bible

Jesus is our light, love, and salvation.

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons” (Mark 3:22).

The scribes, coming in from Jerusalem, most likely to investigate the happenings of this Jesus they have been hearing about, experience for themselves Jesus exorcising demons. They do not nor seem to want to understand how he is able to cast them out and thus healing those possessed. They judge that he does this feat, not by the power of God, but instead, by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Could their purpose be to delegitimize, or literally demonize, Jesus in such a way that those beginning to follow him will begin to doubt or outright turn away from him? If Jesus is who he says he is, then the scribes are actually the ones serving Satan in aligning with him to sow discord and disunity.

Jesus provides an invitation to build bridges of reconciliation and healing to restore the unity that has been lost by those choosing to sin, to put self first over God. He also meets those on the peripheries, those who have been kept at arm’s length, healing those conditions which have been used to justify their separation. Yet Jesus does not impose, he proposes. Even so, Jesus demands a choice.

Jesus shows over and over again by word and deed not only how he is creating a bridge of connection between the human and the divine, he is in actuality the bridge, the kingdom of God in our midst, and yet, he is not going to drag anyone over against their will. Jesus calls all who encounter him to make a choice, there is no middle ground, we are either for him or against him.

We have witnessed in the Gospel accounts how some of the scribes, Pharisees, and even some of his own relatives reject Jesus. He is able to perform only a few miracles in his own hometown. Those who say no to the invitation cut themselves off, separate themselves from the very source of their life, the very core and sustaining force of their being. Those who say, “yes’ and repent, like those that receive his healing, will be transformed, and are freed from their enslavement to sin.

When they continue to say, “yes”, day by day, decision by decision, they align themselves with the very source and communion they have been created for, God the Father. This is no one revelatory moment but a daily commitment of saying, “yes” to Jesus. Even when we mess up or fall for temptation, let us refuse to stay down but arise, repent, and begin again and again. We must always and everywhere reject the lie that echoes in our minds that we cannot be forgiven. Jesus loves us more than we can ever mess up, he loves us more than our worst choices or mistakes, more than our most grievous sins, and he will forgive us time and again, as long as we are contrite, seek his help to sin no more, and are willing to perform the penance to atone for our sins.

If this is true, then what does Jesus mean when he says, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an ever lasting sin” (Mk 3:29)? Jesus refers here to our free will to accept or reject the free gift of his grace. We can observe this played out in the choices of Peter and Judas. Peter repented, was forgiven, and transformed. Judas withdrew within himself, cut himself off from Jesus, did not believe that Jesus would forgive him, and took his own life. Jesus would have forgiven Judas as he had Peter, but Judas kept himself at a distance. He refused to accept the love of the Holy Spirit. He cut himself off from the very source of his life and salvation.

We have a choice to make each day. We can let ourselves be defined by our sins and our worst mistakes, believe the father of lies who promotes division and isolation, tempts and seeks to condemn us, separate us from Jesus and one another, with the intent to kill us. We can walk the path of darkness which consists of living defensively, keep others at a distance, demean, belittle, and degrade others, as well as live in the shadows of indifference and cynicism.

Or we can surrender our will to Jesus, accept his guidance and conviction so that we can see our sins and repent from our pride, prejudice, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, sloth, and wrath. We can believe that Jesus is who he said he is, seek his forgiveness, healing, and love, and join in the mission of sharing his gospel.

As we do so, we will take steps forward and steps back, and we stumble and we will fall, but through each experience, the hand of Jesus is still there to help us back up. When we are willing, we will be forgiven again and again, and begin again and again. We are not alone. Mary the Mother of God and all the saints said, “yes” to Jesus’ invitation. They understand what we are going through. They are also cheering us on, guiding us, empowering us, so that one day we too will be where they are, seeing God the Father face to face. Until that time, while we are still here this side of heaven, let us breathe, receive, rest, and abide in God’s love so to radiate his Son’s light and love, in our own unique way.

———————————————————-

Photo: A quiet moment to breathe and receive the love of Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 27, 2025

“Love listens.”

Having been led by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil. Jesus resisted these temptations and then, in Luke’s account, began his public ministry by preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. After some time, Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth and on the Sabbath, Jesus “went according to his custom into the synagogue” (Lk 4:16).

