(January 1) O marvellous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of a virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity. Mary has given birth to a King whose name is everlasting; hers the joy of motherhood, hers the virgin's glory. Never was the like seen before, never shall it be seen again, alleluia. By your miraculous birth of the Virgin you have fulfilled the Scriptures: like a gentle rain falling upon the earth you have come down to save your people. O God, we praise you.

(January 11) Today let us think of Saint Benet Biscop  (Saints)

Scripture today:    Hebrews 3:7-14;      Psalm 95:6-7c, 8-9, 10-11;     Mark 1:40-45
 

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A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
(Mark 1:40-45)

Let us place ourselves in this scene of today’s Gospel, so typical of much of our Lord’s public ministry. A poor leper, desperate because of his impossible plight, comes to Jesus and pleads with our Lord, appealing to his love and mercy: “If you wish, you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40-45). He is saying to our Lord, you have the power. All that is needed for my healing is for you to want to do it. It is an appeal to our Lord’s mercy and compassion. Full of his characteristic pity, our Lord assures the leper that he did indeed want what the leper asked for and orders the leprosy to leave him, which it does. But it is instantly obvious that the ministry of healing is not what our Lord wishes to engage in primarily for our Lord “sternly” forbad the leper to talk about it. One suspects that the leper had this impression too, because he seems to be pleading with our Lord to do what he is a little reluctant to do: “if you wish...” Our Lord’s primary objective was not to heal, but rather to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of holiness and the grace of God, and to be one with him in that Kingdom. It was this which was his mission and he wanted nothing to distract him nor others from it. His healings and other miracles were signs of the real thing. On another occasion after our Lord had fed the crowds they wanted to come and take him by force to make him king. He fled into the hills. It is obvious from many incidents recorded in the Gospels that our Lord often (and unsuccessfully) prohibited people he cured from publicizing it. He could see that there was a great danger that people could completely mistake his true mission and be continually seeking from him things which were ultimately beside the point. Christ came, as St John the Baptist pointed out before his public ministry actually began, to take away the sin of the world and to unite men to God.

Whenever we have a need of any kind we ought take it to the Lord. Jesus is our friend and our all-powerful helper in all our needs. Whether what we regard as a true need is what Jesus in his divine wisdom judges to be our true need is a further question. But it is a very good thing to be coming to our Lord and appealing, as did the poor leper, to his mercy. Let us tell him, “if you want to, you can help me.” But even more, let us come to our Lord to appeal to his mercy for what he knows we need, for what he came to do for us, and for what we ourselves ought realize is in our best interests. That petition ought be a petition for forgiveness of sin and for the grace to give ourselves entirely to his person. The prayer of the leper in today’s Gospel ought be seen as most appropriate in this higher sense. We ought approach our Lord with a lively sense of sin, like the approach to God of the publican in our Lord’s story of the Pharisee and the Publican praying in the Temple. The Pharisee had no sense that he needed to be made clean. He was clean already - not like the publican who was praying at the same time in the Temple. The Publican knew he needed to be made clean and that he was a sinner. He stood there with his eyes humbly downcast, repeatedly asking God for mercy, for he was a sinner. We use his prayer during the penitential rite of Mass. We need to approach our Lord with a lively sense of the evil of sin, of how imperative it is that sin be taken away, of the fact that we ourselves are indeed sinners, and that Jesus has the power to eliminate sin from our lives. He can make us holy. We ought ask our Lord to help us in all our needs, knowing that due to his compassion he does want to help us. But most of all he wants to take away our sins and bring us to sanctity. 

Let us make our own the petition of the leper, and come to our Lord appealing to his love and mercy. That appeal to our Lord’s compassion - to his sacred heart - had an immediate effect as we read in our Gospel passage. But let us bear in mind what we also notice, that there are petitions of the greatest importance which we ought never forget to bring constantly before our Lord. What we need most of all and what we ought pray for perseveringly and never give up on, is the conquest of sin and the attainment of personal holiness, which consists in a profound union with our Lord himself.
                                                                                                                     (E.J.Tyler)



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«The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter»   (Mark 1:40-45)
               Odes of Solomon (Christian text of the beginning of the 2nd century) (N̊ 21 and 25)

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I was delighted to see that you understood what I had said to you: you and I have to work and live and die like people in love, and we will live in this way for all eternity.
                                        (The Forge, no.988)

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           How is Christ present in the Eucharist?
Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist in a unique and incomparable way. He is present in a true, real and substantial way, with his Body and his Blood, with his Soul and his Divinity. In the Eucharist, therefore, there is present in a sacramental way, that is, under the Eucharistic species of bread and wine, Christ whole and entire, God and Man. (CCC 1373-1375, 1413)
                    (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.282)
 

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Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 12) Today let us think of Saint Kentigen  (Saints)
               Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700)  Foundress of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame  (Saints)

Marguerite Bourgeoys was born in Troyes, in the province of Champagne (France), on Good Friday, April 17, 1620. She was baptized on the same day in the church of Saint-Jean, a church that was located near her home. Marguerite was the sixth child in a family of twelve. Her parents were Abraham Bourgeoys and Guillemette Gamier, and she was privileged to grow up in a milieu that was middle class and thoroughly Christian.

Marguerite was nineteen years of age when she lost her mother. In the following year, 1640, in the course of a procession held on October 7 in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, she had an unforgettable experience. Her eyes rested on a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and at that moment she felt inspired to withdraw from the world and to consecrate herself to the service of God. With that unchanging fidelity to what she believed to be God's will for her, a fidelity that characterized her life thenceforth, she set about to discern her specific vocation.

She registered, at once, as a member of the extern Congregation of Troyes, an association of young girls devoted to the charitable work of teaching children in the poor districts of the town. While engaged in this apostolate she learned about the foundation of Ville Marie (Montreal) in Canada. The year was 1642, and at that time she sensed a first call to missionary life. This call was rendered concrete in 1652 when she met Monsieur de Maisonneuve, founder and governor of the settlement begun in New France, who was in search of someone who would volunteer her services for the gratuitous instruction of the French and Indian children. Our Lady confirmed the call addressed to her: "Go, I will not forsake you", she said. Thus assured, Marguerite left Troyes in February, 1653, in a spirit of complete detachment. She arrived in Montreal on the following 16th of November, and without delay she set to work to promote the best interests of the colony. She is rightly considered co-foundress of Montreal, with the nurse, Jeanne Mance, and the master designer, Monsieur de Maisonneuve.

In order to encourage the colonists in their faith expression, she arranged for the restoration of the Cross on Mount Royal after it has been destroyed by hostile Indians, and she undertook the construction of a chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame de Bon Secours. Convinced of the importance of the family in the building of this new country, and perceiving the significance of the role to be exercised by women, she devoted herself to the task of preparing those whose vocation it would be to preside in a home. In 1658, in a stable which had been given to her by the governor for her use, she opened the first school in Montreal. She also organized an extern Congregation, patterned after the one which she had known in Troyes but adapted to the actual needs. In this way, she could respond to the needs of the women and young girls on whom much depended as far as the instruction of children was concerned. In 1659, she began receiving girls who were recommended by "les cures" in France, or endowed by the King, to come to establish homes in Montreal, and she became a real mother to them. Thus were initiated a school system and a network of social services which gradually extended through the whole country, and which led people to refer to Marguerite as "Mother of the Colony".

On three occasions, Marguerite Bourgeoys made a trip to France to obtain help. As of 1658, the group of teachers who associated themselves with her in her life of prayer, of heroic poverty, and of untiring devotedness to the service of others, presented the image of a religious institute. The group was inspired by the "vie voyagere" of Our Lady, and desired to remain uncloistered, the concept of an uncloistered community being an innovation at that time. Such a foundation occasioned much suffering and the one who took the initiative was not spared. But the work progressed. The Congregation de Notre-Dame received its civil charter from Louis XIV in 1671, and canonical approbation by decree of the Bishop of Quebec in 1676. The Constitutions of the Community were approved in 1698.

The foundation having been assured, Sister Bourgeoys could leave the work to others. She died in Montreal on January 12, 1700, acknowledged for her holiness of life. Her last generous act was to offer herself as a sacrifice of prayer for the return to health of a young Sister. Forty memberg of the Congregation de Notre-Dame were there to continue her work.

The educative and apostolic efforts of Marguerite Bourgeoys continue through the commitment of the members of the community that she founded. More than 2,600 Sisters of the Congregation de Notre-Dame work in fields of action according to the needs of time and place - from school to college or university, in the promotion of family, parish and diocesan endeavours. They are on mission in Canada, in the United States, in Japan, in Latin America, in Cameroon, and most recently they have established a house in France.

On November 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII beatified Marguerite Bourgeoys. Canonizing her on October 31, 1982, Pope John Paul II gave the Canadian Church its first woman saint.
   
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Scripture today:   Hebrews 4:1-5, 11;     Psalm 78:3 and 4bc, 6c-7, 8;     Mark 2:1-12
 

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When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth” --he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” (Mark 2:1-12)

Today we are placed in a Gospel scene that brings us to the heart of our Lord’s mission on earth. He came among us to bring the forgiveness of sins. The worst thing that ever happened in the world was not, say, the terrible impact of interplanetary meteors millennia ago that may have wiped out prehistoric life, or various natural disasters such as the Black Death that have eliminated populations, or even world wars. At root, the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the world was sin. Sin was the worst thing that ever happened in heaven too, when certain angels sinned. It was a cataclysmic event in heaven and many were cast into hell from where they now roam the world looking for someone to devour, as St Peter puts it. Sin entered the world through our first parents and with sin death arrived and has spread to the whole human race. The whole human race was profoundly wounded by this occurrence, an occurrence that has been replicated to a greater or lesser extent in the life of every human being, with the exception of Mary the mother of Jesus, and of course, Jesus himself. Our contemporary problem is that we tend not to think that sin matters much. There are much worse evils than sin, we think. Who could possibly think that to commit a serious sin (just) of thought could be a worse thing than, say, having one’s son being killed in a road accident? But so it is. It has been revealed to us that sin is the worst element in all created reality, and it is the root cause of all evil and suffering and death. It was this evil which Christ came to conquer and to replace with holiness. He takes away the sin of the world. If we are ever to appreciate the person of Christ, we must first appreciate the evil and fact of sin.

Our Lord’s reaction to the paralytic show that it was this which was primarily in his mind during his public ministry of preaching, teaching, healing, driving out demons and even raising the dead. The crowds were thronging in front of our Lord, including the scribes. Then suddenly from the roof the paralytic on his mat was lowered before our Lord – an obvious evidence of his friends’ faith.  Now, what was the first thing that came to our Lord’s lips when he saw their faith? He told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven. Our Lord’s words indicated that the fundamental burden and the basic evil was sin, and they also made plain that it was our Lord himself who was granting God’s pardon for them. This stunned the scribes. Our Lord said this confidently, without any explanatory introduction, and with an air of total authority. To the scribes he appeared to be taking God’s place and to be acting as God, because they said to themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” (Mark 2: 1-12). Our Lord calmly challenged their hostile thoughts and by way of proof of his authority proceeded to work a spectacular miracle of healing before their eyes. Now, one thing we ought learn from the reaction of the scribes is the wonder of the forgiveness of sins. That sins can be forgiven here on earth by the agency of particular persons is a wonder, and we ought not take it for granted. Furthermore, if God can come among us as man and forgive sins, he can just as easily confer this power on certain other persons. When our Lord rose from the dead the first thing he did that very day was to entrust this divine power to his Apostles. It is that very power which is entrusted down through the ages to the ordained Catholic priest. It remains a wonder, a wonderful blessing in the midst of sinful men.

Let us dwell on the implications of our Lord’s first words to the paralytic in today’s Gospel. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Sin is the first and most fundamental evil from which we are to be liberated, and it is Christ who brings this liberation. We ought strive to appreciate this blessing and bring it regularly into our life. This we do through the ministry of the ordained priest who brings us the forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament of Penance. Let us never take it for granted nor neglect it, but rather let us make it a fundamental feature of our ongoing Christian life.
                                                                                                                      (E.J.Tyler).

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"Who but God alone can forgive sins?"  (Mark 2:1-12)
     Saint John Chrysostom (345-407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church                                                                                     
     (Homily 29 on St. Matthew, 29: 1-3)

"They came bringing to him a paralytic." The evangelists say, that they brought him, but the others that they also broke up the roof, and let him down. And they put the sick man before Christ, saying nothing, but committing the whole to him. For though in the beginning he himself went about, and did not require so much faith  of them that came unto him; yet in this case they both approached him, and had faith required on their part. For, "Seeing," it is said, "their faith;" that is, the faith of them that had let the man down... Or rather, in this case the sick man too had part in the faith; for he would not have suffered himself to be let down, unless he had believed.

Forasmuch then as they had evinced so great faith, Jesus also evinces his own power, with all authority absolving his sins, and signifying in all ways that he is equal in honor with him that begat him. And mark; he implied it from the beginning, by his teaching, when he taught them as one having authority; by the leper, when he said, "I will, be clean"; by the sea, when he curbed it with a mere word; by the devils, when they acknowledged him as their judge… For he, to signify his indifference to honor did not straightway hasten to heal the visible body, but he takes his occasion from them; and he healed first that which is invisible, the soul, by forgiving his sins; which indeed saved the other, but brought no great glory to himself. They themselves rather, troubled by their malice, and wishing to assail him, caused even against their will what was done to be conspicuous. He, in fact, in his abundance of counsel, made use of their envy for the manifestation of the miracle.
                                                                             (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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God always wins. If you are his instrument, you too will win, because your battles will be his battles.
                                                                   (The Forge, no.989)

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                 What is the meaning of transubstantiation?
Transubstantiation means the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of his Blood. This change is brought about in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit. However, the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is the “eucharistic species”, remain unaltered. (CCC 1376-1377, 1413)
                      (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.283)
 

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Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 13)  Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Born in Poitiers at the beginning of the fourth century, Hilary was consecrated bishop of that city in the year 350. He combatted the Arians relentlessly for which reason he was exiled by the Emperor Constantine. For the purpose of strengthening the Catholic Faith and interpreting sacred Scripture he published works which are outstanding in their wisdom and learning. He died in the year 367.  (Saints)

Scripture today:    Hebrews 4:12-16;      Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15;      Mark 2:13-17
 

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Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed Jesus. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”  (Mark 2:13-17)

Of all the persons who ever graced this earth, none have equalled the moral and inner beauty of Jesus. Such is the conviction of the Christian who has come to know Jesus personally. What are the sources of this conviction? The most powerful is the great Tradition of the Church that bears witness to the person of Jesus. It is a Tradition that involves the Church’s entire life, her liturgy, her official teaching, the testimony of her pastors and saints, and indeed the testimony of the entire people of God which makes up her membership. It is the sense of the entire body of Christ’s faithful that he, the Lord Jesus, is beyond compare. Now, a priceless component of the Church’s life and Tradition is her sacred and inspired writings, the Holy Scriptures and especially the New Testament - and most of all the Gospels. They, especially the Gospels, bear witness to Jesus. In the celebration of the Eucharist which is the summit and source of the Church’s life, the book of the Gospels is held aloft and brought in as part of the entrance procession. The book of the Gospels is the highest and most sacred testimony to Jesus which the Church possesses. Indeed, the Gospels - as did the rest of the New Testament - came forth from the Church in the persons of certain of her writers inspired by the Holy Spirit. The important thing to bear in mind, though, is that the Church and the Church’s Tradition and inspired Writings bear witness to Jesus. Indeed, the Church not only bears witness to Jesus, but brings with her testimony the living and beautiful person of Jesus himself.

