Prolonged times of difficulty can affect our ability to think clearly. The mind dulls and creativity withers. This week’s healing story from the life of Jesus isn’t directly about the intellect but it is about the liberation our minds need when our functioning is impaired by trauma, stress, and challenge. Jesus came to set the captives free. Today, we pray for the divine touch to heal us, liberate us, and inspire us toward new solutions to our problems, new visions for human life, new ways of relating and caring for each other, and new expressions of creativity that nourish our souls and the soul of our civilization.

A meditation on Matthew 9:18- 26 and a poem by Ranier Maria Rilke (the author’s translation).

1.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew is a story within a story.

The first story goes like this: A child has died. A family is in crisis. The father comes to Jesus. He’s bereft with grief. Now, he’s the leader of the synagogue, and Jesus, because of his unorthodox ways, is in conflict with the religious authorities. It may be risky for the synagogue official to seek out the unorthodox preacher. But he’s also a father and he’s desperate. He knows three things: his daughter is dead, his heart is broken, and Jesus does miracles. He needs one. And so he risks being ostracized to ask for a miracle. Now, notice a little rhetorical device the storyteller uses to shape the drama of the tale. The writer inserts the adverb, “suddenly,” here; it’s a literacy device that intensifies the emotional load of the story. . . .