VI Sunday in OT-[2015]-Levi 13:1-2,45-46;1Cori 10:23-11:1;Mk 1:40-45

VI Sunday in OT-[2015]-Levi 13:1-2,45-46;1Cori 10:23-11:1;Mk 1:40-45

Introduction:    All three readings today contain the Christian teaching on the need for social acceptance even when people are different from us.  They also tell us that it is purity or holiness of soul coming from God that cleanses our lives.

Exegesis:    The gospel text of today describes the encounter between Jesus and a person with ‘leprosy’.  Though there are still some societies where people with leprosy are stigmatized, generally we have a better understanding of the disease today: that it is caused by a bacteria; the development of the disease is associated with malnutrition; it is curable; and once treated it is not contagious.  During the time of Jesus – as it may be the case in some societies up to our own times – any condition that involved discharging out of body fluids was anomalous, mysterious and unhygienic.  Hence, many taboos were developed around these conditions.  The Book of Leviticus makes a clear distinction between just a scab on the skin and a condition that forms ulcers (Lev 13:2-30).  The ulcerous condition creates secretions and hence the individual with these conditions has to be isolated not only for hygienic reasons but because they are ritualistically impure! Therefore, what is referred to as ‘leprosy,’ in the gospel text of today and in the first reading, was not just a physical condition, but had its social and spiritual implications.  Therefore, the cure of the man with leprosy by Jesus was also not just a physical healing, but it involved the re-establishment of the social and spiritual status of the man. 

Intra-personal Wellbeing: The gospel text of today begins with these words, “A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees…” (Mk 1:40).  By coming to Jesus, the man with ‘the virulent skin-disease’, has broken the Law.  In the Lukan story of the ten men with a skin-disease, “they stood some way off” (Lk 17:12). As we heard in the first reading of today, “the man must live apart; he must live outside the camp” (Lev 13:46).  Jesus not only allows the man to come nearby, but also stretches out his hand and touches the man (Mk 1:41). By touching the man with the skin-condition, Jesus has broken the Law.  The Book of Leviticus further prescribes that anyone who touches anything made unclean by a dead body, or who has a seminal discharge… remains unclean until evening… (Lev 22:4).  Yet, Jesus feels the need to touch him physically so as to offer the man his dignity as a human person. The man now enjoys intra-personal wellbeing – his personal dignity is re-established.

Human touch is one of the first ways of communication that we ever learnt as babies.  A touch could mean reassurance, care, and encouragement.  Jesus is not sparing in the use of touch as a way of communicating.  There is an abundance of instances, particularly in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus reaches out and touches people, or allows people to touch him (Mk 1:31, 1:41; 3:10, 5:27-34;5:41; 6:56; 7:33; 8:22-23; 10:13-16). His compassionate touch offers people their dignity!

Having cured the man, Jesus now orders him to go and show himself to the priest as prescribed by the Law (Lev 14).  In this case, by showing himself to the priests the man will be allowed to go back to his family and people.  Thus his social wellbeing will be re-established. The man now enjoys interpersonal wellbeings.

Supra-Personal / Inner personal Wellbeing: In the Book of Numbers, when Aaron and Miriam had criticised their brother Moses over his marriage with a Cushite woman,  Yahweh’s anger was kindled, and Miriam was struck with a virulent-skin disease (Num 12:1-10). So, skin-disease, in fact, sickness as such, was seen as a punishment from God for human sin. Jesus categorically denies this causal connection between sin and sickness, as we see, for instance, in the story of the blind man in John 9.  And here in Mark, Jesus asks the man to make the offering for his healing to assure him that he is not cursed by God.  The man’s relationship with God is re-established.  Jesus’ healing of the man mediates spiritual wellbeing or supra-personal wellbeing.

Having had a deep encounter with Jesus, having experienced this three-fold healing, and having been made whole again, how could the man be silent about it?  He had to break the order of Jesus. “He started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere…” (Mk 1:45).

Practical Applications: 1) Let us learn to respect the dignity of human being. People with limitations, deformities, differences, less beautiful, less fortunate, less educated, less abilities, are all human beings. Gods creations. It seems imperative that a kind act to anyone has to respect their social and cultural context. Otherwise, it runs the risk of alienating them even further. 

