While he was speaking people came from the synagogue leader’s house saying ‘Your daughter  has died. Why trouble the teacher?’

But Jesus, overhearing the news, said to the synagogue leader, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, keep on believing.’

And he did not let anyone follow with him, except Peter and Jacob and John (Jacob’s brother). 

And they came to the house of the synagogue leader, and he saw an uproar and people crying and loudly wailing. And entering he said to them ’Why are you are you in an uproar and crying? The child is not dead but sleeping.’

They began to laugh at him. Having thrown them all out, he took the the father of the child, and her mother, and those with him and entered where the child was. 

And taking the child’s hand he said to her ‘Talitha, koum’, which is means ‘Little girl, I say to you ”Get up!”’

And immediately the little girl rose and walked around (for she was twelve years old.)  And immediately they were greatly amazed. 

And he gave them strict orders that no one would know, and he said that she should be  given something to eat. 

O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee,
the life of the souls that love thee,
and the strength of the wills that serve thee;
help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee;
so to love thee that we may fully serve thee,
whom to serve is perfect freedom.
Amen

And when Jesus, in the boat, had crossed over again to the other side, a great crowd gathered together around him, and he was beside the sea. 

And one of the synagogue leaders came, Jairus by name, and seeing him,
he fell at his feet and begged him earnestly, saying
‘My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her
so that she might be healed and live.’
And he went with him. 

And a great crowd followed him, and pressed around him. 

And a woman-
having a flow of blood for twelve years,
and having suffered terribly under many doctors
and having spent all that she had, 
and having no benefit in any way
but rather having grown worse,
having heard about Jesus
having come from behind in the crowd
– touched his cloak. 

For she said ‘Even if I touch only his cloak I will be healed.’

And immediately the flow of blood stopped
and she knew in her body that she was healed from the suffering.

And immediately Jesus knew in himself that power had gone out from him,

Having turned  around in the crowd, said: ‘Who touched my cloak?’

And his disciples said to him: ‘You see the crowd pressing around you, and you say “Who touched me?”’

And he was looking around to see who had done this. 

But the woman, fearful and trembling,
knowing what had happened to her, came and fell before him
and told him the whole truth. 

He said to her ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well.
Go in peace and be healed of your suffering.’

God be in head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.

Now there was there on the mountain a large herd of pigs, grazing. 

And they begged him: ‘Send us into the pigs, so that we might enter them.’
And he allowed them, and the unclean spirits went out and  entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the bank into the sea, about two thousand and they were drowned in the sea. 

And the herdsmen fled and proclaimed the news in the town and in the countryside.

And they came to see what it was that happened.
And they came to Jesus
and they saw the demon-possessed man sitting, clothed and in his right mind,
the one who had had ‘Legion’ and they were fearful. 

And those who had seen what had happened described it, and about the pigs.

And they began to beg him to leave their district. 

And getting into the boat, the ‘demon-possessed man’ begged to be with him. 

And he did not let him, but said to him ‘Go into your house, and to your family and tell them what the Lord has done for you and that he had mercy on you.’

And he went away and he began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him and all were amazed. 

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin

And they came to the other side of the sea, into the region of Gerasa. 

And when he got out of the boat,
immediately a man met him
with an unclean spirit,
out of the tombs, 
who had a home in the tombs.

And no one could ever bind him not even with a chain, 
that’s –
many times he had been bound with fetters and a chain
and the chain had been torn apart by him
and the fetters broken in pieces
and no one was strong enough to control him. 

And through every night and day
he was crying out,
in the tombs and in the mountains
and he was cutting himself with stones. 

And seeing Jesus from a great distance
he ran,
and fell down before him
and crying with a loud voice, he said:

‘What do you have to do with me, and what do I have to do with you,
Jesus, son of the Most High God?’
‘I beg you by God, do not torture me.’

(For he had said to him: ‘Come out of the man – unclean spirit!’)

And he asked him ‘What is your name?’

And he said ‘My name is Legion, because we are many.’
And he begged him many times not to send them out of the region.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

And he said to them, on that day, when evening had come ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him, as he was, in the boat and the other boats were with him. And there arose a great wind-storm and the waves were throwing themselves into the boat, so already the boat was being filled

And he was in the stern, sleeping on a pillow. 

And they roused him and said to him: ‘Teacher, you care that we are perishing, don’t you?’
Having been woken up, he rebuked the wind and  said to the sea ‘Calm down, stay quiet.’

And the wind stopped and there was a great calm. 

And he said to them ‘Why are you cowardly? Still don’t you have faith?
And they were greatly fearful, and said to each other
‘Who is this, then – that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

And he said ‘With what shall  we compare the Kingdom of God or in what parable shall we describe it?

As a mustard seed,
which when it is sown onto the earth
– Smallest of all the seeds on the earth
when it is sown
rises and becomes the greatest of all the plants 
and grows great branches, 
so that the birds of the heavens settle under its shade. 

And by many such parables he spoke to them the word as they were able to hear.
And he did not speak to them without a parable
But privately he explained everything to his own disciples.

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

And he said ‘The Kingdom of God is as if –
a man threw seed on the ground, 
and he sleeps and rises , night and day

And the seed sprouts
and it grows tall
in such away that he does not know how.

On its own the land bears fruit,
first a stalk
then a head of grain,
then the full grain in the head.

When the fruit is ripe,
immediately he sends the sickle, 
because the harvest has come.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

And he said to them:
Does a lamp come so that it is put under a basket or a bed
or is it put on a lampstand?

For nothing is hidden unless it is to be shown,
and nothing happens secretly except to come to be shown. 

If anyone has ears to hear, hear!

And he said to them ‘Watch what you hear:

by the measure you measure out, it will be measured out to you, 
            and it will be added to you. 

For whoever has, (more) will be given to him. 
And whoever does not have, whatever he has will be taken away from him. 

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

And when it happened that he was alone, those around him, with the Twelve, would ask him about the parables.

And he said to them,
‘To you has been given the secret of the Kingdom of God.
But to those outside everything is in parables, so that

Those who look look and do not see.
And those who hear hear and do not understand, 
Lest they will turn to God and be forgiven. (Isa 6:9-10)

He said to them:
Do you not know this parable, and how will you know all the parables?
A sower sows the word. 

These the ones by the road:
where the word is sown, and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

And these are the ones which were sown on the rocky ground:
these when they heard the word immediately received it with joy
And they had no root  in themselves but they were not lasting
Then when troubles arose or persecution -because of the word,
immediately they are falling.

And others are those sown in amongst the thorn bushes.
These are the ones who hear the word
and cares of the age
and deception of riches
and those desires for other things come in and choke the word
and there will no fruit. 

And these are those who are sown upon the good soil, t
hose who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit 

One thirty times, and 
one sixty times and
one a hundred times.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

And again he began to teach by the sea. And a very large crowd gathered to him, so that after having gone on board the boat, he sat in it, on the sea, and all the crowd were near the sea, on the land. 

And he taught them many things in parables at length,
and he said to them in the course of his teaching: 

Hear! Look, a sower went out to sow, and it happened that while he was sowing, 
seed fell by the road and the birds came and ate it, 
and seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil,
and immediately it sprang up  because it did not have deep soil,
and when the sun rose, it was scorched
and it was dried up because it did not have a root. 
and other seed fell amongst thorn plants, and the thorns grew up and choked it
  and it did not produce fruit
And others fell into good soil and produces fruit, having come up and and grown 
one bears thirty times, one sixty times and one a hundred times. 

And he said ‘Whoever has ears to hear, hear!’

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm