“Do whatever he tells you.”
God takes the initiative to reach out to us and then we have the choice to respond. Our very desire to encounter God in prayer is already a prayer in itself, because we are acknowledging the relationship with God that already exists. Awareness that God exists is not the end goal but only the beginning. A deist believes God exists. Our God, though transcendent and so beyond our realm of understanding, is at the same time a God who draws close, who initiates an encounter and invites us, each and every one of us, to have a relationship with him.
Our relationship with God begins with our awareness of his presence in our lives and a recognition that he invites us to experience him more and more. Our relationship develops in intimacy and authentically when we are willing to reveal ourselves to God and be still and open as he reveals himself to us.
Many times our relationship with God and others flattens out or plateaus for many reasons. The core of which is that we close in on ourselves. We focus too much on work or projects, seek false truths, deny our own emotional and spiritual hurts and wounds and instead of seeking help or reaching out, we keep others at arm’s length. We begin to live a half life or merely exist day to day because we are only going through the motions.
God seeks for us to be fully engaged in life. We can see this in the account of John’s Gospel for today. The wine has run out at the wedding feast of Cana.
Our discernment for our vocation and path in life becomes clearer when our relationship with God is truer. God sent his Son to invite us and help us to deepen our relationship with his Father. If you need to stop but do not know how, if you are aware of past hurts and wounds that are in need of healing, if you are indecisive, anxious, angry, or losing hope, follow the words of Mary: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).
Jesus will lead us to the source of our being, to the truth of who we are and are called to be. We find this in being aware of and developing our relationship with God. As our relationship with him grows we are transformed just as Jesus transformed the water to wine. Each of us have been given gifts to utilize for mission, and Jesus will give us what we need to accomplish what God has given us to do. He will also guide us through any barrier or obstacle that opposes the mission he has given us. We will find joy and strength, we will find healing and renewal, we will find access and means, when we do whatever he tells us and allow him to transform us in his love.
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Photo: Painting by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld – The Wedding Feast at Cana – 1819
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 20, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012019.cfm
Jesus invites us all to experience his healing and his joy!
Tax collectors were disliked, even despised by many in ancient Palestine because they were considered unclean, as were lepers and sinners. They were cast in this net because there were those who abused their position. A tax collector had a responsibility to pay a fixed amount to the occupying power of Rome, but then could keep as a commission anything he collected over and above that fixed amount. The majority of the population, already just getting by, paying a temple tax, and the Roman tax, then finding out their local tax collector was taking more than their fair share, did not make for feelings of endearment.
Jesus surprises all who had come to hear him teach when he not only invites Levi, also known as Matthew, to follow him, but then they have dinner together. We are witnessing yet again another healing miracle. Jesus provides an opportunity of bridging divides by inviting someone to his inner circle to turn away from one way of life to begin anew, to: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (cf. Mk 1:15). The Pharisees question his choice of table fellowship companions. It is not clear if the Pharisees are eating with them or are on the outside looking in. The other curious point is that the Pharisees are conversing with Jesus’ disciples. So both groups are together witnessing the communal exchange.
Whichever is the case, that they were engaged in the meal together or observing from afar, not quite sure if they were wanting to participate, they could not have been at too great a distance because Jesus could hear their concerns and responded to them: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mk 2:17). The Pharisees, and possibly some of his disciples, were not a part of the intimacy of this communion because of their own unwillingness to accept those that Jesus invited to share a meal with, to accept that they were sinners also in need of healing.
Jesus forgives and offers mercy to all who are willing to be aware of his invitation to fellowship. In the surrendering our finite freedom over to his divine freedom, we receive healing and transformation, then develop a relationship of intimacy and communion with the one who is ushering in the kingdom of God. Our relationship continues to grow and deepen as we accept the love and light of Jesus in our life, which helps us to be more aware of our fear, pride, and sinfulness. In our turning away and letting go of our self absorbed posture, we are further healed, experience his joy, and come into the fullness of who God calls us to be, so to share the invitation of blessing, healing, and joy we have received with others.
