Luke 4:21-30 Rejected at home

In today's Gospel we hear of how Jesus reads the scroll from Isiah, then as soon as the people of Nazareth realize what he said, they turn on him with derision.  He is merely the son of the carpenter, Joseph, what makes him better than they?  They are trying to put him into a stereotype of sorts.  Don't we try to do that too?  When we meet people or get an impression of who they are, don't we tend to expect them to act a certain way?  That is what they are doing with God.  They can't accept that Jesus is the Christ, and may actually start to believe that he is blaspheming.  This is punishable by death.  He reminds them that even Elijah and Elias both showed God's salvation to those who sought it whether they were Jewish or Samaritan, or something else.  God is not bound by human laws or thoughts.  Jesus was challenging how they believed.  It was dangerous.  Look at our own history in the United States to civil rights leaders and presidents who challenged the way people have thought:  Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy.  Perhaps these correlations will help make sense a little more of today's reading.  It is also striking too that Jesus never returned to Nazareth after this.  Their hearts were too closed for him to fill it. 

Mark 4: 35-45 Quiet! Be Still!

"Quiet!  Be still" Jesus orders.  Nature follows it master's command.  The Apostles too are comforted and quieted. 

A priest once told me that this is one of the most difficult things to do in life is to be quiet and still.  With my experience, I believe it.  When I started running I chose not to use a device for music.  That meant that I had a lot of quiet time on the trails.  It was really difficult to be alone with my thoughts and no computer, TV or radio for distraction. It helped to bring greater awareness to the need for that quiet in my prayer life.  It is in that stillness that I can turn inward to that voice within, God's voice, that small whisper in my heart, reminiscent of Jesus' small quiet voice in that great storm. I am assured that he is near not only in the good times, but also the turbulent times too. 

It is still difficult for me to sit quietly and just listen.  Our pastor gives us communal prayer for Adoration, but them allows us a quiet period for personal prayer.  I watch people with their prayer books and other religious material.  I tried that, but then realized that I wasn't quieting myself inside, just externally.    I took my inspiration in this thought from my trail runs.  Then I stumbled upon a quote from Mother Teresa, "God speaks in the silence of our hearts, Listening is the beginning of prayer."  I began to focus on one thing only, perhaps a scene from Jesus' life and I would think of what he said to his disciples.  I would put myself into the scene.  That is how I found that quiet place within my heart.  Soon I realized that I was able to think clearly about different things in my life, my priorities were slowly changing.  I even gave up a computer game that I'd played for over a year and replaced it with visiting those in my community who were home bound.  God speaks to people in different ways.  The real question is, are we listening? 

Mark 4:26-34 To What Shall I Liken the Kingdom of God?

Today we have two parables that describe the Kingdom of God.  The first is the farmer who can't explain why the seeds the has sown grow in his field and ripen before the harvest yet he checks on the field day and night and is amazed with its growth.  The second is the mustard seed, one of the smallest of the seeds that grows into a huge bush/tree where the birds find safe haven beneath it.

From these two parables we begin to infer that the Kingdom grows in ways that we cannot begin to understand, in places that we may or may not expect; that it is up to God.  The next thing that we begin to realize is that it, and we in our faith lives, will come to full fruition becoming fully ripe to the point when we are ready for the harvest, that judgement promised us by Christ.  The Kindom comes to us inconspicuously though it grows into something strong and lasting.  To it many flock and take refuge within it because of its enduring love and mercy.

Mark 4:21-25 Invisible Becomes Visible

(From my reflections)

In my childhood church there were large stained glass windows lining the walls of our vaulted church ceiling.  As students we were encouraged by our school principal to attend daily mass since the church was right next door.  I remember the early morning sunlight streaming through the images of saints down to all of us sitting in the pews.  I used to sit and wonder about the saints pictured in the glass like St. Vincent de Paul holding a child and helping the poor, St. John Vianney preaching to the children, St. Claire distributing food to the poor.  I only knew them from what they did in the images.  Some I didn’t even know their names.  They taught me what it was to be a saint.  In reflection a saint is a person whom God’s light shines through.  Today’s reading reminds me of that.  Our God has given us his light and there is no way to hide that.  Jesus asks us, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?”  The light shines through us in what we do, how we treat others, and in what we say.

Imagine that God’s love is so great.  In today's Gospel we are told, “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.”  There is a universal understanding of the idea, “The more you give the more you will receive.”  It is the law of cause and effect.  We begin to learn this when we are young.  When a child shares with their sibling, aren’t they often rewarded to encourage them to share?  It continues throughout life.  Children usually expect the material, it is easily understood and tangible.  As we mature, we begin to understand that the teaching is applied to those things that we cannot see, they apply to the spiritual realm.  How many of us when we were younger did good things because we thought it would help us get to heaven some day?  In that hope of trading good deeds for a chance at heaven, there is still a part of us that remains selfish.  It is as if we are holding our love ransom.  But Jesus calls us deeper into a more intimate relationship, and calls us to be vessels of heavenly light that we may bear the Light before all nations.  God’s grace is so abundant in these who love Him that His light shines through us.  We are to be placed on a lampstand where the life of grace shines forth from within us. 

