'Give her something to eat'. Jesus, the Church, serving the sick

Christ Raises the Daughter of Jairus

Friedrich Overbeck, 1825 [Web Gallery of Art]

Today's gospel, Mark 5:21-43, weaves two different healing stories into one, that of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and that of the daughter of Jairus, aged twelve, who had just died.

In the scene below, taken from Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth, the director focuses only on the story of the little girl. I don't know if the servant of Jairus, whom the latter addresses as 'Thomas' is meant in Zeffirelli's mind to be the future Apostle already showing the honest directness of the saint often referred to as 'Doubting Thomas', the saint who was to make the most explicit act of faith in the whole Bible, My Lord and my God.

In this scene Jesus immediately leaves what he was doing in order to respond to an emergency. Much of our life is like that.

Zeffirelli retains words of Jesus that we find in the version of St Mark of this incident and in that of St Luke (8:40-46) but not in that of St Matthew (9:18-26): Give her something to eat. There is something wonderfully human about these words. Zeffirelli has Jesus carry the little girl out to her parents and relatives. She would have been very weak after the illness that had led to her death. In my own imagination I can see Jesus standing back and smiling, gently reminding Jairus and his wife in their grateful joy that their daughter was hungry.

Fr Agostino Gemelli OFM (1878 - 1959)

Healing the sick was central to the way Jesus proclaimed the Gospel, 'The Good News'. It has always been central to the way the Church proclaims that same Gospel. Many of us are familiar with the name 'Gemelli Policlinico' in Rome. This teaching hospital of 1,850 beds, attached to the medical school of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, is named after the founder of the University, Fr Agostino Gemelli OFM, priest, friar, physician, psychologist. Study, science and teaching are also at the heart of the proclamation of the Gospel by the Church.

On the Solemnity of the Epiphany last year Pope Benedict visited the children in the paediatric section of the Gemelli Clinic. The children and staff there, especially the little girl to whom he gave a teddy bear, don't seem to have noticed that he was 'dour', as I saw him described the other day, or that he was really a 'Rottweiler', as he has often been called.

Mark 5:21-43 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’  So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

'A spring flower in the desert.' Sunday Reflections, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

St Joseph with Jesus in the Carpenter’s Shop, Georges de La Tour, 1645

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) 

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 6:1-6 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Jesus went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him.  And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

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Both the New American Bible and the Jerusalem Bible lectionaries read, He was amazed at their lack of faith. Jesus was among his own people, in the town where his brothers and sisters, ie, his cousins, lived. Perhaps his amazement was a form of frustration. Missionaries are men and women who are often 'amazed' at what seems to be their lack of 'success' in changing the situation, whether it is leading people to faith in Jesus Christ or working among baptised people for the justice that the Gospel demands but evidently isn't there.

Yet Jesus laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them. In other words, he found some who responded in faith.

One Columban priest who found faith in Keiko, a very sick 14-year-old girl in Japan, was Fr James Norris, a New Zealander who died on 6 October 2007. Japan is still a country where fewer than one in two hundred are Catholics. He wrote about his experience in Far East, the magazine of the Columbans in Ireland and Britain, in 1973. Father Jim's article made a profound impact on me and I reprinted it in Misyon in March-April 2008. our last printed edition. Maybe the few who believed and were healed consoled Jesus in his humanity. Maybe he felt something of what Father Norris describes in the closing paragraph of his article.

A Spring Flower

by Fr James Norris 

Cherry Blossoms at Fukushima, Japan

There is a high school in our parish for nearly 2,000 girls conducted by the Sisters of the Infant of Jesus. Very few of these girls are baptized Christians. As a means of contact, I teach English to the junior high school pupils three times a week. My classes are very informal and I am afraid the young ladies don’t take me very seriously, possibly because I give them no homework or exams. My specialty is supposed to be pronunciation and intonation.

One day, early in November 1971, I received a summons from one of my little pupils, Keiko Uemura, aged 14. She was very sick in the hospital and wished to be baptized. I hadn’t noticed her absence at school. The nuns were full of apologies for not letting me know, but they hadn’t thought her illness was serious; moreover, she had never shown any real interest in religion but on the contrary, during religious classes seemed to take a delight in trying to tie the Sister up in knots with embarrassing questions.

Keiko on her First Communion Day

When I visited her she seemed in good spirits. After ascertaining that she really did believe and had sufficient knowledge to realize what she was doing, I baptized her. A few days later I returned to the hospital with several books that explained the faith simply and would help her to pray. She began to prepare for her first Holy Communion. I discovered that despite her seemingly frivolous behavior during religion classes, she had retained quite a lot and what was more, in her present crisis could believe, simply and totally, with no reservations. 

