III Sunday of Lent:[2015]: Ex 20:1-17; 1Cori 1:18, 22-25; Jn 2:13-25

III Sunday of Lent:[2015]: Ex 20:1-17; 1Cori 1:18, 22-25; Jn 2:13-25

Introduction:  Keep our covenant agreement with Jesus Christ by becoming people of the new covenant, loving others as Jesus did, keeping our parish church holy and fully dedicated to divine worship and keeping our hearts cleansed, just, holy and pure temples of the Holy Spirit. 

Exegesis:   Like the desert (Lent week 1) and the mountain (week 2), the Temple (week 3) is a place of special encounter with God. But today we are not going to see the glorious face of Jesus; we are going to see his angry face. Jesus is not happy with what he sees precisely because the way the Temple worship has been organized no longer reflects God’s original idea of a worshipping community.

Why was this church building built? If such a question is asked here, the answers will be very interesting. Unexpected creative imaginations will be the result. But, the real answer is that it was built to be a temple. It was not built just to be a meeting place, or an auditorium, or a theater where we go to experience a drama. A temple is a building that is purpose-built. Our church building here has one chief purpose, namely to immerse us in the drama of our relationship with God. Note that I said “our” relationship with God, not “my relationship with God.” While we may come here for private prayer, the main reason is because this where we as God’s family play out our roles in the great drama of God coming to us and our going back to God our Father.

Each one of us here is a temple that is purpose-made. Because of our baptisms each one of us here is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us here was brought into being and designed by God for a purpose, namely the purpose of making Him present to others, especially when they enter into who we are. Each one of us here is a walking, living temple in which God is made present and available to others.

Joke:  John Smith was the only Protestant to move into a large Catholic neighborhood. On the first Friday of Lent, John was outside grilling a big juicy steak on his grill. Meanwhile, all of his neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper. This went on each Friday of Lent.

On the last Friday of Lent, the neighborhood men got together and decided that something had to be done about John. He was tempting them to eat meat each Friday of Lent, and they couldn't take it anymore. They decided to try and convert John to be a Catholic. They went over and talked to him and were so happy that he decided to join all of his neighbors and become a Catholic. They took him to Church, and the Priest sprinkled some water over him, and said, "You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist, and now you are Catholic." The men were so relieved, now their biggest Lenten temptation was resolved.

The next year's Lenten season rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came, and just at supper time, when the neighborhood was setting down to their tuna fish dinner, came the wafting smell of steak cooking on a grill. The neighborhood men could not believe their noses! WHAT WAS GOING ON?

They called each other up and decided to meet over in John's yard to see if he had forgotten it was the first Friday of Lent. The group arrived just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water. He was sprinkling some water over his steak on the grill, saying, 

"You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish."

Practical Applications:  1) Let us remember that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul reminds us that we are God’s temples because the Spirit of God dwells in us.  Hence, we have no right to desecrate God’s temple by impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, jealousy.  Let us cleanse it asking God’s forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation. 

2) Our relationship with God must be that of a child to his parent, one of mutual love, respect and a desire for the family’s good, with no thought of personal loss or gain. 

3) We need to avoid a calculating mentality in divine worship.  We are not supposed to think of God as a vending machine into which we put our sacrifices and good deeds to get back His blessings.  Let us make our church a holier place by adding our prayers and songs to our parish worship and offering our time and talents in the various ministries.

Introduction : Third Sunday of Lent

Message: The law liberates and leads us to freedom.  It is to be trusted for it is a source of wisdom. Jesus speaks of the ultimate freedom to be won for us by his being raised up.  He is the sign of the power and wisdom of God.

Saints and Events in this Week: 9 – Ninth - Monday - Saint Frances of Rome, Religious;

