Role Reversal

Gospel: Luke 16: 19-31

In the entire Gospels, Jesus only speaks descriptively of hell in two places.  In the first instance of Matthew 25 it is the place of torment reserved for those who fail to show mercy and neglect for the poor.  The second instance is today's Gospel portion where the rich man is sent like a goat to the place of torment for failing to help the poor Lazarus.  The judgment of the nations is personified and personalized in this story of the rich man and Lazarus.

It is worth noting that Jesus makes no distinction between worthy and unworthy poor people.  He creates no criteria that would give us any reason to deny help to someone poor and in need.  Jesus simply helped anyone he came across with a need; he feed everyone who was hungry.  For before God everyone is poor and in need, everyone is in need and deserving of mercy.  

So, while we argue about who is worthy and not to receive communion or even a mere blessing, Lazarus goes hungry, neglected and ignored while we fine-tune our worthiness meters and curry favor with the rich and powerful.  May Lazarus not die because of our neglect.  May we turn away from the path of the goats and seek the road of mercy and care for the poor and marginalized.   

Power Rankings

Gospel: Matthew 20: 17-28

We human beings love ranking things and giving priority to some things over others.  Follow a football season from week to week and watch the prognosticators rank football teams.  See how ever-changing these things are, so passing one's influence in the world.  And yet we are obsessed with it, hoping for such influence ourselves, all the while knowing it is an illusion and a false god.  

At the very eve of Jesus' execution the disciples, knowing he is to die, find nothing else more important than to argue about their own power.  Anyone remotely familiar with church like is all too familiar with such a scene.  Little wonder people take the claims of Christianity as irrelevant when its adherents do so little to live as Jesus lived and as he encouraged his followers to do.  Little wonder religion is on the decline in our world...

That so many ignore Jesus' word and example provides an even greater emphasis on those who do.  To meet someone not enamored of the fineries of religious garb, one who serves the needs of others in silence and humility, one who takes the example of Jesus seriously - these are inspiring people.  We won't find them in religious media empires or chanceries.  We will find them on streets, in hospital wards, prison halls, soup kitchens, and shelters for refugees.   

Reflecting the Image

Gospel: Matthew 23: 1-12

When the Church began people gathered in homes to celebrate the Eucharist, simple structures that consisted only of a table and nothing more.  No distinctive seating areas, not even a presider's chair.  Everyone would sit together around the table for the celebration.  This arrangement can still be seen in the humble cave churches that exist in the rural areas of Turkey to this very day.  

In contrast, the great cathedrals and basilicas such as Haga Sophia present a much different arrangement.  There, the bishop has his exclusive cathedra, the emperor his private entrance, the empress her own balcony, and the clergy their exclusive seating in the apse.  The common folk find themselves far away from the altar.  

Which image reflects more faithfully the lesson Jesus wishes to convey to us in today's Gospel portion? Which structure is more suitable in conveying to us the way we ought to live as disciples of the Lord Jesus? Lent reminds us that we are to be like the simple cave altar, among the community providing nourishment of body and spirit to all who are hungry for bread and God's word.   

Discerning God's Commands

Gospel: Luke 6: 36-38

Today's commandment of Jesus not to judge seems simple and clear.  Yet, we will hear many a sermon and treatise that will take these simple words and have them mean exactly the opposite of what they say.  We will look to find any and every opportunity and excuse to judge others, bringing of course judgment upon ourselves as this lesson of Jesus attests.  

This behavior of ours seems particularly odd when we find it so easy to defend and heed for ourselves God's command to Joshua to commit genocide, or God's command to Abraham to offer human sacrifice.  These commands and actions we defend and perform without batting an eyelash.  Yet, this command of Jesus on not judging causes us so much pain that it leads us into gymnastic contortions of unparalleled proportions.  

So today we might well consider what these tendencies within us means.  Are we truly discerning what God wants us to do each day, or are we using the Bible to justify our own biases and preferences? Today is a day to judge the only person we are qualified to judge and that is ourselves. It is a day to reflect deeply on what God means for us in our lives and what we are called to be as disciples of the Lord Jesus.   

The First Creed

Gospel: Mark 9: 2-10

"It is good for us to be here." This statement at the Transfiguration is the first creed of a Christian.  It represents for us the belief that life is greater than death, existence preferable to non-existence.  No matter our situation in life, to live represents hope.  It represents being in God's presence on earth no matter where we are or what we are facing.  It means seeing the face of God in loving relationship with other people.  