To paraphrase St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, Christ in the present gives us the gift of grace reserving for immeasurable glory in the life to come.  We read in John (10:10) “I have come, so that they may have life,” this is the present life of grace.  We are a just people who lives from faith, which allows us to live in God's grace more deeply, so that we may also receive as His children a life of glory in the future through love. “We know that we are transferred from death to life, because we love our brothers and sisters, so let us live through good works.” (1John 3:14)

We are called to be like the saints in the stained glass windows, allowing God’s light to shine through us in our thoughts, words, and deeds.  For, “Light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. (St. Paul to the Ephesians 5:9)

Mark 4: 1-20 The Sower Went Out to Sow

Jesus gives his Apostles and us a very clear reason why he gives us parables, "to those on the outside, everything comes in parables so that they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and forgiven."  He then fully breaks down the parable of the sower for them to understand. 

If you grew up with the Way, then you have no difficulty understanding parables, but there are those in RCIA programs and other Christian faiths who do not understand and strive to know better how we come to know what we know.  This was true of Jesus' own disciples as they start following him compared to the others whose parents were followers or who had been with Jesus since the beginning.  There were those too who watched him heal, but did not stay to hear him preach, and also those who plotted against him.  Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God in images that were common to the people.  What a wonderful thing because they could go back home and in their daily work, they could meditate upon his words about the sower as they themselves sowed in the field planting the seeds in the rows by throwing it and leaving what grew up to God.  How much more poignant would the lesson come!  To understand that the sower plants the seeds of the Word in each life, but then to see the crows come and snatch the seed away, like Satan comes to take away the Word sown in their hearts.  But the seeds are also sown on rocky ground, and although they "receive it with joy.  But they have no roots; they last only for a short time."  How many of us have known someone try to make a new year's resolution only to drop it after several months?  Sometimes people do that with faith too in trying to understand better they jump fully into their faith without realizing that faith is a way of life, not some commodity easily come to a person.  "Those sown among thorns...they are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things choke the word."  To those who are fertile ground, those who are nourished in the way of life, those who find loving and supportive friends and families, those are the ones who will bear good fruit and whose lives will bear the fruit of the Kingdom and share it with others, Jesus indicates.  It is through their lives that they follow the Way.   Jesus tells them that they will "bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold, "  which are incredible percentages of the harvest to yield.  They would have been amazed and it would have been more than they could imagine.  That is our hope too, that God will allow us to have that kind of good fruit be produced in us to the point that we can't even imagine the good it does for others.

Mark 3: 31-35 My Brothers and Sisters

In today's Gospel we have an interesting interplay with the question, "Who are my mother and my brothers and my sisters?"  Some excavations of areas in Jesus' time homes have shown them to be clustered around an open space, what we would consider a shared yard, similar to what is seen in Syria and other countries today.  Those who shared would be considered family, like brothers and sisters, and parents.  Also the word for brother or sister was the same one for cousin.  There are many who would argue that Jesus had actual brothers and sisters, but it would negate the need for Mary to travel around the countryside with Jesus, or the need for Jesus to entrust her to the Apostle John's care on the cross.  Perhaps we can't see the forest for the tree.  In other words, we are looking at details instead of taking a step back and looking at the meaning.

Do we not form our own little families by taking friends and adopting them as family?  Isn't it common to make a best friend and aunt or uncle to our children because we are so close to them?  This is how we are to him in our relationship, and how we are in relation to God as his adopted sons and daughters.  What a privilege!  In Jesus' words, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 16: 15-18 Go Out to All the World

In today's Gospel we hear Jesus tell the eleven, "Go into the whole world  and proclaim the Gospel to every creature."  Several Christian sects do this very well.  Frequently we identify Jehovah's Witnesses in groups canvassing neighborhoods, or Mormons on their mission wearing their slacks and pressed white shirts usually on bicycles, both sects knocking on doors to spread the Good News.

What about Catholics?  In our Creed we affirm that we are "One, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church."  This means that we as Catholics are likewise being sent out into the world to bring the world into communion with God.  Christ was sent by God.  He tells us "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." (John 20:21)  He gave us the Holy Spirit to be with us and help us as we are sent out to spread that Good News.  As Catholics we are not confined to knocking on doors.  Instead we are reminded that the Good News is a path, a way of life we are to follow.  Let every action and word, though seemingly unimportant, be made part of your apostolic mission so that your very life becomes a living example of the Good News lived and example to others.  Saint Paul was a living example of how to do this.  Today we celebrate his conversion experience.  Let him be our guide in sharing the good news by our very lives. 

Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

In today's Gospel we hear why Luke is writing and are called to bear witness that Jesus, filled with the Spirit, is the Christ, our Lord and Savior.

What is our response to that?  In my parish today the children in the youngest catechism classes decided that we are to love and adore Jesus within the Blessed Eucharist.  Together they met before the altar and tabernacle, bent down upon their knees, with the sign of the cross they said the Our Father, and ten times, "Jesus I Trust in You."  They know it is important to reciprocate God's love by visiting with him and praying while in his company.