As with many Gospel passages, this one offers a wonderful opportunity to place ourselves in the scene. Mark presents Jesus teaching the people though he does not tell us anything about what Jesus shared. Knowing what follows, we might ask ourselves, “What might Jesus have taught about before going directly to Levi at the custom’s post?” Could he have been talking, as Matthew adds in his parallel account, about how Amos preached that God desires mercy and not sacrifice (Mt 9:12)?
Let us sit with the opening line for a time and see what Jesus shares. Then as Jesus moves to the custom post, follow him and the others. What is our reaction to Jesus calling the tax collector Levi to follow him as one of his Apostles? Are there sins that others commit that we find easy to forgive, others that we find hard to forgive? Do we accept the invitation to table fellowship with the motley crew, stay at a distance, or walk away? With the gift of these readings that we have been graced with, it is important that we make the time to ponder them, to invite Jesus into our reading, and to encounter him as did those we read about. This is a wonderful spiritual practice that can bring us much joy and bring us into communion with the Physician. No RSVP needed, just come, open up your Bible and join the feast!
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Photo: Last year celebrating the Christmas break at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, Oceanside, CA
Link for today’s Mass reading for Saturday, January 19, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011919.cfm
Iēsous Kyrios, Jesus is our Lord!
When it was known that Jesus was in the vicinity, people came. They came to hear him teach, because he taught with authority, he taught in ways that were practical as well as demanding, he confirmed the foundational principles of Judaism, while at the same time he called out abuses in leadership. Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. That meant that he did not water down the message of God, but raised the standards even higher than they had been before under the leadership and legacy of Moses. Unlike some of the Pharisees though, Jesus did not just add heavy burdens to leave the people to carry on their own, Jesus accompanied those he challenged, he carried the weight of our sin, all the way to Calvary. Jesus also healed and cast out demons.
If Jesus had a business card to hand out as people gathered it would have had written on it his first words recorded by Mark in his Gospel: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). The time of fulfillment is indeed at hand in the presence of the Son of God made flesh. The entrance to that kingdom is measured by a willingness to turn away from self and turn back to God. Those who are open to the love of God, willing to be shaped and transformed by his love, who are in touch with their hunger and yearning to be one with the Father, recognizing that there is more to life than what they experience in the here and now are drawn to Jesus. This is why his house in Capernaum was full to overflowing.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them (Mk 2:1-2).
It is clear that there is a movement afoot in just these first two chapters of Mark. Another key verse from Mark is the very first line of his Gospel: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]” (Mk 1:1). This is an amazing line, unless we read the words only, missing its proper contextual background. Those reading or hearing these words in the first and early second century would have grasped Mark’s intent immediately. There are two words in that verse that would have leapt off the pages or the lips of the reader; gospel and Christ.
The geopolitical powerhouse lording over Israel at the time of the life of Jesus was Rome. The house of Caesar was its head. Augustus Caesar was emperor at the time of the birth of Jesus and Tiberius Caesar was during most of the adolescence and adult life of Jesus. The term gospel, euangelion in Greek, meant good news. This gospel was spread throughout the Roman empire by messengers on two occasions, at the behest of the emperor; on his birthday and after great military victories. Christ, or Christos in Greek, meant the anointed one. The only ones who were anointed were emperors, kings, and priests.
Mark was making a very clear point with this opening verse, the proclamation of the good news is that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, not Caesar. It is not Kaiser Kyrios, Casaer is Lord, but Iēsous Kyrios, Jesus is Lord! This verse is treasonous in the face of Caesar and a subversive rallying cry for the followers of Jesus then and today. Yet Mark was not calling for a military coup, or power play, as has been seen from age to age.
Jesus the Christ is our Lord. He is the one to whom we bow when we hear his name, not any emperor, president, prime minister or political party. We are not called to take up arms but to repent, to turn back to God, to resist the path of self-centeredness, and instead we are called to love – to will the good of others. Let us surrender our ego to the Son of God, so to be transformed from the darkness of revenge, hate, pride, and division, and instead be conformed to the Body of Jesus the Christ, our Lord, so to uphold the dignity of our brothers and sisters through our acts of mercy, love, caring and unity, from the moment of conception through each stage until natural death.