Introduction : Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time:

Message:    Jesus manifests the powerful, healing love of God by curing the leper who was forced to live under severe restrictions by Jewish legislation.  He turned to Jesus in his need and was filled with joy.  We are called to imitate the healing and compassionate Jesus.

Saints and Events in this week:  16 – Sixteenth – Monday – Presidents day; 17 – Seventeenth – Tuesday – The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order.  18 – Eighteenth – Wednesday – Ash Wednesday; Day of fasting and abstinence; 21 – Twenty First – Saturday – Saint Peter Damian, Bishop, Doctor of the Church;

VI Sunday in OT-[2012]-Levi 13:1-2,45-46;1Cori 10:23-11:1;Mk 1:40-45

VI Sunday in OT-[2012]-Levi 13:1-2,45-46;1Cori 10:23-11:1;Mk 1:40-45

Martin was a young soldier in the Roman army. Elegantly dressed, he was mounted on his horse one day when he was accosted by a leper begging for alms. The sight and the stench of rotting flesh was so repulsive to the sensitivities of young Martin that his first instincts were to ride off on his horse. But something inside him made his walk up to the beggar. Since all he had was his military coat, he cut it in two and gave half to the leper while he wrapped himself with the other half. It was a very cold winter day. That night in his dream he saw Christ clothed in a half coat saying to the angels around his throne, “Martin has clothed me with his garment.” This event was the turning point in the life of him who was to become St. Martin of Tours.

The natural revulsion of Martin before leprosy is nothing compared with the ancient Hebrew attitude to leprosy. To the Hebrews leprosy was not only a most dreaded natural disease; it was also popularly seen as divine chastisement. The story of Miriam, sister of Moses, who was struck with leprosy as a result of her misconduct (Numbers 12) as well as that of Job who was afflicted with a leprosy-like skin disease reinforced their view of leprosy as divine punishment for sin. In the first reading (Leviticus 13) the dreadful practice of ostracizing lepers is reported as God’s will: “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying ....”

But the gospel paints a different picture. Was leprosy indeed divine chastisement? Was the dehumanizing treatment meted out to lepers as described in Leviticus God’s will? If indeed these things were God’s will, then there is no way Jesus, God’s Anointed, would want to heal a leper. If, on the other hand, leprosy is an unfortunate disease like any other, then there is a possibility that Jesus who had earlier healed many sick people would also heal a leper. The leper in the gospel decides to find out the truth once and for all. Ignoring the law that requires him to keep away from people, he gets close to Jesus and kneels before him. Instead of shouting “Unclean! Unclean!”he says to him, “If it is your will you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40). Jesus’ reply, “It is my will. Be made clean!”(verse 41) did two things. First, it restored the leprosy patient to health. Secondly it proved to him and to all that leprosy was not a divine chastisement after all but a disease like any other disease that prevents people from being fully alive as God wants all people to be.

Joke1): A young boy was spending a weekend with his grandmother after a particularly difficult week in kindergarten.  On Saturday morning, his grandmother took him to the park to play in the beautiful, newly fallen snow. 

“Doesn’t it look like an artist painted this scenery?”

Grandma asked. “Do you think god painted this just for you?”

“Yes, God did it”, the boy answered, “and He did it left-handed.”

Confused, Grandma asked, “What makes you think that?”

“Well”, said the boy, “we learned at Sunday school last week that Jesus sits on God’s right hand!”

Joke 2):  The Bible tells us that we should love our neighbors and our enemies….  Probably because they are usually the same people.

According to ancient Hebrew belief, physical contact with lepers rendered a person unclean. Holy people in particular were expected to keep a safe distance from lepers. Against this background the gesture of Jesus who stretches out his hand and physically touches the leper becomes unthinkable. Has he no fear of being defiled? What is going on here? Jesus is challenging and redefining the traditional views of holiness and unholiness. Jesus is challenging traditional superstitions and prejudices that certain people are impure by the conditions of their health, social status or birth. An Indian friend told me that in his part of the country people of a higher caste would not sit together in church with those of a lower caste, the so-called untouchables. By reaching out and touching the leper and thereby making him pure again, Jesus is teaching us, his followers, to reach out and embrace the dehumanized and the outcasts among us. A deed of solidarity with the dehumanized does not dehumanize the doer, rather it restores full humanity to the dehumanized.