Besides this, they realized that they needed to continue sharing God's kingdom with others.  To "let their little light shine" as the song goes, they need to help others, to listen to others, to  be there for others.  In each other we find God.  They know to respect that.  Blessed are the little ones, they shall see God. 

Mark 3:20-21 What does it mean to be out of one's mind?

What does it mean to be out of one's mind?  Does it mean that we mourn when our enemy dies, as David did at Saul's death?  Does it mean that we show compassion to those in need?  Does it mean that we give even the shirt off our back? 

In today's Gospel the crowds had again gathered around Jesus just as they do around Pope Francis today because they want to touch holiness, to be healed, to have their hope renewed.  We are all like that.  We want to be in God's presence.  God calls us to his presence so that we might be in communion with him.  Jesus will not turn away those in need for he has such great love and compassion. 

His family thinks that he is out of his mind.  But aren't all things possible in God?  And so, if one must be crazy, why not be a fool for God?  Why not love as he loved?  Why not enact his spiritual and corporal works to grow that love?  Our Good Shepherd is teaching us and leading us in this path, for this is the path to eternal life.  In this path we give up our will, what we think we ought to do, and are drawn out of our comfort zones, and perhaps others will think we are also out of our minds. 

St. Ignatius of Loyola has a prayer, let us join with him today:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.

Mark 3:13-17 Life in the Kingdom

In today's first reading David holds Saul’s life within his hand.  He says, “The Lord forbid that I should do that to my master, the Lord’s anointed, as to lay a hand on him, for he is the Lord’s anointed.”  David finds Saul in the cave and makes a compelling argument.  He will not harm to Saul and proves it.  Saul had been trying to consolidate power within him kingdom. 

Jesus seems to be doing the opposite.  He summons his disciples to him.  He chooses twelve to become his Apostles to be with him.  He charges them to preach, and bestows upon them the gifts of healing and casting out demons.  We are also called by Jesus to follow him, to become his disciples and apostles.  We are called to be witness to the Good News.  We are called to share the good news of his salvation of the world, and spread his kingdom. 

We are a Christian people.  We are called to be pro-life throughout our days as we bear witness to our faith whether it is though our daily interactions with others on both the small and grand scale.  We are called to reflect upon the ways that we ourselves are called to bring forth the Kingdom of God through corporal and spiritual acts of mercy.  Today is the anniversary of the decision of the US Supreme Court on Roe vs. Wade which legally gave US women the right to have an abortion.  The National Prayer Vigil for Life culminating today in Washington DC and throughout the United States recognizes the dignity of the unborn child as a child of God.  We are called through social teaching to be in solidarity with the unborn and uphold their rights as their brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Mark 3:7-12 In God We Trust

Taken from my journal:

When was the last time that you looked at your money?  It says, “In God we trust.”  We hear in our Psalm today we hear the message more completely, “In God I trust, I shall not fear.”  This is the same sentiment that St. Agnes had as she resolutely held fast to her faith in Christ desiring to remain chaste and pure for the Lord despite the suitors who threatened to expose her as a Christian during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.  There are many legends of St. Agnes and how this young girl of noble blood was dragged through the streets by the Roman prefect and that the Lord prevented her from being raped.  Other legends about Agnes tell of how her attackers were blinded because the Lord so loved her and wanted to preserve her. There are those legends about Agnes that say she was tied to a stake, but the wood just wouldn’t burn.  Still there are those that tell of how she was beheaded, or stabbed in the throat.  St. Ambrose leaves aside the legends to give us one of the earliest accounts of St. Agnes’s martyrdom and stresses Agnes’ young age: she was twelve.  He also found noteworthy her steadfastness in faith and her virginity.  Agnes had no fear of death because she knew that her salvation lay in the Lord Jesus Christ.  She loved the Lord.  In him was her trust. 

We hear that echoed in the Gospel today as well.  The crowds came from all over.  They trusted that Jesus could cure every ill that they had.  Imagine that much faith, and not fully knowing that this was the Son of God. Yet, the unclean spirits knew.  We are told, “And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known.”  His time was not yet come.  They acknowledged him as Lord of all and bowed down before him.

Sometimes people find it hard to trust in the Lord.  My sister-in-law, Tanya, died of cancer eight and a half years ago.  In the last months of her life we used to discuss God.  Tanya had doubts that God was with her.  She had taken care of her mother who had Alzheimer’s.  Her mom had just died when she was diagnosed with the cancer.  She had just been reunited with her first child whom she’d given up for adoption.  She was searching for God in the shambles that she saw her life.  In some ways, perhaps this isn’t too unlike the crowds who watched Jesus climb into the boat and withdraw.  Why does he withdraw when in other places in the Bible Jesus tells us that he will never leave us?  God never leaves us.  He has many forms and we believe that he is everywhere and in everything and everybody.  God loves us.  Repeatedly he tells us that he loves us.  He also repeatedly tells us that he will never leave us.  Sometimes though we get a sense of the Lord withdrawing.  It is normal.  The saints felt that too.  It allows us to know the sweetness of the presence of the Lord.  But it also encourages us to fly to him, to have that desperate need for him that draws us to him on the cross where we hear again as often as we need, that promise of the new and everlasting covenant borne of his love and mercy.