III Sunday of Lent:[2012]: Ex 20:1-17; 1Cori 1:18, 22-25; Jn 2:13-25

III Sunday of Lent:[2012]: Ex 20:1-17; 1Cori 1:18, 22-25; Jn 2:13-25

Scripture lessons: Today’s first reading teaches us that the Ten Commandments are the basis of our religious and spiritual life, just as they formed a rule of life for the Israelites as the result of their covenant with Yahweh at Mount Sinai.  The responsorial psalm depicts the Mosaic Law’s life-enhancing attributes: it refreshes the soul and rejoices the heart; it is pure and true, more precious than gold.  The second reading reminds us that we must preach the divine folly of the crucified Christ and the spirit of the cross, especially during the Lenten season.  Today’s gospel gives us the dramatic account of Jesus' cleansing the Temple of its merchants and money-changers, followed by a prediction of his death and resurrection. The synoptic gospels place the "cleansing of the Temple" immediately after Jesus' triumphant arrival in Jerusalem on the back of a colt on Palm Sunday while John places it at the beginning of his gospel. Jesus cleansed the Temple renovated by King Herod in B.C. 20. The abuses which kindled the prophetic indignation of Jesus were the conversion of God’s Temple into a “noisy market place” by the animal merchants and into a “hideout of thieves” by the money-changers with their grossly unjust business practices – sacrilege in God’s Holy Place. Jesus' reaction to this commercialized faith was fierce.  Since no weapons were allowed inside the Temple, Jesus had to construct his own weapon, a whip of cords to drive out the merchants and money-changers from the Court of the Gentiles.

Lent Gospel Sum up: Like the desert in the first week of Lent and the mountain in the second week, the Temple in the third week is a place of special encounter with God. But today we are not going to see the glorious face of Jesus; we are going to see his angry face. Jesus is not happy with what he sees precisely because the way the Temple worship has been organized no longer reflects God’s original idea of a worshipping community. Two reasons can be given for this, namely, (a) the religious leaders had put rituals over morality, and (b) they had put particularity over universality.

Rituals over Morality: The religious administrators of the Temple worship took pains to see that worshippers were duly supplied with high quality cattle, sheep and doves for sacrifice. They even made sure that the “dirty” money people brought with them could be exchanged for the “holy” Temple money. At the same time, however, they were plotting against Jesus. If they took all that trouble to please God in worship, why couldn’t they take the trouble to investigate the claims of Jesus rather than condemn him so readily? For them pleasing God had become something you do in the rituals of the Temple and not in your relationship with people. This kind of religiosity makes Jesus really angry.

Joke: The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket the robber saw his Roman collar and said, “So you are a priest? Then you can go.” The priest was rather surprised at this unexpected show of piety and so tried to reciprocate by offering the robber his packet of cigarettes, to which the robber replied, “No, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.” You can see how this robber is trying to keep the pious observance of not smoking during Lent while forgetting the more fundamental commandment of God, “Thou shall not steal.”

Particularity over Universality: The second reason why Jesus was mad with the Temple priests was their practice of religious particularity over against universality, of exclusiveness over inclusiveness. Some knowledge of the design of the Temple will help us here. The Temple had five sections or courts: (1) holy of holies (2) court of priests (3) court of Israel (4) court of women (5) court of Gentiles. Though these were seen as five concentric circles of sanctity, the design made room for everybody in the house of God. It was a universal house of God “for all the nations” where every man or woman on earth would find a place in which to pray. But the Temple priests forgot that and thought that it was meant for Jews alone. So they decided to turn the court of the Gentiles into a “holy” market place for selling the animals required for sacrifice and for exchanging money. You could bring Roman money as far as the court of the Gentiles but not into the other four courts. The court of Gentiles was no longer regarded as part and parcel of the house of God, it had become a market place, pure and simple. Now it was this court of Gentiles that Jesus cleansed. In so doing he was making the point that the Gentile section was just as holy as the Jewish sections. God is God of all and not God of a select group. Like the Jews of the time of Jesus, some Christians today still think that God belongs to them alone and not to others as well.

Life Implications: A certain man died and went to heaven and St Peter was showing him round. St Peter pointed to different mansions: “Here are the Jews, here the Buddhists, here the Moslems, etc.” Then they came to a large compound surrounded by a high wall and inside they could hear singing and laughter. “Who are those?” asked the new arrival. And St Peter hushed him, “Hush! They’re the Christians – but they think they’re the only ones here.” Believers like these need a Temple court experience to awaken them to the universal love of God and bring them back to true worship.

Introduction  : III Sunday in Lent

Message : The law liberates and leads us to freedom.  It is to be trusted for it is a source of wisdom.  Jesus speaks of the ultimate freedom to be won for us by his being raised up.  He is the sign of the power and wisdom of God

Saints in this week : 17^th Saturday : Saint Patrick, Bishop

Patrick, 461 at Down; born about 389 of Romano-British origin, perhaps in Wales; founded metropolitan See of Armagh; authored Confessio; the famous Lorica(Lat., “breastplate”), a work praising Christ, is probably his; patron of Nigeria; apostle and patron of Ireland.