Pope John Paul II has declared February 11, feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, as the World Day of the Sick. Leprosy, thank God, has become a curable disease. Yet the tendency to see some diseases as divine punishment and to ostracize those who suffer from them is still with us. Is this not how many of us still see people with HIV-AIDS? Have you not heard tele-evangelists who teach that AIDS is divine punishment for sin? Jesus challenges us today to abandon such dehumanizing beliefs and reach out in solidarity with these modern-day lepers among us, just as he himself did in his own days.

Practical Applications: 1)Trust in the mercy of a forgiving God who assures us that our sins are forgiven and that we are clean.  We are forgiven and made spiritually clean from the spiritual leprosy of sins when we repent of our sins, because God is a God of love who waits patiently for us. 

2) We need to tear down the walls that separate us from others and build bridges of loving relationship. Jesus calls every one of us to demolish the walls that separate us from each other and to welcome the outcasts and the untouchables of society.   Let us re-examine the barriers we have created and approach God with a heart that is ready to welcome the outcasts in our society. 

Introduction : VI Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s Message : Jesus manifests the powerful, healing love of God by curing the leper who was forced to live under severe restrictions by Jewish legislation.  He turned to Jesus in his need and was filled with joy.  We are called to imitate the healing and compassionate Jesus.

Saints in this Week: 14^th Tuesday : Saint Cyril, monk, and Methodius bishop

Cyril, 869, and Methodius, 885; brothers known as the “Apostles to the Slaves”; prepared Slavic liturgical texts; served as the “spiritual bridge between Eastern and Western traditions”(Pope John Paul II); patrons of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzogovina, and of all Europe.

17 the Friday : The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order

The Order of Friar Servants of Mary (Servites), founded by seven Florentine cloth merchants in 1223, today number about 850 religious; they popularized devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows.

V Sunday in OT – Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1Cori 9:16-19, 22-23; Mk 1:29-39

V Sunday in OT-[2015]– Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1Cori 9:16-19, 22-23; Mk 1:29-39

Introduction: Today’s readings challenge us to avoid Job’s pessimistic and cynical view of life as a chain of pain and sufferings and to accept it with hope and optimism as a precious gift from God, using it to do good for others and spending our time, talents and lives for others as Jesus did and as St. Paul did.

Exegesis:  Pointing out the spontaneous response of Peter’s mother-in-law after she had been healed by Jesus, today’s Gospel passage teaches us  that true discipleship means getting involved in giving selfless service to others.  During the Sabbath day, Jesus took part in the synagogue worship, taught with authority, exorcised a demon, healed Simon’s mother-in-law and, after sundown, “cured many who were sick with various diseases, and drove out many demons.” Thus, Jesus spent himself and most of his time ministering to the needs of others, giving healing, forgiveness and a new beginning to many. Yet, Jesus rose early the next morning and went off "to a deserted place" to pray, in order to assess his work before God his Father and to recharge his spiritual energy.

Joke:  During the last Sunday service that the visiting pastor was to spend at the church he had served for some months, his hat was passed around for goodwill, farewell offering. When it returned to the pastor, it was empty. The pastor didn’t flinch. He raised the hat to heaven. "I thank you, Lord, that I got my hat back from this congregation."

Practical applications: 1) We need to be instruments for Jesus’ healing work.  Bringing healing and wholeness is Jesus’ ministry even today.  We all need healing of our minds, our memories and our broken relationships.  But Jesus now uses counselors, doctors, friends or even strangers in his healing ministry.    Let us ask for the ordinary healing we need in our own lives.  When we are healed, let us not forget to thank Jesus for his goodness, mercy, and compassion by turning to serve others.  Our own healing process is completed only when we are ready to help others in their needs and to focus on things outside ourselves.  Let us also be instruments for Jesus’ healing by visiting the sick and praying for their healing.  But let us remember that we need the Lord’s strength not only to make ourselves and others well, but to make us and others whole.  

2) We have learned about seven corporal works of mercy. Such as 1) feed the hungry. 2) give drink to the thirsty. 3) clothe the naked. 4) harbour the harbourless / the Homeless. 5) visit the sick. 6) visit the imprisoned. 7) bury the dead. In short it is Giving what you have and Giving your presence.

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time:  Introduction

Message: Job’s cry of hopelessness stands in marked contrast to the hope of those who put their trust in Jesus, who “heals” the broken hearted and binds up their wounds”, such are the blessings of the good news.