But there are many whose existence on earth is unbearably awful.  They have experienced horrible cruelty and exploitation, grinding poverty, and unspeakable violence.  This creed also represents our commitment as a Christian to a life of justice and charity, a commitment to make this world a good place to live for all people of all times and places.  It is our commitment to come down from Mount Tabor and to provide healing, mercy, and loving kindness to a world so that it might be good for all.

It is easy to see the world as good on Transfiguration day.  It is harder to see in an impoverished slum or a bleak gulag.  God is present in both, and it is for us to take the glory of Tabor to all parts of the world, to transform the ugly into beauty, the cruel into love, and despair into hope.  Each Sunday we experience Tabor at Mass, and each Sunday we are sent back out to bring that transformation into the world.  

Be Perfect

Gospel: Matthew 5: 43-48

We have many ideas of what it means to be perfect.  For some it is bodily and physical health, while for others it is academic and intellectual perfection in school achievement.  Some see it in athletic excellence, job performance, while still others see it as living a blameless life.  None of these things are achievable.  Our bodies will decline and perish.  We will make mistakes in school, on the athletic field, at work, and we have and will commit sins for which we must atone.  

When Jesus speaks of being perfect it is in reference to our love.  It is an easy thing to love ourselves and pursue our own self-interest.  It is not so difficult to extend this love to those we like in our family and friends as they are agreeable to us.  It is harder to generate love for a stranger or someone unknown to us.  And it is exceedingly difficult to love one we regard as an enemy.  But Jesus says if we wish to be perfect like God, then we must love the stranger and enemy.  

This love is never an abstract concept, something we have only in our hearts and minds.  This love must extend to concrete actions.  Hence, to welcome the stranger and care for them, to provide food, drink, shelter, and clothing for anyone in need, to visit the sick and those in prison regardless of who they are - this is how we love our enemy.  A Christianity that preaches capital punishment, constant warfare, animus to immigrants, refugees, and the poor - this is what is heresy and abomination.   

Reconciliation

Gospel: Matthew 5: 20-26

Throughout the Scriptures we find that the ministry of reconciliation is the primary work of a disciple: reconciliation with God, reconciliation with others.  In fact, we are instructed not to offer any gift at all upon the altar until we are first reconciled with one another.  This reconciliation is not some mere ritual or vicarious action; it is to be a real encounter with another where reconciliation takes place.  

We hear much about the "new evangelization" which has come to mean a series of media empires on TV, radio, and computers where an array of programming takes place to reach people.  It is entirely virtual - no real encounter with another person face to face ever takes place.  It is entirely antiseptic, suburban, and comfortable.  It is everything Jesus did not do.  

If we are to be ministers of reconciliation in our world, we must directly encounter people where they are at.  We can't do that in our hermetically sealed mutual admiration societies and church groups.  It must be done in uncomfortable places: on the streets, in hospital rooms, prison cells, homeless shelters and soup kitchens.  Consider where Jesus met other people, how he undertook encounters of reconciliation, and there we must be in our world. 

A Missed Opportunity

Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-19

We break the Lenten fast today in order to consider a piece of furniture on which its namesake never sat.  (Middle Easterners sat on pillows on the floor).  Leaving that aside, the origins of the feast are ancient and the original purpose of the feast was to bring together people in unity, focusing on that primary aspect of Peter's ministry of feeding the flock, keeping it together, and strengthening others in their walk of faith.  That this ministry has become a source of division is indicative of the fact that our emphasis on power and claims of superiority have shadowed the real mission Peter had in bringing unity and feeding the sheep.

Even within the Roman Catholic tradition there is no unity regarding the ministry of Peter.  Traditionalists haven't obeyed a pope since the early 1950's, finding a host of teachings on social justice they find objectionable.  Progressive Catholics too find fault with their own list of things they'd rather set aside.  Each will cite certain popes and certain statements to defend their positions, each picking and choosing, each with a tray in the cafeteria.  

What, then, does such a feast mean, what does Peter's ministry itself mean? Perhaps if we set aside the claims to power and authority and focus on faith itself - that our mission is to bring people closer to God, not to sell timeshares in a pew and increase the church coffers - then we might get somewhere in church and wider Christian unity.  