 It is this living, all-beautiful and all-holy Jesus whom we encounter when we place ourselves in a Gospel scene such as the one for today (Mark 2:13-17). What is especially consoling is that we see how Jesus loves to be with the lowly and the sinners - that is to say, with those who know they are poor and sinful, and who want to be with him who is all-holy. In 1917 the German scholar, Rudolf Otto, published his book (Das Heilige) on the idea of the holy. For him, the numinous was something awe-inspiring and profoundly fascinating. As a description of the sense of the holy in the religions of man this is true enough, but what has been revealed from on high and in the person of the Son of God made man is that the Holy One is loving. He is holy and loving too. His holiness is love. In the Gospels we see that the sinners sought to be with our Lord. He was “fascinans,” to use Otto’s term, immensely attractive, but especially to those who knew they were sinners. Christ loved sinners and they sensed it. They loved to be with him, and he readily entered into their company with a view to leading them out of sin into the life of God. And so it is in today’s Gospel scene. “While he was at table in his house (i.e. the house of Levi), many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him." This was a source of incomprehension among some Pharisees whose image of God did not allow of this familiarity with sinners. It has been pointed out that one of the fundamental differences between Christianity and Islam lies in their images of God: in Islam God is the Master. In Christianity God is the Father.

Let us place ourselves every day in the presence of Jesus, knowing that he is the image of the unseen God, the only-begotten Son of the Father, the only true way to God. "He who sees me, sees the Father," he said. Our Lord in today’s Gospel passage invites all who understand that they are sinners to come to him and learn from him, for he is meek and humble of heart. His yoke is easy and his burden light.
                                                                                                                (E.J.Tyler)

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“People who are healthy do not need a doctor; sick people do.” (Mark 2:17)
                  St Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and doctor of the Church
                                                                                  (Discourse on the Psalms, Ps. 58: 1, 7)

There are some strong men...who place their confidence in their own justice. They claim to be just by their own means, and since they considered themselves healthy people, they refused the remedy and killed the doctor himself. This is why, in fact, the Lord came to call not these strong men, but the weak...

Oh! You the strong, who do not need the doctor! Your strength does not come from health but from insanity...The Master of humility, who shared our weakness and who made us take part in his divinity, came down from heaven to show us the way and to be himself our way. Most of all, he wanted to leave us the example of his humility...to teach us to confess our sins, to humble ourselves and become strong, and to make ours the words of the apostle: “Therefore I am content with weakness...for when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10)...

As for those who pride themselves on being strong, who, in other words, claim being just by their own virtue, “stumbled over the stumbling stone” (Romans 9:32)...It is these strong men who attacked Christ, as they boasted themselves on their justice...They had placed themselves above the crowd of weak people who hurried to the doctor. Why? Simply because they thought they were strong...They killed the doctor of all men. But he, by dying, prepared through his blood a remedy for all the sick.
                                                                                               (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Sanctity consists precisely in this: in struggling to be faithful throughout your life and in accepting joyfully the Will of God at the hour of death.
                                                              (The Forge, no.990)

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                Does the breaking of the bread divide Christ?
The breaking of the bread does not divide Christ. He is present whole and entire in each of the Eucharistic species and in each of their parts. (CCC 1377)
                            (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.284)
 

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Second Sunday in Ordinary Time C

(January 14) Today let us think of Saint Felix of Nola  (Saints)

Scripture today:   Isaiah 62:1-5;    Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10;    1 Corinthians 12:4-11;   John 2:1-11
 

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There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them,  “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from  - although the servers who had drawn the water knew -, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. (John 2:1-11)

Our Gospel today tells us that in changing the water into wine at Cana in Galilee, Christ let his glory be seen and his disciples believed in him. They began to see his glory. There are and always have been all sorts of impressions of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels tell us that because of his miracles and preaching the fame of Jesus began to spread across the country. For instance, we read that Herod wanted to see Jesus. We remember that during Christ’s passion Pilate’s wife sent a message to her husband urging him not to tamper with that “just man.” Perhaps her dream prompting this had something to do with what she had heard. At Jesus’ last feast in Jerusalem John tells us that some Greeks approached Philip and said they wanted to see Jesus. The issue for our Lord, though, was not whether he was becoming known, but whether he was being understood and accepted for who he really was. At one point in his public ministry our Lord asked his apostles who people were saying the Son of Man is, and they gave him various answers – that he was a prophet, indeed a great prophet and even one of the old prophets come back again. What Christ sought was encapsulated in the answer Simon Peter gave: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” It was an answer that evoked from our Lord words of high commendation: “Blessed are you Simon son of John, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.” Simon Peter showed by his answer that he had understood Christ’s true glory. We may even say that it was this that showed Simon Peter had become “a Christian” in belief. Our Lord’s parting words to his apostles just before he ascended into heaven were not that they were to simply make him known all over the world. No, they were to go out and make disciples, disciples of all the nations. Being a disciple, being a Christian, means accepting the whole revealed reality of Christ. That revelation is expressed in the teaching of the Church, founded on the Apostles with Peter at their head.

   Our Lord’s parting words to his apostles just before he ascended into heaven were not that they were to simply make him known all over the world. No, they were to go out and make disciples, disciples of all the nations. This means accepting the whole revealed reality of Christ. Immediately after receiving his answer from Simon as to who he really was, our Lord went on to refer to his Church. He told Simon that he was now Peter, the rock of his Church, and that he was giving to him the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. That is to say, it is with Peter the rock of the Church that the keys to Christ’s kingdom are to be found. In essence that kingdom consists in union with Christ, for in him are all heavenly blessings. Therefore, the keys to this kingdom of life in Christ are available in the Church which Christ founded on Peter and his successors. If we are to be Christ’s disciples in the sense intended by God, it is important that we understand what discovering the glory of Jesus and what placing his person and teaching at the centre of our life really means.

  In our Gospel today our Lord changes the water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11). It must have been a sensation to his disciples and to any others who learnt what was really going on. His disciples had come to faith in him from the testimony of John the Baptist and from their own personal knowledge of him. But they had not yet seen any miracle. It was the first of the signs Christ would give of his true glory. They saw his glory, and they believed. They were coming to see in the person of Jesus the object of their life. God has revealed that man’s fundamental calling is to know the person and the glory of Jesus, and that our whole life is to find its object and meaning in him. That is a responsibility we have to our own selves, and it is a responsibility we have to others. It is also something we cannot just take for granted. The person of Jesus will not occupy the centre of our lives automatically. In fact, because we cannot actually see our Lord, we will tend to fail to appreciate that he is a living person, the person who is at the centre of all reality be it seen or unseen. We have to work at realizing in faith that Jesus lives, that he is a living man and that he is the living God. We have to work at full assent to his teaching. We have to set in place a plan of life which is geared to helping us grow in a strong faith in the person of Jesus as the centre of our religion and indeed the centre of all reality. Moreover, every parent must strive to make the person of Jesus the living heart of the home and the object of their children’s love and life. It can’t be taken for granted.

   In the sign given at the wedding feast of Cana the disciples came to see the glory of Jesus. All our lives we ought be growing in a sense of the glory of this same Jesus who is the living centre of the religion revealed by God and of all reality.
                                                                                                                             (E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 422-429


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“What you have done is keep the choice wine until now.” (John 2:1-11)
                 St Ephrem (306 – 373), Deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church (Diatessaron XII, § 1-2)
                                                                                                          
In the desert, our Lord multiplied the loaves of bread, and in Cana, he changed the water into wine. Thus, he got people used to his bread and to his wine until the time when he gave them his body and his blood. He let them taste a transitory bread and wine, so that the desire for his life-giving body and blood might grow in them… He attracted us by means of these things that are pleasant to the palate, in order to lead us even more to that which gives life in full to our souls. He hid sweetness in the wine he made, so as to show his guests what incomparable treasure is hidden in his life-giving blood.

As his first sign, he gave a wine that gave joy to the guests, so as to show that his blood would give joy to all nations. For if wine plays a part in all of earth’s joys, in the same way, every true deliverance is linked to the mystery of his blood. He gave the guests at Cana excellent wine, which transformed their mind, so as to let them know that the teaching with which he would quench their thirst would transform their heart.

This wine, which first of all was only water, was changed in jars, a symbol of the first commandments, which he brought to perfection. The transformed water is the Law brought to its fulfilment. The people who were invited to the wedding drank what had been water, but without tasting that water. In the same way, when we hear the former commandments, we taste them not with their former savor, but with their new one.
                                                                                                 (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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When you receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, thank him from the bottom of your heart for being so good as to be with you. Have you ever stopped to consider that it took centuries and centuries before the Messiah came? All those patriarchs and prophets praying together with the whole people of Israel: Come, Lord, the land is parched! If only your loving expectation were like this.
                                                               (The Forge, no.991)

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            How long does the presence of Christ last in the Eucharist?
The presence of Christ continues in the Eucharist as long as the eucharistic species subsist. (CCC 1377)
                      (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.285)
 

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Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 15) Today let us think of Saint Paul, hermit  (Saints)

Scripture today:    Hebrews 5:1-10;     Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4;     Mark 2:18-22
 

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The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. (Mark 2:18-22)

In our Gospel scene today we are presented with an objection brought to our Lord by people who could not understand the discrepancy they saw between what our Lord required of his disciples, and what John and the Pharisees required of theirs. We must presume that the disciples of John and the Pharisees consisted of people who sincerely wanted to serve God better. For that reason they had attached themselves to masters whom they regarded as serving God with knowledge and distinction. Now, some were perplexed. Jesus was a master in religion but he did not seem to demand of his disciples the obvious self-denial of fasting. What was Christ’s response to this? He certainly did not in any way denigrate the importance of fasting. He said, rather, that it will come later at a more appropriate time, “and then they will fast on that day.” Our Lord goes on to intimate that the religious practice of his disciples in the future will involve something very new, a new content and a new spirit. “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined” (Mark 2:18-22).  Our Lord is preparing his disciples for a new and renewed religion, one that would in no way abrogate the old with at least its important practices (such as fasting, prayer and almsgiving) but would entirely fulfil it. That religion in which the Father would be worshiped “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24) would come “when the bridegroom is taken away from them.” Indeed, it would be due to this taking away of the bridegroom through his death and resurrection that the new would come.

Our Lord, then, is signalling the coming of the new covenant in which God will plant deep within them his Law, writing it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Christ is pointing to his death and resurrection  and to the kingdom of God which he would establish in and through his Church. The religion thus inaugurated will be a new garment, or to use our Lord’s second image, new wine in new wineskins. It is this which by our membership in the Church through baptism we have the privilege to be part of. It is a great privilege and it is a grave responsibility. But there is more to what our Lord reveals to his puzzled inquirers. They look to John and the Pharisees, but his own disciples have in their midst the very bridegroom. In using this term of himself our Lord raises himself beyond any other figure in revealed religion. In the Old Testament the prophets speaking on behalf of God referred to Yahweh as the bridegroom and husband of his people. Yahweh longs to be with his spouse and is in anguish at his people’s infidelity. He is their faithful husband. Indeed, when one carefully considers the meaning of the word “Yahweh,” the name God gave to Moses to denote himself, one discerns something of the Bridegroom and Husband there in that name too. Yahweh is “I am who am,” but precisely as the One who is with his people. I shall be there (with my people) as who I am. As I am, so I shall be there. He is binding himself in love and fidelity to his people. He will be their God and they his people. Now, Jesus appropriates to himself the title of bridegroom, and the bridegroom has now come and is with his own. Our Lord is intimating to his questioners that they have before them one who is uniquely in union with God, is representing him, is making him present, and is acting as God with respect to his people.

Jesus Christ is man and he is the Son of God. He is human and he is divine. He has revealed and established on earth a divine religion, the fulfilment of the old. It is new wine in new wineskins. In our living of the religion revealed by Christ we are called to fast, yes, but much more. Let us pray for the grace to live with the utmost generosity in union with the bridegroom who lives now in our midst calling us to daily holiness of life.

                                                                                                                     (E.J.Tyler)


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“Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” (Matthew 25: 6)
                      Blessed Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381), regular canon (The Spiritual Nuptials, prologue)

When it seemed to God that the right time had come and he took pity on his beloved in her suffering, he sent his only-begotten son to earth into a magnificent palace and a glorious temple, that is, into the body of the glorious Virgin Mary. There the Son wedded this bride, our nature, and united her with his own person through the purest blood of the noble Virgin. The priest who witnessed the bride's marriage was the Holy Spirit. The angel Gabriel brought the message. The glorious Virgin gave her consent. Thus did Christ, our faithful Bridegroom, unite our nature with himself. He came to us in a strange land and taught us through a heavenly way of life and with perfect fidelity.

