Do not be afraid. Just have faith. It has been observed that the phrase "Do not be afraid" appears 365 times in the bible, meaning that there is one for each day of the calendar year. Whereas this might merely be sheer coincidence, it is something that has blessed implication for us, especially as concerns our life of faith. We are aware of the detrimental effect that fear can have in our life of faith because of the nature of faith itself: faith calls us to walk in an untrodden path and to go places that are unfamiliar in order to attain that which ordinarily would appear unattainable (cf. Heb 11). The Gospel reading for today presents us with two occasions in which overcoming fear saved the day: the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and the healing of the woman suffering hemorrhage. It appears Jairus’ daughter had suddenly fallen ill. Perhaps running out of alternatives, Jairus, a Synagogue official, turned to Jesus for help, someone to whom he wouldn’t have ordinarily paid much attention (to non-followers, Jesus was a mere roadside rabbi). Even if he had not met Jesus, he must have heard about Jesus and all the good things which God was doing through him (cf. Mark 1:28). While not every religious leader was at odds with Jesus (Nicodemus had high regards for Jesus [cf. John 3:1ff]), a public show of appreciation of Jesus by any religious official would have drawn wrath from the ranks (possibly the reason why Nicodemus had sought Jesus at night). Jairus seems to have been one of those religious leaders who believed that Jesus was a man of God. He did not let fear of ridicule from his peers prevent him from approaching Jesus. He had faith that Jesus could heal his daughter. And Jesus did. As Jesus was making his way to Jairus’ house, a woman suffering from a serious illness bumped on him. Because of her condition, she had been pushed to the margins and was living in the shadows. But even in the shadows, she too must have heard about Jesus and was determined to get to him. She knew how risky it was to emerge from the shadows and to let her condition be known to the public. She knew it was a bold step to make, but she took it nonetheless. She couldn’t afford to be afraid anymore because she had nothing to lose. Tossing fear aside, she armed herself with faith and approached Jesus. Her boldness, coupled with her faith, impressed Jesus and prompted her complete healing. Jesus’ remarks immediately before or after his acts of healing attribute the healings to faith: faith of those healed as well as the faith of those who labored to bring them to Jesus. He recognized the many obstacles which these individuals had to overcome in order to reach out to him and cry for help. And he did well to reward their faith. Like Jairus and the woman healed of her hemorrhage, may our faith be the basis upon which our life-giving friendship with Jesus is built and sustained. May our faith become the basis of our salvation.