![Tita Gori (1870-1941) Jésus-Christ entouré de disciples et d'une sainte femme Collection privée By Jean-Marc Pascolo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tableau_de_Tita_Gori,_J%C3%A9sus-Christ_entour%C3%A9_de_disciples_et_d'une_sainte_femme.jpg)
Tita Gori (1870-1941)
Jésus-Christ entouré de disciples et d’une sainte femme
Collection privée
By Jean-Marc Pascolo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Jesus is the unifying force of all those who believe in the holy power of his name.
[Jesus replied,] “There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.”
Ottheinrich-Bibel, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Blatt 55v: Heilung des Taubstummen, Mk 7,31-37
ca.1425-1430
Jesus touches my ears and I hear the cries of those who are grieving, discouraged, abused, abandoned, ignored, scorned, in need of shelter, love, and comfort.
Jesus touches my tongue and I speak out plainly in support of those who need hope, justice, faith, peace, encouragement, and compassion.
Jesus is not afraid to touch those in need.
Am I?
[Jesus] put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. Mark 7:33-35
Laura James
The Woman Suffering from Hemorrhages
acrylic on canvas, 2007
Private Collection
Medicine is a practice and doctors don’t always have the answer. But Jesus does.
Today I am going to practice having faith that Jesus has the cure for my ailments, illnesses, and anxieties. I am going to practice reaching out to touch his cloak of compassion, mercy, and peace. I am going to practice tuning in to feel the Lord’s healing in my mind, body, and spirit.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Mark 5:25-29
![JESUS MAFA. The Ascension, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48398 [retrieved May 17, 2015].](https://maryannmcsweeny.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/mafa011-medium.jpg?w=195&h=300)
JESUS MAFA. The Ascension, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. [retrieved May 17, 2015].
Looking at Jesus, we see that God seeks to fulfill the law of Love: love of God, self, and neighbor.
We see God by studying the person of Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we have been given the grace to imitate Jesus and so give others a glimpse of God.
No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. 1 John 4:12
James Tissot (1836-1902)
Guérison des lépreux à Capernaum, between 1886 and 1894
Brooklyn Museum
When I feel out of step with the ways of the world, when I feel like an outsider or an interloper or just a plain oddball, I can re-root myself in the presence of Jesus and be made clean.
Clean of arrogance. Clean of isolation. Clean of comparisons. Clean of judgment. Clean of the need to conform. Clean of the fear of speaking my truth.
Being made clean by the Lord gives me the right to take my place—just as I am—in any company, any society, any situation.
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.” Mark 1:40
Sunset at Capernaum
By Abraham (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Jesus, the Compassion of God, understands our human suffering. Let go of the struggle; bring the illness, the exhaustion, the depletion to him. He is the one who makes sense out of nonsense.
When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to [Jesus] all who were ill or possessed by demons. Mark 1:32
Mary Ann McSweeny 