He worked and struggled as our champion against our enemies, broke open the bars of our prison, won the struggle, vanquished our death through his own, redeemed us through his blood, freed us through his water in baptism, and made us rich through his sacraments and his gifts, so that, as he says, we might “go out” with all virtues, “meet him” in the place of glory, and enjoy him forever in eternity”.
                                                                              (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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"The bridegroom is with them" (Mark 2:18-22)
        Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church (The Spiritual Canticle B, Stanza 23, 1-3)

"The bridegroom is with them"

Beneath the apple tree: (cf Ct 8:5)
there I took you for my own,
there I offered you my hand,
and restored you,
where your mother was corrupted

In this high state of spiritual marriage the Bridegroom reveals his wonderful secrets to the soul as to his faithful consort, with remarkable ease and frequency, for true and perfect love knows not how to keep anything hidden from the beloved. He mainly communicates to her sweet mysteries of his Incarnation and the ways of the redemption of humankind, one of the loftiest of his works and thus more delightful to the soul. Even though he communicates many other mysteries to her, the Bridegroom in the following stanza mentions only the Incarnation as the most important…

The Bridegroom explains to the soul in this stanza his admirable plan in redeeming and espousing her to himself through the very means by which human nature was corrupted and ruined, telling her that as human nature was ruined through Adam and corrupted by means of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Paradise, so on the tree of the cross it was redeemed and restored when he gave it there, through his passion and death, the hand of his favour and mercy, and broke down the barriers between God and humans that were built up through original sin. Thus he says: "Beneath the apple tree": that is: beneath the favor of the tree of the cross where the Son of God redeemed human nature and consequently espoused it to himself, and then espoused each soul by giving it through the cross grace and pledges for this espousal.
                                                                                           (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Even in our times, despite those who deny God, earth is very close to Heaven.
                                             (The Forge, no.992)

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                         What kind of worship is due to the sacrament of the Eucharist?
The worship due to the sacrament of the Eucharist, whether during the celebration of the Mass or outside it, is the worship of latria, that is, the adoration given to God alone. The Church guards with the greatest care Hosts that have been consecrated. She brings them to the sick and to other persons who find it impossible to participate at Mass. She also presents them for the solemn adoration of the faithful and she bears them in processions. The Church encourages the faithful to make frequent visits to adore the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle. (CCC 1378-1381, 1418)
                                  (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.286)
 

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Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 16)  Today let us think of Saint Fursey   (Saints)

Scripture today:   Hebrews 6:10-20;      Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9 and 10c;      Mark 2:23-28
 

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As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28)

Today our Gospel scene places us with Jesus and his disciples as they pass through a field of grain on the Sabbath. Perhaps this was after they had been to the synagogue on this Sabbath day, and they were out walking together somewhere as a form of rest and recreation. At various times the Gospels speak of our Lord taking his disciples with him away to rest for awhile. Imagine being in our Lord’s company as they walk along and recreate with him! Imagine his gentle company, his smiling  manner, his divine sense of fun. I like to imagine them very much at their ease with him. It is obvious from various incidents that our Lord allowed them to develop at their own pace which meant that in many respects they developed slowly. Indeed, even though our Lord could see that Judas was  turning out badly and at one point referred to him in veiled fashion as “a devil” (John 6: 70), he still accepted him in this privileged band. Well then, here we are and the disciples are proceeding through the cornfield with our Lord and they pick ears of corn to eat - perhaps it is late in the morning and they have not yet eaten. There must have been others not of their company nearby because some Pharisees spot what they regard and teach to be an infringement of the Sabbath rest: Jesus’ disciples are harvesting ears of corn. This, they insisted, must be left to the working day. Now, let us in passing observe that the disciples have already learnt to look to our Lord for all their guidance on religious matters such as the Sabbath observance. Jesus has in turn made it very clear that he is indeed their Teacher in this, as in everything. The disciples have seen that Jesus does not defer to other authorities in interpreting the Law, but speaks, teaches, allows, and prohibits on his own authority. Probably the objecting Pharisees sense that this is behind the disciples’ free behaviour.

So then the Pharisees come straight over to our Lord and challenge him on his disciples’ violation of the Sabbath rest and on his own laxity in allowing it. To begin with, let us notice the tone of our Lord’s reply. It is, with full and calm strength, gentle in tone. He does not harshly contradict them, but replies - perhaps smilingly and without raising his voice - with a question. He invites them to consider a text in the Old Testament that refers to the action of King David. He is saying that the Pharisees are giving voice to and insisting on an interpretation which is nothing more than an interpretation, and one with which great saints of the Sacred Scriptures were not in accord.  What he, Jesus, allows is fully in accord with the true meaning of the Scriptures and which he, furthermore, has the full authority to determine. Then Christ pronounces on the true meaning of the Sabbath: it is that the Sabbath is made by God for man, which is to say, to help man live for God, and not man for the Sabbath. He who is in their midst and who will be in the midst of his Church in the time to come, determines how the Sabbath is to be observed. Let us ask ourselves in passing, as we think of this teaching of Christ, if we are making Sunday the Lord’s day or if we are neglecting it. But there is more. In our passage Christ not only pronounces on the meaning of the Sabbath, he also takes the occasion to pronounce very clearly on his own authority. While God has authority over the Sabbath since the command to observe it came from him, our Lord tells the Pharisees that he, the Son of Man, has authority even over the Sabbath. It is one of many replies that amounted to a claim to divine authority. He had the authority to determine as God determines. No other prophet had said that he was lord of the Sabbath, but Jesus calmly, clearly and before hostile critics, teaches it (Mark 2:23-28). 

Let us place ourselves in the company of Jesus as he speaks these words and allow our minds and hearts to be imbued with the grandeur of his person. As the people said on other occasions, no one speaks with his authority. He is the Lord, and Lord also of what Judaic religion regarded as a linchpin of the practice of revealed religion. It was a linchpin indeed, and was one of the ten commandments of God. But Christ is the Lord of it, as of everything. Jesus Christ is Lord.
                                                                                                                 (E.J.Tyler)


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                                                                                                                                                             Leo XIII
"Remember to keep holy the sabbath day" (Exodus 20,8)
                  Pope Leo XIII, pope from 1878 to 1903   (Rerum Novarum, 40-41)

Life on earth, however good and desirable in itself, is not the final purpose for which man is created; it is only the way and the means to that attainment of truth and that love of goodness in which the full life of the soul consists. It is the soul, which is made after the image and likeness of God; it is in the soul that the sovereignty resides in virtue whereof man is commanded to rule the creatures below him and to use all the earth and the ocean for his profit and advantage. "Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth"(Gn 1,28)...In this respect all men are equal; there is here no difference between rich and poor, master and servant, ruler and ruled, "for the same is Lord over all"(Romans 10,12).

No man may with impunity outrage that human dignity which God Himself treats with great reverence, nor stand in the way of that higher life which is the preparation of the eternal life of heaven...From this follows the obligation of the cessation from work and labor on Sundays and certain holy days. The rest from labor is not to be understood as mere giving way to idleness; much less must it be an occasion for spending money and for vicious indulgence, as many would have it to be; but it should be rest from labor, hallowed by religion...It is this, above all, which is the reason arid motive of Sunday rest; a rest sanctioned by God's great law of the Ancient Covenant-"Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day,"(Ex 20,8) and taught to the world by His own mysterious "rest" after the creation of man: "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done"(Genesis 2,2).
                                                                     (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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You wrote: ``Simile est regnum caelorum — the Kingdom of God is like a treasure|... This passage from the Gospel has taken root in my soul. I had read it so many times before, without grasping its meaning, its divine flavour.'' Yes, everything. The prudent man has to sell everything to obtain the treasure — the precious pearl of Glory.
                                               (The Forge, no.993)

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            Why is the Holy Eucharist the paschal banquet?
The Holy Eucharist is the paschal banquet in as much as Christ sacramentally makes present his Passover and gives us his Body and Blood, offered as food and drink, uniting us to himself and to one another in his sacrifice. (CCC 1382-1384, 1391-1396)
                  (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.287)
 

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Wednesday of the second week of Ordinary Time I

(January 17)  Saint Anthony, abbot (251-356). Called the Patriarch of Monks, St Anthony retired to the desert when he was eighteen years of age. He was the first abbot to form a stable rule for his family of monks dedicated to the Divine Service. He led an austere life which was always consciously directed to the better service of God.  (Saints)

Scripture today:     Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17;       Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4;       Mark 3:1-6
 

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Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” Then he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death. (Mark 3:1-6)

Our Gospel passage today places us in the midst of a perennial human mystery. That mystery is the power of sin in the face of the Creator God. Our Lord enters the synagogue and there in the synagogue was a man with a ruined, withered hand. That hand was in a helpless condition and beyond curing. In the face of this need there was little doubt as to what the holy and compassionate Jesus would do. But there in the synagogue also were his silent, inexorable enemies the Pharisees, who were determined to seize on something of substance to accuse him. That issue was his violation of the observance of the sabbath as they had interpreted and taught it. In view of their passionate hostility we must presume that they saw in our Lord one who flouted their privileged position in the religious state and who was, in the process of his ministry and teaching, undermining their self-appointed authority and general ascendancy. Their religious authority was maintained by, among other things, their sway in determining the religious behaviour of the nation even to the point of absurdities. In all he did and said, Jesus showed himself to be his own supreme authority in interpreting God’s Law, and of this they were profoundly jealous. This produced hatred, and at our Lord’s Passion Pilate himself could see this. Our Lord always knew what was in the hearts of men, and having entered the synagogue he called the crippled man to come forward in front of everyone. Then he issued his challenge to the Pharisees. They did not dare to enter into debate with Christ, but remained ruthlessly and stubbornly silent, refusing to allow themselves to be shown up as false. Christ’s spectacular and effortless miracle changed nothing. Their hatred became murderous (Mark 3:1-6).

The terrible wonder here is how profoundly the freedom that comes forth from the hand of God and implanted in the heart of man can turn absolutely against him. The freedom which God gives to man and which involves his intelligence and his conscience, makes man like unto God. As the first chapter of the book of Genesis makes clear, man is more like God than, say, the animals. God made him in his own image. He is free. He can choose to be like God, or he can choose to be his own independent god. Furthermore, man can deceive himself in this very process, and embrace a blindness that thinks he is good in doing evil. The Pharisees opposed Christ despite the plainest evidence of his holiness and authority before God, and they hated him implacably. This was the pass to which they had come so quickly. It is a great lesson to each of us because we too have been given the same precious freedom, and we too suffer from the same original sin. Just as they did, so too do we stand before Christ with the choice before us of accepting him or not. St Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises has a famous Meditation called the Two Standards. Christ is pictured with his Standard, and Satan is pictured with his. The way of Christ, which is that of the Cross, is diametrically opposed to the way of Satan, which is that of his own wiles, in tandem with the Flesh and the World. Let us imagine ourselves in the synagogue of our Gospel scene today and the two camps facing each other. There is on the one hand the all-holy, all-powerful and humble Christ, and on the other hand there is the sullen group of the Pharisees blindly doing the work of Satan. Let us choose Christ and remain with him as he follows the path of obedient suffering that leads to Calvary.

Jesus Christ is the Person of the ages. He is beyond compare. He is the perfect man and he is God. He did the world’s greatest work which was to break the power of sin and implant in the world the kingdom of grace. We are members of that kingdom by baptism, and so he lives in us and we in him. Let us renounce anything in us that links us to the Pharisees of our scene today, and place ourselves close to Jesus and live in truth as his disciples.

                                                                                                                          (E.J.Tyler)

 
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“Grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:1-6)
                                Melito (?-about 195), bishop of Sardis (Easter Homily, § 71-73)

It is he, the slaughtered lamb; he, the lamb who does not open his mouth; he, who was born of Mary, the graceful lamb. He is the one who was taken from the flock and lead to death...

He was put to death. And where was he put to death? In the heart of Jerusalem. Why? Because he cured its lame, cleansed its lepers, brought its blind back to light, and risen its dead (Luke 7,22). This is why he suffered. It is written in the Law and the Prophets: “They repaid me evil for good. I am abandoned. They meditated evil against me. Let us tie the just, they would say, for he is unbearable to us” (Psalm 37,21; Jeremiah 11,19).

Why have you committed this nameless crime? You dishonored the one who had honored you, you humiliated the one who had exalted you, you denied the one who had recognized you, you rejected the one who had called you, you killed the one who gave you life...He had to suffer, but not because of you. He had to be humiliated, but not by you. He had to be judged, but not by you. He had to be crucified, but not by your hand. Why did you not beg God with this prayer: “O Master, if your son has to suffer, if this is your will, may he suffer, but not because of me”.
                                                                              (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Talk with Our Lady and tell her trustingly, O Mary, in order to live the ideal which God has set in my heart I need to fly very high — ever so high!

It is not sufficient to detach yourself, with God's help, from the things of this world, recognising them as the merest clay. More is needed: even if you were to put the whole universe in a pile under your feet to get closer to Heaven|... it wouldn't suffice!

You have to fly, without the support of anything here on earth, relying on the voice and the inspiration of the Spirit. And you will tell me: But my wings are stained and smeared with the clinging mud of many years.

And I repeat: Turn to Our Lady. Mary, you should say to her again, I can hardly get off the ground. The earth draws me like an accursed magnet. Mary, you can make my soul take off on that glorious and definitive flight which has as its destination the very Heart of God.

Trust in her, for she is listening to you.

 (The Forge, no.994)

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             What is the meaning of the altar?
The altar is the symbol of Christ himself who is present both as sacrificial victim (the altar of the sacrifice) and as food from heaven which is given to us (the table of the Lord). 
(CCC 1383, 1410)
                        (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.288)
 

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Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 18)    Today let us think of Saint Priscilla  (Saints)

Scripture today:     Hebrews 7:25—8:6;      Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17;     Mark 3:7-12
 

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Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known. (Mark 3:7-12)

In our Gospel passage today our Lord is drawing large crowds of people from all over the country and beyond. They come from Galilee and Judea including Jerusalem, but also from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan and from the area of Tyre and Sidon. His holiness and his spiritual power were an immense magnet to the poor, the afflicted, and to those who yearned for God. The press of the crowds was considerable and so our Lord arranged to speak to the crowds from a boat. There is a detail at the end of our Gospel passage which we ought note, for it could be regarded as the punchline of the passage. It is the utterance of the demons. The devils in their helplessness “would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God.’ He warned them sternly not to make him known” (Mark 3:7-12). In contemplating this scene we cannot but think of the authority and power of Christ. He towers above the demonic world as one who is unassailable. The demons are helpless before him, and without having been told, they divine that he is the Son of God. We do not know just what the devils knew of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, nor do we know if they knew of the Incarnation. During his retreat in the desert before his public ministry began Satan tempted him by saying, “if you are the Son of God....” Satan may not have been at all certain that this man before him was actually the Son of God - he may have surmised it and could have been testing his own guess. Who knows! But the devils in our scene today were also at least surmising the truth about our Lord and were openly “letting the cat out of the bag,” as we might say. What do the words of the devils show us? They point to the awful spiritual power Christ radiated, especially to the underworld. There was and had been no one like him.

