Mk 5, 35-43 Little girl, I say to you, arise!

(Mk 5, 35-43) Little girl, I say to you, arise!

[35] 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?" [36] Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." [37] He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. [38] When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. [39] So he went in and said to them, "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep." [40] 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. [41] He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" [42] The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. (At that) they were utterly astounded. [43] He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

(CCC 413) "God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living…It was through the devil's envy that death entered the world" (Wis 1:13; 2:24). (CCC 646) Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is "the man of heaven" (Cf. 1 Cor 15:35-50). (CCC 994) But there is more. Jesus links faith in the resurrection to his own person: "I am the Resurrection and the life" (Jn 11:25). It is Jesus himself who on the last day will raise up those who have believed in him, who have eaten his body and drunk his blood (Cf. Jn 5:24-25; 6:40, 54). Already now in this present life he gives a sign and pledge of this by restoring some of the dead to life (Cf. Mk 5:21-42; Lk 7:11-17; Jn 11), announcing thereby his own Resurrection, though it was to be of another order. He speaks of this unique event as the "sign of Jonah" (Mt 12:39). The sign of the temple: he announces that he will be put to death but rise thereafter on the third day (Cf. Mk 10:34; Jn 2:19-22). (CCC 997) What is "rising"? In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus' Resurrection.