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Scripture:

Job 7:1-4, 6-7
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Mark 1:29-39

Reflection:

Today’s readings seem to say a lot about how people choose what they are do with their lives. In Job we encounter someone who has lost everything.  He cries out in his brokenness, "What am I to do? My entire life is drudgery." The psalm tells us that this is where God comforts us. He binds up our wounds and heals the brokenhearted. Further on in the story of Job, that is exactly what happens.

St. Paul on the other hand says,"’What am I to do? I’ve made myself a slave for others." Out of his brokenness on the road to Damascus, he has chosen his life’s work. But it appears as if once his blindness was removed he had no choice. His faith in the Gospel required him to go forth and preach it.

The gospel reading provides a clue for how we can deal with life’s choices, especially when they are difficult or unclear.

In the first part of the Gospel, Jesus cures Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever. She immediately gets up and begins to serve the people around her. (An interesting side note, the word that is here translated  ‘to serve’ can also be translated ‘to minister to,’ so we don’t really know if she was serving them lunch or helping in another capacity.) And so we have the image of someone lying in a fever, unable to stand on her own, and through the healing of Jesus she is able to get on with her life’s work.

Later Jesus says,  "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come." You would think that given all the healings and cures in Mark’s Gospel that healing is the work of Jesus.  But it is the sharing of the Kingdom of God that is the most important. The healings are just to clear the way so that people can hear that the Kingdom of God is at hand and then to get on with their own purpose in life. 

My prayer for today is that I allow the healing Christ Jesus offers to remove anything that keeps me from hearing God’s word and finding my purpose.

 

Talib Huff is a volunteer at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

1 Kings 3:4-13
Mark 6:30-34

Reflection:

"Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while…"

 

King Solomon’s prayer in the first reading was indeed an unselfish prayer.  The young king asked God not for riches or power, but rather for a practical wisdom and an understanding heart to help him shepherd the people God had entrusted to him. 

In today’s Gospel selection, Jesus manifests an even greater unselfishness and generosity.  Wearied from his preaching and care for the people, Jesus sought some moments of rest and quiet with his apostles in a deserted place, but the crowds saw where He went and quickly followed.  Seeing their desire for change and healing and forgetting himself and his fatigue, Jesus turned his attention to the needs of the people. 

The two readings combine to give a practical encouragement for life and ministry in this 21^st Century:  our genuine Christ-like care for all God’s creation flourishes with God’s gift of both practical wisdom and an understanding heart, enriched by a blend of contemplative quiet and prayer.  To skimp on any one dimension is to diminish the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus in our needy world.

With the great renewal season of Lent just weeks away, perhaps Jesus’ invitation in today’s Gospel can prod us to open our calendars & planners and schedule ourselves some quiet time of personal growth:  a blend of physical renewal, intellectual opportunity, emotional integration, and spiritual enrichment.  Perhaps we are blessed with a nearby retreat center or house of prayer, or a quiet corner of our parish church, or even the solitude of a "sacred space" in our home; that "out of the way place".  Jesus knows us well – and loves us, as He bids us join Him for the renewal of our hearts and lives…and our world!

An understanding heart…solitude…rest…Jesus…  Priceless!!

 

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the local leader of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Feast of the The Presentation of the Lord

Scripture:

Malachi 3:1-4
Hebrews 2:14-18
Luke 2:22-40 or 2:22-32

Reflection:

When reading the appointed readings for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, I was struck by the incongruity of the first reading (Mal 3:1-4) with its responsorial psalm ("Who is this King of Glory?  It is the Lord." Ps 24:7, 8, 9, 10) when read in the light of the second reading from Hebrews (2:14-18) and the Gospel (Lk 2:22-40).

Here’s the incongruity, the readings open up by proclaiming, practically shouting, "Here he comes!  It is the Lord; it is the King of Glory!"  These are rather jubilant shouts of praise and of submission to his power; after all, he is coming to refine the hearts of the sons of Levi so that these priests will offer worthy sacrifices "as in the days of old."

But when we read the second reading, we read of the humanity of Jesus, who became like his brothers and sisters, and suffered as they suffer, so that he could be a help, so that he could redeem their fallen humanity.  In the gospel, the "Lord" is presented to God in the temple as a humble and poor child, offering the oblation that was prescribed for the poor. 

The infancy narratives speak of Jesus’ being greeted by "Wise men" from the East.  They brought royal gifts to him.  But when Jesus is brought to the Temple, in fulfillment of the prescript of the law, he comes empty handed (but for the offering of the poor), and he is recognized and welcomed by two old folks whose days were running out, Simeon and Anna.

From his parents’ arms, he reaches out to the faithful Anna, who was among the first to preach the name of Jesus; and the watchful Simeon.  As he will do in his public ministry, he offers them a glimpse of the Kingdom now imminent. 