He is with us, just as he was with St. Agnes, just as he worked within the crowds.  Let us continue in faith to turn to him and say, “Jesus, I trust in you.”

Mark 3:1-6 The Man with the Withered Hand

"Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than do evil, to save life rather than destroy it?" Jesus asks in today's Gospel. 

How very dead and lifeless the Sabbath seems in Jesus' time as it has succumbed to merely following lifeless rules; that the idea of caring for and bringing new vitality to a person would seem so against what the priests ordain as godly, is absurd.  The Pharisees always seems to be plotting against Jesus, trying to trick him and trap him into doing something against their laws.  We get a real sense that the man with the withered hand was placed in the synagogue on the Sabbath to see if Jesus would heal him.  Jesus' words should have had a biting effect and made them feel shame.  They are intolerant of a man who has just healed another on the Sabbath and picked the grain from the field because he was hungry.  Now, they want him to "condemn" himself even more. 

Sometimes in our own lives we feel like this too, that the world is against us, that at moments we feel that we can't trust others.  The Gospel tells us that he felt righteous anger toward them and grieved at their hardness of heart.  Nonetheless Jesus cannot waiver in the love that he has for mankind.  He came to save us from the power of sin and death.  If a withered hand brought a form of death to this man, then he will heal this man and set him free from not only the physical infirmity, but also his sins.  Christ Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.  As Christians we are called to be a pro-life people in all the forms that being pro-life may take, whether it is encouraging a friend, empowering children to be good stewards, respecting elderly persons, or upholding the dignity of the unborn child.  In this year of mercy, have you today followed Jesus by sharing His life with others? If not, what one thing can you do for someone else in God's name?  Remember, it doesn't have to be big, Jesus calls us where we are to work within our circles of friends and families first.  The Kingdom grows from there.

Mark 2: 23-28 Picking the Grains of Wheat

Have you ever judged anyone before learning about their circumstances?  Sometimes this happens to each of us.  This happens within today's Gospel, and even the first reading (1 Sam16:1-13 where Samuel is seeking for God's anointed one, not the strong and mighty, but the young inconspicuous boy, David.) In today's Gospel the scribe watches Jesus picking the wheat and eating it on the Sabbath.  Based on his strict religious laws, he is judging Jesus and the disciples.  The scribe isn't looking at them with the love, compassion and understanding that they laws could originally have held, especially if he understood how hungry they were carrying nothing for food and wandering for days without shelter overhead.  No, the scribe looks upon them in judgement with the rigidity of the old law. 

Jesus on the other hand reminds the scribe of how David long ago ate what was apportioned to the priests even though it was unlawful because he and his companions were hungry.  Then he makes a further statement, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even over the Sabbath."  The Sabbath is that day set aside for rest and worship.  Yes, what Jesus and the disciples was doing was considered work, but it was necessary so they did not starve.  Jesus' point is that it was necessary for life and thus overruled the law.  The Sabbath was created to remind all of human kind to give thanks to their creator, and that is why the Son of Man, God made manifest is ruler of the Sabbath.

Mark 2:18-22 The Bridegroom Is with You

Yesterday we were invited to the Wedding Feast by the Lord.  Today the scribes are asking why Jesus and his disciples do not fast like John and his disciples do.  Jesus responds, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?"  The answer is no, it would be an affront to not accept the hospitality offered by the bridegroom, almost an act of aggression. 

A class of 11-14 years olds yesterday were talking about Jesus as the bridegroom.  They discussed how the bridegroom throws the party after the wedding and how he provides the wine and other refreshments, making sure that all who are present are welcomed and comfortable.  They decided that yesterday's reading really showed that he was the bridegroom because he took that part and extended the invitation to each of us because we are all followers, his disciples, and he led his disciples to the feast. 

Could you imagine being called to a wedding where there was no welcome from the couple being married or their family, no celebration, no nothing?  It would be non existent and what was before would remain.  The kingdom isn't like that.  Jesus himself indicates that he is the bridegroom.  He has come in person to fulfill the prophesies.  He has come in person bringing with him a new covenant.  This is the meaning behind the old cloth being patched with the new cloth, or the old wine skin being patched with the new skin.  They old won't hold anymore, even with the patches.  God has extended to us a new, richer, deeper relationship with him through Christ Jesus.  We are called to accept that invitation and celebrate with him our communion.

John 2:1-11 Called to the Wedding Feast

In today's reading we hear about the Wedding at Cana.  Many people are there including Mary, the disciples and Jesus.  It is a real event that took place, but it is also a metaphor for the Kingdom of God, the relationship between Christ and the church as spouses, and the invitation for all to come to the Heavenly Banquet.  In the reading, can you see how Jesus is the bridegroom?

Ask yourself, "Have I been to a wedding?"  What made it so special compared to an ordinary meal?  Why are weddings so important?  In our modern culture we are starting to see few weddings.  To those who are married and are joined together by God, it is because it is a union between two people a bride and a bridegroom, that is a reflection of Jesus Christ's relationship with the church.  This is why to many Christians the religious Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is so important. 

Do you recall the part about the wine?  Jesus changed the water into wine, it is a symbol to be reflected at his passion:  the image of the blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a font of mercy for us.  It is the image of the last supper when Jesus passes around the wine and tells his disciples, "Take and drink.  This is my blood which has been poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins."  O Lord, how truly grateful we are to you to receive this invitation to the Heavenly Banquet. 

Mark 2:13-17 Calling Levi

The Son of Man has such a power that a simply invitation calls Levi, the son of Alphaeus, to follow Jesus.  Levi worked at the customs post which meant that he checked the goods coming into and out of the area, and collecting taxes on the items.  He in essence, a tax collector.  Scribes and Pharisees tended to throw tax collectors and sinners in to the same category.  Perhaps we still do today as we grudging look at filing taxes.  Jesus, however, reminds them that "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.  I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Yesterday while preparing for the feast of Santo Nino this Sunday a young man came to help.  This young man had struggled in his youth and is currently in a program almost like a boot camp for teens/young adults who have either gotten in trouble with the law or are at severe risk.  Working with him it was fairly evident that he was still finding his moral ground, that he wasn't sure of himself or who he could really trust, that he is still searching for who he is and what he believes in.  Yet for whatever reason, God called him to the church.  He was put in charge of decorating the altar with the statue of the child Jesus and gold, white, and red linens.  When finished he was starting to appreciated what he had done, the many hundreds of people who would be touched by his good works simply because he was called to the church by some inner voice.  I can't help but think that Levi had a similar experience and that he knew in Jesus was someone he could trust, that there was something so profoundly good in Jesus that he was intrinsically called to it, and that in this trust and goodness, he was willing to see where it would take him, that even following Jesus for a day could turn into a lifetime because it touched something deep in him.

Mark 2:1-12 The Healing of the Paralytic

Sometimes children can be fun to watch.  There were once two children who really wanted cookies.  One child asked his mother and she gave him cookies, and then they were gone.  The second child asked his mother for cookies too.  The mother took the child into the house and showed the child how to make cookies using a cookbook, how to measure the ingredients, set the oven, and make the first batch with the child.  When they were done the child ate some cookies.  Both children had cookies.  However, one was transformed from within through the teaching that the mother gave. 

Something similar is proposed in today's reading of the paralytic.  Jesus could have simply said, "take your mat and walk."  Think of the mother handing the cookies to the child.  The child has not learned, only received a gift, possibly only superficial, that he doesn't fully appreciate or understand its worth.  Had Jesus had the paralytic to take his mat and walk, the gift of healing would have been fought against and not appreciated or understood to its fullness.  When Jesus says that the paralytics sins have been forgiven, that allows for that inner transformation and healing.  It is profound and like learning, does not necessarily show physically on the outside.  Once that interior change has taken place then it radiates outward and Jesus is then able to tell him to take his mat and go.  Who but God alone can touch out innermost self to transform it?  Not even a mother teaching a young one can do that, it has to come from God for we are each a temple of the Lord, and he makes us holy.

Mark 1:40-45 Cleansing of the Leper

In today’s Gospel reading we hear of a leper being healed by Jesus.  There were so many rabbis at that time in Israel.  It they couldn’t cure this man, why could Jesus, he was just another rabbi, right?  Even though he has begun his ministry at Cana, he is still unknown to his disciples.  This man who has leprosy approaches Jesus and says, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  These words are filled with faith.  They are like the faith filled words that we use during mass, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, say the word and I shall be healed.” 

Jesus heals the leper.  He frees him from the hell in which he has been living.  He frees him from both the physical marks of leprosy that plague his body, but he also heals the man’s spirit.  We can imagine this man filled with abundant joy and it is contagious as he goes to the priests.  He is a witness to the power of Christ.  God himself has touched him, forgiven him, and restored life to him by raising him from the death of sin.  Jesus in a sense is teaching us a lesson about heaven and hell, about mercy, about how to be happy.  We are to come to the Lord and in him with the light of faith we will find happiness.  How did Jesus do this?

St. Hilary of Poitiers reminds us, “For He (Jesus) took upon Him the flesh in which we have sinned that by wearing our flesh He might forgive sins; a flesh which He shares with us by wearing it, not by sinning in it. He blotted out through death the sentence of death, that by a new creation of our race in Himself He might sweep away the penalty appointed by the former Law. He let them nail Him to the cross that He might nail to the curse of the cross and abolish all the curses to which the world is condemned.”

Mark 1:29-39

There are several aspects to this Bible story.  Many women I know lament the fate of Simon's mother-in-law thinking it so unfair, so let's address that.  We know that Jesus and the others have left the synagogue where Jesus was teaching.  that indicates the day of Sabbath, the Lord's day.  No one is to do work that day and food preparations would have to have been taken care of the day before.  Jesus with James and John visit their friends, Simon and Andrew.  Simon's mother-in-law lives with them.  We know that she has a fever.  If you can recall a loved one or yourself who have been sick, especially with a fever, you know how they are quiet, lethargic, and can't eat.  Noise can bother them, they can't read.  They just lay there languishing.  You worry about them and try to get liquids like chicken broth into them so that they do not become dehydrated.  There is always that fear that the temperature can become so great that either it or dehydration could cause death.