This time his presence was different. Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah and as Jesus sat, all were silent. Jesus broke the silence with the words, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:18). This was no ordinary reading, this was Luke’s inaugural address for Jesus. Jesus was sent on mission by his Father through the love of the Holy Spirit to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and return sight to the blind, to free those from oppression and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Jesus came to restore us to wholeness, to be present with us so that we can experience his closeness, and to lead us to reconciliation with his Father. Jesus calls us, just as he called his disciples to share in this same mission of drawing close. We are also to be present to one another, to love one another, and lead each other out from our imprisonment to sin. Turning in upon ourselves, and away from others keeps the focus on ourselves. Instead, we would do better to open ourselves up to embrace God and one another.

USC professor, Dr. Leo Buscaglia, was devastated when he heard the news that one of his students had committed suicide. He was crushed by the loss of such a young life full of potential and promise, but more so by the fact that none of her classmates were even aware that she was missing or struggling with such pain. Dr. Buscaglia then began his non credit course called Love 1A in 1969. He wanted not so much to teach but to facilitate ways in which his students could be free from the barriers that keep people at arm’s length and at a distance.

Dr. Buscaglia allowed God to work through him to bring about a greater good from the devastating loss of one of his students. His class grew beyond the campus of USC through his books and public speaking where he continued to facilitate for his listeners the vital importance of allowing ourselves to be loved and to love in return.

To continue the mission of Jesus we too need to have ears to hear and eyes to see the ways in which we can say yes to our unique invitation to spread the Gospel. Because of watching a video presentation by Dr. Buscalglia in my Sophomore year of college in a search in education course, I chose to switch my major and seek to become a teacher. He inspired me to want to help others and to help make a difference in their lives. No matter our station in life, we can be more intentional, more aware, and more present to each other through our willingness to care, understand, support, love, and empower those in our realm of influence.

Photo: Dr. Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1988. “Perhaps if we listened to another person, truly listened, we could hear his joy or his cry. Love listens. Love hears.” – from his book Love, p. 180.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 26, 2025

ICTHYS!

In today’s gospel account, chosen because of the feast of St Paul’s conversion, we read:

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).

The Eleven, and Paul who would encounter Jesus after his Resurrection (cf. Acts 9:1-9), are commissioned with carrying the Gospel to the whole world. What did they preach? How are we do follow in their footsteps?

The earliest kerygmas, Greek for “to preach”, and in this case to preach the Gospel, were very simple but effective mnemonic devices. Each disciple was taught what was needed to be covered in sharing the Good News. One such “blueprint” was the symbol of the fish. In Greek, fish is written as ichthus. Each of the characters of ichthys represented the keywords that needed to be covered as follows:

Iésous – Jesus
Christos – Messiah or Anointed One
Theos – God
Hyíos – Son
Soter – Savior.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God our Savior.

The dynamic truth of these five words is profoundly transformative if we truly believe them. What we need to ask ourselves is, do we believe this statement to be true? If we do, how can we stop ourselves from smiling, from dancing, from sharing that Jesus is truly who he said he is!

Jesus is fully God and fully man and he became one of us so that we can become one with him. Through the Son of God’s Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, we are called, as were the first disciples, to share in the divinity of Jesus. We become deified, meaning we participate in the life of God through our participation in the life of Jesus. The foundation of our faith has to do with our encounter with Jesus the Christ.

Jesus invites us and encounters us in our own unique way. No one can save another. We can only propose, invite, and present the Good News that Jesus Christ is the Son of God our Savior, and share our own experiences of this reality. Our encounter with Jesus does not need to be as brilliant as happened with Paul. More often, Jesus invites us in more quiet and subtle ways. We are to share the Gospel with joy and accompany each other on our journey by providing support, encouragement, and guidance, and let God be who he is and work through us as he will.

The Apostles and Paul, Mary the Mother of God, Mary Magdalene and the many who have continued to answer yes to his invitation through the ages up until and including our day were willing to be shaped and conformed by the love of Jesus and sent on mission. Each of us, have a part to play in salvation history, and so are invited to have our own unique experience of Jesus. As Bishop Robert Barron says often, “Our faith will grow as we give it away.” We too are called. When we say, “yes” to Jesus, we too will be shaped, conformed, and sent on mission to proclaim the Gospel, to give our faith away!
——————————————-
Picture: The mosaic of Jesus Christ the Pantocrator, Ruler of the Universe, at Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, Turkey. What does he ask of you today?

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, January 25, 2025

Let us pray and follow the lead of Jesus.

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him (Mk 3:13).

