Today, the readings showed us that to God, nothing is impossible. For He has all the authority on this world and beyond. All lives lay under His power, and even death could not escape Him. This is because Christ Himself would conquer death, through His own death on the cross. His resurrection proved that death no longer has power over mankind. Christ bought us with His priceless and precious Blood from the enslavement of death and sin.

It is through His suffering on the cross, that Christ made all of us, especially those who believe in Him, pure and worthy of God’s Kingdom. It is through faith, that we are saved, just like the woman with the bleeding, whom out of her great faith, dared to push on and approached Jesus to be healed. Her effort paid off when the Lord healed her and also praised her for her great faith. Jairus, too, in his great faith, knowing that the Lord can save his daughter, reached out to Jesus, humbly asking Him to be willing to heal her.

Can we also be as humble and as faithful as they are? Many of us in this modern world, are particularly too proud to admit that we had erred, and that we had made mistakes in our lives. If we are so proud and unwilling to admit our faults to our fellow man, then even more so we are unwilling to admit our sin to God, and even to ask for forgiveness with great humility. Let us be not like the people in Jairus’ house, who laughed at Christ, and did not believe in Him, and His mastery over even death.

However, again, let us not be mistaken, that faith alone can save us fully and entirely, without any action in the practice of our faith. Our faith is not an instantaneous matter, since it takes action to nurture our faith in God, and our love of others. Just like Jairus who went all the way to seek for Jesus to heal his daughter, and the woman, who braved through the immense crowd to reach Jesus to touch His cloak. Can we also strive to do this extra effort to bring our faith into practice, to reach out to one another, and therefore in the end able to reach the Lord? Remember that Christ told us that whatever we do for those who are the least and weakest in our society, that we do it to the Lord, and in doing so, the Lord knows us and recognises us, as those worthy of Him and His Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_of_Sicily

Today, we also commemorate the feast day of St. Agatha, a well known martyr of the third century AD, who was martyred by the then still pagan Roman Empire. St. Agatha dedicated her virginity to God, and God alone, in a similar way to the nuns and religious today do. She was also very firm in her faith and deeply against paganism and idol worship in the Roman society at the time. When a pagan Roman prefect named Quintianus made approaches to her, she rejected him firmly, and this eventually led to her martyrdom, in defense of her faith, and of her virginity that she dedicated to God.

St. Agatha’s deep faith and practice of her faith through her martyrdom should be a great example to all of us the faithful in Christ. Not to follow her into martyrdom, but in always ensuring that our faith remain strong and alive, that when temptations and challenges come, we will be able to stand fast to our faith, and did not falter, even when faced with suffering or death. Let us live in accordance with the example made by St. Agatha and other holy saints of God, so that we too are found worthy to God and worthy of life eternal.

St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us. Amen.