Mark 5, 21-34 + CSDC and CV

Mark 5, 21-34 + CSDC and CV

CV 72b. Nevertheless, if such efforts are to have lasting effects, they must be based on values rooted in the truth of human life. That is, the voice of the peoples affected must be heard and their situation must be taken into consideration, if their expectations are to be correctly interpreted. One must align oneself, so to speak, with the unsung efforts of so many individuals deeply committed to bringing peoples together and to facilitating development on the basis of love and mutual understanding. Among them are members of the Christian faithful, involved in the great task of upholding the fully human dimension of development and peace.

The unchanging message of the Gospel and the Church's social teaching

CSDC 568a. The lay faithful are called to identify steps that can be taken in concrete political situations in order to put into practice the principles and values proper to life in society. This calls for a method of discernment [1188], at both the personal and community levels, structured around certain key elements: knowledge of the situations, analyzed with the help of the social sciences and other appropriate tools; systematic reflection on these realities in the light of the unchanging message of the Gospel and the Church's social teaching; identification of choices aimed at assuring that the situation will evolve positively.

Notes: [1188] Cf. Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 8, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, pp. 13-14.

(Mk 5, 21-34) Your faith has saved you    

 [21] 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. [22] One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet [23] 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." [24] He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him. [25] There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. [26] 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. [27] She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. [28] She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." [29] Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. [30] Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?" [31] But his disciples said to him, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'" [32] And he looked around to see who had done it. [33] The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. [34] He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

CSDC 261. During his earthly ministry Jesus works tirelessly, accomplishing powerful deeds to free men and women from sickness, suffering and death. The Sabbath — which the Old Testament had put forth as a day of liberation and which, when observed only formally, lost its authentic significance — is reaffirmed by Jesus in its original meaning: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27). By healing people on this day of rest (cf. Mt 12:9-14; Mk 3:1-6; Lk 6:6-11, 13:10-17, 14:1-6), he wishes to show that the Sabbath is his, because he is truly the Son of God, and that it is the day on which men should dedicate themselves to God and to others. Freeing people from evil, practising brotherhood and sharing: these give to work its noblest meaning, that which allows humanity to set out on the path to the eternal Sabbath, when rest will become the festive celebration to which men and women inwardly aspire. It is precisely in orienting humanity towards this experience of God's Sabbath and of his fellowship of life that work is the inauguration on earth of the new creation.

[Initials and Abbreviations.- CSDC: Pontifical Council for Justice And Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; -  SDC: Social Doctrine of the Church; - CV: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth)],