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Scripture:

1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Mark 7:1-13

Reflection:

Some of us remember many years ago, when Catholics were called to observe meatless Friday every week.  Schools, public and Catholic, would serve grilled cheese sandwiches.  The main dinner course at home was fish sticks.  Even restaurants featured meatless Friday specials.  We abstained from meat as a kind of penance and sacrifice to remind us of the passion and suffering of Lord on the cross on Good Friday.  But sadly, over time, many forgot the purpose and meaning of meatless Friday.  No meat? No problem.  How about a feast of salmon steak or grilled trout?  Meatless Friday became for many an empty ritual.  And so, in the late 1960s, Pope Paul VI allowed bishops to end that discipline.  Catholics were now to choose their own meaningful abstention or sacrifice.  (Interestingly, the bishops in England and Wales in 2011 restored meatless Friday.)

Something similar happened with the Jewish ritual of hand-washing and purification of vessels.  It originated to express a deeply felt reverence and love for God.  But by Jesus’ time, the meaning was forgotten.  The Pharisees continued imposing and expanding the rule, even though it had degenerated into an empty and oppressive ritual.

They were scandalized that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their meal with unclean hands.  The phrase in the Greek is literally ate breads, linking this dispute with the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 who ate breads in Mk 6:35-44.  The Pharisees were angered, even though the crowd in the wilderness had no opportunity to wash their hands.  They challenged Jesus on this breach of ancient tradition.

Jesus responded by calling them hypocrites, literally stage actors, whose outward apparent piety disguised their empty hearts and empty ritual.  Jesus was not rejecting tradition per se.  Rather, he was rejecting their human tradition and their hypocrisy in how they practiced these traditions.

Like the Pharisees, we too may risk turning meaningful traditions — and disciplines — into empty legalistic and oppressive ritual.  Whether it is the ritual washing of hands for the Jews of Jesus’ day, or in our day Friday abstention, or even the way we celebrate at Eucharist — do we merely consume bread and wine, or are we transformed by the body and blood? — today’s Gospel reminds us that rituals and liturgy have the power to transform us only when our hearts are grounded in God’s love — especially when we, who are in the wilderness, are in need of God’s cleansing grace.

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51
Mark 3:1-6

Reflection:

Everything that Jesus sought in his life and ministry is revealed in today’s gospel. Jesus walks into a synagogue where there was a man “who had a withered hand.” Like so many gospel stories, Jesus finds himself in the middle of a situation where good needs to be done. There is a man who is suffering, a man who is afflicted, and Jesus wants to heal him. And yet, this gospel story bristles with tension and ominous threats of violence because in the synagogue that day there is also a group of Pharisees. They see exactly what Jesus does—a man in need of a healing—but they perceive the situation quite differently. For them, the man with the withered hand represents not a possibility for good to be done, but the chance that a Sabbath law might be broken. Ironically, they want Jesus to cure the man precisely so they can accuse him of breaking the law.

Instead of being intimidated, Jesus speaks out: “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” With that question, Jesus confronts us with the heart of the gospel. Yes, laws are important, but they should never get in the way of doing good. Yes, we need laws and traditions to guide us, but if they become obstacles to love, justice, and mercy, they need to be broken. In fact, to make any law, any practice, and any tradition more important than mercy, justice, and love is evil. There aren’t many times in the gospels that Jesus is angry, but Jesus is angry today because the Pharisees’ rigid legalism prevents them from seeing what really matters.

On the Sabbath, Jesus defies a law in order to set somebody free and in doing so tells us something about what it means to follow him. Like Jesus, we are called to be ministers of healing and life, instruments of God’s mercy and love. After all, if we don’t stand on the side of mercy, compassion, and love, we are not standing with Jesus, but against him.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the extended Passionist Family.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 16:1-13
Mark 2:23-28

Reflection:

Jesus has just healed a man who was a paralytic. He also spoke of one of the great acts of religion which is fasting. The Pharisees notice that the disciples of Jesus are making a path through the wheat field. They also notice the disciples are grinding heads of wheat in their hands. This upsets the Pharisees because the disciples are breaking the Sabbath laws in the Torah. There are thirty-nine ways to violate the Sabbath. The disciples are being accused of three of these violations: Reaping, Winnowing, and Threshing.

What is happening here is that there are two schools of thought when it comes to interpreting the Torah. One is very strict and the other is more lenient. This is important because the Sabbath is unique to Israel; none of its neighbors have such a practice. The stricter interpretation of the Sabbath is supposed to remind Israel of God and the Act of Creation. The more lenient school of thought reminds Israel of the Exodus and God’s care for Israel. Mark’s text is reminding his own community that within Mark’s community there are two schools of thought. If one were to study the Torah more closely, the Pharisees would realize that the Torah allowed for pilgrims and travelers to help themselves to the wheat in the fields.

It is interesting that there is a little addendum to the disciples’ actions. They were creating a “path in the wheat field.” I don’t know the significance of this observation, but maybe it is saying that throughout all of our lives we leave our footprint whenever or wherever we walk. Mark is telling his community only decent human beings are able to be good instruments of the Reign of God. Generosity and hope are the hallmarks of discipleship. Life is a choice between law or life. It is not a choice between good and evil but good and phantasy.

Mark’s Gospel is clear that we need to choose life. Life is never so sacred as when it is used to feed the poor, or when it is used for those in need of help. The final arbiter is the use of all things is love. Victor Frankl tells us that if we want to live we must choose life. It we want to love we must Encounter. If we want to Grow we must suffer.

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

1 John 2:3-11
Luke 2:22-35

Reflection:

 “. . . for the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.”  1 John 2:8

Today is the fifth day in the octave of Christmas. The readings remind us of the great gift that has been given to us through the birth of the Christ. In the First Letter of John gives us the message of walking in the way of Christ through the commandments. The two commandments that Christ gave to his Apostles and us; To love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The message goes on to speak about what it means to walk in the light and what it means to walk in the darkness. Walking in the light requires us to love our “brother” which is not in reference to a sibling but to our next door neighbor, people in our neighborhood, people in our subdivision or living complex. It is in reference to those who live in our city, country and all who live on earth.

How am I the light of Christ to others?

The Gospel of Luke is about Mary and Joseph taking Jesus up to the temple to offer a sacrifice, which was the custom of the day. They meet Simeon a “righteous and devout” man who also hoped in the promise of a messiah. What a gift he had been given to be able to see the one who would bring salvation to his people and to the world. I have always loved his words:

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”

The one phrase from the above passage that strikes me the most is “a light to reveal you . . .”

This phrase has been a reminder for me about being a light that reveals God to others. It calls me to reflect on how I am growing in my faith. Am I taking time to pray each day or reflect on the daily readings? Do I really listen to Father’s homily on Sunday and be open to how God is calling me to grow in my spiritual life? The winter time offers us an opportunity to sit in silence and the stillness. Just as the trees and plants rest over the winter to prepare for the coming of Spring so too for us it can be a time to relax and reflect on growing in our spiritual life. We can’t be a light if we don’t have the light.

May the coming New Year bring you peace and joy!

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.