The second detail to be reflected on is Christ’s response. The devils helplessly taunt our Lord with their shouts about his true identity - perhaps childishly accusing our Lord of having an unfair advantage! Consider our Lord’s response. “He warned them sternly not to make him known.” We may presume that the demons in question here observed the warning for fear of the consequences. Again, we think of our Lord’s authority and power. We remember how on another occasion in the Decapolis region our Lord cast out many demons from one unfortunate person (“our name is Legion, for there are many of us”), and the demons who were cast out pleaded with our Lord that he permit them to go into the herd of pigs and not be dismissed from the region (and perhaps back into hell). Exercising a certain kindness to them, our Lord gave them leave. The point I would make, though, is that the devils feared what our Lord might command them to do. On this occasion of our Gospel scene today he warned them not to make him known. They would have known that a warning from Christ was to be respected. Consider too the fact that our Lord did not want to be known for who he really was. No one beyond the Holy Family at Nazareth knew who he really was during those thirty years of his presence there - that he was the Son of God. During his public ministry it was something he was only gradually revealing, and in large measure he was leaving the revelation of it to his heavenly Father. We remember how when Simon told our Lord that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Lord pointed out that this insight had been given to him by his heavenly Father. So then, Christ did not want it known as yet. Why? We are not told. The important thing to take note of in Christ’s words is that God’s will is to be our guide, and not our own notions as to what is and will be best.  

Let us contemplate the holiness and authority of Christ, who teaches the truth to the crowds, who is acknowledged by the demons, and who is the centre of the world and of all human history. Let us choose for him, giving our hearts and minds to him. The question of our secular age is, “Where is God? I can’t see him!” We can point to the man Jesus who lived once and who lives now. There he is! Let us take our part with him.

                                                                                                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

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“A large number of people followed him from Galilee and from Judea; and a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan...”  (Mark 3:7-12)
                             Blessed John XXIII (1881-1963), pope (Journal of a soul, § 1935-1944)

“Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim your praise” (Ps 50,17). When we think that these words are repeated at all Matins, in the name of the Church, who prays for herself and for the whole world, and repeated by innumerable lips opened by the touch of the grace they have invoked, the vision broadens, comes alive and is fulfilled. Here the Church is seen not as a historic monument of the past but as a living institution. Holy Church is not like a place that is built in a year. It is a vast city which must one day cover the whole universe: “With the joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion founded; in the far north the city of the great king” (Ps 47,3).

The building was begun twenty centuries ago, but it spreads and stretches through all lands until the name of Christ is everywhere adored. As the Church increases so new nations, hearing the good news, rejoice: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad” (Acts 13,48). The pious and daring commentator concludes with a thought that is very fine and uplifting for every priest as he reads his Breviary: everyone must take part in this building of Holy Church.

He whose work is preaching this grand enterprise must, as a messenger of His Gospel, say to the Lord: “Lord, thou wilt open my lips and my mouth shall declare thy praise”. A priest who is not engaged in missionary work should long to co-operate in the great task of the apostolate, and when he reads the Psalms privately in his cell he also should say: “Lord, thou wilt open my lips”, because even there, through the communion of love, he must consider as his own voice any voice that is at that moment announcing the Gospel, the supreme praise of God which has given us the theme for this verse more charged with hidden mysteries than with words.
                                                                              (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Think how pleasing to Our Lord is the incense burnt in his honour. Think also how little the things of this earth are worth; even as they begin they are already ending.

In Heaven, instead, a great Love awaits you, with no betrayals and no deceptions. The fulness of love, the fulness of beauty and greatness and knowledge|... And it will never cloy: it will satiate, yet still you will want more.
                                        (The Forge, no.995)

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                           When does the Church oblige her members to participate at Holy Mass?
The Church obliges the faithful to participate at Holy Mass every Sunday and on holy days of obligation. She recommends participation at Holy Mass on other days as well. (CCC 1389, 1417)
                       (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.289)
 

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Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 19) Today let us think of Saint Wulfstan  (Saints)

Scripture today:   Hebrews 8:6-13;    Psalm 85:8 and 10, 11-12, 13-14;     Mark 3:13-19
 

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Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles, that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons: He appointed the Twelve: Simon, whom he named Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. (Mark 3:13-19)

Some time back there was a television series on the work of Christ, considered as an event of history. In the series Christ’s work was continually referred to as a “movement”. The sense of this was that the Christianity intended by Christ had practically no structures but was simply the effect on men of his personal influence. His message, his example, and the power of his personality inspired individuals and communities to embrace his teaching and to influence others to do the same. The resultant movement as shaped by circumstances and men’s convictions was and is Christianity. The experts who were interviewed during its episodes put little store on what was a central creation of Christ, his Church, which they seemed to interpret as something of an accident. But in fact, by formal intent Christ established a definite Church, and he called it just that – his “Church”. When Simon gave our Lord his magnificent answer to the question of who Jesus was, our Lord told him that he, Simon, would be the rock of his “Church.” So he was establishing a Church, and clearly the fruits of his work for man’s redemption and sanctification he would entrust to his Church. Before ascending to heaven he told them, “I shall be with you till the end of the age.” So he would remain in the Church till the end. Well now, in our Gospel today (Mark 3:13-19) we see our Lord taking the early steps to form his Church. Among his many disciples he “summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.” He then “appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.” His Church, so essential to bringing his work of redemption to all, would be one and apostolic. It would be forever founded on his Apostles, his “ambassadors” or “envoys”. The Church of the ages was beginning to receive its enduring structure.

Nothing and no person stands between us and Christ. But the person, the teaching and the redemption won for us by Christ is not brought to us by a free-wheeling movement of men and women with deep convictions about him. Christ founded a Church to do this, a body that had at its head the Apostles with their specific roles. What these were would become more and more evident as time went on and as the Spirit of Jesus gradually made clear. In our Gospel passage today we see the beginnings of the Church which would be born into life at Pentecost by the power and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Here in our passage today Christ appoints the Twelve with Simon heading the list. Christ named him Peter, the Rock. The Christian who loves the living Christ and who wishes to serve him must consider very carefully Christ’s plan in appointing the Twelve as his Apostles. Where is that Church now that he was forming then? Christ abides with that Church now which today’s Gospel passage shows him to be building then. Where are the Twelve now, where are their successors, and where is Simon Peter and his successors? Loving Christ includes loving what Christ planned, loved and instituted. Taking our stand with Christ means taking our stand with the Apostles whom he appointed in order “that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” For many years we have been hearing some say, “Christ yes, the Church no.” Well, it cannot be like that because that is not how Christ intended it. Christ intended to be preached by those he appointed and by the Church he founded with the structure he gave it. He intended his power to combat Satan to be exercised by those he appointed. If we love Christ we must consider with the utmost seriousness the question of where Christ is to be found. He is not found simply in free-wheeling movements. He is found in the Church he instituted. The question is, where is that Church?

The claim of the Catholic Church has always been that she is that Church. She is the body of Christ her head, and is his spouse. She is sinful, as were the Apostles themselves. But where the Church is, there abides the Redeemer of man. Let us then grow in a profound appreciation of the place of the Church in our Christian calling, and let us never in our minds disconnect the Church from Christ.
                                                                                                                               (E.J.Tyler)


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"He appointed twelve" (Mark 3:13-19)   Pope Benedict XVI (General audience, 10 May 2006)

The Lord founded the Church by calling together the Twelve, who were to represent the future People of God. Faithful to the Lord's mandate, after his Ascension…, the Twelve continued to involve others in the duties entrusted to them so that they might continue their ministry. The Risen Lord himself called Paul (cf. Gal 1: 1)… This is the way in which this ministry, known from the second generation as the episcopal ministry, episcope, was to be continued… In this way, succession in the role of Bishop is presented as the continuity of the Apostolic ministry, a guarantee of the permanence of the Apostolic Tradition, word and life, entrusted to us by the Lord.

The link between the College of Bishops and the original community of the Apostles is understood above all in the line of historical continuity. As we have seen, first Matthias, then Paul, then Barnabas joined the Twelve, then others, until, in the second and third generations, the Bishop's ministry took shape… And in the continuity of the succession lies the guarantee of the permanence, in the Ecclesial Community, of the Apostolic College that Christ had gathered around him.

This continuity, however, should also be understood in a spiritual sense, because Apostolic Succession in the ministry is considered a privileged place for the action and transmission of the Holy Spirit. We find these convictions clearly echoed in the following text, for example, by Irenaeus of Lyons:  "It is within the power of all... in every Church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the Apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to count those who were by the Apostles instituted Bishops in the Churches and... the succession of these men to our own times.... [The Apostles] were desirous that these men, whom also they were leaving behind as their successors, should be very perfect and blameless in all things, delivering up their own place of government to these men."
                                                                (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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With a supernatural outlook, with serenity and peace. That is the way to see things, people and events — from the viewpoint of eternity.

And then, whatever barrier blocks your way — even if it is, humanly speaking, enormous — when you really raise your eyes to Heaven, how tiny it becomes!
                                            (The Forge, no.996)

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               When must one receive Holy Communion?
The Church recommends that the faithful, if they have the required dispositions, receive Holy Communion whenever they participate at Holy Mass. However, the Church obliges them to receive Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter season. (CCC 1389)
                     (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.290)   
 

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Saturday of the second week in Ordinary Time I

(January 20)  Today the Church celebrates St. Fabian and St. Sebastian
                   St Fabian, pope and martyr (died 240). St Fabian was Pope from 236 to 250 AD. He promoted the consolidation and development of the Church. He divided Rome into seven diaconates for the purpose of extending aid to the poor. The papacy acquired such prestige during this time that he incurred the ire of the Emperor Decius.  (Saints)
                   St. Sebastian  He suffered martyrdom  in Rome at the beginning of the persecution of Diocletian. His tomb in the place named Ad Catacumbas on the Via Appia has been venerated by the faithful from earliest times. (Saints)

Scripture today:   Hebrews 9:2-3, 11-14;     Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9;    Mark 3:20-21
 

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Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” (Mark 3:20-21)

Our Gospel scene takes us into what may have been a typical day in much of our Lord’s public ministry. He and his disciples were given over to intense and unending work. We are told that on this day our Lord came with his disciples into the house, possibly to have a respite and to have something to eat, because the problem of getting something to eat is then specifically mentioned. But the crowds followed him and there was no respite at all, with people thronging in and listening to him, possibly asking him questions, and presumably making countless requests. They did not have a minute to themselves, not even to catch a bite to eat. The fact that our Lord’s “relatives” were saying that “he is beside himself” would suggest that the great press of the crowds was due to our Lord giving himself entirely to them. Nothing was holding him back in his gift of himself to them in his work. The crowds knew he loved them profoundly and was full of compassion for their burdens. This comes through time and again in the Gospels. From the point of view of the crowds, here they had before them a profoundly holy man with unheard of power before God. He taught with absolute authority and wielded authority over nature and the demonic world as well. He could do anything for them and he seemed to them to be entirely accessible. The intensity of his work and the scale of his availability shows the love behind our Lord’s ministry. It seemed to his relatives that he was “beside himself”, or “out of his mind” (Mark 3:20-21). A modern saint often spoke of being mad with love for God and for all others in God. The exemplar of this is Jesus and we have evidence of it in today’s Gospel.

But there are further implications in our brief Gospel today. Consider the ease with which our Lord’s relatives presumed to set out to restrain him, saying “He is our of his mind.” It suggests that during our Lord’s thirty years at Nazareth he was remarkably humble, unassuming, and very much part of his family circle and town. Our Lord was unique in the greatness of his person, but he did not show it during those years. One senses from this reaction of his relatives that, while they would have recognized the goodness of his person and that of his mother and foster-father, his goodness did not impose itself on them. They were in no way cowered by it. Indeed, our brief Gospel today suggests that they took him somewhat for granted, and this in turn suggests that our Lord accepted this attitude to him during those hidden years at Nazareth. How like so many family and community situations this is! Our Lord once said that a prophet is never accepted as such among his own. He had been a hidden Messiah, and his bursting on the public scene was the utmost surprise to his townspeople and to his relatives - with the exception of Mary his mother. All of this reminds us how truly incarnated he, the second divine person of the Holy Trinity, really was. God became man and as man subjected himself to all the normal laws of human and social life. He was God-with-us, with us in every way, with the exception of having personal sin. Christ on one occasion described his heart: it was meek and humble. Nazareth illustrates how this was so. The contrast between his hidden and very human years at Nazareth and his spectacular public ministry as described in our Gospel today was striking.

Let us think of this divine Christ who was so very human. Our brief Gospel scene shows Jesus pouring himself out in love for his fellow-man in unremittingly intense work. Those who had known him all along in his family circle thought he was beside himself, out of his mind. Christ wishes to give himself to each of us with equal love and generosity. Let us ask for his grace and his love. Let us accept his invitation to come to him and learn from him for he is meek and humble of heart, and we shall find rest for our souls.
                                                                                                                       (E.J.Tyler)


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Handed over to men and to his Father, Christ provides for us with his Word and the Bread of life
                         Imitation of Jesus Christ, spiritual treatise of the 15th century (Book IV, ch. 11)

Lord God, thou art my witness that nothing can give me comfort nor no creature may give me rest but thou my Lord God whom I desire eternally to behold. But that is a thing to me not possible while that I am in this mortal life...In the meanwhile...I have full virtuous and holy books for the consolation and mirror of my life and also above all these things thy sacred body for my singular refuge and remedy.

I feel that two things be unto me right necessary without which this miserable life should be unto me inportable. For as long as I shall be holden in this present body I confess me to have need of two things, that is to know (say) of meat and light. But therefore thou hast given unto me which am poor and sick thy holy body to the refreshing of my soul and body, and also thou hast put before my faith the light of the holy word; and without these two things I may not well live spiritually; for thy word, my Lord and God, is the light of my soul and the holy sacrament is the bread of my life.

These two things so necessary may also be called the tables set on either side in the treasury of holy church; the one table is of the holy altar having this lovely bread, that is to say, the precious body of Jesus Christ; the other is the Law of God containing the holy doctrine and showing the right faith and surely guiding me unto the inward sacrifice where are the holy jewels called Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies).