II Sunday in Lent:[2015]:Gen22:1-2,9-13,15-18;Rom 8:31-35,37;Mk9:2-10

II Sunday in Lent:[2015]:Gen22:1-2,9-13,15-18;Rom 8:31-35,37;Mk9:2-10

First Reading Exegesis:  In our first reading from Genesis, Abraham was put to test and he remained faithful to God. God did not require him to do anything that He Himself would not do. In fact, the command to Abraham to offer his only son was intended to foreshadow how God would offer his only beloved son for our sake in the future. God halted the sacrifice of Isaac because, Abraham’s faith was very clear by the fact that he was ready to carry out the will of God. Abraham listened to God, and then obeyed him. Abraham was ready to offer his only son Isaac to make God happy. He did not question or challenge God about the victim for the sacrifice. Instead, he left that question for his son Isaac to ask. Also, rather than ask God for anything, he was ready to offer God something very dear to him. Abraham considered his walk with God more important than any other thing. What do we learn from Abraham today? We must be ready to listen to God and, to do what he wants us to do as Abraham did.

Gospel Reading Exegesis: In the Transfiguration story in todays Gospel, Jesus is revealed as a glorious figure, superior to Moses and Elijah. The primary purpose of Jesus’ Transfiguration was to allow him to consult his Heavenly Father and ascertain His plan for His Son’s suffering, death and resurrection.  God’s secondary aim was to make Jesus’ chosen disciples aware of his Divine glory, so that they might discard their worldly ambitions and dreams of a conquering political Messiah and might be strengthened in their time of trial. On the mountain, Jesus is identified by the Heavenly Voice as the Son of God. Thus, the transfiguration narrative is a Christophany, that is, a manifestation or revelation of who Jesus really is.

The meditation on the transfiguration during lent becomes for us a prediction of what lies at the end of Lent – the resurrection of the Lord.  This is what perhaps it meant for the three apostles who were taken up the mountain only six days after (Mk 9:2) Jesus had told them about his impending suffering and death (Mk 8:31).  This was important particularly for Peter, who could not simply accept the possibility that his hero – the Christ (Mk 8:29) – will have to suffer grievously (Mk 8:32). For him it is a big lesson that Christian life is a coincidence of opposites – death and life, suffering and triumph, struggling to climb a mountain and wanting to stay there, being exalted on the mountain-top and having to come down to the market place of daily life.

God shows us his willingness to offer his only son to us, and for our salvation. Today Christ is revealed through his transfiguration as the son of God who is with us. The only thing that God demands from us is: “Listen to him.” If we listen to Christ, God’s gift to us, and do what he wants us to do, we shall be successful in our journey with him this season.

Joke: An Irishman moves into a tiny hamlet in County Kerry, walks into the pub and promptly orders three beers.  The bartender raises his eyebrows, but serves the man three beers, which he drinks quietly at a table, alone and orders three more.  As this continued every day the bartender asked him politely, "The folks around here are wondering why you always order three beers?"  "It’s odd, isn't it?" the man replies, "You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America, and the other to Australia.  We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers whenever we drank." Then, one day, the man comes in and orders only two beers.  As this continued for several days, the bartender approached him with tears in his eyes and said, "Folks around here, me first of all, want to offer condolences to you for the death of your brother.  You know-the two beers and all..."  The man ponders this for a moment, and then replies with a broad smile, "You'll be happy to know that my two brothers are alive and well.  It’s just that I, myself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent.  Now I am drinking for the other two!" 

Practical Applications: Lent is a transformational season in the Church. This is, of course, why we hear the story of the Transfiguration read to us today. In Mark’s version the Apostles are witnesses to the event, but really didn’t understand it. Nor did they understand the reference to Jesus rising from the dead – the ultimate transformation that was to come. It would be a transformation that would transform the world. How can we transform ourselves during Lent? What do we have to do to turn ourselves from sin, the part of ourselves that pulls away from God?

Introduction:  Second Sunday in Lent

Message: Abraham offers the ultimate sacrifice of thanksgiving, the gift of his very son.  This sacrifice prefigures the sacrifice of Jesus who died for us all.  In his transfiguration, Jesus discloses a suffering messiah-ship.

