Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Hymnody and Psalmody for the Thirteeneth Sunday in Ordinary Time
All Creatures of Our God and King - LASST UNS ERFREUEN
Psalm 30 - I will praise you, Lord - Calvin M. Bower
Beautiful Savior - ST. ELIZABETH
I Am the Bread of Life - Suzanne Toolan
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name - GROSSER GOTT

Lectionary Meditation
(Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Psalm 30 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15 Mark 5:21-43)

"God did not make death." These words introduce the passage from the book of Wisdom in the first reading today. Just the mere thought of this phrase provides for us a sense of comfort, does it not? In a world so beset by violence and marked by the temporary nature of things, we are surrounded by death. We often joke of the proverbial inevitability of death (and taxes), while the only thing we know about death is that it happens. There is no certainty about the circumstances of death; we cannot predict it, and we cannot prevent it.
Perhaps the uncertainty of death makes us scared and fearful whenever we encounter it. Perhaps we live in terror or denial of our own human nature because we cannot control this particular aspect of our lives. As the first reading continues, we hear that God did not intend for us to live in fear of death. He did not will that we would always be afraid because of our mortality. Instead, "God formed man to be imperishable." In other words, God intended us not for death, but for eternal life! An example of this teaching is found in the Eucharistic Prayer of a Funeral Mass, when the priest prays, "Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended." With such a hope-filled understanding of death, we have cause not for sadness or fear, but for joy.
With all this in mind, we have two models for approaching death. The first is that of the devil, whose envy we hear caused death to enter the world. When we persist in sin and turn away from the life to which God calls us, we become afraid of death and try desparately to avoid it. The second model is that of Mary, the sinless one whose life was changed, not ended. We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that "when the course of her earthly life was finished, she was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory." From this dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we gather that her life did not end totally and finally, but only that part of her life that was on this earth. So it is for those who are close to the heart of God; they do not fear death. Instead, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel passage, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." The faith of those around Jesus in the midst of the death of the young girl gives hope for everlasting life. So should we wait in joyful hope for the Lord to call to us, saying, "arise!"