I yield unto thee thanks to Jesus Christ which art the very clearness of eternal light for this table of holy doctrine which thou have ministered unto us by thy servants, prophets, apostles and other doctors; and I yield unto thee thanks again, creator and redeemer of mankind, which hast declared thy great charity unto all the world and hast prepared this royal supper in the which thou hast not purposed to be eaten the figurative lamb but thy most holy body and precious blood rejoicing all thy creatures by that sacred banquet and sweetly fulfilling them with that healthful chalice, wherein be hid all the delights and joys of Paradise.
                                                                                     (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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If we are close to Christ and are following in his footsteps, we will wholeheartedly love poverty, privation and detachment from earthly things.
                                                  (The Forge, no.997)

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                          What is required to receive Holy Communion?
To receive Holy Communion one must be fully incorporated into the Catholic Church and be in the state of grace, that is, not conscious of being in mortal sin. Anyone who is conscious of having committed a grave sin must first receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before going to Communion. Also important for those receiving Holy Communion are a spirit of recollection and prayer, observance of the fast prescribed by the Church, and an appropriate disposition of the body (gestures and dress) as a sign of respect for Christ.
(CCC 1385-1389, 1415)
                                     (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.291)
 

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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time C

(January 21)  St. Agnes virgin and martyr (died 304) St Agnes came from a noble Roman family. She was about thirteen years old when she suffered martyrdom. She was tortured and beheaded. Her name is included in the Roman Canon. Pope Damasus wrote a celebrated epitaph about her. (Saints)

Scripture today:  Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10;   Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15;  1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
 

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Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”  (Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21)

 Our Gospel passage today begins with the introductory words of Luke’s Gospel in which he makes it clear that he intends providing the reader with an ordered history of his subject. He mentions that “many” have drawn up an account of the story of Jesus as told by eyewitnesses and preachers of the word (Luke 1:1-4). That alone suggests that what was expected in the infant Church was a presentation of actual facts as narrated by eyewitnesses, and that many had indeed attempted to provide this. So the early Church expected accounts of Jesus Christ to be factual. There was no place for myths and fanciful legends. Luke tells us that he has carefully gone over everything from the beginning - presumably by examining existing accounts, many of which may have been piecemeal. He has investigated their truth, done his own careful research, and written up an ordered and reliable account. He wants to provide Theophilus (i.e., the one loved by God) with an account of Jesus Christ that is systematic and certain. We are being assured by Luke that our faith in Jesus the Saviour is based on historical certainties. This care to present facts is illustrated in our Gospel passage today.

Luke begins by describing the  broad sweep of our Lord’s activity in simple terms: “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all” (Luke 4:14). Simple facts are given. But Luke then goes beyond this general picture to a detailed description of our Lord in the synagogue of Nazareth announcing his mission. Luke may have given us these details because of the importance of the event. “He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Luke 4:14-21). Plenty of personal details are given. Our Lord enters the synagogue and sits down. He stands up to read, he goes forward and he is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolls the scroll, finds the passage, reads it, hands it back to the attendant, sits down and gives his sensational address in which he states that Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled before their very eyes. The one  Isaiah prophesied so long before, the people of Nazareth can see before them now.

  Let us immerse ourselves in St Luke’s detailed description of Jesus here. Let us be filled with a sense of the facts as described. The person of Jesus stands forth as vivid and as very real. Placing ourselves in the presence of Jesus by means of our prayerful memory, let us contemplate him. We are among his disciples in the synagogue, gazing on his wonderful person. He reads the prophecy that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:14-21). Isaiah was pointing to a Messiah who would be Saviour to the poor, the blind, the oppressed and to those who lack freedom. This is the condition of the world considered in itself and as unreconciled with God. Its blindness, its spiritual and moral poverty, its state of oppression is ultimately due to sin and it is by dealing with sin that the Messiah would bring true freedom to man. Our Lord announces to his own townspeople that he is the long expected Messiah and his mission would be to save. Hearing his words, let us renew in our hearts our profession of that fundamental article of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds: I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus who is the Messiah, the anointed One, the One who is filled with the Holy Spirit and who gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe in him. He is the One who takes away the sin of the world. He is the promised One who establishes God’s kingdom on earth, that kingdom which will never end and which we are called to live in and live for.

One of the problems of modern culture is the difficulty people have in regarding the things of God as real. We must acquire the conviction that the bedrock reality in our lives is Jesus. He is the Messiah, the only One who brings to man all heavenly blessings intended for us by God.
                                                                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.430-440


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In our spiritual life, we often have to be ready to lose on earth so as to win in Heaven. This way we always end up winning.
                                                          (The Forge, no.998)

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              What are the fruits of Holy Communion?
Holy Communion increases our union with Christ and with his Church. It preserves and renews the life of grace received at Baptism and Confirmation and makes us grow in love for our neighbor. It strengthens us in charity, wipes away venial sins and preserves us from mortal sin in the future. (CCC 1391-1397, 1416)
                          (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.292)
 

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Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 22)  St Vincent, deacon and martyr (died 304). St Vincent of Saragossa, Spain, one of the greatest deacons of the Church, suffered martyrdom in Valencia in the persecution under Diocletian. He was born in Huesca, Spain.  (Saints)

Scripture today:   Hebrews 9:15, 24-28;      Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6;      Mark 3:22-30
 

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The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:22-30)

There are a few striking things to be observed in our Gospel text today. Ultimately there are two opposing poles of reality and influence: good and evil, God and those who are against him. We see this reflected in our Gospel scene today with the scribes on the one hand, and Christ on the other. Our Gospel scene opens with the scribes who had come from Jerusalem saying of Jesus that he was possessed by Satan and in league with demons, and that this was the source of his power over the underworld. What a wonder this is, that the religious leaders could say such a thing of the all-holy Christ, the one whom the devils said to be the Holy One of God, the One whom we know to be the Son of God! That the scribes in their blindness said this of Christ shows the power and darkness of sin. Moreover, there is also this that the scribes were in effect speaking of the Holy Spirit because our Lord goes on to say that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit” (Mark 3:22-30). In saying that Christ was possessed of an unclean spirit, they were saying that the Holy Spirit was unclean. This was a most serious blasphemy and presumably one which involved a clear sin against the evident light because our Lord teaches that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” By contrast with the scribes, consider the love which in this very remark our Lord showed for the Person of the Holy Spirit.

But we also have our Lord’s words on Satan. First of all, our Lord reminds us that Satan truly exists, which is something which men of our day do not take at all seriously. I remember when, some decades ago, Pope Paul VI said that the smoke of Satan had entered the post-conciliar Church. His comment was reported in the media with mirth. The amusing thing for the media was the Pope’s speaking of Satan as a reality. But Christ repeatedly reminds us that he is real. In this very passage he implies that his great (but doomed) enemy is Satan. Moreover, our Lord seems to be implying that Satan works with intelligence and system. He works as a kingdom and as a household, with a certain unity in order to make progress: “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.” Satan knows this, and does not work as one who is divided. But – and this is the consoling addition to our Lord’s words – one stronger than he has arrived and he will tie up Satan and plunder his property. At the beginning of his public ministry our Lord was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit in order to encounter Satan. At that encounter Satan said that if he, Jesus, would worship him, he would give to him the kingdoms of the world, for they were his. Now, to a great extent this was correct, but the Messiah had arrived to tie up Satan and to plunder his property. 

Our passage reminds us of Sin and Satan on the one hand, and of Christ and the Holy Spirit on the other. Let us take our stand with Christ and ask of him an ever greater gift of the Holy Spirit so as to fight with him in combat with Satan. There are two kingdoms, two households at war. The one is of Satan, the other of Christ. The result is a foregone conclusion. Let us make sure we fight with the stronger one.
                                                                                                                (E.J.Tyler)


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The Sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:22-30)   Pope John Paul II   (Encyclical "Dominum et vivificantem", § 46)

Why is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit unforgivable? How should this blasphemy be understood? St. Thomas Aquinas replies that it is a question of a sin that is "unforgivable by its very nature, insofar as it excludes the elements through which the forgiveness of sin takes place." According to such an exegesis, "blasphemy" does not properly consist in offending against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross. If man rejects the "convincing concerning sin" which comes from the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:8) and which has the power to save, he also rejects the "coming" of the Counselor (Jn 16:7) that "coming" which was accomplished in the Paschal Mystery, in union with the redemptive power of Christ's Blood: the Blood which "purifies the conscience from dead works." (He 9:14)

We know that the result of such a purification is the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, whoever rejects the Spirit and the Blood (1Jn 5:8) remains in "dead works," in sin. And the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists precisely in the radical refusal to accept this forgiveness, of which he is the intimate giver and which presupposes the genuine conversion which he brings about in the conscience. If Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, it is because this "non-forgiveness" is linked, as to its cause, to "non-repentance," in other words to the radical refusal to be converted…

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a "right" to persist in evil-in any sin at all-and who thus rejects Redemption. One closes oneself up in sin, thus making impossible one's conversion, and consequently the remission of sins, which one considers not essential or not important for one's life. This is a state of spiritual ruin, because blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not allow one to escape from one's self-imposed imprisonment and open oneself to the divine sources of the purification of consciences and of the remission of sins.
                                                                                           (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Men lie when they say “forever”' in temporal matters. The only true “forever”, in the complete sense, is the forever of eternity. And that is the way you have to live, with a faith that brings a foretaste of the sweet honey of Heaven whenever you think about that eternity which is truly everlasting.
                                                          (The Forge, no.999)

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                       When is it possible to give Holy Communion to other Christians?
Catholic ministers may give Holy Communion licitly to members of the Oriental Churches which are not in full communion with the Catholic Church whenever they ask for it of their own will and possess the required dispositions. Catholic ministers may licitly give Holy Communion to members of other ecclesial communities only if, in grave necessity, they ask for it of their own will, possess the required dispositions, and give evidence of holding the Catholic faith regarding the sacrament. (CCC 1398-1401)
                                 (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.293)
 

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Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 23) Today let us think of Saint John the Almsgiver  (Saints)

Scripture today:   Hebrews 10:1-10;      Psalm 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11;    Mark 3:31-35
 

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The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”  (Mark 3:31-35)

Our Gospel scene today provides us with a fascinating consideration. Our Lord’s “mother and brothers” arrive at the house where he is speaking, and we see from the next sentence that these included his “sisters.” Of course, we know that because Mary his mother was ever a virgin, these brethren of our Lord were not immediate blood brothers and sisters, but relatives within the wider family. They were somewhat importunate in this scene, and undoubtedly these relatives with whom he had grown up were a mixed lot. There is no reason to think that in general they were anything other than ordinary people with typical foibles and faults. The outstanding exception to this was, of course, Mary the mother of Jesus, whose holiness, while limited, was both complete and ever advancing. She was full of grace and no sin ever touched her. Here we have in our Gospel scene today the picture of our Lord’s relatives asking to see him. Let us think of our Lord and Mary his mother, both persons of incomparable holiness, living as members of a very imperfect wider family and social circle. They lived truly immersed in and part of their family and social situation. In Christ’s case it was part and parcel of becoming man. His incarnation was genuine. There is a great lesson in this for all of us. Very often there is so much that is unsatisfactory and frustrating in the situation in which the providence of God and our own decisions have placed us. The attitudes, temperament and behaviour of those around us as well as our own personal decisions often make up a very imperfect life situation for us. We may be tempted to think, if only I were part of a reality that is very, very different. If only I could leave my situation. But let us take inspiration from our Lord’s acceptance of and immersion in his own social ambient. It is where God and our circumstances have placed us that we are called to live out our vocation whatever it may be. The thought of Jesus and Mary rooted in and part of the reality of their wider very ordinary family can help us in this.

In our Gospel our Lord himself comments on what it means to be his brothers and sisters. How wonderful, we might tend to think, to have been a member of our Lord’s wider family and to have known him all those years of his growth to maturity! Indeed, the thought of the Holy Family at Nazareth, the immediate family of Jesus involving Mary and his foster-father Joseph, has provided the Christian soul with unending inspiration. But of course we are looking on our Lord’s person with the eyes of faith which Mary and Joseph had to perfection, but which our Lord’s wider circle of relatives did not have during those years. This wider circle did not know that their relative was God the Son. The point to be appreciated here, though, is that if every day we determine to do the will of God, Christ will regard us as his brother and his sister and his mother. Our Gospel scene today gives our Lord’s response to the news of his relatives waiting outside. “He said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:31-35). Those in front of him listening to his words won his love. They were listening to the word of God and desired to put it into practice. They were part of our Lord’s true family, his brothers and sisters in God his heavenly Father. If God’s will is the guide of our life, Christ will unite us to himself far more intimately than he did the wider natural family circle that became his when he was born into this world. Mary his mother was sinless. Joseph his foster-father was very, very holy. This has been the thought, the tradition and the teaching of the Church, and is therefore absolutely true. We learn from our Lord’s remarks in today’s passage that the truest basis of the union with our Lord enjoyed by Mary and Joseph at Nazareth was their holiness and commitment to the will of God. We can share in this union if we, like them, make the will of God our life.

Let us accept our situation in life as that which the providence of God has permitted or arranged, resolving to make the very best of it and to do the work of God right where we are. Our inspiration for this is our Lord himself. Let us not be forever pining after greener pastures. Christ was immersed in and part of a very particular situation with all its foibles and limitations. Likewise his holy mother lived her life in this mixed and limited reality. Our daily aim in the life situation in which we are placed should be  to do the will of God precisely where we are, with all its frustrations. Let us sanctify ourselves and the reality in which we have been placed. If we do this we shall be true brothers and sisters of Christ, our brother and our God.
                                                                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)


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If this were the only life we had, life would be a cruel joke. It would be hypocrisy, evil, selfishness, betrayal.
                                                 (The Forge, no.1000)

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                          Why is the Eucharist a “pledge of future glory”?
The Eucharist is a pledge of future glory because it fills us with every grace and heavenly blessing. It fortifies us for our pilgrimage in this life and makes us long for eternal life. It unites us already to Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, to the Church in heaven and to the Blessed Virgin and all the saints. (CCC 1402-1405)
    In the Eucharist, we “break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.” (Saint Ignatius of Antioch)
                        (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.294)
 

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Wednesday of the third week of Ordinary Time I

(January 24)  Saint Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church bishop and doctor of the Church (1567-1622). Born in Thorens, Savoy (France). With apostolic zeal, St Francis de Sales fought Calvinism. He was Bishop of Geneva. With St Frances Fremyot de Chantal, he formed the Order of the Visitation. He wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life, a classic of spiritual direction, together with other works such as On the Love of God. He died in Lyons and was canonized in 1655. In 1877 Pius IX proclaimed him Doctor of the Church. Pius XI declared him to be Patron Saint of Journalists and Other Writers.  (Saints)

Scripture today:  Hebrews 10:11-18;    Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4;     Mark 4:1-20
 

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On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.” Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no roots; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:1-20)

There have been many great teachers in the history of the world and they have come from East and West. In the Ancient World we think of the philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We think perhaps of Cicero and even Marcus Aurelius. In religion we think of Zarathusthra, Buddha, Confucius, and centuries later Mahomet. The Christian recognizes as standing out above them all the figure of Jesus Christ, because of who he really was and the divine revelation he gave. But as we consider these various figures we notice how varied are the genres they employed to communicate their respective doctrines. In respect to Christ, it is noteworthy how relatively simple and concrete is the medium of his teaching. He characteristically (but not exclusively) teaches by means of stories drawn from everyday life. The message conveyed is generally a simple one but pivotal to the life in God to which he was calling his hearers. The result is that his teaching is accessible to the world at large and will be so till the end of time. By contrast, let us consider the teaching of Aristotle, to take but one example. His philosophical thought is great, but how many read it? Christ did not present himself as a philosopher, even though his teaching has spawned a vast river of philosophical thought. His method of teaching is eminently simple. Our Gospel passage today is a case in point (Mark 4:1-20). Our Lord draws an illustration from the everyday life of the farming community in which he lived since his infancy and during his public ministry. It is the parable of the farmer going out to sow, and his seed falls on ground of uneven quality, and the crop that is produced varies accordingly. Two things are in sight: the power of the seed and the quality of the soil, though it is clear from the space given to these two components of the parable that our Lord’s primary focus is on the quality of the soil.

