God Who Gives Everything

𝐅𝐄𝐁. 𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟏 𝐊𝐠𝐬 𝟖:𝟏-𝟕, 𝟗-𝟏

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟑𝟐:𝟔-𝟏𝟎 “𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐠𝐨 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐊 𝟔:𝟓𝟑-𝟓𝟔                

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝.” (𝐯.𝟓𝟔)

         Many years back, the Philippines became a favorite destination of foreigners particularly Russian nationals who come not only to see the many attractive tourist destinations in the country but also to place their fate in the hands of Filipino faith healers. In fact, travel agents abroad have included a visit to actual healing sessions by these faith healers as part of their itinerary.

        And even to this day and age there are still many who still advertise themselves, through the word of mouth, as gifted with the ability to heal the sick and people from all walks of life go to them with the hope they will get healed and some of them do get healed. Some claim their gift of healing was passed on to them by their forefathers and they normally chant Latin incantations before they conduct their healing sessions.

         Faith healers as they are called normally hold their healing sessions on a Friday but because of the number of people whose hope lie in them many of them now hold daily healing sessions. Regardless of whether they are gifted or not we cannot discount the probability that God can also use them to bring healing in accordance with his Will and pleasure.

         Every person has the gift of faith in them especially baptized Catholics because the gift of faith is one of the three virtues that comes as a gift from God that is given through the Holy Spirit at the time a person is baptized in the Church.

         Non-Catholics also has this gift of faith as with everyone who is born into this world although they do not recognize this as such the way we Catholics do. And people grow up with faith in their minds if not in their hearts. Relying on something or someone is a manifestation of faith and people will always have faith in something or someone.

         What separates Catholics from the rest is in the object of our faith. Generally, our faith lies in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

         This gospel passage could very well be a story about faith as the people only needed to touch Jesus, his garment and or even the tassels of his robe and all who touched him were healed (𝐯.𝟓𝟔).

         However, there was something conspicuous in this passage that reveals the people’s behavior especially those who are desperate and have lost whatever options may be available to them and this was evident right at the beginning of the passage when Mark wrote that when Jesus and his disciples disembarked at Gennesaret and when the people recognized Jesus, “𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 – 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐤” (𝐯𝐯.𝟓𝟓-𝟓𝟔).        

         If we are to get inside this gospel scenario itself, Mark’s description will tell us there was pandemonium and chaos that the disciples of Jesus must have had a difficult time putting order amidst the multitude who wanted to be healed. Certainly, people were pressing against one another as they jostled at each other just to get near Jesus to touch him and or the edge of his garment.

         Hence, this passage tells us of the different levels of faith the people had and since the people in Gennesaret may have already heard what Jesus did in the other regions of Galilee and in Capernaum they ran and brought the sick to be healed as soon as “they recognized Jesus.”

         What then is faith? Faith is one of the three virtues that God infuses in those who are sacramentally baptized. It is a gift that God gives to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. This faith that has been infused in us and which is sustained by the presence of the Holy Spirit is what propels a person to believe and trust in God.

         It is the Holy Spirit that energizes our minds that helps us to understand, accept, and believe the Word of God and the truths contained in the doctrines and dogmas of our Catholic faith. But since this virtue is a gift of God it means that faith can either grow depending on the docility of the person and or a person can also lose it by his rejection of the Word of God and the teachings of the Church.

        Thus, we can all grow in faith by making it a habit to spend time to not only read the Sacred Scriptures but by internalizing what it says, by listening to God's Word with absolute trust and confidence and yielding to what the Scriptures prescribe especially in this Year of Faith. Faith also grows through the different trials that we encounter in our lives and on the degree of perseverance that we have.

         Such perseverance was evident in the way the people rushed to wherever Jesus went and what was significant was that “𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝” (𝐯.𝟓𝟔) which could only mean that there was no discrimination on the part of Jesus and he healed them all even if it lasted through the night.

         There are two things that make this passage significant. One was that those who recognized Jesus were healed which means that while healing largely depends on the Will of God, it would greatly help if the person seeking healing will recognize the lordship of Christ. The other was that these signs, wonders and various healing miracles were made as God’s own testimony of the power of his Word made manifest by the gifts of the Holy Spirit (𝐇𝐞𝐛 𝟐:𝟒).

         There was, however, a downside to these events depicted in this passage which was very evident. While the large number of people may have been drawn to seek healing from Jesus as a last resort, it was also apparent that many of those came just to get something out of him.

         This is a natural tendency even today when people patronize those from whom they can get something from. And today, many still come to Jesus to get something out of him, and we can see this in our prayers of petition and supplication.

        People even pray that they may win the jackpot prize in the lotto draw and it simply is natural that people come to Jesus because they recognize him as an all-powerful God who can do wonders for them even if is unconscionable to just use him and get something out of him and give nothing back.

        Today, there are self-proclaimed faith healers who claim God is working through them and large crowds go to them hoping to be healed. Before I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in the Life in the Spirit Seminar, I also patronized a medical practitioner who claimed God was working through him and he gave me drugs he claims he formulated but which later turned out to be steroids.

         There were times I even went to quacks and even feng shui practitioners and all turned into a dud as I never received the healing I sought. But that was a long ago and I have since rebuked my foolishness after I finished my LSS and the formation program that followed reignited my faith in the One True God.

         But supposing we reverse this scenario that instead of coming to Jesus to get something out of him, we’d rather go to him to offer him our love, devotion and service. Don’t you think Jesus would be more pleased if we are to come to him by just offering him all that we are and have? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘍𝘦𝘣. 9, 2026)