Simon and Andrew tell the Lord about her condition: they are in need of his help for her. There is a correlation between this aspect of the story and our own prayers for each other.  Note the words that are used to describe Jesus' actions, "He approached," "He grasped her hand," "He helped her up."  This is what our God does.  Do we not do these for those whom we love?  A love approaches his bride and will tenderly hold her hand.  This is God to us.  But when we are sick as we are with sin, he helps us up and raises us, which is demonstrated through Jesus' ministry as Jesus approaches, grasps her hand, and lifts her up.  When we are lifted up, we become healed.  Isn't it similar on the spiritual level when we are healed, our sins are forgiven?  For the mother-in-law, she was completely healed.  She had no more fever.  Her strength and energy were returned to her.  She was filled with joy at seeing her friends and receiving this gift.  This is her home.  How does she repay this kindness?  She desires to serve him as she is now able to do so.  This should be our desire too when the we are healed.  What better way to give thanks to our God for all his works, than to love and serve the Lord with all our whole self?  As soon as the Sabbath is over she opens her home so that jesus may do the same for others.

Mark 1: 21-28 Voice of Authority

In the Gospel today we are told that Jesus "taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes."  That is a strong statement.  The scribes had the legal authority of leadership over the people.  Jesus is not like them.  His authority is authentic because he is God the Son.  He is wisdom itself. Where they scribes rule with fear and punishment, he rules with peace, love and justice.  Because he is God, we have a duty of obedience to him.  Even the demonic spirit recognizes that, and even names Jesus, "The Holy One of God!"  At the Lord's command the spirit left the possessed man. 

May we ask ourselves whom we take as our supreme authority.  Is it man, or God who instills man with authority to lead?  May we "receive the word of God, not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God." (1 Thes. 2:13)  May our hearts look to God the ruler of all and adhere to His laws as citizens of the Kingdom of God first, and then those of our own lands as is illustrated in today's Gospel.  Amen.

Addendum:  I was reminded this morning of the strong correlation between today's scribes and how their modern counterpart are today's managers and administrators.  The business world can sometimes seem like a cold an cut-throat place where the person is often times ignored.  In light of that today's Gospel may be a wake-up call, or a challenge to remember those people that we work with are people with thoughts and feelings too, not the automatons that we sometimes take them for.

Mark 1: 14-20 Repent and Believe

Jesus comes to us with the call, "This is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the Gospel."  We are like the barren desert, dry, parched, waiting for the promise of water which will renew us.  Jesus comes today to fulfill that promise.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  He is the fulfillment of that hope of water come to bring drink to the thirsty.  Real repentance is possible.  If we follow Jesus the Christ, we can become more than we could ever imagine.  That barrenness within us has been filled.  We are filled with a Presence and new life, we become the true Presence for which we were made.  It is not just for the Apostles, but for each of us.  He is calling, "Come after me..." 

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 Baptism of the Lord

There was once a woman who asked whether she should have her child baptized.  The woman's mother wanted the grandbaby to be baptized, but the mother and father didn't follow any faith, and the mother especially struggled because she had been raised Catholic and her first husband, who was a devout Catholic, had been killed in a tragic accident; In some ways she still blamed God.  In the end the mother decided that she did not live her faith; that she would allow the child to be raised in a home devoid of religion and he could decide for himself when he was an adult whether he would pursue faith.  The grandmother, when he was an infant, took Holy Water from the Jordan River and claimed him for Christ in the hope that if he should die, he would have the hope of attaining heaven through God's mercy.

In light of today's Gospel where we hear of the Glory of the Father descending with the Holy Spirit upon the Son, that cleansing, that holiness, and rich blessing, knowing that this is similar to the baptism that we experience when we are baptized into Christ, it is almost unfathomable that parents struggle to decide to baptize their children; this however is due in part to our current age of secular relativism.  God is not bound my time or current human philosophies.  We need to look to the Eternal and the meaning of our sacraments, instead of whether we find them convenient. Jesus was baptized with water and the Holy Spirit.  "The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.  He commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1257.    Let us pray that we do not prevent the little ones from coming to the Lord. 

John 3:22-30 The Bridegroom

John the Baptist gives the description of Jesus as the Bridegroom in today's Gospel.  John said, "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.  You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ, but that I was sent before him.  The one that has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.  So this joy of mine has been made complete.  He must increase; I must decrease."  John knew that Jesus was the anointed Christ.  It was merely his job as prophet to prepare the way.  He is witness to God made manifest. 

The Bridegroom has deep meaning in Jewish culture.  Marriage, as indicated by the Song of Solomon, shows the deep yearning and union of the bride and bridegroom.  It is also a sign of God's love to his people.  Christ Jesus is the Bridegroom.  Who is the bride?  Who did Christ come to save?  The people, we, are the bride.  As one people of faith, we are the Church, and so the Church is also the Bride.  May we keep ourselves ever present to our Bridegroom and the Kingdom of God which is at hand.