The Evil of Sign Seeking

Gospel: Luke 11: 29-32

If a person truly believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, why would they travel the earth chasing after apparitions of Mary, gawking at alleged visionaries, seeking Mary's image on a breakfast bread product, or ogling over incorrupt bodies?  If one really believed in Jesus' Real Presence, none of this would matter in the least.  

If a person truly believes that every human being has dignity and worth, that they are a child of God with God's presence within them,  why would be fawn over the celebrity, the alleged visionary, or develop cults of personality around individuals?  The person on the bus next to you is a child of God, carries within her the spark of God, and has dignity and worth equal to anyone else.  

Jesus was indeed correct when he said it is an evil generation that seeks signs, for the seeker of signs denies the most fundamental truths of faith by their very actions.  God has given all the signs we need: God's own presence in every tabernacle, God's own presence in the life of each human being.  God's sign is all around us. 

On One Condition

Gospel: Matthew 6: 7-15

Many a treatise and sermon series have been penned to explicate the Our Father.  Each line of the prayer is examined and explained in minute detail.  That we have made the most simplest of prayers so complex is a testament to our vanity and desire for esteem from others in our erudition and perceived learning.  Jesus himself explains the entire prayer in today's Gospel portion.  

We pray for forgiveness of our sins, but it is conditioned on one thing: that we forgive other people.  God is holy because God forgives; we become holy by forgiveness.  God provides our daily bread; we extend that bread to others in acts of mercy.  We seek to avoid temptation and evil - the temptations to vengeance and of not forgiving others.  These are the evils that keep us from God's kingdom.  

The entire life of religion is about becoming like God.  We, like our first parents, think that to be all powerful and all knowing, and that is our sin of pride.  To be like God, however, is to be merciful and loving, for God is love and calls us to a life of love.  As God has forgiven us, so we must forgive others and undertake deeds of mercy and loving kindness.  This is the entire Christian life.   

Sheep and Goats

Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46

 

Sheep and goats are both useful animals to human beings.  Sheep provide wool for our clothing and meat for our sustenance.  Goats provide both these things as well, in addition to milk products as an additional food source for human beings.  So, why are sheep and goats seen in very different lights? Why is one regarded as saved and the other as damned?

 

Sheep are compliant and can be trained to listen to the voice of the shepherd and follow where he goes.  Goats, by contrast, are ornery creatures that do what they like.  They cannot be trained; they can only be contained to a certain area where they can do the least amount of damage to  the land and to other animals in the farm. 

 

We seek to be like sheep, following the word and direction of the shepherd.  He who provided food and drink to the hungry and thirsty; provided presence, healing, and liberation to the sick and imprisoned; welcome and table fellowship with the stranger and outcast.  These are the sole criteria of our judgment before God.  We need not know any Bible verses or catechism questions or deep theology.  We need only love and serve those who are in need. 

Into the Desert

Gospel: Mark 1: 12-15

Lent is a journey into the desert with Jesus.  Here he will teach us how to overcome sin and temptation in our own lives.  Jesus experiences the same temptations we all face as human beings: the temptation to bodily pleasures, the allure of power, influence, and wealth - in short, the satisfying of our desires and self-interest.  

In each temptation, Jesus has recourse to the scriptures and his constant meditation upon them and his reliance upon God alone.  The devil too quotes scripture, but the contrast between the two is striking.  In the case of Jesus, he uses scripture to expand his love for God and others.  By contrast, the devil seeks to use scripture to seek his own interests, to justify our desires and ego.  Jesus shows us how to overcome sin and temptation, and how to authentically understand the scriptures in our lives.

Life on earth is a desert; the pleasures we seek are mirages and illusions that cannot satisfy.  The desert reminds us of our total dependence on God.  Israel was in the desert for forty years; God provided them with food and water.  In our desert journey, God will provide for our needs as well, for God alone is our satisfaction and completion.  

 

What God Wants

Gospel: Luke 5: 27-32

In the book of Ezekiel we read time and again what God wants: As I live, says the Lord, I swear I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather that they return to me and live.  The entire ministry of Jesus is devoted to this work, exemplified in the story of Levi today.  It is a ministry to which Jesus invites us to participate, the ministry of reconciliation as Paul calls it.  

But is this what we want? Is this what we are actually about?  If we support the death penalty and a system of retribution for prisoners instead of reform, then our answer is no.  If our posture is one of constant warfare and destruction of enemies, then our answer is no.  If we are the self-proclaimed access bouncers who decide who is and who is not worthy for communion or a blessing, then our answer is no.  

