A Midsummer's Reflection Series

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Meditation 14: Mark 5:35-43

The artwork selected for this third week of our Midsummer Meditations is entitled “Sunflowers” and was painted by Vincent Van Gogh in January 1889. It is among Van Gogh’s most famous paintings in his collection.

The Sunflower paintings were significant for Van Gogh as they communicated gratitude for the painter. He painted a total of 5 canvases with sunflowers in a vase with 3 shades of yellow and nothing else. By doing this, Van Gogh demonstrated that it was possible to create an image with numerous variations of a single color, without any loss of eloquence.

Spiritual writers have used the image of the sunflower to express our relationship with God. As the sunflower turns toward the sun for growth and strength, so too do we turn our gaze toward God for growth and strength as well. The next time we see a sunflower may it remind us of gratitude as we turn our gaze toward the Good God!

-Rev. Dominic Ciriaco, D.Min.

In the Gospel of Mark 5:35-43, we find hospitality flowing in two directions. On the one hand, we find a synagogue ruler inviting Jesus into his home, the way one might invite a physician into their home. There is some level of hospitality here, even when the host was hoping to get help from the guest.

Jesus, too, extended hospitality as the temporary guest of the home. He was not staying for the night, as it were; He had come with a mission, much like a physician. In this instance, however, the Divine Physician was not there to heal a mere ailment, but to raise the dead. Jesus brought their child back to life.  

Jesus always comes to us as the Divine Physician. He always approaches us to give us the spiritual healing we need. Occasionally this might involve physical healing, as well, but it always involves an outpouring of His grace. When we welcome Jesus into our homes, He comes to dwell with us and with those who live with us. Whenever we extend hospitality to Jesus, welcoming Him into the nooks and crannies of our lives, He promises a spiritual healing. Whenever we let Him enter, as the synagogue ruler did, Jesus enters to give us the gift of Himself.

Let us welcome Jesus into our hearts and into our homes, every day of our lives, so that He may give us the healing we need.  

Lord, Jesus, come into our hearts and into our lives with your saving graces, with your healing. Bring us the healing we need. Give us the gift of yourself, and help us make a gift of ourselves to the others in our lives.

Dr. Jeffrey Morrow, Ph.D. is a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Director of the St. Paul Studies Center at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He spent 15 years as a professor of theology at Seton Hall University’s Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. In his final year in that role, Dr. Morrow worked on the Preaching as Hospitality Formation Program, writing these reflections on Scripture through a lens of hospitality. 

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