Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 27, 2021
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat
to the other side,
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
“My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live.”
He went off with him,
and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said,
“Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
“Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep.”
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child’s father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,”
which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.
Reflection
As a parent, Jairus’ desperation to find help for his child touches me deeply. My husband and I have five children who mean the world to us. We have also suffered the painful loss of miscarriage, just as many of our family and friends have. Whether you’re a parent or not, it’s impossible not to feel pity for Jairus’ plight. What stands out to me most while reading Jairus’ story in today’s Gospel is his patience.
We can easily envision Jairus frantically pushing his way through the large crowd, finally reaching Jesus and, falling on his knees, pleading with Jesus to help his dying daughter. We can feel Jairus’ relief when Jesus agrees to accompany him.
The crowd parts, and as they begin to move toward Jairus’ home, Jesus stops. Wait, what?
Even the disciples are confounded. Jairus must have wondered if Jesus understood the urgency of the situation—his daughter was dying. As if the waiting weren’t bad enough, a friend comes to tell Jairus, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Jairus’ chance to save his daughter slipped away. What utter devastation!
Although he must have been in agony, Jairus doesn’t say a word. Although we can’t know what went through Jairus’ mind while he patiently waited on the Lord, we are given a clue that he began to despair. Jesus turns to him and offers a simple phrase of encouragement: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
Jairus persisted in faith, which led to a miracle even greater than the one he longed for.
Jairus’ story is a wonderful reminder to us all to be courageous, to be patient, and to have faith in God our Father. If I, as a parent, would give up everything to save my child, how much more does God work to save me?
Prayer
Christ the healer, you returned Jairus’ daughter to wholeness, as she lay on the brink of death. You healed the hemorrhaging woman when all the doctors had failed. We pray today for the healing that only you can give—the healing of our souls, the very center of our being, which is totally dependent on you. Open us to your healing presence in our lives. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Cyril of Alexandria was at the center of one of the great dramas in Christian theology, and it is thanks to his courage and clear vision that our beliefs about Jesus have been faithfully passed on to us.
He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in the late 300s. His uncle led the Church in Alexandria, and when he died, Cyril was named bishop there. Cyril was known as a vigilant defender of the faith, and kept careful watch over the Christian communities that were under his supervision.
In 428 a monk and priest named Nestorius was named archbishop of Constantinople, a city that was the seat of the empire. Nestorius began proclaiming beliefs about Jesus that claimed he was really two persons—divine and human—and that the divine person of Jesus simply inhabited the human part of him. In short, he was teaching that Jesus was God who walked on earth wearing a human body like a suit. As a consequence, he said, Mary should not be called Mother of God, but only mother of the man, Jesus.
Cyril objected and raised the matter with the pope. The pope called a meeting in Rome to examine the claims and sided with Cyril, and had Cyril deliver the verdict to Nestorius, who was to be excommunicated unless he retracted his claims. Nestorius refused.
In 431 a large council was gathered at Ephesus to decide the matter once and for all—Cyril led the council and acted as the pope’s representative. Nestorius was in town, but refused to attend. In his absence, the council condemned his works and excommunicated him.
The story does not end there. A group of some 40 bishops from Antioch arrived to the council late, and supported Nestorius. They were not accepted to the council, so they formed their own council in town and claimed to depose Cyril.
Both sides appealed to the emperor. Confused, the emperor had both Cyril and Nestorius jailed until it could all be sorted out.
Finally, representatives from the pope arrived and explained the matter to the emperor, and Cyril was released and restored to honor. Nestorius was sent back to Antioch to retire to his monastery, and he was later further exiled to the desert. The group of bishops from Antioch reconciled with Cyril and gave a statement of their orthodoxy.
Until he died in 444, Cyril maintained the faith that was handed to him from the apostles. Even his contemporaries knew him to be a great defender of the faith. Because of his strong and clear leadership, the declarations of the Council of Ephesus continue to guide our faith today. Thanks to Cyril’s leadership, we understand Jesus’ Incarnation to mean that Jesus was fully God and fully man—one person with two natures.
This may seem like a semantic abstraction, but the implications are tremendous for Christian spirituality. In the Incarnation, God fully joined our humanity in the person of Jesus. This was not God paying us a visit or pretending to be human for a while—God became human in every way except for sin. This means that every part of our humanity has the potential to connect us with the divine—we can find God in beauty and goodness, in relationships and learning truth, for example. Even our daily experience—the mundane progression of our days—can be a source of connection to the divine for us.
St. Cyril of Alexandria has been named a doctor of the Church, a title given to 37 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example—he is known as the Doctor of the Incarnation. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Cyril of Alexandria, you guided the Church through heresy and handed us the faith we live today—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Cyril of Alexandria available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Last accessed March 19, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
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