Your Faith Has Saved You

Where We Are

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time. The evangelist Matthew gives us a story within a story: a synagogue leader begs Jesus to raise his dead daughter, and on the way, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years touches the hem of Jesus's garment. Both stories are about desperate faith that reaches out when all hope seems lost. The prophet Hosea provides the first reading, with God speaking tenderly to Israel as a lover who will not give up.

The Word

A synagogue ruler kneels before Jesus: "Lord, my daughter has recently passed away. But come and impose your hand upon her, and she will live." On the way, a woman who has suffered from bleeding for twelve years approaches from behind and touches the hem of Jesus's garment. She believes that even touching his clothing will heal her. Jesus turns: "Be strengthened in faith, daughter; your faith has made you whole" (Matthew 9:22). She is healed instantly. Jesus then enters the ruler's house, takes the dead girl by the hand, and she rises.

Today's Full Readings

First Reading — Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22

Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Gospel — Matthew 9:18-26

Read the full Scripture text

Continue Reading

Sign in to read the full devotional and receive it in your inbox each morning - a quiet moment of reflection to start your day.

Send me the daily devotional by email each morning

By signing in, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Reflect

The hemorrhaging woman has been suffering for twelve years, the same span of time the girl has been alive. One life has been draining away while the other has been growing. Both need Jesus at the same moment. And Jesus is large enough for both.

The woman approaches from behind because her condition makes her ritually unclean. Everything and everyone she touches becomes unclean. She has been excluded from worship, from community, from normal life for over a decade. Her touch should defile Jesus. Instead, his power flows outward and heals her. Once again, as with the leper, holiness is more contagious than sin.

The ruler's faith is equally remarkable. His daughter is already dead. He is not asking for healing but for resurrection. "Come and impose your hand upon her, and she will live." This is faith beyond reason, the kind that trusts God even when the situation is literally dead.

Hosea's image of God as a tender lover pursuing unfaithful Israel provides the emotional context. "I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart." God does not give up on his beloved. He pursues, he woos, he heals. The woman's twelve years of suffering and the girl's death are not the end of the story. God speaks to the heart, even in the wilderness.

Living It

If you have been suffering a long time, take courage from the hemorrhaging woman. She had been sick for twelve years and was healed in an instant. Your moment of healing may be closer than you think.

Reach out and touch the hem of Jesus's garment today. It might look like a simple prayer, a moment of surrender, or a decision to trust again after years of disappointment.

If a situation in your life feels dead, bring it to Jesus anyway. The ruler's daughter was beyond help by human standards, but not by God's.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, our faith may be small, but your power is limitless. Like the woman who touched your garment, we reach out to you in our need. Like the father who believed for his dead daughter, we trust you with what seems impossible. Speak to our hearts. Heal what has been bleeding. Raise what has died. Amen.

Today's reflection draws from Matthew 9:18-26 and Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22 (CPDV), per the Ordo Lectionum Missae.