Matthew 9:14-15

for today's reading (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021216.cfm)

Today Jesus is asked why he and his disciples do not fast.  He answers, "Can the wedding guests mourn when the bridegroom is with them?" 

The contrast is striking: Mourning and joyful.  He reminds us that he is the groom.  We are his love.  How can we be sad?  This Lent are we mindful of his immense love?  What sacrifice can we give him that will bring us closer to him?  Is it a sacrifice of prayer?  A few brief moments before the tabernacles between work and lunch?  How do we make him our first priority?  The answer is different for everyone.  Let the Spirit lead you. 

Luke 5: 1-11 Fishers of Men

For today's readings http://usccb.org/bible/readings/020716.cfm

My apologies dear friends for my tardy blog.  I ask prayers for a dear friend who died this morning.  Her name is Grace.  Most of my day was spent making telephone calls to those I was to contact when she died.

In today's Gospel we read about how Simon Peter and the others were called to be fishers of men.  As experienced fishermen they knew their business.  Yet Jesus was calling them to something more.  In my youth I read Siddhartha by Herman Hess.  I cannot forget his use of the water to illustrate spiritual growth.  Being in the deep, that wide unknown, alone with God, what a difficult thing to describe.  This is where Apostles were led by Jesus, our Lord calling to them.  How much spiritual wisdom and teaching is imparted to them, and yet we hear it in simplified terms as they will be fishers of men, and will catch more than their nets will hold.  We are likewise taught by our teachers, in a great line extending to these Apostles to also be fishers of men.  My the children being taught yesterday this could come in many ways: being there for others, celebrating birthdays, blessings family and friends, encouraging each other especially in faith.  Basically we do this through living a Christian life.

(Photo from private collection.  All rights reserved)

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 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.”

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.

Luke 7:18b-23

In today's Gospel we hear that disciples of John the Baptist have been sent to inquire of Jesus if he "is the one that is to come."  It is a curious thing.  People have been mistaking John as the Messiah, but he knew that he was not.  John freely admitted that to his own disciples that he was not the Messiah and sent them to seek the one greater than he.  John, like many others, was awaiting the Messiah.  Jesus never answered the question, but told them to report what they saw: healing of body, mind, and spirit; cleansing of lepers; and giving new life to the dead. "The poor have had the Good News proclaimed to them.  And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me." 

In Jesus' words there is almost a reply to (Isiah 45:21b-25) when the Lord spoke, " Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other..to me every knee shall bend; every tongue shall swear saying, "Only in the Lord are just deeds and power.  Before him in shame shall come all who vent their anger toward him..."

How amazing to behold these things! to be able to go back to John and tell him what they have seen and that Jesus completes the words of Isiah.  It is incredible.  It is interesting to think too that Jesus doesn't have to reply.  He simply is.  It reminds us of the Old Testament accounts of Moses interacting with God, and being told simply "I am who am."