Through the centuries mountains have been sites where people have gone to rise above their daily experiences, to rise above the clouds, where the air is crisper, cleaner. It is a means of gaining a new perspective, transcending the human to touch the spiritual, and with the hope hearing the voice of God. When one of the Gospel writers inserts the detail that Jesus is present on a mountain, we can be prepared that something significant is going to happen.

In today’s Gospel of Mark, the good news revealed to us is that Jesus calls to himself the Twelve, the Apostles, to preach and cast out demons. They are to continue the ministry of Jesus. These are not perfect men, but each will have a part to play in salvation history. Jesus will entrust them with the deposit of faith that they are to protect, yes, but more so to proclaim by word and deed. Apostle means one who is sent.

Jesus will continue to call the Twelve to himself, to teach, mentor, model, and empower them so that they will continue his mission to call people to repent and believe in the Gospel. Even though, especially through the Gospel of Mark, it often looks as if Jesus may have made a mistake in his choice. The Twelve do not ever grasp who Jesus really is, and when Jesus needs them most, Judas will turn him over to the Temple guards, the others flee at his arrest, and Peter will publicly deny him three times. It will not be until after the Resurrection and Ascension that the seeds that Jesus had sown in them would begin to germinate and bear fruit.

Just as Jesus called the Twelve, he calls us as well. Each generation must experience and embrace the deposit of faith that has been given to us and pass it on to the next. Are we perfect, no. Do we have doubts, fears, weaknesses, yes. Does God call us and love us anyway? Yes. Like each Apostle, we are to go out and proclaim the good news that Jesus is our Lord! We do this daily with our words, faces, and actions. We are to think, look, speak, and act in ways that are kind, empowering, uplifting, and convicting while at the same time resisting the temptation to fix others. We are to strive to bear witness, be present, accompany and guide one another.

We all have much on our plate, some of us to overflowing. We may be thinking I cannot possibly do one more thing. Start small by bringing God with us into whatever we are already doing. He will give us the tools and accompany us as we seek to fulfill his will. As did the Apostles, we will make mistakes, make false starts, trip, fall, sin, and deny opportunities to reach out to be a witness. When we commit any or all of the above, we must resist beating ourselves up and instead learn from the experience, lean into Jesus, and with him prepare better for the next apostolic opportunity.

Jesus went up the mountain to pray. We are to make time each day to do the same. Let us begin our day today with a few moments of intentional stillness, to breathe, and ask Jesus what does he want us to do today. Are we worthy of his call? Probably not, for all of us fall short of the glory of God. More important, are we willing? That is a question for each of us to answer today and each day hereafter.

Photo: When we pray, we will know Jesus and we can then better follow the guidance of St. Francis de Sales whose memorial we celebrate today: “If He is with me I care not where I go.”

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, January 24, 2025

In our encounter and deepening of our relationship with Jesus we experience love, peace, and joy!

After the most recent clash with those Pharisees bent now on killing Jesus, he “withdrew toward the sea”, the Sea of Galilee. After his entanglements with the Pharisees, he may have sought refuge or a quieter setting away from the crowds. Yet, the people followed. Mark details in his account that many from all over the region came to Jesus to be healed. Among the crowd, unclean spirits threw those they possessed down before Jesus. This did not slow the gathering of people who pressed in on Jesus, just to touch him. The mass of people grew to a point that it was getting out of control so Jesus “told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him” (Mk 3:9).

People wanted to be healed, to be cured, to be exorcised, and brought others to experience the same. Yet they were missing the deeper point of who Jesus is. He was not just a miracle worker, not just someone that brought about physical healing. Healing accounts were heard and known about in the ancient world.  The unclean spirits got it, they recognized Jesus before the people did, “for, whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God'” (Mk 3:11).

They were bound by the authority of Jesus to be renounced. They had to obey him and in calling out who he was they were attempting to control him with no effect. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we will read about how the crowds, disciples, and even the apostles, all struggle to understand who Jesus is. The people closed in on Jesus seeking to be healed, but missed the deeper hunger within their souls that St Augustine, the fourth-century bishop of Hippo, so eloquently described on the first page of his autobiography: “[Y]ou have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find peace in you” (Augustine 1963, 17). Jesus is the Son of God, not just a miracle worker, teacher, or healer, but God Incarnate.

