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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
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Gospel text (Mk 5:21-43): Jesus (…) stayed close to the sea. 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.” (...). 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.” (...)

The act of faith

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, Jairus entrusts Jesus beyond what he could humanly expect. In him we contemplate the itinerary of the Act of Faith. First, faith is God's gift and the action of grace which acts and transforms the person deep within. The knowledge of the mysteries that we believe in is not enough if afterward our heart – a person’s true tabernacle - is not open by grace.

Second, faith implies a task and a public testimony and commitment (it is not something simply private). Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him, and precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes.

—The knowledge of faith introduces us into the entire salvific mystery revealed by God. There is not a "faith a la carte" (I accept only what I like); the given assent implies that, when we believe, we freely accept the whole mystery of faith, If I truly trust in God, then I accept whatever may come from Him.