Claire Smith

Scripture:

I Samuel 18: 6-7; 19: 1-7
Mark 3:7-12

Reflection:

Whatever happened to all those people?

In today’s Gospel, St. Mark goes out of his way to tell us that there were an awful lot of people who wanted to be with Jesus.  He tells us that “a large number of people” from Galilee came, as did a large number from Judea, as did a large number from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan River, from Tyre and Sidon.  People were traveling from north, south, east and west, streaming to hear Jesus, to be with Jesus, to touch Jesus.

In our imagination, we can see the constant stream of people gathering from all directions to be with Jesus.  Apparently, Jesus was a bit intimidated by the huge numbers because he asked his friends to have a boat ready to give him an escape route so “they would not crush him.”  And this wasn’t the only time great crowds came to Jesus.  There were the 5000 fed on the hillside, the 7000 fed with 7 loaves and 2 fish, and don’t forget the crowds lining the road into Jerusalem who were singing hosanna and laying palms down in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem.  Great popularity and adulation!  Yet, you can’t help but wonder, whatever happened to all those people?

We know they receded back into the countryside when the religious and political leaders began to demonize Jesus.  They were nowhere to be seen when Jesus went through his Passion and Death.  But when everything settled down again and the disciples continued to talk about Jesus and witness to His resurrection did many of these people return to their initial interest and become followers of Jesus once again?  It would not be a surprise to find out that some (many?) of them did.  Certainly, from Pentecost on the number of followers of Jesus grew rapidly.  No doubt some of the people who were frightened off came back.

Being a Catholic follower of Jesus can be a difficult thing even today.  Sometimes we’re very fervent but there are other times when our hearts can grow distant.  The disapproval of our neighbors or our society, the scandals that happen in our Church, the experiences of personal disappointment, disillusionment, hurt or anger can all cause us to pull back from our faith, to recede back into the countryside.  The beautiful truth about Jesus is that though crowds of people came and went, Jesus stayed faithful to all of them.  Jesus stays faithful to us as well.  Perhaps our prayer today can be to ask the Holy Spirit to grace us with the desire to stay close to Jesus, even in difficult times.

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of retreats at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 15:16-23
Mark 2:18-22

Reflection:

Today’s gospel poignantly illustrates how the activities and practices of our lives, even when they are unquestionably good and proper, can sometimes distract us from all the manifestations of God’s loveliness and graciousness so that we no longer realize how stupendously blessed we really are. Because we don’t see what we need to see, we miss the gifts that are all around us, especially the Gift-giver from whom all good things come.

In this gospel scene, some people, genuinely perplexed, approach Jesus, wondering why the disciples of John the Baptist as well as disciples of the Pharisees regularly fast while, when it comes to fasting, Jesus’ disciples seem pretty carefree. Jesus’ response (“How can the guests at a wedding fast as long as the groom is among them?”) lets them know that to draw away in fasting while he is in their midst is to completely misread the moment. People who fast at weddings when they ought to be feasting don’t have their priorities straight.  How can they fast when Jesus is right before them? How can they keep from joyous celebration when the one who promises them everything is in their midst? At that moment, is fasting even defensible?

Like the misguided wedding guests in this gospel parable, we too can get so wrapped up in the habits and routines of our lives—or just the sheer busyness of life—that we grow numb to the outbursts of grace and goodness, of love and kindness, that happen all the time. Jesus reminds us that if our routines and practices dull us to the beckoning presence of God in our lives, then we need to fast and abstain from those routines and practices lest we miss the feast to which God calls us each day, the “feast” that is Jesus always among us, ready and eager to bless.

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1a
Mark 2:13-17

Reflection:

“ those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do…”

Jesus called Levi to follow him, ate with him at his home.  Levi, a tax collector, and thus despised by most people – tax collectors were known to exploit and ‘overtax’ everyday people to fill their own coffers.  Tax collectors were notorious for being less than honest ‘bullies’ to get what they wanted at the expense of law-abiding people trying to make ends meet and take care of their families.