The only way we will be fully satisfied, inspired, fully alive, and be at peace within our own skin, is by developing an ongoing, deepening relationship, and communion with our Father. God is infinite and cannot be exhausted. We as finite beings are left wanting even when we have the best of material things. We always hunger and want for more, because in the depths of our very being, whether we recognize it or not, we want God. The many who came to Jesus for healing, were not aware of the deeper hunger and healing they sought.

The deeper healing that Jesus seeks to offer all of us is to restore us to the fullness of who his Father created us to be. To do that, we must be willing to embrace the truth, the way, and the life that he offers us. Which means that we will need to let go of anything that does not align with his invitation. At the first, we may be taken aback because of our attachments. We need not be afraid. Jesus works slowly. His light shines gently that we might see what is keeping us from growing in our relationship with him and each other.

Jesus conquered death and freed us to abide in an authentic love expressed at a deeper, more intimate level than we can ever imagine. Jesus satisfies our deepest hunger as he invites us to be drawn into his grace-filled embrace so as to be healed, renewed, shaped, and conformed to his heart, mind, and will. When we come to this place of encounter, reconciliation, and intimate relationship, we come to know our mission and in serving through that mission we come to know who and whose we truly are. In that place is our greatest joy and it only gets better the more we receive and share his love!

————————————————————————

Drawing by: First weekend Mass about six months ago. Feel blessed and joy filled to overflowing each day as I continue to build relationships here at my new home of Holy Cross Catholic Church, grow as a disciple of Jesus, and serve as his priest!

St Augustine. The Confessions of St Augustine. Translated by Rex Warner. New York: New American Library, 1963.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 23, 2025.

May we resist the hardening our hearts and allow ourselves instead to be moved with compassion.

In today’s Gospel scene, Jesus enters the synagogue and sees a man with a withered hand. The eyes of the Pharisees are on him to see if, yet again, Jesus will heal on the Sabbath. Jesus is clear in his mind what he is going to do, though before doing so, he calls the man up and asks the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it” (Mk 3:4)?

Jesus here is giving them a no-brainer of a question. Of course, one is to do good rather than evil on the Sabbath, to save life rather than destroy it! Yet, the Pharisees remain silent. Jesus expresses anger and grief. This may not only be an obvious question but more Jesus could be meeting the Pharisees on the ground of Scripture that they are using against Jesus. 1 Maccabees 2:41 records the account of the Maccabeans deciding to take up arms on the Sabbath to defend themselves against attack. With this in mind, Jesus may be appealing to those Pharisees that were challenging him to choose to see the healing of this man as a greater good. Unfortunately, their “their hardness of heart” shows they were not appreciative of the scriptural assistance.

At the peak of this fifth conflict in Marl, may we stop and imagine ourselves present in the synagogue and witnessing Jesus looking at the Pharisees and the Pharisees looking back at him. Ever been present when tensions were very high and there was dead silence? Imagine what was going through the mind of the guy standing in between them with the withered hand?!!!

The anger rising in Jesus may have had to do with the unwillingness of the Pharisees to show any compassion at all for this man. That they would hold so tightly to their self-righteous stance to refuse to even have a discussion about the matter. Not even to say in effect, “Yes, Jesus of course, it is lawful to do good, to save a life but what you are doing is unorthodox.” No. They refuse to dialogue. Their faces are set like flint, they dig in their heels. Even though Jesus is inviting them to take just a step to consider another alternative, they instead harden their hearts. In their silence, they are choosing evil over good, to destroy life rather than saving it. Pride has reared its grotesque head.

Jesus breaks the silence as he says to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”

The man is healed, but instead of rejoicing, and sharing the good news as Andrew did with his brother Simon, the Pharisees leave immediately to find the Herodians and begin to plot to not only undo Jesus but “to put him to death.” They who would refuse to see a mean healed on the Sabbath, did not hesitate to plan someone’s death on the Sabbath.

We have witnessed in today’s Gospel the evil of pride. We have witnessed the mercy of God presented and rejected. As is stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit” (1864). That is what Jesus is angry about. Not only do the Pharisees resist any move in the slightest direction toward compassion, or their own repentance, they further separate themselves from the love of God. They start with a principle of defending the law, and walk out seething with a premeditated intent to kill Jesus, and on the Sabbath!

With each choice of putting self over another, pride grows. Its appetite is insatiable. Pride is known as the mother of all sins because of its disordered focus on self at the expense of all others and all else. The deadliest component of which is in direct opposition to God and separation from the very life force of our existence.