Years ago in my youth, a priest said that holiness is 99% due to the grace of God and 1% the result of our own efforts. But we must put in that 1%, and that 1% is all that we have. On one occasion our Lord was asked which is the greatest commandment of the Law, and he replied that it is to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s the 1%, we might say. On another occasion our Lord was seated in the Temple and was watching various persons contributing to the Temple Treasury. The rich put in a considerable amount, and along came a poor widow who put in two very small coins. Our Lord summoned his disciples and, pointing out the widow to them, told them that she had put in more than all the others because she had contributed all she had to live on. She had given God all she had. That’s the 1% in the equation. That gift to God of our whole self is absolutely essential to holiness, but it is not sufficient - in fact it would not be possible without the action of God. That is why the other 99 % is the grace of God. Now, our Lord’s parable today of the sower going out to sow his seed features these two elements. The sower sows the word which is pregnant with God’s grace. The word and grace of God has a power that is without limit of itself, provided the one who receives the word is properly disposed. That proper disposition is symbolized in the soil which receives the seed of the word of God. If only we could be properly disposed! The saints show us what can happen if we receive the grace and revelation of God with generosity and perseverance. Above all, Mary the mother of God shows us what God can do in the human soul. God is almighty, and the only thing that can limit his work is the bad use of the freedom he has given us.   

Let us put our trust in the power of God and his grace. We believe in God the Almighty Father. He is almighty, and so he can lead us to sanctity. He can give us the mind of Christ. We have failed, yes, but we must simply start again, putting our faith in the power of God. We start again and again, determined to receive well the word and the grace of God that is constantly available to us in the ministry and Sacraments of the Church. Let us determine to do this with perseverance, never losing heart. God will do his work.
                                                                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)


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"Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear" (Mark 4:1-20)
           Saint John Chrysostom (about 345-407), bishop and doctor of the Church  (Homily 44 on Saint Matthew, 3-4)

Now these things the Christ said in the parable of the sower manifesting that He discoursed to all without grudging. For as the sower makes no distinction in the land submitted to him, but simply and indifferently casts his seed; so He Himself too makes no distinction of rich and poor, of wise and unwise, of slothful or diligent, of brave or cowardly; but He discourses unto all, fulfilling His part, although foreknowing the results; that it may be in His power to say, "What ought I to have done, that I have not done?" (Is 5,4)...

But this parable He speaks, as anointing His disciples, and to teach them, that even though the lost be more than such as receive the word yet they are not to despond. For this was the case even with their Lord, and He who fully foreknew that these things should be, did not desist from sowing.

And how can it be reasonable, saith one, to sow among the thorns, on the rock, on the wayside? With regard to the seeds and the earth it cannot be reasonable; but in the case of men's souls and their instructions, it hath its praise, and that abundantly. For the husbandman indeed would reasonably be blamed for doing this; it being impossible for the rock to become earth, or the wayside not to be a wayside, or the thorns, thorns; but in the things that have reason it is not so. There is such a thing as the rock changing, and becoming rich land; and the wayside being no longer trampled on, nor lying open to all that pass by, but that it may be a fertile field; and the thorns may be destroyed, and the seed enjoy full security. For had it been impossible, this Sower would not have sown. And if the change did not take place in all, this is no fault of the Sower, but of them who are unwilling to be changed: He having done His part: and if they betrayed what they received of Him, He is blameless, the exhibitor of such love to man.
                                                                                                           (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Keep going forward cheerfully and trying hard, even though you are so little — nothing at all! When you are with Him nobody in the world can stop you. Consider, moreover, how everything is good for those who love God. Every problem in this world has a solution, except death, and for us death is Life.
                                                  (The Forge, no.1001)

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      Why did Christ institute the sacraments of Penance and the Anointing of the Sick?
Christ, the physician of our soul and body, instituted these sacraments because the new life that he gives us in the sacraments of Christian initiation can be weakened and even lost because of sin. Therefore, Christ willed that his Church should continue his work of healing and salvation by means of these two sacraments. (CCC 1420-1421, 1426)
                     (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.95)
 

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Thursday of the third week of Ordinary Time I

January 25) Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle  The conversion of Saul of Tarsus, while he was on his way to Damascus, is one of the most touching miracles in the history of the early Church. It shows us how faith comes from grace and from man’s free cooperation. The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ receives proof and a clear illustration when Christ says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” We should realize that the best way to hasten the unity of all Christians is to foster our own daily personal conversion.  (Saints)

Scripture today:    Acts 22:3-16 or  Acts 9:1-22;   Psalm 117:1bc, 2;     Mark 16:15-18
 

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Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. (Mark 16:15-18)

If we consider Christ within the setting of numerous other world figures, one of his distinctive features is that from the beginning he was a person for the whole world.  At his birth the angels appeared to the shepherds heralding the arrival in Bethlehem of “Christ the Lord.” It was an event bringing “peace on earth” to men of good will. So the whole earth would be affected by his birth. Simeon prophesied that he would be a “light to the gentiles.” At the beginning of his public ministry John the Baptist pointed him out saying that he was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of “the world.” That is to say, his work would bring an incalculable benefit to the whole world. Very soon after this he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by Satan. One of Satan’s temptations was that if he (Christ) would but worship him, he (Satan) would give to him the kingdoms of the world – for they were his to give. Perhaps Satan divined that this man before him was absolutely of world stature and had it in him to be Lord of the world. He was trying to tempt Jesus at a point where he thought he may have been vulnerable, in the matter of conquering the world. So Christ’s mission was a world mission, and his work would affect the world even if it were not recognized by all. His passion and death would be of world significance and its benefits would mysteriously concern every man. As St Paul writes, Christ loved me and delivered himself up for me. The whole world and every member of it can say the same thing.

At times the impression is given by some scholars of Christianity that the Christian faith grew willy-nilly as a result of an amalgam of conviction, circumstances, and influential personalities such as Saul of Tarsus (St Paul). Some have even claimed that Paul was the real founder of Christianity. But no. Our Lord intended that his revelation be embraced not only by various people from all over the world, but by the whole world itself. That is to say, he came in order to be accepted, believed, loved and followed by every man and woman on the face of the earth. That is one of the distinctive features of his person and life, and such is the plan of God. Obvious evidence of this divine intent are the opening words of our Gospel passage today, in which our Lord gives to his disciples his final charge before ascending into heaven. “Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: ‘Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned’” (Mark 16:15-18). At this primitive stage of Christian history our Lord commanded his disciples – and he was actually in the process of leaving them definitively! – to go to the whole world and bring the news of him and his work to every single person on the face of the earth. They were to make disciples of everyone. The average observer would scarcely regard this request as realistic. Though it was an astonishing request, our Lord made it of his disciples, and it stands now. If we wish to be his disciples we must hear that charge ever anew. If we do not wish to listen to it with seriousness and do something about it, then there is missing from our Christian life an absolutely essential component.

The Christian people are a sleeping giant. A giant, but sleeping. Christ wants the giant to awake and be on the move announcing the good news of the Gospel to all. Too few of us have the courage to speak of the person of Christ and his work. Too few even know him personally. Let us ask God for the grace of a profound realization that Christ is meant for the whole world. In the plan of God every man and woman is called to know, love and serve Christ. This requires that they be told, and if they are ever to be told, we ourselves must bear witness and do the telling.

                                                                                                             (E.J.Tyler)


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«Lord, what am I supposed to do?» (Acts 22:3-16)
           Saint John Chrysostom (about 345-407), bishop and doctor of the Church (4th Homily on St. Paul, § 1-2)

The Blessed Paul who gathers us on this day has illuminated the earth. At the time he received his call, he was made blind; but his blindness made of him a torch for the world. He used to see to do evil; in his wisdom God made him blind so as to enlighten him for doing good. Not only did God reveal his power; he also revealed him the heart of the faith he was going to preach. He had to chase far away from him all the prejudices, close the eyes and lose the fake lights of reason to perceive the true doctrine, “become crazy to be wise” as he will say later on (1Cor 3,18)...Though one shouldn't believe that his call was imposed upon him; Paul was free to chose...

Fiery-natured, impetuous, Paul needed to be stopped abrubtly, to not be taken away by his ardor and despise the voice of God. Therefore God first repressed this fit of anger; by blinding him he calmed his anger; then he talked to him. He revealed him his ineffable wisdom, so that he could recognize the one who he used to fight and understand that he could not oppose himself anymore to his grace. It was not the lack of light that made him blind, but the overabundance of light.

God chose the right moment. Paul is the first to recognize it: “when (God), who from my mother's womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased he revealed his Son to me” (Gal 1,15)...Let us then learn from the words of Paul himself, that neither he nor any other person have ever found Christ by their own personal spirit. It is Christ who reveals himself and who allows others to get to know him. As the Saviour says: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you” (Jn 15,16).
                                                                              (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Lord, you died on the Cross to save mankind. And yet for one mortal sin you condemn a man to a hapless eternity of suffering. How much sin must offend you, and how much I ought to hate it!
                                                 (The Forge, no.1002)

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               What is the name of this sacrament?
It is called the sacrament of Penance, the sacrament of Reconciliation, the sacrament of Forgiveness, the sacrament of Confession, and the sacrament of Conversion. (CCC 1422-1424)
                 (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.296)
 

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Friday of the third week of Ordinary Time I

(January 26)  Australia Day
Saints Timothy and Titus are celebrated in Australia on January 23 because of Australia Day (today)
         St Timothy (died 97) was the son of a pagan father and a Hebrew-Christian mother, Eunice. He was a disciple of St Paul and accompanied him in the evangelization of many cities. St Paul consecrated him Bishop of Ephesus. According to a fourth century story, he was beaten to death by a mob when he opposed the observance of a pagan festival. (Saints)
       St Titus was also a friend and disciple of St Paul who ordained him Bishop of Crete. (Saints)
St Paul wrote to these two disciples three pastoral letters, which spoke of the structure of the Church.

Scripture today:   2 Timothy 1:1-8  or Titus 1:1-5;   Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10;  Mark 4:26-34
 

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Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” He said, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private. (Mark 4:26-34)

Our Gospel passage today is taken from Mark chapter 4, verses 26-34. It speaks of the man going out to sow seed on the land, and it also speaks of one kind of seed, the mustard seed. At the beginning of the same chapter there is a long passage in which our Lord gives a similar parable of the sower going out to sow, but in that passage the focus is on the soil. Our Lord holds up for the consideration of his hearers the various kinds of soil that receive the seed. The good soil consists of  “those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:1-20). Today we have two short parables and they are both drawn again from the sowing of crops. Perhaps the fact that the spotlight at times falls on one aspect of a parable, at times on another, and at other times on another again, indicates that our Lord often drew his stories from the farming life of his hearers. Our first parable today speaks of the living power of the seed (Mark 4:26-34). It is not inert like some stone or piece of wood on the ground, but has a life of its own. The farmer who casts it this way and that onto the soil goes back home at the end of the day to rest, and sleeps the night and awakes once again to his work, while all the while the seed is developing. It begins to sprout and grow - how, the farmer has not the faintest idea. It is one of the marvels of nature. God’s reign in the hearts of men is like that. If it is received and accepted with perseverance then God will do his work in the heart of man. His reign will sprout and grow. St Paul writes in one of his Letters that eye has not seen nor ear heard what God will do for those who love him. He tells us that God’s will is for our sanctification, and that he brings all things together for the good of those who love him. This good is our sanctification, and God is very active at his work. So we can hope in the sanctifying power of Christ, just as the farmer can hope in the power of the seed.

Drawing again from the rural life of his hearers, our Lord turns to the different classes of seed. There is the mustard seed which, “when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade” (Mark 4:26-34). So not only does the reign of God in our hearts and in the life of the world have a life of its own, but its growth is vast. It has great proportions. The very world can help us appreciate its vastness. We look out on the stars, we observe our world with its profound fecundity providing a home for age after age of the children of men, and we think of the might of God our Father. His kingdom is of similar vastness, and it is this kingdom which Christ was beginning and establishing. Consider how small it was when it began, with our Lord’s small band of Apostles and over the centuries it has flowed and grown like a sea. Just before he ascended into heaven he commanded his disciples to go to the whole world and make disciples of all the nations. Like the mustard seed Christ’s kingdom was small at its beginnings but it was destined to grow and become the largest of the plants and put “forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” All of this means that, firstly, however daunting the work of personal sanctification may seem to us sinners, God can do the work. As our Lord said, with men it is impossible, but for God all things are possible. So there is no place for pessimism or anything like despair in the work of seeking holiness of life. It also means that the Church Christ founded is for all. If we wish to be Christ’s disciples, we must be essentially apostolic. Christ our Lord means us to take the news of him and his work to all those with whom we live, those around us and those well beyond.

Let every disciple of Christ understand that he or she can be victorious in the grand undertaking. Christ has won the victory by his death and resurrection, and his kingdom will never end. It is present but beyond our sight. Though invisible, it has a powerful life of its own and is destined to grow to immense proportions. God will be all in all. Let us then enter enthusiastically with Christ into the work and never give up. Jesus Christ is Lord, and this will be the acclamation of all eternity to come. So then, now I begin!
                                                                                                                             (E.J.Tyler)

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«Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit» (John 12:24)  St Gregory the Great (540-604), pope and doctor of the Church (Homilies on Matthew, ch.13)

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'" (Mt 13,31). This small seed is for us the symbol of Jesus Christ, who, sowed into the garden where he was buried, rose from it shortly after, through his resurrection, as a big tree.

