We have to give God permission…..”I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Matthew about how Jesus cures a little girl thought to be dead….”When Jesus arrived at the official's house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, he said, Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping. And they ridiculed him. When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose”……The people did not believe Jesus could help the girl, in fact, the text even says the people “ridiculed him”….Are people today any different?…Do we put limits on our faith?…..Each and every day miracles happen….Miracles begin with our unconditional YES to God, which gives him permission to work in your life….Without that unconditional YES….Nothing happens….Think about the parents of this girl in our Gospel story today…Their daughter was sick and nothing seemed to work…So they went to Jesus for help…In the eyes of the secular world, that makes no sense - But look at the outcome…..How many people in our world today are burdened?…How many people carry around wounds for decades?…..Some things in life only God can cure….Human beings are capable of so many amazing things but some things only God can address……One Sacramental Confession with a Priest can erase a lifetime of sin…Do you believe that?…..Sadly our world today does not…..Time does not heal our wounds, it only allows them to fester…..Only God can forgive sin and only God’s grace can enable us to become the people we were ALL called to be…Do you believe that?…Are we like the crowd today in the Gospel who “ridiculed” Christ for even suggesting he could cure that young girl?…..Our world today is so broken and mankind with all its innovation and intelligence can not fix what has been broken…….”A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured. Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you. And from that hour the woman was cured”…..There are limits to what mankind can do - God has no limits….If only we reach out and “touch the tassel on his cloak”

“Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel”

Sacramental grace is real….And when we allow this grace to penetrate our life, things change…This is reality…..Conversion stories are always interesting…...To hear how God can turn a person around who the world "wrote off" to me is a very tangible event ….One of the most amazing conversion stories I have ever heard was that of a friend of mine who now lives in Ireland - His name is John Pridmore…John had a very troubled past and for many years worked in organized crime in the East end of London…I met John through my affiliation with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the Bronx…John was an enforcer in the mafia, which means he hurt people for money….He spent time in prison….He was the kind of person the “civilized world” stayed far away from…..Through it all his mother prayed for John and one day miraculously after beating a man whom he thought was dead in a nightclub, John said a prayer for the first time in his life…..And God made himself known to John through that small prayer…And this was the beginning of a new life for John Pridmore…John now speaks all over the world, he has written numerous books and has helped countless people….How can such a person do all those things?…..By doing what we are told today in the Gospel about the woman who was suffering from internal bleeding for years……”She said to herself, If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured”……John Pridmore did just that and miraculously his life began to change…How about us?…Are we like the crowd today who “ridiculed” Christ for merely suggesting that he could help the young girl who everyone thought was dead?……Our world today does not give God a chance….Our God can do the miraculous and does the miraculous to this very day!….But before that happens we must “step out” of our comfort zone and give God permission to work in our life if we want to see the changes many people only dream about….There are certain things only God can address

“When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. And news of this spread throughout all that land”

Today in the Gospel from Mass we hear about Jesus curing two people…A little girl thought to be dead and a woman who was sick for many years with internal bleeding….Do we “write off” these miracle stories?…..Do we think God can not perform similar miracles today?…..One Sacramental Confession can address so many of the problems we see today in our world….The wounds of sin do not heal on their own….Only in and through Sacramental grace can we become the people we were born to be…To think we can change without grace is simply a delusion….Don’t believe me?….How many “New Year's Resolutions” year after year don’t even last 30 days?…..Grace perfects nature…..And only God can give us this grace…..Our world today desperately is in need of God….And there is no substitute for what is the only cure for humanities ills……”A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured. Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you. And from that hour the woman was cured”…....If only our world today would simply “touch the cloak” of Christ…..Humanity can not “fix” itself….And only through grace can mankind be "cured" - Without that grace, don’t expect to see a change....…We have to give God permission…..”I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world”