May we choose a different approach to Jesus, by surrendering our wills to him this day. May we ask him to reveal the darkness that dwells within us and grant us the humility to call it out and renounce anything that is not of God. May God grant us the courage to repent and the willingness to receive the healing touch of the Holy Spirit such that we might be transformed into Jesus’ image and likeness, so to know him and our Father more. May we reject evil and choose the good, reject pride and choose love, reject death and choose life. With each person we encounter today, may we reject the temptation to withdraw or scowl and instead offer a smile, a hand of welcome, and a listening ear.

———————————————————————-

Painting by James Tissot.

Catholic Church. “Article 8: Sin,” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 22, 2025

May we choose to align ourselves with the Lord of the Sabbath and lead with love.

“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath” (Mk 2:27-28).

In making the above statement, Jesus was not discrediting or devaluing the observance of the Sabbath. He was weighing in on one of the common debates that Jewish people engaged in about what was considered work, and thus what could and could not be done on the Sabbath. Jesus went deeper to address the origin of the Sabbath observance in that it, “commemorates God’s creative and saving action for humanity, and alleviating hunger might be an example” (Donahue and Harrington, 112).

Although, the Pharisees who confront Jesus are most likely looking at a strict interpretation of Exodus 34:21 in which even during the time of harvest, one “must rest” on the Sabbath. The rubbing off of the husks in their hands to access the kernels of wheat within constituted such work. Jesus offers David and his followers doing the same thing in their time of hunger when they were fleeing from the soldiers of King Saul. In claiming this account, Jesus is aligning himself and his disciples with King David and his men. The Pharisees in this comparison would then be aligned with the followers of King Saul.

God created us, formed us, and breathed life into us. God seeks intimacy and closeness between himself and us his created beings, his children. God is our source and we are interconnected in our relationship with him and with one another. God continues to deal with us in a personal way. The Torah, the Law or the Teachings, is meant to enhance the intimacy and closeness of that relationship with God and one another, to provide boundaries and definition so that we can resist going astray.

Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law, to restore it from distortion, while at the same time bring it to a higher level. When asked what commandment is the greatest, Jesus announced that we are to Love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (cf. Mk:12:30-31). To live out this commandment then, we need to foster our relationship with God if we are to experience his love, mercy, and forgiveness, to fill up to overflowing, so to share with others what we have received, otherwise, we have nothing to give.

With or without a relationship with God we can experience emptiness, anxiety, fear, and loneliness. Without a relationship with God, and the community of the Church, we are more vulnerable to the temptations to satiate our hunger with the material, finite, and false goods, that are readily available, and hungering more, falling deeper into the lures of power, pride, prestige, ego, and addiction. We then seek to protect that false sense of self at all costs, and react defensively, as we feed our fear and pride. We buffer ourselves off from the very one we have been created for, and those we consider as other. In following this path, we isolate ourselves from God and one another and this provides fertile ground in which fear, prejudice, sexism, and racism can grow along with the manifestation of the dehumanization and objectifying of human beings.

As a part of the Church and actively engaged, we are constantly reminded that we are not alone and that all of us and creation are interconnected. As Pope Francis shared in his homily in 2018: “Having doubts and fears is not a sin. The sin is to allow these fears to determine our responses, to limit our choices, to compromise respect and generosity, to feed hostility and rejection. The sin is to refuse to encounter the other, the different, the neighbor when this is, in fact, a privileged opportunity to encounter the Lord.”

The Pharisees that were confronting Jesus felt threatened. They refused to see who he was. We know there were other Pharisees that came to trust in and follow Jesus, Nicodemus and most famously, Saul who became Paul. They were able to see past their blind spots and come to believe that Jesus was the Son of Man, the Son of God. We are offered a choice to see Jesus as a liar, a lunatic, and blasphemer, or as our Lord.

My invitation is for us to align ourselves with the Lord of the Sabbath, who walked with his disciples among a field of wheat one day, and who is now our Bread of Life this day. Empowered by the Eucharist we are filled with the love of Jesus, we will then better be able to let no evil talk to pass our lips and to say only the good things that people need to hear (cf. Ephesians 4:29). Receiving God’s love, we will better be able to will each other’s good, even toward those who profess hate. Feeding hate will only contribute to it. Meeting hate with love can provide an invitation for hearts to soften. As with Dr. King, whose memorial we celebrated yesterday, we are called to be instruments of the light to dispel the darkness and conduits of love to transform hate.