Yet, Jesus saw something in Levi – some glimmer of humanity, love or perhaps some kernel of righteousness.  Jesus joined him and other tax collectors for dinner – maybe hoping to get an insight into their story, maybe even challenging some of their practices and ways of doing things.

The Pharisees, those who tightly embrace the ‘letter of the law’, challenge Jesus – how can you eat with these sinners, these tax collectors, these low life…?  Once again, Jesus, confronts them and challenges them with their own (false) righteousness.  The Pharisees saw themselves as above the law – the righteous enforcers and judges.

In essence, Jesus is saying, you think you are ‘perfect’, above the law and therefore not in need of God’s help.  I can’t help but remember, when my kids were little how important the “well baby checks” were – we didn’t only take them to the doctor when they were sick, but we took them regularly – to prevent illness, to get the preventive shots, and to ‘catch’ anything that my lead to problems, unhealthy habits, or chronic illness BEFORE it became a problem.  As adults we do that too, with annual check-ups, physicals and screenings – to insure as best we can that we will live healthy and catch potential difficulties and illnesses before they escalate.

So too with Jesus, we need to ‘check-in’ with him every day.  Through prayer and conversation, by listening for his voice, noticing his presence or face in the midst of our everyday activities.  To allow him to move us, shape us, and prevent us from getting too far from him.  We, like Levi, need to allow Jesus to see something in us, to call us and we need to respond – we need to follow.

Faith Offman is the Associate Director of Ministry at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a
Mark 2:1-12

Reflection:

The Hope in Miracles

Today’s reading talks specifically about the authority of kings in the Old Testament and Jesus’s authority in the New Testament. It has always been a topic that interests me, specifically, the miracles of the New Testament. In the early years of the Church, these acts, which we now call miracles, were known mainly as signs. Today we refer to them as both (signs and miracles), but over the years, we (the Church) have focused on the actual miracle, in this case, the cure of the paralytic. So there is a difference in these two words and even how we interpret them.

In other parts of scripture, Jesus tells us that in order to believe, you have to see.

John: 4:48 Jesus, therefore, said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

So, Jesus understood that a sign (or miracle) needed to be performed to have others understand He was here on a mission and that He held the authority to speak and act on God’s behalf. It was an encouragement to have the scribes, apostles, and other witnesses to see that Jesus was empowered to act, speak and operate with authority. Later, it became apparent (after many other signs and miracles) that Jesus was the Messiah, to at least some of His followers prior to the Resurrection; and many others afterward.

So, in many respects, we can consider the sign, the indicator that the authority in which Jesus was operating was more important than the actual miracle itself. Why is that? Well, if we concentrate on the outcome of the miracle, to a certain extent, we are missing the point. The point here is that God is with us, amongst us, operating at all times, but we continually require proof positive. The scribes are asking this question in the Gospel today, how often do we ask ourselves this very question?

The acceptance of God in our everyday lives this there for us all to see. We don’t need a miracle or something supernatural (to us) to prove it. Jesus demonstrated His authority through signs and miracles, we have the evidence in sacred scripture, but it is also closer to home if we look and listen carefully.

Perhaps today, we can examine the times when God has spoken to us in signs in our own lives. In our creation, our vocations, those around us, and the Pentecostal gifts. Hope is one of these virtues which provides this continued expectation; God and grace are not around the corner but are ever-present. Hope is always on if only we can recognize His presence.

Michael Cunningham, OFS, is the Director and CEO of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 4:1-11
Mark 1:40-45

Reflection:

Our Gospel readings are taken today from the Gospel of Mark who offers us a good insight into Jesus and his mission. The author of Mark, from the beginning of chapter one demonstrates Jesus as the suffering servant who like the leper he wished to heal finds himself now outside the town in a reversal of situations. Jesus desires healing for the leper, we read that he was moved with pity v. 41. The message for us today is the understanding of the word “pity” with which Jesus demonstrates, “I do will it. Be made clean. v.41. The word for pity has been described as womb or Rakhem in Hebrew.

Jesus had this deep desire to bring healing to this leper in an almost maternal way. This is such a profound insight offered to us in the text. Jesus came to show us the Father’s love and right at the beginning of Jesus’ life, we are invited to come to know the love of the Father.

