Monday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel passage from Matthew, we have seen two people in need of help approaching Jesus, one of them a synagogue official who begs for help on behalf of his daughter, and the other, a woman suffering from bleeding, who comes to Jesus on her own behalf. The way these two people approach Jesus is quite different. The synagogue official approaches Jesus in a very public way, bowing low in front of Him and speaking his need and his request in a way that all can hear. The woman approaches Jesus secretively, just touching the tassel on His cloak, and talking only to herself, hoping that things might change for the better.

No two of us approach the LORD in the same way. Our way of relating to Jesus always has a quality that is unique to each of us personally, just as we each have a unique way of relating to other people. Both the synagogue official and the woman were people of faith, but they had different ways of expressing their faith. Our faith brings us together as a worshipping community, but in doing so, it does not suppress our individuality.

We see that, although the two approached Jesus in different ways, He responded generously to the needs of both. He made no distinction between them but was equally responsive to their need and their cry for help. God's response to us is always shaped by and respectful of the unique way that each of us approaches Him in our need.+