Dear brothers and sisters!

Often, in sorrow and distress, we turn to God and ask for help, for when we are comfortable and in good health, we are little inclined to think about our souls, salvation, or giving thanks to God. That is why the Lord, in His wise Providence, sometimes sends us severe trials in life, so that we may remember and understand that God governs all things, calling us to come to true understanding and to find the faith that leads to salvation. Every time God answers our plea for help, our hearts fill with gratitude and joy that God, in His love and mercy, has heard us. But sometimes, as time passes, we forget this, and our faith grows weak. The Gospel reading for this Sunday gives us two examples of faith in the Savior’s help, through which miracles were performed: the Lord’s raising of Jairus’s daughter and the healing of the woman with an issue of blood.

Let me remind you of the contents of this Gospel.

When Jesus Christ left the land of the Gadarenes, whose inhabitants had driven Him away, He crossed to the other side of the Sea of Tiberias, where a great multitude had gathered, eager to hear His teaching. At that time, a synagogue ruler named Jairus came to Him, fell at the Savior’s feet, and asked Him to heal his only daughter, who was twelve years old and at the point of death. Jesus immediately went to Jairus’s house. A large crowd followed Him along the way, including a woman who had suffered from a severe issue of blood for twelve years and had spent all her wealth on treatment, but no one had been able to help her. When she heard about the Savior, she was filled with faith: if only she could touch the edge of His garment, she would be healed. According to the law of that time, a woman suffering from this illness was considered unclean and was not to associate with anyone. But this woman had such faith in Jesus Christ that she decided to break the prohibition. Her faith was not in vain: as soon as she touched Him, she was healed. Christ stopped and asked the people: Who touched Me? Everyone was silent. Of course, the Lord knew who had touched Him, but He asked in order to reveal the woman’s faith for the instruction of those around her. The Apostle Peter said to the Lord: Master! The people are crowding around You and pressing against You, and You ask, “Who touched Me?” But the Lord said: Someone touched Me, for I felt power go out from Me. Then the woman, seeing that she could not remain hidden, came trembling and fell before the Lord, and declared to Him in front of all the people why she had touched Him and how she had been healed at once. According to Jewish law, she had committed an offense, since she was unclean, and so she fearfully awaited condemnation and punishment for what she had done. But the merciful Lord comforted her with the words: Take heart, daughter; your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction (Mark 5:34).

While the Lord was saying this, people came from Jairus’s house and told him that his daughter had already died, saying: Do not trouble the Teacher. But Christ, hearing this, said to Jairus: Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be saved, and went with him. Everyone in Jairus’s house was weeping and mourning for the dead girl, but the Lord said: Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping. The girl’s death was so obvious to those around her that they even began to laugh at Jesus. The Lord allowed no one to remain in the house except His disciples Peter, James, and John, and the girl’s father and mother. Going up to the dead girl’s body, He took her by the hand and commanded: Girl, I say to you, arise! Her spirit returned, and she immediately arose at the Lord’s word. He told them to give her something to eat, to convince those around her that she had truly been raised from the dead. The miracle amazed her parents, but Christ commanded them not to tell the people what had happened. Perhaps this would have been of no use to them; they would not have believed anyway, but would have laughed again and demanded proof of the miracle.

What lessons can we draw from today’s Gospel? In the account of the woman with an issue of blood and Jairus’s daughter, we see how God, having become Man, walked upon the earth. God’s love and mercy answered every human need: hunger, illness, sorrow, and death. When the distinguished and wealthy synagogue ruler Jairus, anxious and heartbroken over his dying daughter, humbly turned to the Lord, Christ, knowing his faith, immediately responded to his anguish. The Lord set aside everything He was doing in order to go to the dying girl. In the Gospel, the Lord says: I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done for you (John 13:15). Here is an example for us: when you encounter someone in need, hear a cry for help or a cry of anguish—go. Set aside whatever you are doing; go, because someone needs you.