It is in the simplicity of his parents’ lives, and of his humble appearance in the temple, that the divinity of the child is cloaked. 

This portrayal of Jesus at his Presentation will later be the subject of the beautiful Pauline hymn in the letter to the Philippians (2:5-11), well worth recalling on this feast of the Presentation, his dedication to his Father was fulfilled in his "attitude" or "mindset" which Paul praises, and which is truly worthy of praise when we imitate Christ in this way:

Have among yourselves that same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, who through he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. 

Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,

he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the Glory of God the Father.

So, maybe there is no incongruity among the readings.  Beneath the traditions of the Jewish Scriptures we read as Reading 1 and its Responsorial Psalm, and the New Testament, Christian Scriptures we listen to as Reading 2 and the Gospel, there is the divine wisdom of salvation being borne to the temple in the arms of Mary and Joseph, recognized by the probably cataract-fogged eyes of Simeon and Anna, and proclaimed at once by Anna to the Temple precincts.  The first reading was right, …every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

 

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P.  is the director of the Office of Mission Effectiveness for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois. 

 

Scripture:
Sirach 47:2-11
Mark 6:14-29

Reflection:
Take to prayer your most daunting personal challenge. Take to prayer the most painful social situation which invades your senses, and troubles your conscience. Put whichever into the hands of God along with your "will-to-act."

The act of prayer is based in belief in our relationship with Jesus, the Christ. The action to follow is based upon trust in Him. And it is all a matter of faith. But "he was too much for them. Where did he get all this? What kind of wisdom is he endowed with? How is it, such miraculous deeds are accomplished by his hands? Jesus was distressed at the lack of faith in him.  He could work no miracle there."

Baptism bestows a grace of destiny to eternal life, and a mission to further the building of the kingdom of God. Sts. Blasé and Ansgar were both zealous missionaries willing to publically contribute to the building of the kingdom in virtually non-Christian cultures of northern Europe (sounds contemporary).  What am I doing for the sake of the Kingdom today?

Traditionally, Catholics have their throats blessed on this day to guard against all diseases of the throat. Could the blessing also grant courage to find our voices in promoting peace and justice? What is needed to further the kingdom of God in a just way?  Thank God for the inspiration, in the first place, that we can pray and act in this tradition of the saints.

 

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P. is president of Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, Alabama.

Scripture:

2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
Mark 6:1-6

Reflection:

Today Mark shows us Jesus leaving the western side of the Sea of Galilee, where he had been teaching and healing the sick, (and working some mighty deeds such as the raising of Jairus’s daughter, the cure of the woman with the flow of blood, the cure of lepers, and the calling forth of demons).  He has turned inland "to his native place," to Nazareth, his home town.  And those who had been attracted to him by both his teaching and his miracles of healing, have continued along with him as disciples.

As has been his practice since he began his mission to the fallen of Israel, on the Sabbath he rose in the synagogue of Nazareth and began to teach.  Many of these Nazarenes were astonished, and then they began to question.  Unlike the disciples that had followed him to Nazareth, these people whom he knew, with whom he had grown up and lived and worked before going off into the desert to prepare for his mission, reacted quite negatively.  Their astonishment at this "new Jesus" turned to sarcastic questioning, insult, and rejection.  One can almost see the raised eyebrows, the sneers, and hear the comments among them: "Who does he think he is?  Where does he get off preaching to us?"  Mark states it succinctly: "They took offense at him."

Jesus replied by simply quoting the proverb: "A prophet is not without honor except . . . ."

The result – "he was not able to perform any mighty deed there."  These people, his own community, neighbors, friends, kith and kin, rejected him.  He was truly amazed at their lack of faith.

What put them off?  They knew him, he was one of their own. Why didn’t they welcome him with joy and bring out their sick?

Envy?  Pride?  Feelings of superiority?  Anger at his success among those who had followed him from western Galilee?

And what about me?  As a "cradle catholic," I’m "one of his own."  Do I hear his prophetic word every day?  Do I listen to his voice?  When he speaks to me through one of my companions, through a fellow worker, through an event in the news, through a word in conversation that catches me up short – do I listen, do I really listen?  Do I take it to my heart,  think it through, test it?  Or do I react from my own immediate feelings – annoyance, irritation, arrogance – and brush it off?  Do I too often react from my selfish self, my not-quite-fully-redeemed self, even though for many years now I claim to be "one of his own?"  Does the Lord from time to time stand in amazement at my lack of faith?

 

Br. Peter A. Fitzpatrick, CFX, a Xaverian Brother, is a Passionist Associate at Ryken House, St. Xavier High School, across the creek from Sacred Heart Passionist Monastery in Louisville,KY.

Scripture:

2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30-19:3
Mark 5:21-43

Reflection:

"Do not be afraid, just have faith."                    

