Luke 11: 14-23 A House Divided Cannot Stand

In ministry to the homebound many types of family behaviors has been witnessed.  Most of the time families work together to help the member in need.  There was once a family with many siblings.  While their mother was healthy they squabbled and fought for years.  There would be jabs about what the were going to take when their mother passed away.  They were open about wanting to move away from each other as soon as their mom was dead.  Their mother was grieved to no end. It disappointed the grandchildren and great grandchildren. They were asked many times by different people to stop. 

In today's first reading we hear about how the Israelites knew how they should act, but chose not to.  Instead they fought, fell into bad habits, and those habits turned into sin leading them away from God.  Because they had turned away from God, the word of God had vanished from their midst. How similar this is to the family mentioned above where their petty rivalries and jealousy turned their hearts away from what was good toward selfishness and evil habits. 

Jesus drives out demons though.  He is the word of God.  He came to be with is, to proclaim the kingdom, to bring healing and life.  The religious leaders of his time were suspicious.  How could good overcome evil so easily and drive it away?  They thought surely he must be in league with the demons for them to do what he says.  Here's the catch Jesus gives us, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself,  how will his kingdom stand?...But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you." 

Just as Jesus foretold that a house divided cannot stand, that family that was divided was being torn apart being held together with only loyalty to their mother and nothing else.  However by some divine merciful grace when their mother's heart began to fail and she needed full time care, they came together in a way that they had never done so before.  The home is filled with love and concern, with adult brothers and sisters looking not only after their mother, but each other with love and compassion, and consideration for each other's thoughts and feelings.  They are one example of this idea, this living Gospel, that a house divided will fall, but with God, it will stand strong in his grace. 

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 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.

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. 

Matthew 2:13-18 Feast of the Holy Innocents

In today's Gospel Matthew very directly tells us that he gives these stories of Jesus' life to fulfill the prophetic literature.  Nonetheless Matthew gives us a beautiful story of God speaking to Joseph through a dream telling him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt until Herod, the king of the Jews who is very possessive of his throne, is dead.  Joseph becomes for us a model of faith and trust in the Lord. He is willing to allow God the Father lead him in raising Jesus even if it means putting complete trust in Divine Providence.  We know that as a father Joseph will do everything that he can for his family like most fathers.  But this also lets us know, especially fathers today, that you're not alone in caring and protecting your family, God the Father is there and will take care of you and help you be a good dad by guiding you if you let him. 

The second part of today's reading is about the magi deceiving Herod and his retaliation against the innocents by their murder.  (also in fulfillment of the teachings of Jeremiah)  It is a teachable moment.  A human king doesn't mean anything to the heavenly realm.  The magi, the wise men, have seen Wisdom,  and it far surpasses anything that humans have.  The death of the innocents, though tragic, foreshadow the death of the Innocent One who was born to save us all, and those martyrs who gave their lives willingly for others to honor God, whether they were babes mentioned in St. Matthews Gospel, or our many saints including Saints/Blesseds Agatha, Felicity, Perpetua, Maximillian Kolbe, Agustín Caloca Cortés, Miguel Pro, Maria Chi Yu, etc.  They looked to God and everything beyond this world and made it their purpose in as much as they could in their lives.  Where do we keep our focus?