the disease progressing, but there is no cure. And, although she has decided not to let this defeat her there have been occasions of blue periods, and on occasion anger, and being without anyone or anything to blame, it just gets misdirected and soon forgotten. Life moves on.

Being in the afternoon of our life together, it is only natural that there have been times where concerns pop up for what this disease might mean for the feelings between us. Life’s challenges are no stranger, we’ve been tested before, life hasn’t always been everything we desired, but we’ve always managed and more situations than I dare count have been forgotten and we have grown in our love and appreciation for one another. We’ll see this through, thirty-one years and four children assure me of this. Like the woman in today’s Gospel, I’m certain if we reached out to God we could awaken to things being far different than they presently are; as a matter of fact they have become different, in our reaching out to our Lord and to each other our life together has and continues to grow way beyond our wildest imaginings. The promise we made to one another so many years ago has taken on a newer and deeper meaning. There will continue to be setbacks and difficult moments, and as we have before we will come to accept it all knowing we are there for each other. We’ll together keep our eyes on the prize, not knowing which of us will get to the finish line first, but as now we’ll be there for each other when the time comes. We can all take a lesson from today’s Gospel in learning to overcome our fear of loving and being loved. We likewise can look to the life of Saint John Bosco whose life is a shining example of how life lived out in faith and love can turn the supernatural “into the natural and the extraordinary into the ordinary.” Reach out to someone you love today. Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and work of Saint John Bosco.

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