Saints and Events in this Week: 3 – Third – Tuesday – Saint Katharine Drexel, Virgin; 4 – Fourth – Wednesday – Saint Casimir; 7 – Seventh – Saturday – Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs;

II Sunday in Lent:[2012]:Gen22:1-2,9-13,15-18;Rom 8:31-35,37;Mk9:2-10

II Sunday in Lent:[2012]:Gen22:1-2,9-13,15-18;Rom 8:31-35,37;Mk9:2-10

This Sunday's first reading is the covenant is the one that God made with Abraham. Abraham manifested a living faith in God, a quality of faith that the world had never seen before. He left his homeland of Ur and went to the land of Canaan out of faith in God. Though his wife Sarah and he were too old to have children, he believed God's promise that he would be the Father of many nations. He was ecstatic when Isaac was born, the son through whom Abraham would live on as the Father of many nations; yet he still trusted in God to be true to his promise even when God told him to sacrifice Isaac. When God saw the extent of Abraham's faith, his confidence that God would fulfill his promises, even though this meant killing his son, God stopped Abraham and then covenanted that not only would Abraham be the father of many nations but also that his descendants would be as countless as the stars of the sky or the sands of the seashore. God's return to Abraham for his faith was the promise that Abraham's memory, his faith, his very life would continue in countless numbers of people throughout the ages. And indeed, Abraham is recognized as the Father of the Faith not just by Catholics, but by all Christians, by the Jewish people and by the Moslem people.

The covenant God made with Abraham he makes with us if we, like Abraham, do everything we can to cultivate a living faith. When you and I take a step of totally trusting in God to take care of us, though we have no idea how he could possibly do this under some present difficulty, then God responds both by caring for us and by giving life to our faith so that the world will witness our faith for more generations than we could ever imagine.

Joke : A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.

Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and messy. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Elisha’s story: There is a mysterious story in 2 Kings that can help us understand what is going on in the transfiguration. Israel was at war with Aram, and Elisha the man of God was using his prophetic powers to reveal the strategic plans of the Aramean army to the Israelites. At first the King of Aram thought that one of his officers was playing the spy but when he learnt the truth he despatched troops to go and capture Elisha who was residing in Dothan. The Aramean troops moved in under cover of darkness and surrounded the city. In the morning Elisha’s servant was the first to discover that they were trapped in and feared for his master’s safety. He ran to Elisha and said, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” The prophet answered, “Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” But who would believe that, when the surrounding mountainside was covered with advancing enemy troops? So Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-23). This vision was all that Elisha’s disciple needed to reassure him. At the end of the day, not only was the prophet of God safe but the invading army was totally humiliated.

The Transfiguration: The Transfiguration of Jesus happened at a stage in his public ministry when he was pretty much in the same situation as Elisha. His foes were closing in on him and his disciples led by Peter were feeling very much like the servant of Elisha, afraid and anxious for their master’s safety. Just before the Transfiguration Jesus had asked his disciples whom the people and they themselves thought he was. Peter gave the correct answer the he was Christ the son of the living God. Jesus congratulated him and then proceeded to forewarn them and prepare them for his unavoidable suffering, death and resurrection. But Peter was not ready for this. He protested visibly; he took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Jesus sharply corrected him, telling him that he was seeing things from a purely human point of view (Matthew 16:13-23). He needed, like Elisha’s servant, a vision from God’s point of view, to see that in spite of the death sentence hanging over the head of Jesus, God was still with him, God was still in control of events, God would see to it that in the end he triumphed over his foes as Elisha did. What Peter and his fellow disciples needed was for God to open their eyes and then give them a glimpse of God’s abiding presence with their master Jesus. The transfiguration was that experience.

The Transfiguration experience was, therefore, God’s way of delivering the disciples from a crisis of faith. The cause of their crisis of faith was the way in which they saw people and things around them. God helped them out of it by enlightening their vision so that, at least for a moment, they could see from God’s own perspective. Seen from below, in ordinary human light, people and things around us may look drab, commonplace and sometimes repulsive. But seen from above, in the light of divinity, the same people and things take on a more honorable, resplendent and lovable appearance. This glimpse into the true nature and divine aspect of persons and things can be called a transfiguration experience.

Conclusion : Where can one get this Transfiguration experience? Everywhere. Our Sunday worship is a good starting point. Outside the church, right from the church parking lot, we tend to see one another as competitors. On the road we see other road users as obstacles impeding our speedy arrival to our destinations. In the work place we see others as rivals vying with us for the ladder of success. But at Mass we have the singular experience of looking one another in the eye and calling them “brothers and sisters.” God sees us here as people of faith, people, human beings, who are begging God to help them grow in faith.  This is indeed a Transfiguration. The challenge for us is to live in the light of this awareness until we come together again next Sunday to renew our faith vision.