One can say that when he died he was like a small seed: a small seed because of the humiliation of his flesh, but a big tree because of the glorification of his majesty. He was like a small seed while he appeared completely disfigured in our eyes; but a big tree as he rose like “the most handsome of men “ (Ps 44,3).

The saint preachers of the Gospel are the branches of this mysterious tree that a psalm describes in this way: “Their report goes forth through all the earth, their message, to the ends of the world “ (Ps 19,5; cf Rom 10,18). The birds rest on these branches as the souls of the just, who ascended with the wings of holiness leaving behind the attractions of the earth, find in the words of these preachers of the Gospel the consolation they need in the sorrows and difficulties of this life.
                                                                 (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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Saint Teresa assures us that “anyone who doesn't pray doesn't need any devil to tempt him; while whoever prays, even if only for a quarter of an hour each day, will necessarily be saved.” This is because our conversation with Our Lord — who is so loving, even in times of difficulty or dryness of soul —enables us to see things in their proper perspective and discover the true proportions of life. Be a soul of prayer.
                                                                     (The Forge, no.1003)
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               Why is there a sacrament of Reconciliation after Baptism?
Since the new life of grace received in Baptism does not abolish the weakness of human nature nor the inclination to sin (that is, concupiscence), Christ instituted this sacrament for the conversion of the baptized who have been separated from him by sin.
(CCC 1425-1426, 1484)
                        (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.297)
 

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Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 27) St. Angela Merici (1470-1540). St Angela was born in northern Italy. In 1516, she founded the Order of the Ursulines, the first teaching order for women approved by the Church. Italy then was rife with violence and open immorality. St Angela believed that the formation of Christian women is society’s greatest need. (Saints)

Scripture today:    Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19;      Luke 1:69-70, 71-72, 73-75;     Mark 4:35-41
 

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On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mark 4:35-41)

There is so much in the Gospels that reveals the person of Jesus to us! Let us place ourselves in today’s Gospel scene. It would seem from the context of this chapter that Christ has been teaching all day. Then, “as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Let us cross to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.” At various points in the Gospels our Lord directs his disciples to withdraw from their work in order to rest for awhile. Undoubtedly, our Lord himself had been consumed in his work all day, teaching, curing, consoling. That his fatigue was profound is clear from the fact that, though he was a man full of strength and energy, he was later found asleep in the midst of the violent squall. Waves “were breaking over the boat so that it was already filling up,” we are told (Mark 4:35-41). In the midst of this crisis of the elements, Christ was in a deep sleep – showing his exhaustion from what must have been a total dedication to his work during the day. His sleep in circumstances such as these also showed his profound tranquillity of soul. Let us not imagine that this tranquillity was due to an absence of suffering. We remember how at the threshold of his Passion he underwent his agony in the Garden and sweated blood in his anguish. Yet when his arrest arrived and his Passion gathered its horrifying momentum, what is remarkable in the Gospel account is his self-possession and dominance of his situation in the midst of unspeakable sufferings. This striking integration within his person, so evident in other contexts, is manifested in his sleeping in the midst of the storm as described in our passage today. Undoubtedly in the depths of his soul he slept in the arms of his heavenly Father, sleeping a sleep that few could imagine. At the Last Supper he promised many blessings to his disciples, and among them was a share in his peace – not the peace offered by the world, but his own peace, he said. What a blessing to share in the peace of Christ! It is a peace that accompanies the cross. We see something of it, this peace, this tranquillity, in Christ asleep in the boat.

The Christ who is asleep is not only a Christ of tranquillity, but a Christ of power and strength. This becomes immediately evident when his frantic disciples come to wake him. That the boat was in dire straits is clear from their reproaching him for not caring that they were perishing. Jesus woke from his sleep and at a word quelled the storm and there reigned across the expanse a great calm. It must have been an event of high and astounding drama. Just imagine it! The storm that was threatening the boat and their lives was in an instant replaced by a great calm. The noise and turmoil was now all still and quiet. Jesus brought this about in a matter of a moment, not by appealing to God his Father in the way that some of the prophets had asked God for this or that miracle of nature, but by his own simple word of command. There was no ceremony, no preparation, no request of God. It was a simple command to the wind and the sea that it be quiet and still. “Quiet! Be still!” he said (Mark 4:35-41). The effect on the entire environment over the Sea of Galilee was immediate and general. There was quiet and stillness and a great calm. Here was One who was man – just moments ago asleep in the stern – and who at the same time was God commanding the wind and the sea, and they obeyed him. So let us contemplate this wondrous man who is Master of the truth in his teaching and Master of the world in his miracles. But now, he is not a person of the past. No, he lives now. He lives now in his body the Church. He lives in the Sacraments of the Church, and most especially in the Eucharist which is his very self. Just as he was the heart and soul of the company in the buffeted boat, so now he is the heart and soul of the Church, buffeted as it is by the course of human history. He was the life and the strength of his disciples and he is the life and strength of us too. So let us commit our lives to him for he is all we need. He lives now and he is very near. Indeed, for those who are his friends, he is within. He is Christ within you, your hope of glory.

Let us contemplate Jesus in our Gospel scene. At one moment he is asleep, exhausted yet profoundly tranquil in the arms of his heavenly Father. At the next moment he is standing and subduing at a word the wind and the sea. There is no one like him. We were made to know, love and serve him here on earth and to see and enjoy him forever in heaven, for this man is God.

                                                                                                                (E.J.Tyler)


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In the middle of the storm (Mark 4:35-41)
                          Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Carmelite nun, doctor of the Church
                                                                      (Letter 284, to the Carmelite nuns of Seville)

Take courage, my daughters! Take courage! Remember that God does not send anybody more sufferings than what he is able to support and that His Majesty is with those who suffer. You must not fear, but have faith in his mercy that the truth will come to light and will reveal the hidden works of the devil who has sowed turmoil amongst you...Prayer, prayer, my sisters! It is now that humility and obedience should shine in each one of you...

Oh, what a good moment to reap the rewards of the resolutions you took to serve the Lord! Remember that he often likes to verify if the works correspond to the resolutions and words. In this big trial, honor your sisters, the daughters of the Virgin. If you apply yourselves to this, the good Jesus will help you. Although he is asleep on the sea at the time the great storm blows up, he stops the winds. But he wants us to pray him, for he loves us so much that he is always looking for new ways to make our souls progress. May his name be blessed for ever and ever. Amen, Amen.

In all our monasteries, we commend your souls insistently to God. And I have faith in his goodness that he will soon sort things out. So try to be cheerful and tell yourselves that in the end all one can suffer for such a good God is nothing compared to what he has suffered for us, for you still haven't reached the point of shedding your blood for him (He 12,4)...Let Him do, and you will see that soon the sea will swallow up those who wage war against us, as it happened with the Pharaoh.
                                                                      (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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“So you are a king?”... Yes, Christ is the King, the King who not only grants you an audience whenever you like, but even in the madness of his love “gives up” — you know what I mean — his magnificent palace in Heaven, which you cannot yet reach, and waits for you in the Tabernacle.

Don't you think it is absurd not to hurry to speak to him, and not to do so more assiduously?
                                                             (The Forge, no.1004)

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                      When did he institute this sacrament?
The risen Lord instituted this sacrament on the evening of Easter when he showed himself to his apostles and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23). (CCC 1485)
                          (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.298)
 

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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time C

(January 28) St Thomas Aquinas, Dominican priest and doctor of the Church (1224-1274). He was educated at the Abbey of Monte Cassino and at the University of Naples. In about 1244 he joined the Dominican Order. Considered one of the greatest philosophers and theologians of all time, St Thomas gained the title of “Angelic Doctor”. He had an undisputed mastery of scholastic theology and a profound holiness of life. Pope Leo XIII declared him Patron of Catholic Schools. His monumental work, the Summa Theologiae, was still unfinished when he died. (Saints)


Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19;   Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17;   1 Cor. 12:31—13:13 or 1 Cor. 13:4-13;  Luke 4:21-30
 

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Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.
(Luke 4:21-30)

As we look out on our world we cannot but be struck by its vastness and richness. No one knows the number of galaxies there are in the universe, let alone the number of stars. No one knows the full sweep and variety of human history. No one knows all there is to know in the tiniest atom, nor in any one living thing. There is no end to what we could observe and investigate. This bafflingly complex creation which is our home, this vast flux and flow of human history, invite us to ask if there is any single thing in human experience which holds all created reality in place, and which when grasped provides us with the principle of unity in life and in all things. The key cannot be simply an idea or theory of some individual or school of thought such as the theory of relativity, or the philosophy of Marxism, because a theory or an idea is just a creation of the mind giving light to the human intellect. The linchpin of the world cannot be an idea. Nor can it be simply some other component of the universe which  brings benefits to other components, because that component itself depends on so many other things. No, there is only one thing which may be said to constitute the heart of the world. That on which the world and human history depends is the person of Jesus Christ. Through him all things came to be and all that comes to be has life in him, and that life is the life and light of men.

  The Christian is one who appreciates the uniqueness of Christ and his supreme lordship. He is the key and he is absolutely in a class of his own. Of course, a husband who loves his wife appreciates her uniqueness, and vice versa. Those of other religions believe the founder of their religion to be unique. But the Christian knows that the person of Jesus Christ stands forth in human history and in the universe as one who is beyond compare. No other religion claims for its founder what Christianity claims for Christ. The essential reason for the Christian claim is that Christ is not a mere human person, though he is truly man. He is a divine person. He is God. It has been revealed to us that our universe is the creation of one only God, and that through man’s original sin, he and the world were alienated from the one and only God. The wonder is that God actually became man to reconcile the world to himself, for this meant that there was a man walking the earth who is the Creator of all. When our Lord appeared publicly among men he began by making certain claims. In our Gospel today (Luke 4:21-30) we read how in his own town of Nazareth he claimed that the prophecy of Isaiah was being fulfilled in his person before their very eyes. He was intimating that he was the promised Messiah, and that they, his own townspeople, would not accept him as such. They hustled him out of the town with the intention of killing him, so he left them. His uniqueness was not recognized.

At various points in his public ministry he revealed to his disciples and to others that he was the promised Messiah. But there was more in his revelation, and it was that he was the Son of God the Father, and indeed, one with the Father in being. The Gospel of St John makes it very clear that the leaders of the Jews could see that in speaking of God as his own Father, Jesus was making himself God’s equal. On another occasion, he placed himself in the position of Yahweh God when he said that before Abraham ever was, I am. Then after he rose from the dead, Thomas stood before him and said “My Lord and my God.” We ought never cease to offer our prayer of wonder and praise at God becoming man and dwelling among us. This wondrous man who is God calls himself our friend and brother. He said to his disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15: 14). When he rose from the dead he told Mary Magdalen to go and tell his brothers that he had risen. Such is the God who became man – he is our friend and our brother. He dwells among us still, day by day in our hearts (if we are in the state of grace) and in the life of the Church and in the Church’s Sacraments.  He a divine person, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and he took to himself a human nature with its human soul, human mind and human will, thus making himself a man like us in all things but sin. By this humanity he saved us all. He is the centre of the world and of our life, and all things hinge on him. From him comes that life in abundance which God intends us to have.

Let us base our lives on the fact that the man Jesus is not merely the most outstanding of men, but is God himself. He is God who by means of his humanity opened heaven to the world. In our life and in all that we say of Jesus Christ, let us bear witness to the uniqueness of this divine person in all his humanity and divinity.  

                                                                                                                  (E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 470-478


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“It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon”
(Luke 4:21-30)               St Augustine (354-430), bishop and doctor of the Church (Sermon 11, 2-3)

The Widow of Zarephath

The poor widow had gone out to look for two blocks of wood to bake some bread: it is at this time that Elijah meets her. This woman is the symbol of the Church; because a cross is made of two pieces of wood, the woman, who was destined to die, searches for something by which to live eternally. There is a hidden mystery in this...Elijah tells her: “Go, feed me first with your poverty, and you will not run out of your goods”. What a blessed poverty! If the widow received here on earth such retribution, what a reward may she hope to receive in the life to come!

I insist on this point: let us not expect to harvest the fruit of our sowing now, at the time we sow. Here on earth, we sow with difficulty what will be the harvest of our good works, but only later on will we gather the fruits of this with joy, according to what is said: “Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, Will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves” (Ps 125,6). Actually Elijah's act towards this woman was not her reward, but only a symbol of it. For if this widow would have been rewarded here on earth for having fed the man of God, what a miserable sowing, what a poor crop! She received just a temporal good: a jar of flour that did not go empty and a jug of oil that did not run dry till the day the Lord watered the earth with his rain. This sign that was given to her by God for a few days was therefore the symbol of the future life where our reward could not be lessened. Our flour will be God himself! As the flour of this woman did not run out in these days, we will not be deprived of God for all the rest of eternity...Sow with faith and your harvest will surely come; it will come later on, but when it will come, you will reap it endlessly.
                                                                (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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I am every day more convinced that happiness in Heaven is for those who know how to be happy on earth.
                                                         (The Forge, no.1005)

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               Do the baptized have need of conversion?
The call of Christ to conversion continues to resound in the lives of the baptized. Conversion is a continuing obligation for the whole Church. She is holy but includes sinners in her midst. (CCC 1427-1429)
                           (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.299)
 

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Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 29) Today let us think of Saint Gildas the Wise  (Saints)


         Scripture today:    Hebrews 11:32-40;     Psalm 31:20, 21, 22, 23, 24;      Mark 5:1-20
 

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Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed. (Mark 5:1-20)

There have been various movies during the last few decades on devil possession. It is very interesting to notice that in almost all such movies it is the Catholic priest who features as the one who drives out the demon, or who attempts to do so. Despite all its exaggerations, one of the best I have seen is the movie “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” a movie based remotely on a factual case of many years ago in Bavaria. In this movie there were several demons possessing Emily who was a good girl, and whose possession was portrayed as permitted by God in order to serve his wider redemptive plan. Now, in movies of this kind the devil is characterized as a tremendous power, most difficult to dislodge – which to some extent is in fact correct. Let us then turn to the Gospel accounts, such as the one given to us in today’s Gospel. Christ and his disciples come to the pagan territory of the Gerasenes, and he is confronted immediately by “a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit.” This “unclean spirit” may have been the principal demon possessing him, for when that devil was asked by our Lord for his name, he answered, “Legion is my name. There are many of us” (Mark 5:1-20). The evil and havoc caused by the devils is evident in the description of the history of this hapless individual. “The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones” (Mark 5:1-20). But in the presence of Christ all was different. The demons knew they were in the presence of one who effortlessly dominated them. We must have a healthy respect for the very reality of Satan and the demonic world, but at the same time realize that the underworld is not the slightest match for Christ.

