Homily for Feast of St. Blase, Bishop and Martyr

Mark 5:21-43

We learn from the Gospel today that neither disease nor death have the final word.

I loved movies as a kid. I loved watching them and I loved learning how they were made - all the special effects, the stunts, the whole process of making a movie. After I had seen a few ‘how they made it’ documentaries, the scary parts of movies weren’t so scary any more. They were a little scary, but then I’d remember that just out of frame, there were people standing around with lights and coffee cups. There were lighting experts, folks holding microphones, and crews with cameras. Somewhere was a director, and probably a catering truck with snacks.

So maybe that scene was a little less scary, because I knew how it came about and I knew that in the end, there wasn’t really a monster and that everyone on the screen was going to go home at the end of the day to their families. I loved movies even more once I knew how they worked.

A life of just a little faith follows some of these same contours. We know, in faith, how the story - The Big Story - ends. We know, in faith, what it is we’re here for, and where we’re going - or where we’re meant to be going, anyway.

The scary parts of our lives - disease, even death, are real for us. I wish they weren’t, but they are part of this fallen world. But we know they’re not the end. And like the movie set, just out of view, there is a cloud of others watching and helping, doing their part to keep the story moving along. Saint William, Saint Sebastian Martyr, Saint Joseph, and our Blessed Mother. Saint Blaise and Saint Ansgar, too. We’ll be asking St. Blaise to intercede for us shortly.

This confidence in the end, in the happy ending, where there is no disease and death is faith, and all we need is a little. I think there’s a lot here, right here in this room, or none of us would be here, but even it’s just starting as a little, it will be enough. Faith isn’t just wishful thinking. The virtue of faith is confidence that the Lord will deliver what he has promised, come what may in the meantime.

Your faith has saved you, says the Lord to the woman. In faith, Jairus knelt at His feet. Keep that faith. Tend to it carefully and it will carry you through the hard times, even the very hardest. In that faith, we find our peace.