In today’s Gospel reading, St Mark uses a "sandwich" technique (one story in the middle of another), to highlight his message. 

We start out with the story of Jairus, a synagogue official, who requests that Jesus come to his house to heal his 12 year old daughter.  On the way, Jesus heals a woman who has suffered from hemorrhaging for 12 years.

Both of these persons in Mark’s Gospel had only heard about Jesus, but somehow knew that He was their last resort for healing.

The woman with the hemorrhage believed that if she could just touch the cloak of Jesus, she would be cured.  She did manage to touch His cloak the when she did, "the power went out from Him."  When Jesus learned who "touched" Him, He assured her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you.  Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

Jesus also assured Jairus when the news came that his daughter had died, "Do not be afraid, just have faith."  And Jesus brings his daughter back to life.

How do we approach Jesus in our lives?  Do we approach in fear or faith?  Are we willing to touch His cloak and trust that he will take our concerns as His own?

There is a difference between knowing about Our Lord and knowing Him personally; between proximity to Christ and intimacy with Him; and between going through the motions and striving to live a spiritual life.

Because we know about Our Lord, we can simply go through the motions–be familiar with the Mass, recite the Creed and go to Communion because the rest of the community does it and because it happens every Sunday.  Or, we can turn our will and our lives over daily to His care and hear those same words, "Do not be afraid, just have faith."

Every prayer we speak, every Mass we attend, every Communion we receive, can be as our hand reaching out to Christ, seeking "the power that goes out from Him."  Jesus performed miracles in the lives of these two people, based on their faith.  Do we anticipate miracles in our own lives?

 

Deacon Brian Clements was formerly on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California

Scripture:
2 Samuel 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13
Mark 5:1-20

Reflection:
Throughout the gospels we see an ongoing battle between Jesus and the forces of evil.  Today’s gospel story is rather dramatic.  A legion of unclean spirits is sent into a herd of swine which then rush down a bluff into a lake and die.  Jesus triumphs. 

I am reminded of a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.  He stated, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only Light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.  Jesus was the living presence of love on this earth.  He could drive out hate.  His Resurrection was the ultimate triumph of love over evil.

 King went on to say, "Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction."   King was well aware of Jesus’ words, "All who take the sword will perish by the sword. (Matthew 26:52) 

 When will we humans ever learn that lesson?  Billions are spent every day on weapons, while nickels and dimes are spent on strategies for peace.   Our country spends more than $25,000.00 a second on "defense" while thousands die of hunger around the world

 Only love can end war.  If we had enough love, we would budget money, personnel, time and energy to feed the hungry, secure clean water, provide sanitation, teach the illiterate, cure diseases, and do all the things that turn enemies into friends.  Peace is possible if we put aside the profit motive and choose justice for all as our identity. 

 The gospel battles between good and evil continue to be waged in the hearts of human beings. Meditating on the words and actions of Jesus is the way to strengthen our wills for the test.  Uniting with him in love guides our hearts into peace.

 

 Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.   http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Scripture:

2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17
Mark 4:35-41

Reflection:

"Who then is this whom even the wind and sea obey?"

Getting to know Jesus is one of our primary tasks as a Christian.  Just when you think you know who He is – you read a verse from scripture or meet someone who has a differing vision of Christianity or you encounter an unexpected challenge in life or you experience a miracle in your life – and you again wonder who is this Jesus?

In the Gospel, Jesus’ disciples were perplexed when they saw Jesus quiet the storm.  But didn’t they know?  These followers who recognized him as their leader and the worker of many miracles – of all his followers over the centuries, surely these first disciples shouldn’t have been surprised at Jesus’ power.   Is it any wonder that Jesus addresses them by saying, "Do you not yet have faith?" 

We know that Jesus is talking to us too when he utters these words.  Why is our faith not stronger?  Why do we still ask who is this Jesus? I think a big part of the answer is because we don’t stop often enough to listen.  The disciples were nodding their heads and saying – yes, yes, this is the Messiah – but they didn’t seem to hear his words.  That’s what we sometimes do.  "Yes, yes, we believe – Jesus is our Savior!"  But do we really stop and listen?  Do we ponder scripture, do we find time to sit in silence, do we quietly open our hearts to transformation? 

Another primary work of being a Christian is to teach and share this knowledge of Jesus with others.  We do this by living Christian lives – caring for others, telling those around us why we make the choices that we make, and by reading and discussing Christ with others. 

Today is also the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas – the great Dominican theologian.  At the end of St. Thomas’ life, he is reported to have said, "Thee have I preached; Thee have I taught."  St Thomas spent his life on the primary works of a Christian – getting to know Jesus and sharing that knowledge with others.   As Christians, may our lives be focused on getting to know Jesus and living lives that share that knowledge. 

 

Mary Lou Butler is a long-time friend and partner in ministry to the Passionists in California.