Iēsous Kyrios! This is good news!
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Photo: 6th century icon of Jesus
Link for the Mass reading for Friday, January 18, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011819.cfm
Let us join the Carpenter in building bridges of solidarity and compassion.
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean” (Mk 1:40).
The term of leprosy, used during the time of Jesus, was a more general way to describe various issues pertaining to the skin such as, open wounds, sores, skin flaking, as well as much more severe and chronic conditions. Today we use it more specifically to refer to Hansen’s disease, a chronic infectious disease caused by a rod-like bacterium named Mycobacterium leprae (PubMed Health).
Those dealing with such skin conditions were deemed as unclean. They were to live outside of their village, town, or city; wear ragged clothes, their hair needed to be unkempt. If anyone came close to them, they were to yell out that they were unclean, so there would be no chance of human contact. Lepers were exempt from any communal religious practice and the common opinion held was that those in this situation deserved it because of some sin that they committed. Those with chronic or recurring conditions could be in a state of exile for the entirety of their life. The experience was like a living death because they were being isolated from all societal interaction.
When Jesus comes within distance of the leper he is quite aware of the cultural and societal context. This leper does not keep his place, he does not follow the societal norms. Instead of warding off Jesus and urging him to keep his distance, he approaches Jesus and kneels before him. Jesus does not reprimand him, and he, like the leper, also does not follow social protocol: “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean'” (Mk 1:41).
The leper is healed at the moment of contact, his death sentence is commuted, his opportunity for worship and communal life is restored. This simple act of healing the leper is in fact a microcosm of the Jesus’ ministry. The Son of God, entered the human condition, became one of us and so experienced compassion time and again. He healed with his touch. In embracing our human condition, he provides the opportunity for restoring us from our exile, our separation, from God and one another.
Jesus the carpenter built and continues to build a bridge, a stairway to heaven. He invited and still invites us today to cross the wide chasm of our sin that separates us from his Father. In his willingness to touch the leper, Jesus was a living icon of how he, as the Son of God was willing to walk among us, accompany us, experience our pain, suffering, and separation, while offering us healing, so we in turn could become instruments of healing for one another.
We are to not shun those on the peripheries, nor, God forbid, are we to support social prejudices, injustices, and structures that isolate and exile others. We are called by Jesus to be open to walking in solidarity with our brothers and sisters. We need to be asking ourselves, who are the ones that are living on the peripheries among us today, those we push into positions of shouting unclean when we come near. What bridges can we build in our families, schools, work, and communities? May we be open to ways in which Jesus is inviting us to leave our protective shells, to risk going out to the margins with “a spirit of profound solidarity and compassion” (Pope Francis).
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Photo: accessed from pexels.com
PubMed Health. “Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy).” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0027942/
Link for Mass readings for Thursday, January 16, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011719.cfm
Let us be open to God healing others through us.
There is a danger when we read a comment from Scripture such as when Jesus, “cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons” (Mk 1:34). The danger is that we may not believe we are capable of healing as Jesus did, so we don’t do anything active with our faith. We also might think that Jesus is divine, so of course there is no way we can measure up to what he has done. An even less helpful line of thought would be to disbelieve that the healings of Jesus happened at all, that they are all made up, and that they never really happened.
Another challenge can be pride. We may want to heal like Jesus, for the purpose of our own aggrandizement, so people look at us, not God. That was the sin of Simon the magician, who saw the Apostles healing, just as Jesus had, and offered payment to them for the power to accomplish the same (cf. Acts 8:9-25). The other problem is wanting to do something grandiose, something beyond our own unique gift and charism.
What we need to keep in perspective is that Jesus had a specific mission to accomplish, and yes he is divine, but as I have shared Jesus is also fully human. He had a specific mission from his Father, he gave a specific mission to his Apostles, and he is presenting us with a mission that his Father has for each of us as well. Jesus himself proclaimed: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn 14:12). Not only does Jesus say we can do works such as these but even greater ones! Jesus knows the plan God has for our life, the part we are to play, and he will share it with us and empower us with that which we need to accomplish it.
