Our Gospel this morning shows us that Jesus has authority over illness and death. In other words, it shows us that He restores and brings to life. But that’s not just the truth for those in the Gospel; it’s not just the truth that Jesus brought those things in His time…it’s still true today. Jesus still has authority over illness. He still has authority over death.  He still restores. He still brings to life.

Every single one of us has an area of our hearts that is sick.; every one of us has an area of our hearts that is dead, that needs to be restored and brought to life. Jesus knows what those areas are. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Our job is to invite Him into those spaces, to invite Him to reveal them to us. It’s our job to ask Him to bring His love, His presence into our hearts so that we can be restored and brought back to life.

Here’s the thing: if we don’t experience that restoration and healing, we cannot fulfill our full mission of going out and proclaiming the Gospel. Why? Because we haven’t encountered Jesus at the core of who we are. So today, let’s invite the Lord into our hearts. Let’s ask Him to reveal to us the parts of our hearts that need His healing, need His grace, need His love. He so desperately desires to restore us. He so desperately desires to bring us to life so that we can go out and share the Good News to those that we meet.

Photo: Jesus Encounters Woman. Image generated using Jetpack AI Assistant.

Readings for Mass: Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time