———————————————————

Photo: Rosary walk among the sea oats back in July, Riomar Beach, Vero Beach, FL.

Donahue, S.J., John R., and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. The Gospel of Mark in Sacra in Sacra Pagina Series, vol. 2. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002.

Pope Francis full text of homily at Mass on World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Sunday, January 14, 2018: http://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=79091

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 21, 2025

In this in between time, we fast and feast.

“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day” (Mk 2:19-20).

The conflict, the third one in this gospel, that Jesus is responding to was that he is witnessed eating and drinking, practicing table fellowship with his disciples, as well as tax collectors and sinners. There is no evidence that he and his disciples practice fasting. Jesus’ response utilizes the image of a wedding banquet, which for the people of his time would often last at least a week.

Devout Jews, following the pharisaic tradition, would often fast one to two days per week, many Jews, once a year during Yom Kippur, but during a wedding feast, there was an exemption from fasting. Now that Jesus has begun his public ministry, it is a time of celebration, because Jesus has been proclaiming the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand, the bridegroom is with his, bride, his people. As Donahue and Harrington write: “People are summoned to hear the good news of the victory of God over evil, illness, and sin. Even those thought to be habitually outside the pale of God’s forgiveness are welcomed to the banquet” (Donahue 2002, 108). This is indeed a time to rejoice for heaven and earth have been wedded in Jesus, fully human and fully divine. Even more his promise is that humanity can participate in this divine union!

People are being healed of chronic conditions, having demons exorcised from them, are able to see, to hear, and be restored to the community that they had been separated from. These are causes of celebration, why wouldn’t those receiving the gift of new life not celebrate? We have and will continue to see Jesus preaching, healing, and inviting those in his midst to participate in God’s kingdom played out in our daily readings. That is one of the gifts of reading the Gospels daily.

Jesus also references his death, when he will be taken away, and then on that day people will fast. We, like the community of Mark, live in between the time after Jesus walked the earth and proclaimed his message of the good news, after his Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension, until the time when he will return. We are living in a time of both/and. If we look at the course of a week as a model, we may contemplate the opportunity to fast on Fridays in remembrance of the day he gave his life for us, and to feast on Sundays, the Lord’s Day, when we celebrate his Resurrection.

The course of our lives follow an ebb and flow of sorrow and joy, sickness and healing, conflict and resolution, sin and reconciliation. In the midst of our everyday experiences, Jesus, the one who is fully human and fully divine, invites us to yoke our lives to his. Let us resist the temptations of overindulgence and gluttony while at the same time resist the polar opposite of a hyper asceticism. We are a unity of soul and body, so we need to attend to and take care of both our spiritual and physical needs.

Make a list of three things you can do for yourself this week to take care of yourself spiritually and physically. Three things to take care of the spirit, such as go to Mass or gather in the community of your faith practice, spend five minutes a day in quiet prayer, read from the Gospel of Mark, or a spiritual book, meditate in silence, and/or listen to some music. Three things to take care of the physical, such as plan your meals so they are a little healthier, fast with smaller meals on Fridays as well as even an occasional Tuesday or Wednesday, and invite family and friends to gather this Sunday for a meal and fellowship together, spend some quiet time reading, add some exercises that include a combination of stretching, cardio, and weight-bearing, take a walk outside, breath in some fresh clean air.

Life goes too fast, let us not take the gift of our life for granted, and commit this week to take better care of ourselves and each other, to celebrate the victory we have received in Christ, the wedding of heaven and earth, the human and divine.

Photo: My sister and me celebrating my mother’s birthday this past September.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 20, 2025

When we trust in Jesus, just as he transformed water to wine, he will transform us with his love.

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 our 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 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, and we keep God and others at arm’s length. We begin to live a half life or merely exist day to day. Instead of living, we find ourselves going through the motions or reacting from survival mode.

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. This may seem odd until we realize that Jewish weddings during this time were a week long. Mary though is aware of the need and the possible embarrassment to the bridegroom and his family if anyone finds this out. She turns to her Son, who seems to be indifferent to the situation. Is pushing back is not because he is indifferent to the need, but to affirm to Mary that this is not the hour to reveal his true presence.

This sign of changing of about 180 gallons of water to wine is only a beginning of the fulfillment of the “messianic banquet” which was to boast a superabundance of wine (see Isaiah 25:6-8). This sign will not be in the open for all to see, but only for his disciples so that they can see and come “to believe in him” (John 2:11). This will be a foretaste not only of the Last Supper, but the celebration of the Mass where heaven and earth are wedded. For Jesus is our bridegroom and we the Church are his bride. The Mass is the celebratory feast!