We all have the capacity to provide God’s healing presence to others. God works through us when embrace the love of the Holy Spirit and are conformed by it such that we come to know how God wants us to love others. There is some way for all of us to contribute. Throughout the Bible their are accounts of how God invites others to service, each in very small and humble ways – Jesus himself began his days on this earth wrapped in swaddling clothes in a feeding trough, as vulnerable and humble a beginning as there can be and then pretty much living thirty years in obscurity until his public ministry began.
Let resist the temptation to limit and define Jesus, but instead embrace the gift of a “sitting theology” in which we allow ourselves to look at Jesus, take him in, for he is “infinite Love incarnate” (Barron). We just need to place ourselves before Jesus and allow him to expand us so that we can receive his revelation and guidance so to know the mission our loving God and Father has planned for us.
Then as we go about our lives each day may we continue to be contemplatives in action, open to the experiences that come before us, the opportunities and interruptions that arise in which we can be present to another with a smile, an active listening ear, and a helping hand. In each small act we say yes to God’s invitation to be present to others by our willingness to love as he has loved us, by willing the good of each other.
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Photo: Ready for mission!
These quotes are from Bishop Robert Barron Lesson 5 from his Word on Fire Institute which provides lectures from himself as well as other fellows in the Institute. I have been excited to be involved in it for over the past three months or so! To learn more and see bios of the men and women fellows go to: https://wordonfire.institute/#section–38490
Link to Mass readings for Wednesday, January 16, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011619.cfm
Encounter Jesus in his living Word present in Scripture.
Jesus “taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes” (Mk 1:22). What does Mark mean? Mark is relaying to us that the way the scribes taught and discussed their sacred texts was by quoting various trusted interpreters they learned from, those who had the weight of authority to do so and tracing the lineage of their learning all the way back to Moses.
Jesus quoted no one. He spoke from his own authority.
The Gospel of John picks up the source of Jesus’ authority from the beginning line of his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). Jesus Christ is the Word, the Logos in Greek. Who would have more authority to speak about the word of God, than the Logos, the Word, himself?
The authority of Jesus was not only limited to teaching but restoration. As he was teaching in the synagogue he expelled the unclean spirit of a man when he said, “Quiet! Come out of him” (Mk 1:25)! Time and again we read accounts of Jesus healing and exorcising demons with his word.
If you haven’t read the Bible ever, have not for a long time, or have been away for awhile. I invite you to read the Gospel of Mark. Along with prayer, reading the Gospels is a way to come to know Jesus and experience his authority in our lives. You may do so along with the Church as we are reading the Gospel daily or at your own pace, say five to ten minutes a day. What may be even better is to read a short section at a time and meditate on the passage read.
Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, it is quick moving, and action packed. The Gospels lend themselves particularly well to visualizing the text, and placing yourself in the reading as if you were watching a movie. See what Jesus is revealing or communicating to you in the silence of your heart.
We can also receive a word or phrase and carry it with us through the day, such as from today’s account. We may not be dealing with being possessed, but if we are experiencing pressure, temptation, feeling indecisive or divided we can call on Jesus’ words and speak in his name, “Quiet! Come out of me!” or “Peace be still!” and receive through the authority of his word his healing presence within us.
We do not have to journey alone this day. We have the gift of prayer and the Word of God to help us to remember that Jesus is present with us, helping us to continue his mission which is to help us and others to be aware that the kingdom of God is at hand!
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Photo: Jesus makes himself known to us in his Living Word proclaimed and lived in our lives!
Link for today’s Mass reading for Tuesday, January 15, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011519.cfm
Believe in the Gospel, believe that God loves us.
“This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).
With these words as recorded by Mark, Jesus begins his public ministry in time and space and we in 2019 begin the first week of Ordinary Time together. Whether we are in the Christmas, Easter or the season of Ordinary Time, each day is an opportunity to be thankful and celebrate our life because this continues to be “the time of fulfillment” because the Kingdom of God is still at hand because Jesus is still present to us.