Today is a day to consider how we might be involved in the ministry of reconciliation.  It might be in prison ministry and outreach, or in helping ex-offenders in re-entry programs.  It might be visiting and bringing communion to the sick in hospitals and nursing homes.  It might be ministry with the poor and homeless in soup kitchens, shelters, and outreach to the poor.  Lent is our time to receive reconciliation and to be reconciliation for others.  

Renewing the Fast

Gospel: Matthew 9: 14-15

We Christians can learn two important things from the Muslim community regarding fasting so that we might renew this practice in our own tradition.  The first lesson is found in the solidarity of the fast rooted in a daily communal meal where the fast is broken.  Everyone supports one another in the discipline of the fast, and everyone comes together to share a common meal to break the fast.  Imagine if our Eucharistic table and our tables at home created such solidarity among us!

The second lesson is found in connecting the fast to almsgiving.  In coming together to break the fast, Muslims bring with them the money they would have used that day for food and give it to provide food for those who are poor and hungry.  Imagine if every diocese brought people together during Lent and encouraged this daily practice, having those funds support Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services! The impact on helping the poor at home and abroad would be significant.  

Perhaps too we might find our Eucharistic tables less contentious.  Perhaps too we might find ourselves more empathetic and supportive of others in their struggles and in their needs.  Most certainly this is what Lent is all about: identifying with the Lord Jesus, imitating his example, and seeing his sufferings and needs in those of our suffering neighbor. 

Gaining...What?

Gospel: Luke 9: 22-25

Crucifixion is the most shameful, humiliating, and painful way to die.  The physical torture of whipping and nails being driven into your wrists and feet is enormous.  The psychological trauma of hanging naked for all to see is equally soul-crushing.  And yet this is a death we celebrate - not all crucifixions, just one.  It was a noble death, one worthy to be emulated.  In fact, it is a death we are to imitate in our own lives as well.

One of the greatest misconceptions of modern Christianity is the idea that because Jesus suffered all these things that we don't have to suffer them.  Today's Gospel is a reminder that it is in fact an obligation for us to suffer these things.  Christians are not called to take up the keys to a Mercedes; we are called to take up the cross and to deny ourselves, to give up self entirely for others, even to the point of humiliation and painful death.  

What we take up in Lent by way of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving ought to be our regular life as Christians throughout the year.  During Lent we are called to do these things as a community of faith, to support one another in this way of life of service to others.  Yesterday, the ashes bound us together as a community of penitents.  Today, we unite to take up our cross and serve one another in humble love. 

The Great (?) Fast

Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6; 16-18

Lent has begun, and how it resembles New Year's Day! We have all made resolutions to sacrifice various things, just like the New Year's resolutions we make to hit the gym or some other noble goal we create.  In a week or so these resolutions will be as ephemeral as the ashes on our forehead today.  They will be forgotten, and we will have absolved ourselves from these obligations.  Even our meager communal observances of fasting on two days and abstaining from meat on a few others will find loopholes.  After all, if St. Patrick's Day falls on a Sunday then of course we should be exempt from abstinence on Friday...

If we can show such mercy to ourselves, could we not use Lent as a time of showing mercy to other people? "The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.  Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless.  Give clothing to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own...If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon." (Isaiah 58: 6-7, 9-11)

Let this be our Lent.   

Casualties of Religion

Gospel: Mark 8: 14-21

The unavoidable consequence of the institutionalization of religion is the categorizing of people into different classes, often referred to as "our people" as opposed to "those others." Religious institutions focus on caring for "their people" and neglect a host of others who are hungry and hurting, thereby increasing the hunger and hurt that exists.  The leaven of the Pharisees was the law that set limits on love - who we should love and to what extent.  This is what we must avoid.

When Jesus fed the multitude who followed him, he went beyond the limits the law imposed.  The law did not obligate him to feed them, but he did so - and he did so without discrimination.  All were fed; none were left to go hungry.  There was no distinction between "our people" and "those others" - there was, and is, just our people.  All people are our people. Jesus went so far as to violate other parts of the law in order to help other people in need, for love and care for others is the whole law.  Nothing else matters.

Let us beware of attitudes that would seek to limit our care for others to only a select group of people.  We must avoid the specialization of ministry that would restrict our care for others to only those deemed acceptable by the institution.  Jesus fed and healed all people without distinction.  We who claim to be his followers can do no less. 