Saints and Events in this week:  10 – Tuesday – Saint Scholastica, Virgin; 11 – Wednesday – Our Lady of Lourdes; 14 – Saturday – Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop;

V Sunday in OT –[2012]- Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1Cori 9:16-19, 22-23; Mk 1:29-39

V Sunday in OT – Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1Cori 9:16-19, 22-23; Mk 1:29-39

While the gospel presents Jesus enthusiastically preparing for his second day’s preaching and healing ministry, the first reading details Job’s attitude in striking contrast to Jesus’.   The first reading is Job's lament.  The Book of Job is a long book in the bible.  It has 42 chapters.  The first two chapters of this book and the last ten verses of chapter 42 are the story framework most of us are acquainted with when we think about Job.  This is where we hear about Job being a just man who is beset by all sorts of horrible suffering.  He says, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord."  At the end of the book, God rewards Job for his faithfulness to him.  But this is just the framework.  There are a little over 39 chapters in between which are the heart and meat of the book.  In these chapters Jobs friends come and end up accusing him.  Job himself questions God.  Job is suffering and he calls out to God to explain himself.   This is not the Job who says, "The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."  This is the Job who says, "My pain is more than I can bear.  I can't sleep at night.  I shall not see happiness again."  Job questions God, his goodness, why he has allowed pain to exist.  God finally appears to Job in chapter 38 and asks him: If you know so much as to question me, then where were you when I created the world.  How is it that the heavens work, the sun and the moon?  Were you there helping me when I created the whale? And so forth. Job realizes that he has spoken foolishly and submits to God's wisdom. Job surrenders himself, his suffering, his work and everything he had and had lost to the greater wisdom of God (Job 42:1-6). 

Job's lament is the cry we all feel within ourselves when we become seriously ill, or, perhaps, even more, when someone we love, a spouse, a child or a parent become ill or even die.  Perhaps our hurt is not physical.  Perhaps it is emotional.  A marriage breaks up; a child runs away, a friend is publicly discredited.  When we feel pain, regardless of its source, we want to join Job and say, "I shall never see happiness again."

It is to prove this lament wrong that Jesus comes as the Divine Healer.  In the Gospel for today he heals Simon's mother-in-law of a fever.  He heals people with all sorts of illnesses including possession which refers both to diabolic possession and psychological or psychiatric illnesses.  Jesus heals so many people that he has to find a solitary place in the desert for a few moments of union with his Father.  But even then, Simon Peter and the others find him and make him go back to work.

Joke 1: There is the funny story about a woman listening to her pastor preaches a Sunday morning sermon about Simon Peter's wife's mother, ill with a fever. Since it was a boring sermon the woman left the Church after the Mass, feeling somewhat unfulfilled. Consequently, she decided to go to Church again that day, out in the country where she had grown up. When she arrived, she discovered to her dismay that her pastor had been invited to be the substitute priest and again, during the Mass he preached on the gospel of the day about Peter's mother-in-law being ill with a fever. Believing that there was still time to redeem the day, the woman decided to go to the hospital chapel in the evening. As you may have guessed, her pastor was assigned to say the evening Mass there and he preached the same sermon on Peter's wife's mother and her fever. Next morning, the woman was on a bus riding downtown and, wonders of wonders; her pastor boarded that bus and sat down beside her. An ambulance raced by with sirens roaring. In order to make conversation, the pastor said, "Well, I wonder who it is?" "It must certainly be Peter's mother-in-law," she replied. "She was sick all day yesterday."

Jesus heals.  He heals the pain not just of the people of the past, but the pain of the people of today.  Some receive physical healing immediately.  Others receive healing in stages.  Some receive a clear miracle.  Others who have dedicated their lives to continuing the healing ministry of the Lord, have developed their own skills and intelligent to be vehicles of the Lord's healing.  The union with the Divine Healer is the reason why our doctors, and our nurses, and all care givers deserve our respect.  It is in this context that w can best understand the Sacrament of Healing, the Sacrament of the Sick.  