We are not alone on our journey. The Son of God became human, as we just celebrated this Christmas season, and as we will celebrate in Easter, he died and rose again. This was no mere resuscitation like with Lazarus who rose and died again. Jesus conquered death and became the first born of the new creation. We who die with Christ in Baptism rise with him and participate in his life now and for all eternity.
Jesus is closer to us now than he was to his disciples and those he walked among when he first proclaimed his word of truth that his very presence was the Kingdom of God which was at hand. This reality becomes more relevant to us as we allow ourselves to be led by him and conformed by him, so we too can know his Father and participate in the love of the Holy Spirit.
One of the things that holds us back from embracing the gift of Kingdom of God in our midst is our choosing to place ourselves first before God and others. Jesus calls us to reorient our lives in urging us to repent, to turn away from the false reality that we are the center and author of our own lives, such that we come to realize the truth that God is our true author. To repent also means to open ourselves to his love, to trust and feel safe that God accepts us as we are, right now at this moment.
We do not have to do anything or act perfectly or say the right prayer for God to love us, we need to “move the Lord out of the category of ‘polite company’ and into that of intimate friend to whom one can tell everything” (Barry 1987, 55). In this way we will be more open to allow him to transform our being such that we are more conformed to the Body of Christ, we will then become like a pencil in the hand of God such that he writes the pages of the script of our life and we become participants in the act of proclaiming his kingdom.
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Photo: https://www.pexels.com/@belle-co-99483
Barry, S.J, William A. God and You: Prayer as a Personal Relationship. NY: Paulist Press, 1987.
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 14, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011419.cfm
Baptized in fire and the Holy Spirit
The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Jn 3:15-16).
These verses summarize our readings through the week. People are wondering if John the Baptist is the messiah. In each instance, John’s reply has been no. John consistently points to Jesus. John shared in today’s account that he has been baptizing in water, but Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
The Holy Spirit is the love shared between God the Father and the Son. Both love and fire transform that which experiences their touch. Through our Baptism we have been cleansed from the power of sin and have been created anew, born from above. We have been grafted to the living organism of the Body of Christ. As St Paul writes in his letter to Titus that we were “saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5).
Many of us, if we were baptized as infants do not remember our baptism, just as we do not remember our birth. Yet both are significant and joyful events. Many of us celebrate and enjoy our birthdays, but how many of us celebrate and enjoy our baptism? I include myself, as I do not even remember the date of my baptism. As Christians we are not invited to just follow and learn from and then imitate Jesus, as if he is our model and teacher alone. Through baptism, we become transformed by his fire and love. Baptism is the entrance sacrament because we are conformed to Jesus, and become a part of his Mystical Body. Through Jesus, we enter into the very life of the Trinity whose name we have been baptized into.
Whenever we enter the sanctuary or chapel before Mass and dip our finger into the holy water and make the sign of the cross on our foreheads, we do so as an affirmation of our baptism. We remember that we are literally part of the Body of Christ. When we are conscious of this action, we also recommit ourselves to our baptismal vows. We are promising to reject the ways of Satan and all his empty promises and affirm our belief in God the Father, Jesus his Son, the love shared between them, the Holy Spirit and that we are a part of his Body, the holy catholic Church. When we do this same action as we leave, we do so empowered by his Word proclaimed, the Body and Blood we have received and our communal fellowship shared with the people of God, to go forth to live a life of peace, glorifying the Lord by our life.
On this feast, as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, may we remember and celebrate our baptism, the day we died with Christ and so also rose with him as a part of his new creation. May we recognize that we are not mere imitators of Jesus but drawn ever deeper into an organic relationship with him. The transforming fire of the love of Jesus we received at our baptism grows each and every day as we are more and more conformed to him. From this sacred union we radiate the warmth and tenderness of his love to all those we encounter. A light has shown in the darkness and it will not be overcome but spread through us as the Body of Christ.
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Photo: The Baptism of the Christ by Daniel Bonnell accessed from: http://frvlad.blogspot.com/2014/01/baptism-of-jesus.html
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 13, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011319.cfm