Furthermore, from today’s Gospel we can draw this truth: only a believer can receive help from the Lord. If you can believe, the Lord says, all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). There is no sorrow, no calamity that the almighty Lord cannot heal. No matter how dire our circumstances, we should not lose heart or despair, but should hope in the Lord’s power and mercy, for He said: Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me (Psalm 50). Faith is a gift from God. The apostles themselves prayed: Lord, increase our faith (Luke 17:5). Believing, we must turn to the Lord with all our hearts, trust in Him, humble ourselves under His mighty hand, and hold fast to an unwavering hope in God’s saving Providence.

How like the people surrounding the dead girl we sometimes are. The Lord Himself came and said: She is not dead; she is sleeping. But then we are told that the people “knew” she was dead, and they laughed at the Savior’s words. While she was ill, they thought, one could hope for a miracle; but now she was dead, and it was ridiculous to speak of there being hope for life. The same is true of us. The Lord lived, died, and rose again. He tells us that death is temporary, like sleep; that beyond this temporary earthly life lies eternal life, in which souls continue to live, followed by the resurrection of the body on the day of the glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Yet we go on saying, “He has died; she has died.” The Apostle tells us: I do not want you to be without hope, like the rest who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). We hear these words, and still we often weep inconsolably and “know” that before us lies someone who has died. And although the Lord raised Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, assuring us that there is a resurrection, we still “know” that death exists and do not believe in eternal life. The stark reality of death frightens us and shuts out our faith in eternal life.

For Christ, there is no death—there is life, and there is falling asleep. The Gospel account of Jairus’s daughter coming back to life is an affirmation of life over death, of bright hope over gloomy appearances, of life-giving faith over faithlessness that destroys. Let us trust the Lord with all our hearts, and His confident voice will resound in our souls: Do not be afraid; only believe, and you will see the glory of God (John 11:40).

Brothers and sisters! How often our faith wavers in times of trial. How often, when faced with obstacles, failures, and opposition to our good intentions, we are ready to despair and abandon the good work we have begun. May today’s Gospel words strengthen us: Do not be afraid; only believe! We must always hope in the mercy of our Savior, remembering His words: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened (Matt. 7:8).

Jairus’s prayer for his dying daughter is an example of prayer for our neighbors. We must pray for our relatives and friends, for all those near and far, for the living and the departed. Christians in the Church are bound together by the grace of the Holy Spirit in strong bonds of love, according to the Apostle’s words: You are the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27); for we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body (1 Cor. 12:13). Even when someone prays alone, he must understand that he is praying together with the whole Church. Our prayer joins the stream of prayers offered by our brothers in the faith. That is why the Lord commanded us to pray, saying, Our Father, and not My Father—that is, to pray on behalf of the Church and not only for ourselves.

Sometimes people, lacking true love for their neighbor, turn away from one another, saying, “This person is dead to me; our friendship or love is dead.” The Lord tells us that it has only fallen asleep, that it lies hidden, but is still alive. Yet we do not believe Him and say, “I know it’s all dead; it has withered to the root.” Through the parable of the barren tree that was tended for three years until it came back to life, Christ reminds us that love and life do not die, and that everything can be raised to life by His word. Do not believe those who say, “Everything is lost.” Sometimes those around us tell us sadly, “We know nothing can be done. Why waste your efforts trying to help? This person is dead in spirit; he cannot be changed.” Then let us remember the Savior’s words: “This person is not dead—he is only sleeping.” His soul has dozed off, fallen asleep, and grown cold. But if God speaks a living word, and we come to his aid with love, it will awaken! And it is we, not someone else, who are called to speak this word of compassion.

Today’s Gospel also helps us understand how we may be healed of our afflictions. It speaks of bodily ailments—the girl’s illness and the woman with the flow of blood. Let us note that in both cases the illness is said to have lasted twelve years. Perhaps this same length of time points to a common underlying cause: the spiritual afflictions so characteristic of human beings.