Luke 5:12-16 Your Will Be Done

In today's Gospel Jesus is confronted by a man with leprosy.  The man acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ.  He asks for God's mercy to heal him,  but acknowledges that it should be God's will and not his own that needs to be done.  He is willing to continue suffering the leprosy if God so desires.  Jesus Christ tells him that it is his will that the man be healed, "I will do it.  Be made clean. 

We are called in this reading to be mindful as to whether we ask God's will be done in our lives, or if we demand that our will supersede that of God.  May we walk humbly always with the knowledge that God so loves us and is merciful.  May we put our trust in Him to allow his will be done in our lives, even if it means a continued suffering, or great healing.  Let us not forget to praise and adore him.

Luke 4:14-22a Scripture Fulfilled

Have you ever gone away from family for awhile and returned home to meet everyone again for a reunion?  Suddenly despite how our experiences may have changed us, we are put right back into our  familial stereo types and expectations.  Have you considered if you were there within the temple seeing the son of the carpenter, one of your old playmates, or a cousin suddenly take up a scroll of Isiah, read it, and ending by stating that he was the fulfillment of the messianic passage.  How would you react?  You'd been taught to wait for the Messiah, and here is a person you know saying he is the Messiah.  Luke tells us, "All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth." 

The first letter of St. John reminds us that all who love God also love one begotten by him, namely his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  In doing so we love Christ and each other as Christ taught us.  If we do not love each other, then don't we lie when we say we love God?  It is sometimes hard to love each other.  Hurt, deception, and killing can stop us and make it difficult to love each other.  A man mentioned yesterday that it is difficult to love because he can't forgive.  In the course of the liturgy he realized that he and we are being called to forgive.  Sometimes that first step to forgiving is praying for those who have hurt us, he realized.  Let us endeavor to take those small first steps that will unite us in love with Our Father in Christ.

Mark 6:45-52 Walking on Water

There are so many elements of the Gospel that speak to us about the Divinity of Christ Jesus.  The last two lines of today are most striking.  In regard to those who followed Jesus, namely the Apostles and other disciples it says, "They had not understood the incident of the loaves.  On the contrary, their hearts were hardened."  Why were their hearts hardened?  They had witnessed a miracle in the feeding of so many thousand people after being afraid it would cost them too much to feed the people, yet they did with just five loaves and two fish.  Now they witnessed Jesus come down from the mountain and walk across the water to them when they are fearful in turbulent waves and calm them and the waves down.  Again, why were they hardened against him?

Both today's Gospel and its paired reading, (1 John 4:11-18) challenge us to consider the meaning of love and fear.  Love and fear seem to go hand in hand.  John reminds us today, "Beloved, if God so loves us, we also must love one another.  No one has ever seen God.  Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us." Have we considered how vulnerable we must make ourselves to allow ourselves to love and be loved?  In order to reciprocate love shown to us we must make ourselves open to being hurt rejected by the one that we share our intimate selves with whether it is a spouse, a friend, a brother, a sister, or a parent.  Perhaps it is also a fear of losing those we love and so we hide ourselves away from that pain and them so that we don't have to suffer.  It is that intimacy of love that connects us and binds us. 

In the Gospel the disciples are fearful as God approaches. God is love. They also fear love.  It was fear that led Peter to deny Jesus, led the disciples to flee at the crucifixion, and it is that same fear that can make it difficult for us to remain in the love, in God.  John assures, "There is no fear in love, put perfect fear drives out fear."  May we continue to try to love perfectly and so remain in God.

Mark 6:34-44 God is Love

In today's Gospel we hear of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.  This is God's generosity, his bounty within the limitless Love that He is.  Saint John reiterates in his letter, "Beloved, let us love one another, because God is love...God sent his only-begotten son into the world so that we might have life through him.  In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins." (1 John 4:7-10)

Sometimes we forget that God is love or how much he loves us.  Sometimes we have someone we know and love who is sick and there is nothing that can be done to cure them.  Doctors think the person too old, or the condition too severe, and refuse further treatment.  Where is God then?  Where is his love in that?  Perhaps we are too narrowly focused and God's love is in our periphery view.  His love is there in the telephone calls from family and friends gathered around the one dying, in the comfort and care they give each other.  It is in the sadness the doctors feel for not being able to make the antibiotics work, or the frustration with the insurance companies denying treatments.  God's love is there too in his gift of time and the knowledge of how short we have together so that we can prepare ourselves and celebrate each passing moment as the treasure it is.  There is also the gift of mercy and hope in knowing that through God's love we may be reunited in the next life and spend an eternity of joy together. 

Perhaps the loaves and fishes are a metaphor for God's love, that he has given us each the gift of love and we must collect it from amongst ourselves.  As we share and pass it along the way, in the end we find that it will overflow and cannot be contained for the love that we share is greater than us all.

Mt 4:12-17, 23-25

Jesus Christ was manifested to us.  We are called to acknowledge Christ in all we do.  St. John helps us ask the question, "How do we know where Jesus Christ is manifest?"  We need to discern the Spirit and what Jesus calls us to do by what he says and does.   