So amid all the threats that confront us in this world, threats coming from Satan, sin and the effects of sin, Christ stands unseen in our midst as a source of unending strength. He is the stronger one in the face of sickness, the unruly natural elements, sin and the underworld. The demons in our scene today come up to him and prostrate before him, beseeching that he not torment them. They plead with him that he not expel them from what had become their territory. They had struck roots there! The thought of trying to find a new nest elsewhere horrified them, suggesting that it was not easy for the demons to find a new abode outside hell itself. The implication might also be that once expelled by our Lord they would not be permitted to inhabit a person again. So they pleaded with our Lord to let them at least go into the pigs. Notice the detail that Christ, while firm and commanding, is nevertheless somewhat kind even to the anguished demons. He gave them leave. The result of this was that the herd of pigs perished – showing again the destructive character of the underworld – and Christ was asked by the superstitious inhabitants to leave the neighbourhood. This he did. So Christ is holy, powerful and kind. In his famous Spiritual Exercises which St Ignatius Loyola wrote to assist people to order their whole lives to the love and service of Christ, there is a particularly important meditation. It is the Meditation on the Two Standards. The one is the Standard of Christ, the other the Standard of Satan. The person doing the Exercises is invited to place himself in the presence of these two Standards, and to make a choice between Christ and Satan. Let us do that as we place ourselves in our Gospel scene today, thinking of Christ on the one hand and the demons on the other. Our choice for Christ must be from the heart, repeated over and over, and lived out in the details of our everyday life.

Christ would not let the newly released man follow him physically. That was not his calling. But he was given a mission by our Lord, and this he proceeded to do. Often in the Gospels people who had benefited by Christ’s healing were told by him not to tell others about it. All too often they proceeded to disobey this request. In the case of our newly liberated man from the country of the Gerasenes, he did do what our Lord asked, which was to “'Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.' Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed” (Mark 5:1-20). Let us resolve to follow Christ by doing God’s will in our everyday life, whatever that might be.

                                                                                                                   (E.J.Tyler)


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«As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind»  (Mark 5:1-20)                  Silvan (1866-1938), orthodox monk (Writings)


The goal of all our struggling is to achieve humility. Our enemies, the demons, have fallen because of pride and they drag us with them in their fall. But we, brothers, let us be humble, and we will then see the glory of the Lord in this world already (Mt 16,28), for the Lord reveals himself, through the Holy Spirit, to the humble. The soul who has tasted the sweetness of the Lord's love is totally regenerated and becomes completely different; it loves its Lord and turns towards Him night and day, with all its strength.

Up to a certain moment it remains peaceful in God, then it begins to suffer for the world. The merciful Lord gives the soul both the rest in God and a sorrowful heart for the whole world, so that all men may repent and reach paradise.

The soul that has experienced the tenderness of the Holy Spirit wishes everyone the same knowledge, for the gentleness of the Lord does not allow a soul to be selfish, but it gives it the love that comes from the heart.
                                                               (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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With crystal clarity I see the formula, the secret of happiness, both earthly and eternal. It is not just a matter of accepting the Will of God but of embracing it, of identifying oneself with it — in a word, of loving the Divine Will with a positive act of our own will. This, I repeat, is the infallible secret of joy and peace.
                                                           (The Forge, no.1006)

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                       What is interior penance?
It is the movement of a “contrite heart” (Psalm 51:19) drawn by divine grace to respond to the merciful love of God. This entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, a firm purpose not to sin again in the future and trust in the help of God. It is nourished by hope in divine mercy. (CCC 1430-1433, 1490)
                             (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.300)
 

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Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time I

(January 30)  Today let us think of St Hyacinthe Mariscotti   (Saints)


   Scripture today:   Hebrews 12:1-4;      Psalm 22:26b-27, 28 and 30, 31-32;     Mark 5:21-43
 

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When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him and a large crowd followed him. There was a woman afflicted with haemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, Who touched me?” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat. (Mark 5:21-43)

In the history of man’s religions a constant refrain is the attempt to access supernatural power in order to overcome some menace. A leading British anthropologist of primal religions (Evans-Pritchard) once wrote that a key to the interpretation of any particular primal religion is the method it uses to deal with evil and suffering. If we consider a number of religions it does seem that the myths and rituals are often in place precisely to be used for the benefit of the practitioners of that religion. I remember attending a lecture at the University of Sydney by a Zoroastrian scholar (i.e., his personal faith was the Zoroastrian religion) and it was his view that most religions were a technology - that is, something which is used and developed to gain a benefit from the higher powers. I suppose this is indeed the constant danger and it can lead to religion becoming the practice of magic. Certain steps are taken either occasionally or regularly in the belief that they give access to greater power over what is perceived to be evil and suffering, be it hunger, sickness, or whatever. Religion as a personal relationship with a personal higher power who is to be genuinely worshiped can very easily be lost sight of. In fact it might be said that one of the most distinctive features of Revealed Religion is that all things, seen or unseen, are understood as having one ultimate source. There is one only God who is the creator and sustainer of everything. Moreover, this one God is to be loved, and loved with all one’s heart. So God is to be venerated as a Person and not to be regarded as a supernatural force to be simply used for man’s benefit through certain rituals. Religion is a love affair and not a technology. God is to be approached and petitioned as one approaches and petitions a person, and benefits that result are to be acknowledged as gifts coming from his personal goodness and mercy. In the plan of the Creator there is no place for magic in man’s dealings with him.

In our Gospel passage today, “one of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing Jesus he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, ‘My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” Does our Lord simply say to him that he is to go back and he will find his daughter well again? No, our Lord accedes to his request to come. He goes with him to do what was requested of him. It emphasizes the very personal character of the benefit he is about to bring. The healing will be a gift from a person and not a just a process that is triggered by a request. He is on his way there, when secretly from the midst of the crowd a poor woman approaches. She had been “afflicted with haemorrhages for twelve years.” She was desperate for a cure, and we are told that “she had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Now, for all we know she just may have looked to Jesus in the way a person looks to magic. If only she could touch this source of power, the healing would come automatically. Whether she thought this way or not, our Lord’s reaction clarified the true position immediately. “Aware at once that power had gone out from him,” he stopped and turned around, looked about and asked who touched him. Our Lord was acting here within his human nature and seeking to know who it was that had touched him. He wanted to meet and speak to the one who had benefited from contact with him. The woman came forward and told him what had happened, and our Lord sent her on her way commending her for her faith and reassuring her that she was cured of her affliction. Our Lord insisted on showing that the benefit received came from him and not from a mere process. Religion involves faith in a real and active divine person. It is not a technology bordering on magic.

Let us spend our lives cultivating a personal relationship with each of the three divine Persons. Our way to God is through the man Jesus, through his humanity. In and through the Son of God made man, we come to know the Father and the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said at the Last Supper, “this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3). Let us not just use religion as a technology to deal with our afflictions and sufferings, but let us live it out as a personal love affair with God. Religion, as Cardinal Newman once wrote, is a matter between God and my soul.
                                                                                                (E.J.Tyler)


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"If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." (Mark 5:21-43)
                   Saint Ambrose (about 340-397), bishop of Milan and doctor of the Church
                                                                                 (Commentary on St. Luke, 6, 57-59)

It is our faith that touches the Christ; it is our faith that sees him. It isn't our body that touches him; our eyes cannot seize him. For seeing without perceiving is not seeing; hearing without understanding, is not hearing, nor touching if one doesn't touch with faith...

If we consider the size of our faith and are aware of the greatness of the Son of God, we realize that, in relation to Him, we can only touch his clothes; we cannot reach beyond. Therefore, if we too want to be healed by him, let us touch Christ's clothes through our faith. He is aware of all those who touch his clothes, who touch him while he has his back turned. For God doesn't need eyes to see; he doesn't have physical senses, but he has in himself the knowledge of all things. Happy then those who are able to touch at least the brim of the Word: for who can seize it entirely?
                                                               (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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How often you will find yourself inundated, intoxicated with God's grace — and what a sin if you do not respond!
                                                       (The Forge, no.1007)

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             What forms does penance take in the Christian life?
Penance can be expressed in many and various ways but above all in fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These and many other forms of penance can be practiced in the daily life of a Christian, particularly during the time of Lent and on the penitential day of Friday. (CCC 1434-1439)
                    (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.301)
 

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Wednesday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time I

(January 31)  Saint John Bosco, priest (1815-1888). St John Bosco founded the Salesian Society, named in honour of St Francis de Sales, and the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians. His lifework was the welfare of young boys and girls, hence his title “Apostle of Youth. He had no formal system or theory of education. His methods centred on persuasion, authentic religiosity, and love for young people. He was an enlightened educator and innovator.  (Saints)


Scripture today:   Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15;    Psalm 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18a;      Mark 6:1-6
 

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Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offence at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:1-6)

Let us place ourselves in the Gospel scene of today in the company of our Lord and his disciples. His public ministry had begun in Judea and had returned to Galilee. He was becoming known as a great prophet, great in the authority of his teaching and in the power of his miracles. Mark devotes thirteen chapters to our Lord’s public ministry prior to his passion, and it is not till the sixth chapter that he  returns to Nazareth. So there are five chapters of public ministry involving teaching and miracles prior to his public appearance in his home town. Perhaps our Lord had left his return to Nazareth in his new mission until now so that the fame of his work might prepare his townspeople for his new revelation about himself. He knew they would be surprised, for after all, they had seen him grow up, they had mixed constantly with him as a youth, young man and fellow townsman. Undoubtedly they knew him to be a very good and religious person, but one senses from the texts that they had divined nothing of the unique and extraordinary character of his person so long in their midst. This itself is revealing of the humility and normalcy of our Lord’s day to day life among them. Nevertheless, they had definitely heard of the extraordinary things he was doing, for in our text today they wonder how it is that such “mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!” So our Lord would have expected and hoped that his townspeople, whom undoubtedly he loved with a special love of family and long-standing friendship and social ties, would respond to his teaching and presence. But no. We are told that “they took offence at him.” Indeed, St Mark informs us that our Lord “was amazed at their lack of faith.” Let us not underestimate the significance of our Lord being amazed at his townspeople’s lack of due acceptance of his claims and teaching. If our Lord was amazed, then it is an indication that it was indeed utterly amazing.

The amazing refusal to respond occurred in spite of what they actually saw in his teaching. They beheld an extraordinary wisdom. Many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did the man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!” What then caused them to stumble before the invitation to believe? One senses that it was a simple matter of pride. They could not bring themselves humbly to acknowledge that here was one before whom they must bow spiritually, and follow with a profound faith. Their attitude and behaviour towards their long-standing relative, friend, acquaintance and townsman would have to change to one of a profound respect. They would have to place their faith in him. The problem was pride, it would seem. This attachment to sin was the hidden obstacle. In view of all that our Lord had done elsewhere, in view of his revelation of himself in his teaching before them on his return, our Lord found it amazing that their response was so very poor. It seems he made no progress in his own town, including among at least several of his own kin, because Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” The great exception, of course, was his own all-holy mother. The result of this culpable lack of faith was that our Lord was not able to do in Nazareth what he had already done in so many other places in Galilee. “He was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them” (Mark 6: 1-6). So we have in our Gospel text today an instance of faith in Christ being refused. The heart of man is a great mystery. It can respond to the light, or it can freely refuse it. The issue is, what is the heart of man attached to? Is it attached to God, or to other things for the sake of self?

Let us place ourselves before Christ our Lord as he teaches in the synagogue of Nazareth, taking our place with his disciples and most especially in the company of his greatest and most perfect disciple, his blessed mother. Let us look on him as he teaches. Let us accept his teaching wholeheartedly as teaching coming from God’s Messiah who is also God’s only begotten Son. He is the light of every man, the light of the world, and the light of my life. Jesus Christ is Lord.

                                                                                                                 (E.J.Tyler)


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“Where did he get all this?” –   (Mark 6:1-6)
              Christ, the new Adam   Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI] (Einführung in das Christentum)

“I believe in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord.” (Creed) Christian faith recognizes in Jesus of Nazareth the exemplary human being. This seems to be the best way to understand Saint Paul’s idea that Christ is “the last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45). But it is precisely as the exemplary human being, as the classic example of the human being, that Jesus transcends the limits of what is human; only by means of that is he the truly exemplary human being. For the human being is truly himself to the extent to which he is with another. He finds himself only in leaving himself; he only finds himself through another… And in the final analysis, the human being is geared towards… the one who is truly other, towards God… He is entirely himself when he ceases to remain in himself, to be turned in on himself, to affirm himself, when he is nothing but opening to God.

But so that the human being might become fully human, God must become man. It is only then that… the passage from the “animal” to the “spiritual” is definitively accomplished. Then, the earthly being, looking beyond himself, can say “You” to God. It is this opening to the Infinite which constitutes the human being… And this is the one who is the most human, the true Adam, the one who is the most unlimited, who not only enters into contact with the Infinite, but who is one with him: Jesus Christ…

If the true essence of the human being as God imagined him is manifested fully in Jesus, he cannot be destined to form an absolute exception, a curiosity… His existence has to do with the whole of humanity… He is destined to gather together in himself the whole human race. He must “draw to himself” all of humanity (Jn 12:32) so as to form what Saint Paul calls the “Body of  Christ”.
                                                                                            (Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)

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In the hour of temptation, practise the virtue of Hope, saying: For my rest and enjoyment I have the whole of eternity ahead of me. Here and now, full of Faith, I will earn my rest through work and win my joy through suffering. What will Love be like in Heaven!

Better still, you should practise your Love by saying: What I want is to please my God, my Love, by doing his Will in all things, as though there were neither reward nor punishment —simply to please him.
                                                                    (The Forge, no.1008)

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               What are the essential elements of the sacrament of Reconciliation?
The essential elements are two: the acts of the penitent who comes to repentance through the action of the Holy Spirit, and the absolution of the priest who in the name of Christ grants forgiveness and determines the ways of making satisfaction.
(CCC 1440-1449)
                      (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.302)
 

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