Introduction:  Second Sunday of Lent

Message: Abraham offers the ultimate sacrifice of thanksgiving, the gift of his very son.  This sacrifice prefigures the sacrifice of Jesus who died for us all.  In his transfiguration, Jesus discloses a suffering messiahship.

7^th Wednesday: Saints Perpetua and Felicity, martyr

Perpetua, a noble lady and Felicity, her slave, at Carthage in 203 under Septimus Severus; names mentioned in the Roman Canon.

8^th Thursday: Saint John of God, religious

John of God, 1550 in Granada; shepherd, soldier, and entrepreneur before his conversion at age forty-two; laid foundation (1537) for the Order of Hospitallers, today numbering about 1300 religious; patron of hospitals and the sick, of nurses and booksellers.

9^th Friday: Saint Frances of Rome, religious

Frances of Rome, 1440; noble woman, wife and mother; founded a community of Benedictine women oblates committed to serving the poorest of the poor; patroness of widows and motorists.

I Sunday in Lent :[2015]: Gn 9:8-15; 1 Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15

I Sunday in Lent:[2015]: Gn 9:8-15; 1 Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15

After the stark, matter-of-fact statement that Jesus was tempted by Satan, Mark tells us that after John's arrest, Jesus begins his mission: "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1: 15) Matthew and Luke in their narratives of the temptations include Jesus' triumph over Satan in a dramatic verbal exchange between them. Mark does not present the temptations in this way because his entire gospel is narratives of the trials that Jesus undergoes itself are temptations. Satan tempts him to doubt that he is God's beloved Son, and likewise tempts him to betray his mission on behalf of God's kingdom. Satan will use every means to tempt Jesus in order to save his own kingdom that has dominance in the world. Jesus is tempted by his own disciples. "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do,” Jesus said to Peter (Mark 8: 33).

He is tested frequently by enemies from among his own people and by the Romans. His own relatives say that he is out of his mind (Mark 3: 21). The most severe temptation comes when he appears to have failed in his mission; he is misunderstood, betrayed, and abandoned by his disciples; he is arrested, undergoes the humiliation and torture associated with a criminal's public execution; and finally he apparently has the experience of being forsaken by God while dying on a cross. Yet, his dying prayer in this dark night of the soul is also a cry of unconquered hope and trust (Mark 15: 34, Psalm 22).

The Letter to the Hebrews reveals the good news that the triumph of Jesus over the most severe temptations imaginable can be a source of hope and trust in the trials that we undergo. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin” (Mark 4: 15). "Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested” (Mark 2: 18). No one with the consciousness of freedom escapes the testing that reveals where the heart's true treasure lies.

Only the incidentals of the testing differ for each of us. The heroes of faith down to the present day triumph over their trials because they share the single-minded, childlike faith of Jesus. Jesus in his human consciousness and freedom loved God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength (Deuteronomy 6: 5). A person with a divided heart, on the other hand, easily fails in a test of faith, and particularly in a trial of suffering constantly asks God, Why? Further, the double-minded person demands some evidence of God's presence and care.

Joke : Two blonds who heard their pastor reading the verses: “ And He walks with me, And talks with me, And tells me I am his own..”   When they got into heaven and arrived at the Golden Gates, she, one of the blond was asked one question: "What is God's name?"      She replied, "Andy." 

"Andy? Why Andy?", she was asked.     She replied, "Oh, you know, I have heard my pastor reading, 'Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me I am his own.'

Then the second blond, looking at the facial expression of wrong answer from St. Peter, she answered:   I think God's name is Harold. "Our father who art in heaven, Harold be thy name"

Practical Applications: The Practical application of Mark's gospel is that we must pray as Jesus prayed if we hope to love God as he did with an undivided heart when our time of trial is upon us. Like Jesus before his great trial in the garden of Gethsemane, we may pray that if possible the hour of trial might pass by us. Nevertheless, with the power of his Spirit we must also pray: "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will” (Mark 14: 36).

Jesus then said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep” (Mark 14: 37)? Shortly after Jesus was arrested, Peter, standing among the crowd, was tested by the high priest's maid. Unprepared by prayer and fearful for his life, with a curse Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. At the Eucharist for the first Sunday of Lent a good prayer would be to ask the Spirit to heal the illusions, desires, and the doubts that divide our hearts. Only with this grace can we say the Lord's prayer with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength. And with Christ's Spirit we can live without fear because we trust that God's will for us can only be love.