In today's Gospel we learn of Jesus' reaction to the arrest of John the Baptist.  What does he do?  He does not act rashly or build an army to storm the prison.  No. Jesus withdraws.  Often when we withdraw from a situation, what does that entail?  Often it is  deep consideration of where we are in our interior life.  Perhaps a reprioritizing of those things that are important. 

We are told, "From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand."   

This was a huge step forward in Jesus' ministry.  He is a light to all nations.  People from all around recognized him through his healing message and followed him.

Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton who like Jesus, reveled in the Kingdom.  She is the first saint born a US citizen.  She was not a Catholic to begin, but her heart was touched by the fire of Christ's mercy. Despite her family and friends, she became Catholic.  She became a bastion of hope and mercy for others.  She is our example today of how to prepare our interior life for the kingdom; that it isn't our will that ought to be done, but that our desires should take a back seat to those of God.  This is one of her prayers:

O Father, the first rule of Our dear Savior's life was to do Your Will.  Let His Will of the present moment be the first rule of our daily life and work, with no other desire but for its most full and complete accomplishment. Help us to follow it faithfully, so that doing what You wish we will be pleasing to You. Amen.

Mt 2:1-12 Feast of the Epiphany

"...Behold the magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem."  What a beautiful story of the magi arriving to adore the Christ child.  What motived them?  Prayer comes from that first initiation from God alone.  He calls us closer to himself, into communion with himself, into prayer.  So this calling of the magi to come to adore the newborn King, that was something that only God could have put into their hearts through the grace of the Holy Spirit to walk that faith journey, through difficulties, through foreign lands, to search for the Child, to not lose faith when they learned the child was not of Herod's line, but of a royalty far deeper.  They were not the Jews, but they recognized God made manifest.  God had manifested himself to all through his birth, but now He manifests himself as a savior to all human kind through these Gentiles. 

Indeed St. Paul reminds us that Christ came for people of all races, all backgrounds, all beliefs.  Yes, there will always be those who choose not to accept Christ and his gift.  There are those who will ridicule and persecute the followers of Christ.  However, it is our duty to recognize the face of God in all whom we encounter.  ALL are called to the Table of Plenty.  It is God who calls us, not ourselves, not a special few who give us the invitation, It is God and God alone who first imparts that call within our hearts and creates that desire to know Him.  May we strive to find God in each other today and show Him love. 

John 1: 19-28

In  today's Gospel John the Baptist is directly asked who he is.  He has no pretense.  He knew they were asking if he was the Christ.  He was born to be a witness to the Truth.  "I am not the Christ."  But he was the one crying out, pointing to the light who was amongst their midst, that they could not see.  He was a focal point to show them the way to the Light.  He knew that he, like us, was unfit to tie the boot strap of the Just One, Christ the Lord, who was present to take away the sins of the world through his ocean of Mercy.

We are not gods, but mere mortals.  How tempting it is with technology and power at our fingertips to think that we can do anything we want.  How tempting it is to look past those in need, those who hunger, those who thirst for justice, those who need mercy and compassion.  I am reminded of Father Kolbe.  He was a Franciscan priest in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany during World War II.  He followed his vocation to the priesthood.  He followed Our Lady's direction in dedicating himself to the Lord.  He taught the multitudes to love the Truth and Life and spread the Kingdom of God throughout the lands.  Then when it was his time to receive the crown of martyrdom, he gave his life for Christ to save another "for greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for their brother" Jn 15:13.  Carnage was a daily part of life in that evil camp and his example almost went unnoticed, and yet through God's grace it didn't.  His courage and witness for the Truth planted that rich seed of hope and faith in those who watched and kept the experience of watching the events of Father Kolbe's life play out.  Through them echo his and their witness to the Mercy of God  shown through Father Kolbe.   Although not in the same way, we are each called to be witness to Christ through our love and compassion for each other.  We are called to do this by sharing time with each other, forgiving each other, and brining peace to others.  We are not worthy to tie the boot straps of the One who was sent, but we are called to obedience. 

Luke 2:16-21 The Lord is Salvation

In today's Gospel we are greeted by the shepherds as they enter the presence of the ultimate Good Shepherd laying in the manger with Mary and Joseph by his side.  Christ has entered into the human story to be one with us, in communion with us, and to bring to fruition that saving act prophesied that would reunite human kind with the Father for all time, namely through his Passion and Death.     

Mary keeps all these things in her heart.  She is our example in contemplating scripture, or in her case, living Scripture through the words and actions of her son, Jesus, whose name means "the Lord is Salvation," in light of the teachings of the Old Covenant. She comes to understand and proclaim the Truth.  Imagine being near to the Lord, hearing the voice of God, feeling his presence and helping him within the early communities as he reaches out to those who seek his compassion and mercy.  Mary is our example, our guide in how we should follow the Lord Christ, our Good Shepherd.  She remains obedient and humbled, but continues to contemplate throughout her life.  We are called to her example to find understanding.  As we begin this new year, let us follow our Lady in following the Lord of Mercy and Compassion.  Let us hold in our hearts those who are in states of migration, those who are refugees, those who like the shepherds, live a modern nomadic life; may we be true Christians as we follow Mary's example of following Christ's command to love one another as God loves us. (Jn 13:34)