Today’s readings draw us into encounters with suffering, compassion, and the fragile beauty of human love. David’s anguish over Absalom cuts deeply. Despite Absalom’s rebellion, David mourns as a father whose heart cannot stop loving. His cry: raw, unguarded, and devastating; reveals a truth we often experience but struggle to name: love always carries the risk of heartbreak. Yet this vulnerability is also what makes love holy. David’s lament mirrors God’s own tenderness toward his children, even when they stray. In the Gospel, Jesus steps into two desperate situations: a dying child and a woman trapped in years of suffering. Unlike David, who can only weep, Jesus restores. The hemorrhaging woman reaches out in hope, and Jairus clings to belief in the face of fear. Jesus honors both acts of faith. Where human love grieves its limits, divine love reveals its abundance. God invites us to trust that his mercy restores what human strength cannot.

PRAYER: Abba Father, listen to my prayer and attend to the sound of my pleading. Amen.