Seeking Signs

Gospel: Mark 8: 11-13

In today's reading Jesus declares that no sign will be shown to us; in another version of this story he states that it is a wicked people who seek signs.  To seek a sign is to suggest that God is not faithful to his people, not active in the world.  Signs of God's love and faithfulness are all around us; it would be more appropriate for God to say to us - show me a sign of your love.  Show me that you love one another.  Not so easy when the demand is turned back on us.

To seek a sign is to disbelieve the one and only sign that matters - the resurrection of Jesus.  To seek signs and apparitions and miracles is to deny the reality of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Jesus in the world.  To seek a sign from God is to seek God on our own terms, to control and understand what by definition cannot be controlled or understood.  It is to make religion into a magic show and not a loving relationship with God and each other.

Today is a day for remembering the one sign that matters - the resurrection of Jesus from the dead - and the pledge of God's presence in the world in the Eucharist we share together - the presence of Jesus in the bread and wine and in one another.  No other sign will satisfy, no other presence will console us. 

That is Enough

Gospel: Mark 1: 40-45

It is a simple command repeated time and again: tell no one; offer what is prescribed and that should be enough.  But it isn't.  We go about telling anyone and everyone.  We justify it by inventing the "Messianic Secret" theory of theology, that these commands don't apply to us because it was part of some plan back then.  All this ignores the fact that the Gospels were not written to convey theology, but to instill belief in Jesus so that we might have life in his name.

So we ignore the command of Jesus and tell everyone.  The consequence is that Jesus is not able to enter into any town; he must remain in isolated areas.  We have marginalized Jesus because our announcing isn't about him at all.  It's about ourselves, and when that is the case there is no room for Jesus.  He cannot enter within us or in others.  We seek minor celebrity status in order to be major celebrities - make a little profit off the prophet.  

To offer a thanksgiving offering to God, to get up and serve others in silence - these are the authentic responses of faith to Jesus healing us.  These responses reflect love of God and love of neighbor; everything else is love of self.  Today we have been healed at the Lord's table.  We give thanks, and we commit to serve others in humility and silence.   

The Crowd and Me

Gospel: Mark 8: 1-10

Jesus has a complex relationship with the crowd.  There are days when he works himself to utter exhaustion to heal as many people as possible.  At other times he flees from them to be alone with God.  Still other times he goes to great lengths to teach the crowd many things and feed them with bread and fish as he does in today's Gospel portion.  Then, there are times when he flees from the crowd when they wish to make him king, or put him to death.  

Is this not Jesus' relationship with each of us individually? Consider the times he has healed us, fed us, taught us.  Consider also the times in which we sought to make him king and he ran from us, the times we sought to put him to death in the person of our poor, marginalized neighbor, our lust for war and vengeful death penalty system.  Yet, despite Jesus' lack of trust in us, richly deserved, he continues to reach out to us and teach us, heal us, and feed us. 

Today we are with the crowd being fed loaves and fishes.  Where will we be tomorrow? Will we be on the hillside being taught, or in the street being healed? Will we be seeking to give him a kingship he does not desire, or kill him in the person of a neighbor we do not like? It is for us to decide what it will be, knowing Jesus will ever reach out to us to heal, to teach, to feed.   

Keep It Quiet

Gospel: Mark 7: 31-37

Throughout the Gospels we find Jesus repeatedly telling those he healed not to tell anyone about this event in their life.  In fact, the instruction is given in the most urgent of terms, and every single time the healed person ignores this command.  They go off and tell others about this event in their lives.  The only one who responds to Jesus appropriately after being healed is Peter's mother-in-law, who simply gets up and serves others.  

Modern Christianity operates in the exact opposite of the Gospel pattern.  Everyone is testifying about Jesus and what God is doing in their lives.  It is a lucrative business, too.  But are we really testifying about Jesus, or is it really just about us? If it were about Jesus, we would do as he asks and say nothing and instead we would just get up and serve others humbly and quietly.  

What might the world and the Church look like if we followed this Gospel pattern, if we stopped testifying and just served others in quiet simplicity?  Perhaps our ministries to the poor and sick would have far more resources than our praise bands and "offices of evangelization", our shelters caring for others a greater priority than rectories and episcopal residences.  More importantly, our own lives will be centered on care for others than our own egos, the common good a greater priority than our self-interest.

