"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)

Reading 1 - Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24

God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world are wholesome,
and there is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who belong to his company experience it.

Responsorial Psalm - Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13

R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the netherworld;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Reading 2 - 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15

Brothers and sisters:
As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse,
knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you,
may you excel in this gracious act also.
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.
Not that others should have relief while you are burdened,
but that as a matter of equality
your abundance at the present time should supply their needs,
so that their abundance may also supply your needs,
that there may be equality.
As it is written:
Whoever had much did not have more,
and whoever had little did not have less.

Alleluia - Cf. 2 Tm 1:10

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel  - Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat
to the other side,
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
"My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live."
He went off with him,
and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured."
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?"
But his disciples said to Jesus,
"You see how the crowd is pressing upon you,
and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'"
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her,
approached in fear and trembling.
She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."
While he was still speaking,
people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said,
"Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?"
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
"Do not be afraid; just have faith."
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
"Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep."
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child's father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum,"
which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.

It is not avoiding suffering or escaping from pain that heals a person, but the ability to accept it and mature in it leads to finding meaning through union with Christ who suffered with infinite love.

Suffering, pain, loss, tears have always been part of our lives, and whether we want it or not, sooner or later, more often or less often, we face such experiences that put us to a spiritual sleep, like Jairus' daughter, bend under their weight or take life from us, like that woman who suffered from bleeding. Her weakness is quite interesting when we look at it in a spiritual sense. Blood in the Bible is a symbol of life, the loss of blood is the loss of life, the waste of life, and we associate life with happiness, peace and joy. Suffering effectively strips us of all this, pushing us into despair, sadness, depression, and looking for someone to blame. When I suffer, I feel that my heart is washed out, that it is not beating as it should, that what touched me pierced my heart like a nail. I walk around with this wounded, leaking heart, I try to live, although often this life is meaningless, it doesn't make me happy, it doesn't taste good to me. I smile, even though it's a forced smile, but inside I feel dead, empty, cold. I don't like this state, so I'm looking for a way out, I want to go back to the previous state, to the peace in which I lived, to smile again, to be happy, to have no problems. I want a life without suffering. Sometimes I think that the main reason for my suffering is the constant search for a life without suffering, living in the belief that there is nothing difficult, that everything should go well, that I should prosper all the time, and when something difficult comes, immediately a problem appears. Is the problem the suffering itself, or rather my experience of suffering, pain, loss? Because the fact that there will be suffering is as certain as the sun that will rise again tomorrow and shine in the sky. The only question is: do I remember this certainty? How many of us are thinking about what shopping to do for Sunday's lunch? How many of us think about what to spend the money we save on? And how many have recently thought about suffering, about the fact that our peaceful world may one day collapse because of one death, illness, loss or failure. In such a peaceful world lived Jairus, lived also this woman. But because of one disease she lost twelve years of her life, time, strength, health, money, she lost everything. Likewise, Jairus lost everything when his daughter died. Could these situations have been predicted? It's not about predicting, because why predict what has already been predicted? Suffering, loss, failure, difficult experiences will come anyway, and no matter how I navigate my life, I will have to face them. It is not about prediction at all, but about preparation, it is about being vigilant so that suffering does not surprise us and does not overwhelm us, but that we accept it and, as Saint Benedict says: we have to be able to accept it and mature in it, that is, we are able to use difficult situations for our own spiritual strengthening. Some saints say that suffering can become a source of inner joy. It's a strange combination of words: suffering - joy, suffering - happiness, but that's what it is like if we experience it in the spirit of acceptance and belief that suffering is not an attack directed at us, but a chance for us to become better people. If instead of antidepressants, alcohol, the Internet or other stimulants, you cling to the fringe of Jesus' cloak, maybe you will not lose everything and you will save yourself months or years of depression, despair, searching for who knows what, some substitutes for love and happiness in things or people who won't give it to you. If you come to Jesus and tell Him that your soul is dying, believe me that He will awaken spiritual life in you, will awaken your soul to life again, even if other people have sentenced you to death. God may be the first or last person you turn to in your suffering. He may be the one you trust in difficulties and you will not be left alone, or the one you will ridicule and curse for your suffering and you will be left alone, like those people in the Gospel whom Jesus left. Believe it or not, the words from the first reading are very relevant: God did not cause death and does not rejoice in the destruction of the living. Cling to Jesus today, whether you suffer or not. Be ready together for what is good and for what is difficult. And by clinging I mean prayer, the sacraments, meditation on the Words of God. These two healed people represent the two sacraments. What did the woman suffering from hemorrhage do? She fell down before Jesus and told Him the whole truth. What do we associate confessing the truth before God with? With the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. And after raising Jairus' daughter from the dead, Jesus ordered that she be given something to eat, which is a reference to the Eucharist. Two sacraments of healing and strengthening in and from our suffering. All you need to do is trust Jesus. Jesus does not promise us a life without suffering, but he promises that in our sufferings he will be with us if we only cling to him, if we ask him for help. In everyday life they say: the calm comes before the storm, in spiritual life: do not put too much trust in peace, because it is a precursor to suffering. Will I go through this storm alone, will I get wet, will I be cold, will I be angry that the sky has rained, or will I ask Jesus for help? What difference? The difference is that Jesus always has an umbrella with him. Father Marcin Cwierz, OSPPE

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"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)