THE CLOAK

These past few days St. Martha's Church have been sponsoring the sheltering and feeding of the homeless. In fact several volunteers coming from different ministries and prayer groups in the parish have made themselves available for this activity. It is a pooling of resources which amounted to something big. It became a venue of good works where the Lord abides forever for where there is love there is God. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
...Then Solomon said, “The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud; 13 I have truly built you a princely house, a dwelling where you may abide forever.”

We should be proud of these people who are actively participating in Church's civic activities like the feeding of the homeless. It has created an image for our Church a place of comfort and rest. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 132:6-7, 8-10
R: Lord, go up to the place of your rest!
...May your priests be clothed with justice; let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy...

These homeless people are everywhere there's an activity like this for them. They have flocked around at St. Martha's for days so as to avail of these services and benefits being provided for them. In fact several prayer groups and ministries are not able to conduct their regular meetings there because the rooms are being used for this purpose. In the same way the people in today's gospel scurried about just to get near Jesus and be healed. They are both in need of something they lack thus they scurry about to get near the source of this need. We may not be homeless and sick as these people in the gospel and in St. Martha's but just like them we, too need to scurry about to Jesus who is the source of all healing be it physical or spiritual. More than 2000 years ago, Jesus in His earthly ministry was perceived by the crowd as Healer. They believed that even the tassel of His clothes can bring about healing. Jesus may not be present to us anymore walking in physical form of flesh and blood like He did before but we must realize that He makes Himself available to us to be touched through the sacraments. In the pouring of the water and oil those things themselves, heal not because of the properties it has but because of Christ. He instituted these things as an extension of His flesh. He took flesh in the womb of Mary in order that we may be recreated through the experience of His flesh. It is nice to think about the connection of the pen and the hand to write a book. The ability to write in connection to the soul acts through the hand with a tool such as the pen. Today's gospel illustrates us these wonderful connections that we can benefit from as believers of Jesus. The tassel connected to the human body of Jesus has the ability to heal. In the same way that the 7 sacraments is God and the presence of Jesus’ flesh that heals. We must thank God for the sacraments that we can each receive to fulfill what creation was meant for from the beginning. The 7 days of creation and the 7th day, the Sabbath. We must not neglect this truth and through grace we must prepare ourselves for this. We thank God that we can touch His cloak in the sacraments. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 6:53-56
...They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.