Two Demons Removed

Gospel: Mark 7: 24-30

In today's Gospel portion we find Jesus approached by a Gentile woman who asks him to remove a demon from her daughter.  This conversation at first seems harsh as Jesus initially shows the traditional Jewish bias against foreigners.  But he eventually relents at the woman's insistence and the daughter is relieved of her demon.  At the same time, all of us are freed from a most ancient demon.

What demon is this that is dispelled here? It is the idea that God is only for a particular people, ethnicity, or religion.  One does not have to belong to a particular race, social class, gender, or religion in order to access God and to be healed by God.  What is more, in all these healing encounters with Jesus we do not see any litmus tests, no screening process.  No one's faith is perfect, no one's righteousness is the key to accessing God.  There is just the humble approach to God in all our reality and condition, or rather God's approach to us in our condition.  

In these healing encounters we discover there is no such thing as a "faithful Christian" or "true believer." There is just a series of imperfect people, all sinners in need of God's presence in their lives.  And God comes, or rather is already present but now realized by us, and we have a choice.  We can accept God's mercy for us and for all, living lives of mercy and love.  Or we can be Pharisees who cannot accept this openness of God for all and seek to keep God only for ourselves.  

On Causes and Blames

Gospel: Mark 7: 14-23

We always seek to blame our evildoing on something external to us - in something unclean out there in the world that has contaminated us and led us to do evil.  In today's reading Jesus dispossesses us of this idea by noting that the source of our evildoing lies within us: from our evil thoughts, desires, and inclinations to which we consent and perform evil actions.  In short, it is our fault for our own evil deeds.

Not content with this answer, theology went looking for a cause of these evil thoughts, desires, and inclinations.  After all, there must be some reason why we have them.  And the standard answer to that question, of course, lies in a cause or blame outside of ourselves: it is the fault of our first parents, the original sin and its effects we all inherit.  Is this answer helpful in our quest to avoid evildoing?  Not really.  

Jesus does not speak of the causes of these things within us because that question is not important.  We have these inclinations, they exist.  The real question is what we are going to do about them.  Do we consent to them, or do we instead seek to listen to the voice of God and follow God's will in our lives? The real question is about discernment of the spirits and voices that speak to us - to reject the loud voices that lead us to the precipice, and to heed the quiet voice of peace that leads us to deeds of love and mercy. 

Unimportant Things

Gospel: Mark 7: 1-13

Here is an experiment: spend a month or so observing the concerns and preoccupations of church meetings and happenings at any given congregation.  Make note of budget expenditures, bulletin announcements, events, etc.  Then, in the next month read the four Gospels and see how Jesus spends his time and energy, what he tells his disciples to do, and what his primary concerns were.  The comparison is quite striking.

We have invented all sorts of religious activities and requirements that have nothing at all to do with the Gospel precisely because we do not want to do what Jesus does in the Gospels.  We would rather create a suburban religion preoccupied with first world problems than care for the poor and sick, eat with those different from us, and help others overcome their demons.  We create sanitized ministries, anoint them as normative, and regard as lesser, peripheral, and certainly optional all those things Jesus actually did.  

As we reflect on today's Gospel, we are apt to condemn the Pharisees for their preference for the unimportant as a replacement for what is essential.  But look around and note that we have done the very same thing in every time and place.  Today is the day to recommit to what is truly important and rid ourselves of what is in reality an escape from the Gospel and its priorities.   

Touched by God

Mark 6: 53-56

"All who touched Jesus got well." People came from all over seeking healing from all sorts of ailments, and all who touched him got well.  We all become fearful when we are unwell.  We are vulnerable, we dislike pain, and we are afraid of death.  Being ill reminds us of our mortality, that we will die one day, and it is not a topic we enjoy at all.  

But we will all die one day.  Whether it be the present illness that befalls us or some other circumstance, we will face death, this event that Francis of Assisi personified as our sister.  In seeking to touch the Lord Jesus, we are ultimately healed of our fear of death.  For Jesus himself underwent the most painful and cruel death, complete with humiliations and public ridicule, and he did so with courage and humility.  

To seek to touch Jesus is to seek to imitate him, to acquire some of his virtue and character in our lives.  We do this of celebrities now in our own day.  But only Jesus can bring healing to what truly ails us, the fear of pain and death, for he himself gave us an example of how to face these ultimate and inevitable things in our lives.  If we but touch Jesus, we too will get well and be well when it matters most.   

