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(Ws.1:13-15,2:23-24;\xa0\xa0 Ps.30:2,4-6,11-13;\xa0\xa0 2Cor.8:7,9,13-15;\xa0\xa0 Mk.5:21-43)\xa0 \u201cGod formed man to be imperishable; the image of His own nature He made him.\u201d \u201cGod did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.\u201d\xa0 \u201cBy the envy of the devil death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it,\u201d but God has nothing to do with death: He is but Life, and would have us be with Him where He is. It is the Lord\u2019s will that all live, that all are rescued from death and destruction; and so Jesus \u201cbecame poor, so that by His poverty [we] might become rich,\u201d and so He died that we might live\u2026 and so He comes healing us of our disease and raising us from the dead.\xa0 David witnesses to His power in our psalm today \u2013 \u201cYou brought me up from the netherworld, you preserved me from among those going down into the pit\u201d \u2013 and in our gospel Jesus heals the woman of her flow of blood and wakes Jairus\u2019 daughter from her sleep. \u201cLittle girl, I say to you, arise!\u201d the Lord whispers to the child of twelve as He holds her by the hand, and \u201cshe [arises] immediately and walk[s] around.\u201d\xa0 Despite the commotion and the ridicule of the crowd outside, the Lord enters her room and calls quite clearly to her heart\u2026\xa0 Do you hear Him?\xa0 Do you hear Him speaking?\xa0 Does He not call to all our hearts to rise from the dead, from the death of sin or complacency, or whatever disease has gripped our lives?\xa0 What He speaks to the little girl He says to all: \u201cRise from your slumber, O sleeper!\u201d It is not death to which we are called, but life.\xa0 This Jesus clearly shows in His ministry upon the earth.\xa0 And though this life can only be fully known having entered the gates of heaven, and though each day we are called to lay down our lives, to die as the Lord has shown us \u2013 though this indeed be a world of suffering for the Christian soul who always carries His cross, we know the Mighty One, the Creator of the universe, holds us each in His loving hand, and He will turn our \u201cmourning into dancing\u201d as He breathes life upon us again.\xa0 \u201cAt nightfall weeping enters in, but with the dawn rejoicing,\u201d as we see that never really do we die, as we discover in His presence among us our eternal life\u2026 as we sense even now our blessed immortality.\xa0 Remain with Him forever. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "To Eternal Life" from Thoroughfare, seventh album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, lay your hands upon us that death might flee and we be healed. YHWH, in you death has no place, no power at all.\xa0 By a word from the mouth of your Son, the death we have brought upon ourselves is dispelled, and we are raised to life with you.\xa0 It is for life you have made us; bring us back to your side. In this world we weep and mourn, O LORD; we cry out for the darkness that closes in.\xa0 But what is this death that seems to take hold to those who have faith in you?\xa0 Those who closely follow your Son shall be cured of their diseases, healed of every affliction \u2013 even from death they shall be raised, as if they were only sleeping.\xa0 For He will speak to our hearts, and hearing His voice we shall arise.\xa0 We shall live in peace forever. Jesus has laid down His life that we might be brought up from the nether world.\xa0 Though death and sin and the envy of the devil threaten to take our posterity away, yet we shall sing praise to you, O LORD, for the salvation wrought in our midst.