Our discernment for our vocation and path in life becomes clearer when we trust in Jesus. God sent his Son to invite us and help us to deepen our relationship with his Father. Jesus meets us all in our present situations and invites us to be still and listen. If doing that is not easy, or you have been attempting to do so, but continue to be diverted and distracted, past hurts and wounds arise that are in need of healing, indecision, anxiety, anger, impatience, or any other distractions or diversions assail you as you attempt to slow down and be still. Then come to a place of quiet, make the sign of the cross, and take one slow, deep breath for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit. Then take another and call to mind the words of Mary: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).

No matter what distractions arise, return to these words, again and again, and if it helps make them your own. “I will stay still and do whatever Jesus tells me.” Or remain with Mary’s words. Begin small with five minutes a day. Be open in the time you stay with him and return to the phrase throughout the day. Over time, you will begin to slow down, experience some stillness, and you will hear his guidance.

When we are willing to turn to and sit at Jesus’ feet, listen to and follow his guidance, he will lead us to the source of our being, God his Father and our Father, and to the truth of who we are and are called to be. Just as Jesus transformed the water to wine, as our relationship with him grows, we will be transformed by God’s love. We will experience joy and strength, healing and renewal, access and means, as well as fulfillment and joy in our lives as we continue to do whatever Jesus tells us.

———————————————————-

Photo: Stained glass window of Jesus changing water to wine, St. Anthony’s Croatian Church, Los Angeles, taken June of 2019.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 19, 2025

Will we follow Jesus as Levi did?

In both the first reading from Hebrews and verse from Psalm 19 we read about the power of God’s word. “The word of God is living and effective” (Hebrews 4:12) and the words of the “Lord, are spirit and life” (Psalm 19). Jesus gives face to the living word of God come down from heaven to transform his people as he continues to teach with authority and offer healing. In today’s account of Mark, Jesus calls his fifth disciple, Levi. The key difference with this call of Levi and the four fisherman is Levi’s occupational hazard.

Tax collectors were disliked, even despised by many in ancient Palestine because they were considered unclean, and categorized as with lepers and sinners. They were cast in this net because the tax collector had a responsibility to pay a fixed amount to the occupying power of Rome. This in itself was bad enough because their own countrymen were colluding with the enemy. What made matters worse was that too many kept 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, from a distance. They choose not to engage in the fullness of the fellowship.

They could not have been at too great a distance though 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, to accept that they too were sinners also in need of healing.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus forgives and offers mercy to all who are willing to be aware of his invitation to fellowship. In surrendering our finite freedom over to his divine freedom, we receive healing and transformation, then are offered an opportunity to develop an intimate relationship and participate in communion with the one who is ushering in the kingdom of God. This is a foreshadowing of the last supper and the celebration of the Mass.

We too are invited as sinners to join the banquet, to be in fellowship with Jesus. As Levi received, we are given an opportunity to begin again, to leave behind anything that separates us from God and one another and follow Jesus, who came that we might be forgiven and healed.

As with many Gospel passages, today’s offers a wonderful opportunity to place ourselves in the scene. Mark presents Jesus teaching the people though he again does not tell us anything about what he shared. Knowing what follows, we might think about and ask ourselves, “What might Jesus have taught before going 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 read this passage slowly a few times (Mark 2:13-17) and meditate upon these words of God that are “living and effective.” Then as Jesus moves to the custom post, follow him, and the others in your imagination. What is our honest reaction to Jesus calling the tax collector, Levi? Are there sins that others commit that we find easy to forgive, others that we find hard to forgive? As the scene shifts to the breaking of the bread, do we dive in with this motley crew, stay at a distance, or walk away?

The words of the “Lord, are spirit and life.” May we not only read them, but also meditate upon and pray with them so that we may be transformed by them. May we also encounter Jesus in this passage and be willing to listen to Jesus speak to us in the silence of our hearts. This is a wonderful spiritual practice that can bring us much joy, forgiveness, healing, and deeper communion with the Divine Physician and healer of our souls. No RSVP needed, just come, open up your Bible, and join the feast!

————————————————————————-

Painting: Caravaggio’s “The Call of St. Matthew”

Link for the Mass reading for Saturday, January 18, 2025