The Response of Faith

Gospel: Mark 1: 29-39

The entire life of faith is found in today's Gospel, in the shortest encounter recorded, in the life of an unnamed woman, Peter's mother-in-law.  Jesus enters her house and finds her ill.  He heals her, and she responds by getting up to serve others.  That is the entire drama of every life: God has come to our house and finds us ill.  God then heals us.  What happens next is up to us.

Throughout the Gospels we will encounter other healing stories, and in them we will find responses to those healings that fall short.  People are healed and told not to tell anyone but to instead give thanks.  They ignore Jesus and tell everyone.  Others are healed but few give thanks.  It is only this anonymous woman who makes the proper response of faith to God's work of healing in her life.  She gets up and serves others.

As we look about for examples in our own day that reflect this woman's response, we will find the ungrateful aplenty, and we will hear the din of those blabbing about God's work through their media empires and cottage industries.  We will find this woman's great response to God - in those who serve the sick, the poor and hungry, those imprisoned, the refugee and immigrant.  Let us take our place with these who serve, making the proper response of faith to God's work in our life.

The Need for Rest

Gospel: Mark 6: 30-34

The disciples return from their mission trip and they are excited.  They accomplished much and they are eager to do more.  But Jesus tells them to go away to a deserted place and rest for a time.  The disciples are perplexed: we've done these great things, and look at this crowd following us! If we work a bit more, imagine the results.  But it is precisely the presence of the crowd that has Jesus advise them to rest.

Rest is physically necessary for us to be effective in our ordinary work, but in this scene that is not Jesus' concern.  The crowd is present with its incessant demands and ever shifting whims.  The disciples must go away to rest, to get perspective and be with God.  If they give themselves to the crowd they will get worn out, but worse: they will fall prey to inflated egos and cults of personality, ideologies, shifting loyalties, and ultimately the scorn of the crowd as their loyalties will eventually turn against you.

How often have we seen these cults of personality who all come to ruin! How often do we see pastors and lay folk rush blindly into political mass movements and ideologies, all of which lead to ruin! And how few go off for a while to a secluded place to be alone with God and find proper orientation.  Today is our reminder that it is necessary for all of us to be alone with God apart from the crowd, to follow the promptings of God in our life and not the whims of the crowd. 

Let Your Light Shine

Gospel: Luke 2: 22-40

Today's feast of the Presentation of the Lord or Candlemas finds us blessing and lighting candles, for Simeon declares Jesus to be the light to all the nations.  The candle represents Jesus as the light of the world, a light that illumines our dark way in this world so that we might see the path of God, the path to God.  Today we light our candle, we make present to others the light of Christ our life - let your light shine so that all might see your good works and give glory to your heavenly Father. 

Mary presented Jesus in the Temple in observance of the Law.  She brought forth Jesus for others to see, so that others might have light in their lives.  From the Temple and Jerusalem this light goes outward to Nazareth and to all places low and high, but it can only do so by our own lives, by our presenting the Lord to others by the life we live.  It is brought to others by having our lives illuminated by the light of Christ and reflect that light through a life of loving deeds and mercy.

If others have not seen the light of Christ it is because we have not presented Christ to the world, we have not reflected that light of Christ in our lives.  Today's feast and its attendant rituals and symbols provide us an opportunity to recommit ourselves to reflect Christ's light to the world by deeds of loving kindness and mercy.

Our Mission Retreat

Gospel: Mark 6: 7-13

Here is the original mission of the disciples of Jesus: preach repentance for sins; expel demons; anoint the sick with oil; and cure others of their infirmities.  The first point to consider in this list is how repentance for our sins alone has the power to expel demons from our life and to cure us of many infirmities of body, mind, and spirit.  How many of our sinful habits keep us chained up like a demon, and how many of our sinful habits harm us in body, mind, or spirit? The turning away from these sins can do wonders in these other areas.

The second point to consider is how far removed the modern church is from this original mission.  Leaving aside the simplicity of the provisions of the original disciples compared to the modern apostle, what of these core actions? Yes, we preach repentance of sins, but only those that conform to our political allegiances.  Yes, we anoint with oil, but only as a peripheral activity.  And how much of our curing ministries been sold to for-profit corporations? And how often do we leave others to their demons or even create some for others through abuse and scandal?

If we are to have synods and strategic planning sessions and mission retreats, let us consider these things.  Let us consider how we might return to this core mission of the Church's origins in all its fullness, and free ourselves from the demons of political power and wealth acquisition that hold us bound and deter us from this core mission.