JOKE: 2) Humor has great role in our healing ministry: “Laugh and the world laughs with you.”  “Laughter is music of the spheres, language of the gods.”  And it's fine medicine.  Laughter exercises the face, shoulders, diaphragm, and abdomen.  The breathing deepens, the heart rate rises, and the blood is more oxygenated.  Endorphins are released, pain thresholds are raised, and some studies suggest that even immune systems are boosted.  Norman Cousins, in Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, tried laughter therapy, and found that ten minutes of hearty laughter could give him two hours of pain-free sleep. When you laugh, others laugh too.  Laughter is a contagious, highly effective, totally organic medicine.  It has no side effects, and no one is allergic to it.  Did you have your dose of laughter today?  Jesus may have burst into hearty laughter when he watched Zacchaeus climb down from the sycamore tree. Perhaps he also had at least a mischievous smile when Peter started sinking in his attempt to walk on water.  Then why don’t we too have a hearty laugh in the worshipping community in the real presence of our Lord?

All who call out to the Lord are healed.  Some are healed physically.  Some are healed emotionally, able to accept their condition in life.  All receive spiritual healing as they unite their pain to the Cross of Christ.  In this context we understand the meaning of Holy Eucharist.

We, who carry Christ within us, carry within us the one who heals.  If we believe in him, if we trust in him, then we refuse to join Job's cry of despair.  We recognize that Christ is present when we need him the most, healing our internal and our external turmoil.

Life messages: 1) We need to be instruments for Jesus’ healing.  Bringing healing and wholeness is Jesus’ ministry even today.  We all need healing of our minds, our memories and our broken relationships.  2) We need to live for others as Jesus did: Jesus was a man for others, sharing what he had with others.  In his life there was time for prayer, time for healing and time for reconciliation.  Let us take up this challenge by sharing love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness with others.  Instead of considering life as dull and boring, let us live our lives as Jesus did, full of dynamism and zeal for the glory of God.  

Introduction : Today is V Sunday in Ordinary Time                                    Message : Job’s cry of hopelessness stands in marked contrast to the hope of those who put their trust in Jesus, who “heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds”. Such are the blessings of the good news.

Saints in this week:   6th Monday : Saint Paul Miki and companions, martyrs :   Paul Miki, Jesuit scholastic, and his twenty-five companions, including two other Jesuits, six Franciscans, fifteen tertiaries, and two laymen, were crucified by order  of the ruler Hideyoshi 5 Feb. 1597 at Nagasaki; among them the Mexican, Felipe de Jesus, first martyr from the Americas to be beatified; protomartyrs of the Far East (canonized in 1862 by Pope Pius IX).

8th Wednesday : Saint Jerome Emiliani; Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin:      Jerome Emiliani, 1537 of the plague; Venetian soldier whose conversion led to the founding (1534) of the Clerks Regular of Somascha, today numbering about 475 members; dedicated to the poor and the education of youth; patron of orphans and abandoned children.                                                                                     Josephine was born around 1869 in Sudan and raised in the Islamic faith.  She was kidnapped around the age of seven buy slave traders who gave her the name, “Bakhita,” meaning “lucky one”.  She was sold to a number of owners until she was purchased at about the age of twelve but e Italian Consul Callisto Legnani.  He brought her to Italy and, while serving as a nanny, was sent to live with the Canossian Sisters in Venice.  There she was formally introduced to the faith, baptized Ciuseppina, and eventually granted her freedom.  In 1896 she joined the Conossian Daughters of Charity, and for twenty-five years served her sisters as cook, seamstress, and portress at their houses in Venice, Verona, and Schio.  She was especially beloved by her students for her sweet nature and musical voice.  After a long and painful illness she died in 1947.  Pope John Paul II canonized his first Sudanese saint 1 October 2000 as a witness to evangelical reconciliation and a model of freedom.

10 th Friday : Saint Scholastica, Virgin :      Scholastica, c.543 at Monte Cassino; twin sister of St. Benedict; “She could do more because she loved more” (Gregory the Great, The Dialogues); eventually interred in the same grave with her brother; invoked against storms; patroness of Benedictine nunneries.

11 th Saturday : Our Lady of Lourdes:  According to St. Bernadette, the visionary at Lourdes in 1858, the Virgin Mary proclaimed herself “The Immaculate Conception”; patroness of Portugal and the Philippines. [Pope John Paul II designated 11 February as World Day of the Sick, “a special time of prayer and sharing, of offering one’s suffering for the good of the Church and of reminding us to see in our sick brother and sister the face of Christ who, by suffering, dying, and rising, achieved the salvation of humankind”. (Letter Instituting the World Day of the Sick, 13 May 1992, 3)]    

IV Sunday in OT:[B]:2015- Deut 18:15-20; 1Cori 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28

IV Sunday in OT:[B]:2015- Deut 18:15-20; 1Cori 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28

Gospel passage for today shows that Jesus new teaching is with authority. Jesus being son of man teaching is the reason for authority. And it is a new teaching. It can be representing New Testament teaching.  There are two things to concentrate on. 1) New teaching corresponds with practical life of comforting others and 2) New teaching of introducing merciful God, forgiving God expressed in love of enemy.