In his book, Gazing on His Face, Robin Ryan, C.P. offers “Real Friendship is grounded in mutual concern. (Ryan, 8)” Can we begin to understand that Jesus’ desire for us is mutual concern of friendship and healing? He desires our healing so much so that he is now on the outside. Recently in Advent, Pope Francis invited us to reflect on the humility of Jesus. Can we encounter a more example of humility? Absolutely! Read on through this Gospel.

Can we make this our aim for the New Year? To come to know Jesus as a loving, caring and, humble friend? Like our first reading, it is easy to get drawn into chaos and strife around us. Today, in the Gospel, Jesus invites us to look to his love, care, and healing. He wills us to be healed.

Come, Lord, Jesus and fill our hearts with your humility. May we have Peace on Earth in this New Year. Bless, the Lord, O my soul. Amen.

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 1:9-20
Mark 1:21-28

Reflection:

We know that the Gospel of Matthew can best be understood through the lens of Jewish Christian community concerns and worship, and the Gospel of Luke through the lens of Gentile Christian community concerns.  But what of the Gospel of Mark?  If not focused sharply on Jewish or Gentile interests and challenges, then what?

Mark definitely holds a point of view and theology for a community suffering persecution.  This gospel teaches us that the mystery of Jesus as the Christ will be revealed to those who faithfully follow Jesus on the Way of the Cross, no matter how broken, imperfect, or bewildered the followers may be.  Jesus calls us to follow him.  How will we respond?

Today’s gospel demonstrates that theology well.  Mark presents us with three groups, and a Messianic Secret that arcs his entire gospel.  Today’s gospel raises the curtain on these themes.

The first group are the scribes and Pharisees.  Whenever they show up, they respond negatively toward Jesus and his teaching.  Jesus taught with authority, “and not as the scribes,” Mark tells us.  Dark clouds are beginning to gather.  Later we hear the scribes and Pharisees condemning Jesus for allowing his disciples to pluck and eat grain on the Sabbath, and healing on the Sabbath, and teaching about marriage and divorce.  And the list goes on.  Negativity was their response.

The crowd is the second group.  How did they respond to Jesus’s teaching and healing?  They responded with amazement.  “The people were astonished at his teaching,” we hear in the gospel.  And because of their amazement and astonishment, Jesus’ “fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region.”  Amazement was their response.

The followers of Jesus, his disciples are the third group.  Jesus teaches them, instructs them.  They sit at Jesus’ feet as he teaches them.  They see his miracles.  But they are muddled in their response.  They are thick-headed.  They misunderstand Jesus despite his best efforts.  Their response?  Confusion, uncertainty, and fear.

Incidentally, so embarrassing is the behavior of the disciples in Mark’s gospel that Matthew and Luke work overtime to clean them up, comb their hair, make them more presentable.

Again, Mark gives us three groups throughout his gospel: the Scribes and Pharisees, the Crowd, and the Disciples.

Mark also presents a unique aspect to his gospel – the Messianic Secret or what scholars call the Markan Secret.  Whenever Jesus healed someone, he would give them a blunt instruction: “Tell no one.  Tell no one.”

Today’s gospel introduces this theme.  No one, not the crowd, the Scribes, not the followers of Jesus understand who Jesus truly is – except the unclean spirit. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  I know who you are – the Holy One of God

Immediately, Jesus rebuked him, saying: “Quiet!  Come out of him.”  Literally, Jesus said “phimotheti!  That is, “Be muzzled.”  Ironically, the evil, unclean spirit possessing the young man understands Jesus better than anyone there.  Throughout the gospel, Jesus will order those whom he has healed to tell no one.

Why the Messianic Secret?  Because the fulness of who Jesus is, the Christos, would be revealed and understood only at the cross and resurrection.

St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the four poisons of sin.  They are wealth, power, pleasure, and honor.  We see some of them played out in today’s gospel.

The crowd, for instance, in their amazement, took a kind of curious pleasure, titillation in hearing Jesus and witnessing his miracles.  They sought pleasure, a self-centered, self-satisfying enjoyment.  Nothing more.

