"Talitha kum = Little girl, get up!"
(Mark 5:42)

The words that Jesus addresses to the daughter of Jairus: "Little girl, get up" are full of compassion. Jesus approached those who suffer pain or were in the shadow of death with empathy. These words and the salvific features of Jesus and his disciples will be read from the Gospel of Mark for the next four weeks. In fact, Jesus and his disciples are continually on the move or on what has been called the mission. One important thing about Jesus’ mission is that he and his disciples traveled and spread the Good News. No less important is that we share Jesus´ mission to spread the goodness that God has done in our lives.

Today's readings address sickness and death. The first reading speaks figuratively of death entering the world at the hand of the devil. The Gospel features a dying girl (the daughter of Jairo) and an ill woman. But for the believer, sickness and death do not have the last word. The original design of God for humanity was immortality according to the Book of Wisdom. In the Gospel both the little girl and the adult woman are healed. The whole Scripture tells us about the God of Life according to the Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez. Neither sickness nor death should separate us from the joy of knowing that we are "sons and daughters of hope."

Pope Francis invites Christians to be surprised by the person of Jesus who comes to meet us in different ways. For Pope Francis, it is good to experience the stupor that the encounter with Jesus produces. It does not matter that your problems are big or small, what matters is that Jesus seeks you to relieve you of your fears, illnesses and pains. In a prophetic gesture like Jesus, Pope Francis visited in Colombia an organization of women religious that works to fight human trafficking and minister to its victims took the name of Talitha Kum based on this passage, as many victims are girls and young women similar in age to Jairus´s daughter. So, the challenge is to fight death and help to rescue all those afflicted by sickness, poverty and war. Let us ask Jesus to share in the pain of many parents, mothers and children who have been separated and live in the shadows of fear. Let us not be indifferent to the pain and suffering of others.

Fr. Hernán, SJ.