Jesus begins his public life with many acts of power done out of compassion for the needs of others. Immediately before, Mark has told us of the baptism of Jesus, with the Spirit descending upon him and the voice from heaven saying to him, "You are my beloved Son? (Mark 1: 11) Jesus is then tempted by Satan not to trust that affirmation. After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus goes to Galilee where he proclaims that the kingdom of God is at hand. He calls disciples to follow him, and together they go to the synagogue at Capernaum (today's gospel passage).

More of the implications of this passage may reveal themselves if we remember the narrative context into which Mark places it. After this cure of the demoniac, Jesus cures Simon's mother-in-law and many others afflicted either by illness or by evil spirits.  Curing the sick is considered, for Mark, as a new teaching with authority. Jesus’ authority was questioned in Luke chapter 20:1. Why is it new teaching? May be the teaching is accompanied with the practical life of convulsing the evil spirits, may be Jesus’ new teaching changes from of old to express revenge with love of enemy. Evil spirits are considering Jesus as enemy, but for Jesus evil spirits are not enemies but means of showing his mercy.

The cure of the demoniac represents the beginning of the messianic age when the power of Satan's kingdom will at last be destroyed ("Have you come to destroy us?”). Jesus enters a world in which Satan reigns, teaches with the authority of God, and with compassion casts out evil spirits that hold people in bondage and fear. Christ's mission, begun here, will not be completed until the end, "when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power? The last enemy to be destroyed is death? (1 Corinthians 15: 24, 26). The destruction here is for personal revival of the self.

A couple of weeks ago one of my friend Pastor, Dr. Jose Maniparambil pointed out something in video posting in YouTube videos about this new teaching of Jesus which I found very interesting and I had never heard before. He was giving commentary on Luke 4:18-21. Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 61, and he stops mid sentence. Look at what Isaiah says in chapter 61: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;….. “

The phrase “and the day of vengeance of our God” is excluded from Jesus’ reading of the scripture.

My thoughts went immediately to verses like John 3:17: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

Joke:   The preacher's Sunday sermon was Forgive Your Enemies. Toward the end of the service, He asked his congregation, "how many of you have forgiven their enemies"?    About half held up their hands. He then repeated his question. As it was past lunchtime, this time about 80 percent held up their hands. He then repeated his question again. All responded, except one small elderly lady.  "Mrs. Jones?" inquired the preacher, Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?    "I don't have any." she replied. smiling sweetly.     "Mrs. Jones, That is very unusual. How old are you?" "Ninety-three," she replied.  "Oh Mrs. Jones, what a blessing and a lesson to us all you are. Would you please come down in front of this congregation and tell us all how a person can live ninety-three years and not have an enemy in the world."  The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation, and said "I outlived the old hags."     

Practical Applications: Do you think there is any significance to the fact that Jesus stopped mid-sentence? Were they waiting with baited breath for Jesus to read the next phrase and then astonished when he didn’t? Is the coming of Christ all about God’s favor, and not at all about God’s vengeance? If so, does that impact how we preach and how we teach? Are Hellfire and Brimstone sermons out of line? Is condemnation and vengeance Good News?

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Introduction

Message: Jesus came as one who spoke in the name of the Lord, teaching with authority.  Let us listen to his voice and adhere to him above anything else.

Saints and Events in this Week: 2 – Second – Monday – The Presentation of the Lord – 3 – Third – Tuesday – Saint Blaise, Bishop, Martyr; Saint Ansgar, Bishop; Note: In memory of Saint Blaise, Blessing of Throats will be there immediately after mass this Tuesday. 5 – Fifth – Thursday – Saint Agatha, Virgin, Martyr; 6 – Sixth – Friday – Saint Paul Miki, Martyr, and companions, martyrs;  

IV Sunday in OT:[2012]: – Deut 18:15-20; 1Cori 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28

IV Sunday in OT – Deut 18:15-20; 1Cori 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28