Our soul is sick with sin. At times it suffers in sin, like the woman with the flow of blood; sometimes it comes close to death without receiving healing—yet healing is possible, as the Gospel assures us. Jairus and the sick woman came and fell at the feet of Jesus. They humbled themselves before Him and asked for His help with deep faith. The woman did not even dare to ask; she simply believed that if she touched Him, she would be healed. In her humble prayer, the woman with the flow of blood said not a word about her healing, but believed in her heart that the Lord would hear and help her. And indeed, her silent prayer was heard. The Lord healed her, knowing her faith, and said: Your faith has saved you; go in peace. If we too will fall down before God, humbling ourselves before Him, and ask Him with firm faith, “Lord, cleanse me of my sins,” then the Lord will surely heal our souls.

Sometimes we do not feel the sickness of sin within us. Our soul has become so intertwined with sin that we can no longer tell where our immortal soul ends and sin begins. But sometimes the Lord’s word touches our heart, and it comes to life: our conscience awakens, as does our sense of shame, and we understand that in sinning we are acting against God. The voice of conscience begins to sound ever louder, and we begin to see and notice more and more of our sins, gaining sight like a blind person. It can happen that someone notices that when he was farther from the Church, he seemed, to himself, to be a better person, but now that he has drawn closer, he seems to have become worse. The reason is that before, he did not see many of his sins, but now he sees more and more, just as in bright light we can see even a small stain on our clothes.

Often, year after year, we confess the same sins and repeat them again. Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood may have been no less sinful before God than we are, but they wanted healing and asked the Lord for help—and received it. Yet sometimes we do not want to be freed from our sins, that is, from eternal death. Although we know the habits and circumstances that stand in the way of our salvation, and our conscience points them out to us, sin is so familiar and attractive to us, so close and sweet, that we forget the Kingdom of Heaven. In our minds we understand and recognize our sinfulness; at times we confess our sins, but in practice it turns out that we lack a firm desire to be rid of them, and we lack resolve and strength of will. We reassure ourselves and are lenient with ourselves. Yet we can turn to the Lord in prayer and ask, “Lord, I hate sin; I want to be rid of it. Help me.” And if, after such fervent prayer from the depths of our souls, we draw near to the Lord in Holy Communion, He will heal us by His grace.

Sometimes we merely name our sins in confession, but this is not true repentance; it is only a listing of our sins. The sin remains in our soul, and then we receive Communion to our own judgment and condemnation. That is why the Apostle Paul says: For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and many have died (1 Cor. 11:30). True repentance means changing our entire way of life—our thoughts, habits, and attachments. If we acted in this way with a fervent desire, healing would come instantly, as it did for the woman with the flow of blood. This is what we must strive for. Yet perhaps we strive instead for outward well-being: to stay healthy, to be provided for, to live in comfort and plenty, and to live an exciting and carefree life. And so the years pass, and we waste our time without turning to God with all our hearts, enduring hardships and spiritual suffering, spending our possessions on physicians for “twelve years” or more, and still refusing to fall down before the Lord in hope of healing.

Christianity, unlike other religions, is a painful and demanding struggle against sin, tearing it out of our souls. It is suffering freely accepted, a narrow path of moral transformation, the striving to become a saint instead of a sinner. Christianity calls for sacrifice and spiritual struggle. It is no accident that we venerate the Cross: it is an image of crucifixion, the shedding of blood, and suffering. Yet because of our weakness, we often seek a calm, undisturbed life and wish to avoid suffering. But if we have no desire to struggle against sin, then we have no true repentance, whose meaning lies in the fervent desire to change, to cleanse and heal our souls of sin.

Brothers and sisters! If we continually ask the Lord to heal our souls with the same fervor and earnestness as Jairus asked for his dying daughter and as the woman with the issue of blood, who longed to be freed from her many years of illness, then the Lord will grant healing, for He is unchanging in His desire to heal us according to our faith, as it is said in Holy Scripture: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). Therefore, let us ask Him to heal our souls through His mercy, as today’s Gospel teaches us.

Translated from the original article in Russian.