When Jesus Said ‘Daughter’: A Life-Changing Encounter of Faith and Healing – Mark 5:25–34
Praise be to Jesus Christ
Once, during a retreat for young women, an elderly nun told a quiet story that remained with me. She spoke of a girl who had been rejected by her family because of a disability. Everyone thought she was cursed. She wasn’t allowed to sit at the family table or go out to public events. Years later, a priest visited their home and simply called her “sister” and offered her a seat. The girl broke into tears. No one had given her such dignity in years. That one word—sister—changed her life. “For the first time,” she said, “I felt I belonged.”
In today’s Gospel, there’s a word like that. It’s just one word—but it holds a world of healing. “Daughter.”
This is the only time in the whole Gospel that Jesus calls a woman Daughter. That is no small thing. Jesus is not just healing her illness; He is restoring her identity, her dignity, and her place in the family of God. After twelve years of suffering, shame, and silence, Jesus gives her not just health but belonging.
That word—Daughter—is packed with meaning. It tells us that no one is forgotten. No one is a burden. Even if the world keeps you at a distance, God sees you as His own child. In families today, there are daughters and sons who feel invisible. Maybe they are not as successful, maybe they made mistakes, maybe they are carrying some sickness in their body or heart. The Gospel today whispers to them, “You are still My daughter. You are still My son.”
In the Old Testament, God often refers to Israel as His daughter. “Daughter Zion” He says in the prophets. Even when Israel went astray, God kept calling her back—not as a servant, but as a daughter. This moment in Mark’s Gospel is the fulfillment of that ancient promise. What God longed to do in the Old Testament, Jesus now does—He calls the lost back into the warmth of the Father’s house.
Saint Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese woman who had been sold into slavery as a child, once said, “I am definitely loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this love.” She had been called many things—slave, property, worthless—but when she discovered Jesus, she said, “I am no longer a slave—I am a daughter.” Like the woman in the Gospel, her whole life was healed not just by a miracle, but by a name.
Maybe that is what many people today need—not just a solution to their problem, but a new identity, a new hope. Maybe in our own families, we can be the ones who speak healing words—daughter, son, brother, sister—not labels of shame but names of love. In a world that often judges, let us be people who restore dignity, even with one word.
When we are broken and afraid to come forward, like that woman, let us still touch His garment in faith. Jesus does not scold her for being unclean, or for touching Him secretly. Instead, He stops everything, turns to her, and says, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.”
Let us be reminded today—Jesus sees us, calls us, and names us as His own.
Lord Jesus, when I feel ignored and rejected, remind me that I am your beloved child.