It is said that the following incident took place off of Massachusetts back in the early 50's.  It was a stormy night at sea and a large battleship saw a light in the distance.  The light was directly on the ship’s course. The captain of the ship was alerted and had a radio message sent out: “Light up ahead, bear ten degrees south.”  The captain received the reply, "Sir, you must bear ten degrees North."  The captain grew furious and got onto the radio himself and yelled, "I am Captain James Smith, that’s captain in the United States Navy.  Whoever you are, I am ordering you to bear ten degrees south.  Who are you, and what is your rank?"  He heard the feeble answer, "This is Seaman First Class Howard Scott, Sir, you must bear ten degrees north."  The captain barked out, “I am on the bridge of the Battleship USS New Jersey, and I am telling you to bear ten degrees south."  Then he heard the reply, "But, Sir, I am in the  Baker’s Island Light House, and you had better bear ten degrees North."

A statement carries authority according to two aspects: who is speaking and what is being said.  The captain had authority due to his rank.  The seaman had authority due to what was said.  Jesus had both.  Jesus spoke with authority.  What He said was true.  He also had authority because of Who He was.  He was the Son of God, the Messiah of God, and the Eternal One who became man on Christmas. He said, “Love your enemies.  Be kind to one another.”  On the cross he called to his Father for forgiveness for those who tortured and killed him. He himself was a kind, loving person.  He spoke about God's kingdom and lived as the ideal member of that kingdom. He had authority, and He has authority.  We need to listen and follow.

He calls us to speak for Him.  He gives us authority.  For us to exercise this authority both our words to be true and we must live as committed Christians.

Joke-1:  I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off.  So I ran over and said, "Stop!  Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
"Well, there's so much to live for."
"Like what?"
"Well, are you religious?"
"Yes."
"Me too!  Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me, too!  Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me, too!  Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist."

"Wow, me, too!  Are you Church of God or Church of the Christ?"
"Church of God!"
"Me, too!  Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God!"
"Me, too!  Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"
I said, "Die, heretic," and pushed him off. 

Many times  our papers report religious scandals.  Charismatic TV preachers, Roman Catholic bishops and priests, caught acting in the immoral ways. The message that they had been delivering from their pulpits for years was true.  Many people were moved to come closer to God.  Many people confronted their own demons and took steps to draw closer to Christ.  But then the scandal hit the papers. The message of the preacher that had moved them was still true, but now it has lost much of its impact. The one who delivered it was not true to his own words.   As a result his credibility, his authority was terribly damaged if not totally destroyed.

You can certainly see how this can happen in your home. Parents have authority due to their position in the family.  God tells children to honor their mothers and fathers.  That’s the Fourth Commandment.  But the authority of parents is diminished or even destroyed when the parents act in ways that are not Christian.  For example, all parents want their children to be kind to each other. But if their children observe Mom and Dad being nasty to each other, the children are going to learn nastiness, not kindness, as standard way of acting. When these same parents say to their children that they should be kind to each other, the children respond with their actions as though their parents no longer have authority to tell them how to behave.

That’s negative.  Let’s look at the positive.  Many of our seniors have spent years taking care of their sick spouses.  Retirement was not what they expected.  Instead of going and doing, their days were spent caring and cleaning, and organizing doctor appointments.  But when someone makes a comment that he or she is such a good spouse, the caring spouse merely says, “I took vows.”  And in those few words supported with a lifetime of action, that husband or wife speaks more eloquently about marriage than any priest or preacher could possibly speak.  For his or her words have authority, the authority of the One who called him to the sacrament of marriage and the authority of the spouse who lives the sacrament of marriage.

Joke-2:  You may have heard about the preacher who asked one elderly lady how it was with her soul. "Oh," she replied, "the old devil has been giving me a rough time."                                                                                     Immediately her husband protested. "Now hold on," he said, "she's not too easy to live with herself."

Jesus spoke with authority. He was not like the scribes and pharisees.  He was not two faced.  He was not hypocritical.  He didn't have a dark side of his life that he kept hidden.  He didn't just speak the truth, He was the Truth Incarnate. Jesus gave orders to unclean spirits, and they obeyed him.  It wasn't the words that kicked the devil out, it was the person who spoke those words.

He didn't call us just to do some of the things He did, He called us to be His presence for others. We are called to destroy evil in our world.  We cannot do this unless we are determined to be Christlike.  Today we pray that we might be invested in the authority of Christ, an authority that flows not just from what we say, but from who we are as Christlike people.

