This weekend’s Gospel passage describes TWO miracles performed by Jesus, the healing of a woman from her chronic bleeding disease and the revival of the dead daughter of Jairus to life. The stories actually have several common features. One woman is 12 years old, and the other has suffered for 12 years. Both are called “daughter,” and both are in need of physical healing. The girl’s father is encouraged to have faith, and the older woman is praised for her faith. The two stories illustrate Jesus’ power over both chronic illness and death. In each healing, Jesus shows his marvelous generosity by giving the recipients life and salvation in addition to physical healing. These healings certainly point to the fact that Jesus highly respected life for all God’s loved ones, both adults and children. We can see vividly many qualities of Jesus in these healings: Jesus is generous, kind and compassionate. These miracles were worked by Jesus as a reward for the trusting faith of the child’s father and the woman with a hemorrhage. True…the faith of the father may have been a bit defective and the woman’s faith may have been a bit on the side of superstition…but Jesus amply rewarded their less than perfect faith by granting them both health and life. What lesson shall we take from this piece of the Gospel? There are many, but this time, let’s consider our own Christian call to be healers. I’m not talking about any of us performing extraordinary miracles on the street corners of Troy. BUT, I am talking about the many opportunities we have as baptized Christians to: bring healing to members in our families who are at odds…bring healing to members of our parish who are homebound (a simple visit can bring great healing to their heavy hearts)…bring healing to a stranger we pass at the Price Chopper just by offering a smile and asking “How is your day going?” We all could make a list of possibilities here a mile long. What would be on your list? Do you have a list? What so many people today need is simply our expressed care, concern and prayerful presence, enabling them to experience through us the love, compassion and mercy of Jesus. Christians are called to be compassionate, “wounded healers.” Perhaps Henri Nouwen, the Catholic theologian, has said this better than anyone else. The author of many books, Nouwen speaks of Christians as "wounded healers" who have compassion. Compassion is not pity. Pity lets us stay at a distance. It is condescending. Compassion is not sympathy. Sympathy is for superiors over inferiors. Compassion is not charity. Charity is for the rich to continue in their status over the poor. Compassion is born of God. It means entering into the other person's problems. It means taking on the burdens of the other. It means standing in the other person's shoes. It is the opposite of professionalism. It is the humanizing way to deal with people. "Just as bread without love can bring war instead of peace, professionalism without compassion will turn forgiveness into a gimmick.” Gospel Question for the Week: Do you consider yourself a compassionate person?