What of the scribes and Pharisees?  They were consumed by power and honor.  They wore

elegant robes as a sign of prestige and importance.  They took the best seats in the synagogue.  And why not?  They are far more important than those others.  The Scribes also were well represented in the powerful Sanhedrin, the ruling group of the Temple in Jerusalem.  It was no surprise then, that this group felt threatened by Jesus, his teaching, and his popularity with the people.

What is the antidote to these four poisons of sin?  Humility, Aquinas tells us.  Humility is the thread that unites today’s readings and its themes.

It is humility that Hannah powerfully demonstrates in the first reading.  In the midst of her grief, she prays with power, persistence, and trust that God will respond to her petition.  No wealth, power, pleasure, or honor here.  Only humility and trust in God.

Humility also permeates Hannah’s song, her Magnificat:  God “raises the needy from the dust, from the dung heap he lifts up the poor.”

And it is the garment of humility that clothes the rag-tag, fumbling followers of Jesus.

Humility is the vaccine against the four-headed virus of wealth, power, pleasure, and honor.

The disciples stumbled, they failed, they fell flat on their faces.  In fear they fled the cross.  In fear, the women fled from the tomb, even though it was time to reveal to the world who Jesus is.  The two messengers told them: Go and tell.  Announce the good news to the world.  Go and tell.

Mark’s gospel, today’s gospel challenges us:  Will we follow Jesus, and if so, how will we respond?

The only way to respond and to understand the Messianic Secret, who is Jesus, is by following Jesus all the way to Calvary and the Tomb.  Only then will we understand that Jesus is the true Messiah, the Christos who heals and saves.

It does not matter how often we may fail or falter.  It does not matter how often we may misunderstand.  It only matters that we respond to the call of Jesus, to follow him, and to proclaim the good news by the way we live.  Go and tell.  Humility will guide our way.

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 1:1-8
Mark 1:14-20

Reflection:

In the first book of Samuel, Peninnah ridicules Hannah for being barren. Hannah responds by allowing herself to feel diminished, worthless, and abandoned by God. I grant that in those days, barrenness was considered a curse from God and having children (especially sons) was a great blessing. Yet Hannah’s husband didn’t believe that, showed obvious devotion, and said his great love was worth more than 10 sons. It was only Peninnah whose scorn was so damaging. Could Hannah have responded differently?

I’m continuously learning something God wants us to know in the depth of our being – that our worth and lovability is not dependent on the words or actions of another. No one can cause you to feel worthless and small unless you give them that power.

The truth is: You and I are inherently lovable. In fact, God loves us passionately, wildly, and with abandon, and so deeply that this great love overflowed into the incarnation we just celebrated. It blows me away that the God who placed the stars, created the oceans, made mountains rise up, and fashioned a dizzying array of creatures and plants – this creative, wonderful God loves me. Me?? Really? I will never fully understand, but I hope to increasingly let that truth into my heart and help others to do so as well.

When that truth fills me, I know there is a part of me deep inside that can never be diminished or destroyed – the radiant core of who I truly am and from whom I come. I draw strength from that center, and I can choose to live out of God’s truth instead of someone else’s (or even my own, as I can be terribly harsh with myself!) I also find that when I’m living that truth, I more readily see it in others. Despite their flaws, they, too, are beloved of God, and it generates compassion.

This doesn’t mean I don’t listen to critique; to the contrary, honest and caring feedback is quite helpful. I take it seriously, assessing the degree of truth, and bringing it into prayer, knowing that God and I together can work on my many(!) imperfections so I can grow and improve, becoming an ever more transparent instrument of Christ.

Yet, any twisting of helpful critique into an attempt to ridicule or demean, or outright scorn like Penninah, is borne out of that person’s own hurt and insecurities, and their need to position themselves as better and worthwhile. In other words, it says more about them than it does about me. I don’t have to let myself feel lowly and worthless because someone else tries to make me feel that way. My worth is not dependent on them; it is dependent on my identity in God and the great love God has for me.

As we move into Ordinary Time, I pray to stay centered in who and whose I am, and to keep bringing to birth what God has begun in me. Christmas season is over, but we can still proclaim Emmanuel, God with us.

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.