III Sunday in OT:[2015]: Jon 3:1-5, 10; 1Cori 7:29-31; Mk 1:14-20

III Sunday in OT:  Jon 3:1-5, 10; 1Cori 7:29-31; Mk 1:14-20

Look at the first reading for this weekend. It is from the Book of Jonah. Now when we hear about Jonah we think about the fellow who spent three days in the belly of a whale, foreshadowing Christ's three days in the tomb. That is only part of the story. The whole reason why Jonah got gobbled up was because he refused to listen to God and preach to the people of the largest city of the area, Nineveh. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people that they were condemned due to their sins. Nineveh was to the Northeast of Jonah. Jonah fled to the Southwest, and got onto a ship he hoped would take him to a far away land.

Jonah’s reason for running was that, quite simply, he did not like the Assyrians. Assyria was an idolatrous, proud, and ruthless nation bent on world conquest and had long been a threat to Israel. When God sent Jonah as a missionary to the capital, Nineveh, the prophet balked. At the end of his story, Jonah specifies his reason for resistance: “That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2). In other words, Jonah wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. He felt they deserved God’s judgment. Jonah didn’t want to see God’s mercy extended to his enemies, and he knew in his heart that God’s intention was to show mercy. Jonah discovered that God’s salvation is available to all who repent, not just to the people of Jonah’s choosing.  The Ninevites heard Jonah, recognized their own sins, and repented hoping that it would not be too late for them. It wasn't. God saw their determination and decided against punishing them

The penitent asked, "Does God accept repentance?" The priest asked in turn, "Do you throw away dirty laundry?" "No," replied the sinner. The priest said, "Neither will God throw you away."  Anthony de Mello writes, "Jesus proclaimed the good news, yet he was rejected. Not because it was good, but because it was new. We don't want new things when they involve change and most particularly if they cause us to say, 'I was wrong.'"

Jonah also discovered that no one can run from God. “‘Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:24). Jonah’s ill-advised attempt to escape from God was doomed to fail. He soon realized God was with him everywhere he went. Even in the stomach of the great fish, God knew where Jonah was and could hear his prayer (Jonah 2:2).  We are not to run from God but to Him. As Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”

It was still impressive that twelve men would follow Jesus this early in his career as itinerate preacher and healer. Surely they got to know the person of Jesus and came to love him in order to follow him.  We too need to have a personal relationship with Jesus. We can really love a person unless we know that person, have a relationship with that person, and completely trust that person. We can know a lot of things about Jesus by our reading of the Bible and other literature, but knowledge alone is not enough. We have to somehow meet Jesus face-to-face. Talk with him. Be with him.  It is called divine experience. It is called discipleship.

Joke: Pastor Andrews’ wife called and asked him to pick up some organic kale for that night’s dinner on his way home. He arrived at the store and began to search all over for organic kale before finally asking the produce clerk where he might find some. The young clerk seemed confused by the pastor’s request, so the Pastor said: “Look, this kale is for my wife. All I need to know is whether it’s been sprayed with poisonous chemicals.” The visibly horrified clerk replied, “No, Reverend, you will have to do that yourself.”

Practical Applications: 1) We need to appreciate our call to become Christ’s disciples: Every one of us is called by God, both individually, and collectively as a parish community, to continue Jesus’ mission of preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom and healing the sick. 2) We are called individually to a particular vocation in life like that of a priest, a missionary, a religious Sister, a religious Brother, a married man, a married woman, a single man or a single woman.  Our own unique vocation should enable us to become what God wants us to be.  As St. Francis Sales puts it, we are expected to bloom where we are planted. Let us remember that it is our vocation in life as Christians to borrow Christ’s Light and to radiate it all around us in our society.

Third Sunday in Ordinary time:  Introduction

Message: The Ninevites heard the preaching of Jonah and repented of their evil ways, thus experiencing the Lord’s compassion.  Do we repent when we hear the preaching of Jesus? Do we invest our lives in the world rather than in God’s kingdom?

Saints and Events in this Week:  23 – Twenty Third – Monday – Saint Timothy and Titus, bishops; 27 – Twenty Seventh – Tuesday – Saint Angela Merici, virgin; 28 – Twenty Eighth – Wednesday – Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Doctor of the Church; 31 – Thirty First – Saturday – Saint John Bosco; Priest;