The reading
1. What the Gospel says
Twelve years of bleeding, under the Law a source of uncleanness, and no cure. She comes from behind in a crowd and touches the fringe. The flow stops. He asks who touched him. She tells him the whole truth, afraid. He sends her in peace.
2. Why he stops
The disciples think the question is absurd in a crowd. He stops anyway. A healing stolen in secret is not how he will leave her: she is to go as a daughter who was heard, not as a thief of power. The Church reads this whenever the sick, who have already spent all they had, are prayed for.
Reading
How to read The woman with a haemorrhage
The cloak is not a relic yet. The person is. Later Catholic love of cloth and hem makes sense only because this man wore them.
Church status
How this sign has been received
Sacred Scripture
Holy Scripture. Mark 5:25–34 and the parallels.
Sources
- Mark 5:25–34
- Matthew 9:20–22
- Luke 8:43–48
For the classroom
The woman with a haemorrhage (The Gospel, On the way to the house of Jairus). Grade in this encyclopedia: Sacred Scripture. A woman who has spent everything on doctors, and grown worse, touches Jesus’ cloak and is healed. He will not let the healing stay anonymous.