Introduction: First Sunday in Lent

Message: Mindful of his covenant, the Lord promises never to destroy creation again by floodwaters.  The waters of baptism bring salvation and forgiveness through the death of Christ.  After fasting forty days and being put to the test, Jesus begins his public ministry.

Saints and Events in this Week:  23 – Twenty Third – Monday – Saint Polycarp, Bishop, Martyr;

I Sunday in Lent:[2012]: Gn 9:8-15; 1 Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15

I Sunday in Lent :[2012]: Gn 9:8-15; 1 Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15

A mother camel and her baby are talking one day and the baby camel asks, “Mom why have we got these huge three-toed feet?” The mother replies, “To enable us trek across the soft sand of the desert without sinking.” “And why have we got these long, heavy eyelashes?” “To keep the sand out of our eyes on the trips through the desert ”replies the mother camel. “And Mom, why have we got these big humps on our backs?” The mother, now a little impatient with the boy replies, “They are there to help us store fat for our long treks across the desert, so we can go without water for long periods.” “OK, I get it!” says the baby camel, “We have huge feet to stop us sinking, long eyelashes to keep the sand from our eyes and humps to store water. Then, Mom, why the heck are we here in the Toronto zoo?” Modern life sometimes makes one feel like a camel in a zoo. And like camels in a zoo we need sometimes to go into the desert in order to discover who we truly are. Lent invites us to enter into this kind of desert experience.

The desert was the birthplace of the people of God of the first covenant. The Hebrew people who escaped from Egypt as scattered tribes arrived the Promised Land as one nation under God. It was in the desert that they become a people of God by covenant. In the course of their history when their love and faithfulness to God grew cold, the prophets would suggest their return to the desert to rediscover their identity, their vocation and their mission as a way of reawakening their faith and strengthening their covenant relationship with God. The great prophets Elijah and John the Baptist were people of the desert: they lived in the desert, ate desert food and adopted a simple desert lifestyle. The desert is the university where God teaches His people.

In today’s gospel we read that after Jesus was baptized “the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him” (Mark 1:12-13). Where else but the desert could you have such a meaningful encounter of the Holy Spirit as well as Satan, of the wild beasts as well as the holy angels? The desert was the school where Jesus came to distinguish between the voice of God which he should follow and the voice of Satan which is temptation. How many voices do we hear from the moment we get up in the morning till the moment we go to sleep at night? The countless voices in the daily paper, the soliciting voices on the radio and the television, the voices of those who live and work with us, not forgetting our own unceasing inner voices. In the desert we leave most of these voices behind to focus on distinguishing between the guiding voice of God and the tempting voice of Satan.

Joke : Two dirty hippies were walking down the street and stopped at a red light. A Catholic priest with his arm in a cast was waiting to cross. "Hey, man," asked one, "what happened?"

"I fell in the bathtub and broke my arm," replied the padre.

One hippie turned to the other and asked, "What's a bathtub?"

"How do I know?" replied the other, "I'm not a Catholic."

In the desert we come to know ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, and our divine calling. In the desert Jesus encountered beasts and angels. There are wild beasts and angels in everyone of us. Sometimes, owing to our superficial self knowledge, we fail to recognize the wild beasts in us and give in to vainglory, or we fail to recognize the angel in us and give in to self-hatred. But in the silence and recollection of the desert we come to terms with ourselves as we really are, we are reconciled with the beasts and the angels in our lives and then we begin to experience peace again for the first time. Lent is the time for the desert experience. We cannot all afford to buy a camel and head off for the desert. But we can all create a desert space in our overcrowded lives. We can set aside a place and time to be alone daily with God, a time to distance ourselves from the many noises and voices that bombard our lives every day, a time to hear God’s word, a time to rediscover who we are before God, a time to say yes to God and no to Satan as Jesus did. Welcome to Lent! Welcome to the desert!

Introduction

This Sunday is First Sunday of Lent

Message : Mindful of his covenant, the Lord promises never to destroy creation again by floodwaters.  The waters of baptism bring salvation and forgiveness through the death of Christ.  After fasting forty days and being put to the test, Jesus begins his public ministry.

Saints in this week:

3^rd Saturday : Saint Katharine Drexel, virgin, USA

Katharine Drexel, 3 March 1955 at age ninety-seven; Philadelphia heiress and foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament; established some forty-nine foundations, including Xavier University in New Orleans; canonized 1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II

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;