In December she was moved to the University hospital, the largest in town and the best equipped. Keiko herself was not aware of it, but she was suffering from a rare type of bone cancer that sometimes afflicted children. The doctor gave her three months to live. Her parents were wonderful. One of them was always near her, day and night. In her case this devoted warm parental love was an actual grace that served to open out and expand her soul to receive the grace of God’s love. As Keiko responded to God’s love, the change in her thinking and outlook, her values, could not fail to impress her parents who in turn were drawn along by the girl towards God.

About Christmas time she made her first Holy Communion. She was radiantly happy that day, as is evident from the photo. Present for the occasion were her parents and some of the Sisters from the school. I made a tape recording for future use. Each week I took her Holy Communion. Her mother prepared the altar and with Keiko read the book on doctrine explaining the faith.

Home for the New Year

The girl was permitted to return home for three days over the New Year. As a result of an operation she had recovered so well that she could walk about slowly with the aid of crutches. She believed she was on the way to complete recovery; she was full of roseate plans for her future, a trip to Lourdes followed by a life of service as a nurse to crippled children. Her father hoped against hope for a miracle, but on the quiet he assured me that it was only a question of time.

Spiritual progress

During the next three months she made tremendous spiritual progress. Her mother told me that she herself was sometimes concerned by the flood of visitors, who often outstayed their welcome, even when Keiko was in pain. But the girl never showed it; she always put on a cheerful front and showed her gratitude to all-comers. Later when her mother grumbled about the inconsiderateness of some people, the girl stopped her with: ‘Mother, it may be alright for you to complain because you are not a Christian, but I am one now and must love everybody. Besides, the visitors come because they are interested in me and I am grateful for this.’ Apart from the occasional sigh or moan that escaped her lips, she never complained of the pain.

As the long winter faded, the cherry blossom trees along the Shirakawa River responded to the warm April sun and flooded the banks with a soft pink mist. I could see the blossoms from the window of her room, but the girl was too young to appreciate the pathos of their beauty – those petals whose destiny was to diffuse their delicate beauty for a brief span, only to be caught by the slightest breeze and flutter to the earth from which they sprang. Keiko never saw her own life and destiny in those blossoms.

About the middle of April she began to weaken. Within a week, she had lost consciousness and was given oxygen. She died peacefully on 27 April. The church was filled at her funeral. Her classmates were heartbroken and inconsolable, far more emotionally upset than her family. Indeed, I was surprised at how calmly her parents bore their great loss. I discovered it was because they had received the grace of the faith through the girl’s influence, even before they had begun any formal instructions. They were convinced that she still lived on in God and that they would meet her again.

Whole family converted

A week after the funeral her parents and her brother began their study of the doctrine. They were model catechumens. Every night before the family altar, united to Keiko in spirit, they said the rosary and read a chapter from the Scriptures. I baptized them on 6 November, the anniversary of Keiko’s baptism. There were tears of joy in their eyes that day as they realized they were united to their daughter by grace within the bosom of God the Father.

One of Keiko’s closest friends who was shattered by her death but very impressed by the spiritual change in the girl before her death, has resolved to follow in her footsteps and pursue the ideal of service Keiko set for herself had she lived. She is now under instructions and intends to become a nurse.

Testimony of her faith

There was nothing sensational about this girl’s short life. She did nothing that would merit notice in the mass media; her life created no more of a stir in society than a petal falling to the ground. But I am convinced her story is real news and a genuine success story. In these days of superficial sensationalism, even we Christians tend to forget that the real battles of life are won or lost within the depths of the heart where a man meets his God and says yes or no.

Moreover, in a country like Japan, a missioner seldom sees the grace of God’s action working so powerfully and swiftly in a soul. Such tangible evidence of God’s presence is almost a physical sign of His love which bolsters one’s hope no end, enabling the missioner to keep going. This slip of a girl was a candle in the darkness, a spring flower in the desert.

Cherry blossoms at the Imperial Palace, Tokyo

 

Missa Papae Marcelli  (Mass of Pope Marcellus) by Palestrina

Gloria

Sung by the Tallis Scholars directed by Peter Phillips

Prayers urgently asked again for young Mikko

Mikko with his mother, Gee-Gee

Three months ago I asked your prayers for young Mikko, now three-and-a-half, who was in the ICU near Atlanta, Georgia. I got an email today from his father Miggy and his mother Gee-Gee who was my assistant editor before at http://www.misyononline.com/ before she married, telling me that her son in in the ICU once again. Here is part of their email:

Please keep Mikko in your prayers. We had to call 911 on Tuesday at around 2pm. Mikko's temperature dropped to 28 degrees celsius (37 is normal) and he was still desatting even with 4 liters per minute (LPM) of oxygen support ('Desatting' is a word I hadn't heard before. It has to do with the level of saturation of oxygen in the blood's haemoglobin). Normally he would be okay with 0.5-2 LPM. The nurses at the ER said that Mikko's toes were beginning to turn blue when they took off his socks at the ER.

