transform

Will we allow the Word of God, Jesus, to transform our hearts and minds?

The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her (Mk 6:26).

The king referenced in today’s Gospel is the tetrarch, Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great. He reveals the weakness of his character when he calls for the beheading of John the Baptist, much as a foreshadowing of Pilate before the crowd asking for Jesus’ death. Both condemned innocent men to die. They  each decided to take John and Jesus’ life. Herod chose to protect his foolish oath to Salome, instead of standing up and defending the dignity of the life of John the Baptist. Pilate caved into the pressure of the crowds who claimed he was no spokesman for Caesar. In both cases, innocent men were brutally murdered without any regard for their lives.

For the first part of his gospel, Mark has shown the opposite. He has shown what true leadership is as he has presented Jesus who instead of disregarding and degrading human beings has empowered them through his teaching a better way to be whole and in union with the God who has created his listeners. He has freed the possessed, healed those who had been on the outside bound by illness and/or sin. Instead of the evil disposition of Herodias, we recently saw the courage of the woman with the hemorrhage.

And while Mark provides us with this interlude and flashback of the death of John the Baptist, the apostles are on the march proclaiming the gospel, healing, and exorcising demons in Jesus’ name. They are putting into practice what they had learned. They are allowing their hearts and minds to be changed by the Word of God. Herod did not allow the same seeds of God’s word to find any root in his heart. Instead of hearing the words of John, repenting from his sin, and allowing his heart and mind to be transformed, the little inspiration that he received withered and died in the heat of his ego and passions.

Time and again, Jesus showed the moral courage to stand up for and empower those who were considered other, lesser, unclean, and social outcasts. He, like John, showed true courage by speaking the truth that God gave him to reveal. As John was willing to lose his head for being God’s spokesman and preparing the way for his Son, Jesus was willing to suffer, to be nailed to the Cross, to die and conquer death, that each one of us might have life, and have it to the full.

We have a choice to make each day and each moment. We can choose to follow the enemy or to follow Jesus. Herod and Pilate made their choices and the apostles made theirs. May we choose to follow Jesus and allow his words to find rich soil, that we may allow our hearts and mind to be transformed as apostles, and so also grow in virtue so that we too will have the moral courage to stand against the pressures of a culture of death and stand up for the dignity of each person at every stage of development from the womb to the tomb, and implore that our leaders do the same.

Photo: Nothing helps us to allow our hearts and minds to be transformed by God’s love than by making the time to be still, pray, and meditate on his word and listen.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, February 7, 2025

To heal, it is important to reveal our sin and come out of the darkness.

The Lord said to him, “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools” (Lk 11:39).

Jesus’ harshest critiques were for acts of hypocrisy. He did so to show, in no uncertain terms, how dangerous this was, especially for religious leaders. These men were entrusted with the care of God’s people. They may have observed the proper rituals, spoke, and dressed to match the part but this all meant nothing if their hearts were hardened, and they were closed to the love and will of God. This situation was more perilous when they themselves became obstacles, stumbling blocks to those who sought God. Jesus indicting them as fools meant that they were bereft of the wisdom of God they projected to have.

A recent Pew study tracing religious affiliation from 2007 to 2014 found that approximately 56 million Americans identify themselves as following no religious affiliation. Some have labeled this group as the “Nones”. The context and nuance of why this trend has been on the rise has many components. One ingredient is the unacceptable levels of hypocrisy which has turned many off to organizations and the societal structures including the Church. Reports of abuse of children, women, and at risk adults over the past few decades further adds fuel to this fire. Although, church leadership has done much to correct those abuses and to put policies and practices in place to protect the flock, the damage has been done, the image has been tainted, and there is still much more work to do.

In the depths of our very being, we seek and yearn for the transcendent, the infinite. We are spiritual seekers. We seek God while at the same time we experience suffering, injustice, and hypocrisy at the hands of the very ones who are our leaders in both the religious and political sphere. This is why Jesus convicted those who abused their positions because he knew the significant damage that they could inflict. The good news is that the most recent study has shown for the first time that the rise of the “Nones” has plateaued. This is an affirmation that when we experience life without God, we will recognize that something, some One is missing.

No one is perfect, our leaders nor ourselves. We all fall short of the perfection of Christ, even those of us who seek and aspire to live by the Gospel. If we put anyone up on a pedestal, they, sooner or later, are going to fall, and the higher up they go, the greater the fall. God is to hold priority of place. We are to seek God first. God is to be our foundation, the light shining on the hill, our guide, and source. One way we can sidestep the trap of hubris is by resisting the urge to project all is well and good, that we are fine when we are not. None of us are super men or women. If we think we can go it alone, on our own power and persistence, we will fall sooner or later.

When we turn to Jesus to reveal our weakness and our sin, we can experience his transformative and healing power in our lives. To be vulnerable, to allow Jesus to shine his light into our inner darkness takes courage, but when we open all of our lives to him, we will identify and be able to release our own “plunder and evil”. The Holy Spirit can also help us to trust one another with our weaknesses, faults, and shortcomings.

We are healthier and stronger when we assume a posture of humility and openness and reach out for help. We are better when we entrust ourselves to Jesus and a core group of people we can trust, firmly ground ourselves in the love of God and one another. We grow stronger when we support the unique gifts of each other while at the same time hold each other accountable. Isolated and in the darkness, our sin festers and grows. When brought into the light, sin starves and withers away.

Jesus challenges us to resist projecting an image of perfection when all is not well on the inside. When willing to reveal our weaknesses, sins, suffering, and pain, we can receive help, heal, and let go of carrying the weight of seeking an internal perfectionism. Healed and transformed from being the center of the universe, which we never were or never can be, we don’t have to project any image. We can be free to be ourselves as God calls us to be and radiate his love as we receive his love. Instead of driving people to the nearest exit, we can begin to welcome people back home to be loved, healed, and transformed.

Photo: Rosary walk, Riomar Beach, Vero Beach.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 15, 2024