“I am an invisible man...I am a
man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said
to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to
see me.”
“Not everything that is faced
can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin
(As Much Truth
As One Can Bear, New York Times)
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
THREE WOMEN
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Three Women.”
Today - February 5th is the Feast of St.
Agatha - and I’ll be reading the gospel for today - the 4th Monday
in Ordinary Time - Mark 5: 21-43.
I would like to talk about 3 women.
THE FIRST WOMAN
The first woman is the daughter of Jairus - a 12 year
oldgirl.
She’s the daughter of a synagogue official and she is
critically ill.
The story here in the gospel of Mark is a wonderful story
- with various tiny details. It shows the love of a father for his daughter.
Jesus takes her by the hand.The
assumption is that it’s a story closer to the time of Jesus - because it has
Aramaic in it, “Talita koum”. It’s about her - not Jesus. He asks the family to
keep it quiet. That’s significant - because there is a large crowd outside the
house. And lastly Jesus says, “Get her something to eat.”
THE SECOND WOMAN
The second woman is also in today’s gospel. She is a woman who has medical problems - problems with
her blood. She has had her blood problems for 12 years - for as long as Jairus’
daughter has lived.
Mark is the best of the 4 gospels for details. He tells
us that the woman has gone broke with medical bills from doctors.
She comes up with a plan. Obviously she has heard that
Jesus is a healer - so her plan is to sneak up behind Jesus when he’s in a
crowd and just touch the hem of his garment andbe healed.
She does just that and Jesus feels his healing powers
going out of him and into this woman and she is healed.
Jesus turns around and asks, “Who touched me?”
Finally, the woman
fesses up. She has been healed. Jesus
tells her to go in peace and be free of your illness.
THE THIRD WOMAN
Those two women are in today’s gospel.
This third woman is Saint Agatha. Today is her feast day.
She was an early Christian martyr.
She was killed around 253 A.D.
The church presents 4 women martyrs for the 4 winter
months: Cecilia - November; Lucy - December; Saint Agnes - January; and today’s
saint, Saint Agatha -February.
Agathawas a
virgin Martyr. She was challenged to give up her chastity and virginityto a tyrant down there in Southern Italy - in
Sicily. She was beaten and martyred.
Great legends and stories came up about these women
saints in the church.
Here is the statistic that grabbed me about St. Agatha.
Last night, when reading up about Saint Agatha I read that religious ceremonies
and processions last 3 days at this moment in Catalania, Sicily. Two different
articles that I read said that it’s the second largest religious ceremonies in
the whole world.Over 1 million people
are in Catania in Sicily for St. Agatha every February 3, 4 and 5th.
I assume the 1st is the annual pilgrimage of Muslims
- the HAJJ - to Mecca. Over 2 million go there in August or so - for 5 days.
A big silver cart that weighs 40,000 pounds - with a very expensive
statue ofSt. Agatha - is pushed
through the city. Type into Google, Saint Agatha, for details - especially
thousands of men in white pushing the carriage that is loaded with jewelry