Yesterday afternoon he was retracting (having difficulty in breathing. Again, a term I wasn't familiar with). for 2 hours. We made the difficult decision of letting the doctors intubate (putting a flexible plastic tube into the trachea to enable breathing) him. But thank God we didn't have to do the intubation. When the team was getting ready, Mikko started to relax. What a big relief! His pulmonologist explained that there is a possibility that when they intubate him, he'll be on a ventilator for life which translates to having a tracheostomy. Today Mikko had difficulty breathing again around noon. But as of this time, he's sleeping.

Mikko's condition is worse than the last time he was here in the hospital. His condition is up and down right now. So far, he is not yet out of the woods yet, so he could still get intubated. He's on 15 LPM of oxygen today. They were pushing 25 LPM of oxygen into him yesterday afternoon, when the doctors thought of intubating him.

We are afraid of the outcome of this hospitalization. We are more worried now as his condition had never been up and down before. Usually, he'd get worse, but when he'd get better, it would go all the way quickly. But now, it seems like he gets a little better, then takes a turn for the worse again.

The doctors are talking to us already about "Quality of Life" again -- that we have to start thinking about it for Mikko. The last time they talked to us about that was when he was just a day old and they were predicting his death.

We are afraid, but still hopeful that Mikko will overcome this challenge once again, as he's done before.



Mikko back home. Thanks for your prayers

Mikko, Miggy, Gee-Gee and Mica Dimayuga who live near Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Recently I asked you to pray for three-year-old Mikko who, not for the first time, was admitted to the ICU. I received this email from Gee-Gee Torres Dimayuga, the mother of Mikko and former assistant editor of Misyon, the magazine I edit for the Columbans in the Philippines, the other day:

Mikko is finally home. We got out of the hospital 9 minutes before midnight last Saturday. We're so happy to be homw already. Those two weeks of being in hospital were too much to take. Miggy stayed with Mikko for 10 days and I watched Mikko for 4 days.

Mikko is recovering well here at home. We still have to watch his oxygen and sodiu levels. Oh, Miggy and I are still so tired. Not being able to drive makes it more harder for us. (As they were both applying for their visas to be renewed they were unable to renew their driver's licences which had expired.) We have to ask friends if they are free or we take the taxi . . . Thank you for all the prayers.

Please continue your prayers for this lovely family whose faith in a loving God and our prayers for them are the sources of their strength.



Urgent request for prayers for three-year-old Mikko

Mikko with his mother Gee-Gee

Please pray for three-year old Miguel 'Mikko' Torres Dimayuga who has been suffering from pneumonia for the last week and has been in intensive care for the last four days, a place where he has frequently been, including last Christmas, since he was born with a number of serious disabilities on 22 May 2007.

His mother, Mary Geraldine, ‘Gee-Gee’, is the former assistant editor of Misyon, is from Bacolod City and his father Miguel, ‘Miggy’ or ‘Mike’, from Manila. I visited the family in Atlanta for a weekend just over a month ago while on a visit to Canada. I gave Miggy and Gee-Gee a short retreat some years ago at the end of which Miggy formally proposed marriage to Gee-Gee. In 2006 I officiated at their wedding in Manila.

Their second child, Milagros Catalina 'Mica', named after both grandmothers, was born 14 June 2008.

The driving licenses of both have expired and they can’t renew them until they do the necessary paperwork to renew their visas in the USA. However, Filipino friends are very kindly offering their services as drivers during these difficult days.

Mikko, Miggy, Gee-Gee and Mica

Miggy wrote in an email: It is distressing to see Mikko not recovering as fast as he did during his first pneumonia three months ago. In that episode, we only stayed in the ICU three or four days before ‘graduating’ to the regular floor in preparation for discharge.


It’s been a particularly stressful week. It is a terrible feeling for me to see Mikko sick. As a father, I would love to be able to wave a magic wand and make everything better. If I could trade all that I have to ensure his full recovery, I would do it without even blinking. Then I am comforted by the fact that if a simple man like me can love like that, God surely can and does love Mikko infinitely more.

Mikko with his mother Gee-Gee