February1 2009

From Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time to Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Click on any date to go to the Thought for that Day

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
4th week Ordinary Time B-1	1	2 or Presentation of the Lord	3	4	5	6	7
5th week Ordinary Time B-1	8	9	10	11	12	13	14

Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for February 2009 is: "That the pastors of the Church may always be docile to the action of the Holy Spirit in their teaching and in their service to God's people".

His mission intention for February 2009 is: "That the Church in Africa may find adequate ways and means to promote

reconciliation, justice and peace efficaciously, according to the indications of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops".

Prayers this week: Save us, Lord our God, and gather us together from the nations, that we may proclaim your holy name and glory in your praise. (Psalm 105: 47)

Lord our God, help us to love you with all our hearts and to love all men as you love them. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

(February 1) St. Ansgar (801-865)
The “apostle of the north” (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to become a saint—and he did. He became a Benedictine at Corbie, France, where he had been educated. Three years later, when the king of Denmark became a convert, Ansgar went to that country for three years of missionary work, without noticeable success. Sweden asked for Christian missionaries, and he went there, suffering capture by pirates and other hardships on the way. Less than two years later he was recalled, to become abbot of New Corbie (Corvey) and bishop of Hamburg. The pope made him legate for the Scandinavian missions. Funds for the northern apostolate stopped with Emperor Louis’s death. After 13 years’ work in Hamburg, Ansgar saw it burned to the ground by invading Northmen; Sweden and Denmark returned to paganism. He directed new apostolic activities in the North, travelling to Denmark and being instrumental in the conversion of another king. By the strange device of casting lots, the king of Sweden allowed the Christian missionaries to return. Ansgar’s biographers remark that he was an extraordinary preacher, a humble and ascetical priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table. He died peacefully at Bremen, Germany, without achieving his wish to be a martyr. Sweden became pagan again after his death, and remained so until the coming of missionaries two centuries later. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9; 1 Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28

They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were

amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are— the Holy One of God! Be quiet! said Jesus sternly. Come out of him! The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, What is this? A new teaching— and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him. News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. (Mark 1:21-28)

If we compare the activity of Jesus with that of any of the prophets before him, there are many features which stand out as distinctive to our Lord. Today’s Gospel passage sets forth one of them. There is no book of the Old Testament and no prophet who dealt so continually with demons as did our Lord in his public ministry. Yes, Satan makes his appearance right at the beginning in the Book of Genesis when he successfully tempts Eve to rebel against God’s command. Again, in the book of Job

Satan challenges God to put Job to the test and prove that he loves him. But such references are sparse. By contrast, at the commencement of our Lord’s public ministry all this changes. Just as at the appearance of man in the book of Genesis Satan enters the scene to tempt him, so too at the appearance of Christ following his baptism Satan enters the scene to tempt him in the desert. With that encounter over, the demons appear to be everywhere during our Lord’s public ministry. In our Gospel scene today (Mark 1:21-28) one of them openly challenges our Lord and seems to try to disconcert him by revealing him for who he really is. The demon comes through as being childish, thinking that in revealing the secret about Christ being the Holy One of God he will leave Christ inconvenienced. But the point I am making here is that the demonic is very real in the Gospels. Satan and his devils can be said to be a distinctive feature of our Lord’s public ministry and teaching. No prophet or leader of the people before him had so explicit a combat with so many demons, with the Prince of them all also involved. No prophet taught so explicitly about Hell and the demonic. At the Last Supper with only a few hours before his Passion left, our Lord stated that the Prince of this world was on his way. It all means that one of the important features of the teaching of Christ is the fact of Satan and Hell. Christ came to overthrow the dominion of Satan, and we who take our stand with Christ are part of that implacable combat.

How came there to be the demonic at all? How came there to be a Hell? It is impossible that a good God, a God infinitely wise and holy — the Holy One — could have created personal beings with a propensity for evil. From the hand of God came persons created in his image and likeness. From all eternity God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were united in an unimaginable communion of love. Due to their goodness they, the three divine Persons, chose to create — in the first instance, a world of spiritual persons. The Angels came forth from the creative act of God as good, resplendent in their gifts and naturally inclined to the love and service of their Maker. At the heart of their personhood was the power to choose freely. It was their dignity and their glory as Angels, made in the image of the all-Holy One. But with that freedom came a profound responsibility to choose as they should. Some did not so choose. Rather, they chose to refuse obedience to God. They chose to be independent of him and, as it were, other gods. The divine Being depends on no one and on nothing — and this is what the devils wanted. They wanted to be their own masters. The effect was catastrophic, and, we might say, cataclysmic in its disturbance of Heaven. They became an army in opposition and were thrown out as an abomination to the holiness of God and those Angels who acknowledged him. Their hatred of God, conceived in heaven itself, was irrevocable and eternal. It is the most awesome thing we can imagine and surely it shows forth the horror and devastation of sin. Their decision gave rise to the existence of Hell, and because of their unyielding opposition to God, Hell can never be shut down. It will remain a vast sea of flames, suffering and hopelessness without end. This final holocaust has its origins in the choice of some Angels to turn away from obedience to God. These hate-filled spirits have ever since the dawn of human history tried to associate human beings in their revolt against God. Satan had a spectacular victory over our first parents, and Christ came to break the power of sin and Satan, and to send him packing back into Hell.

We must take account of these ultimate realities. Christ by his obedience unto death has gained for us a sure victory over the Evil One and his black-hearted associates. There are two Banners, two Standards, held aloft. They are in deadly opposition, and though the one has the victory already, the other refuses all recognition. The one is that of Christ, the other that of Satan. What will it be? That is the question of every day. Let us choose for Christ and be thorough-going in our choice. Let us take up his cross and follow in his footsteps to the grand victory.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.391-395 (Fall of the angels)

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Gluttony is an ugly vice. Don't you feel a bit amused and even disgusted, when you see a group of dignified gentlemen, seated solemnly around a table, stuffing fatty substances into their stomachs, with an air of ritual, as if that were an end in itself?
(The Way, no.679)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Fourteenth Chapter Avoiding Rash Judgment

TURN your attention upon yourself and beware of judging the deeds of other men, for in judging others a man labours vainly, often makes mistakes, and easily sins; whereas, in judging and taking stock of himself he does something that is always profitable.

We frequently judge that things are as we wish them to be, for through personal feeling true perspective is easily lost.

If God were the sole object of our desire, we should not be disturbed so easily by opposition to our opinions. But often something lurks within or happens from without to draw us along with it.

Many, unawares, seek themselves in the things they do. They seem even to enjoy peace of mind when things happen according to their wish and liking, but if otherwise than they desire, they are soon disturbed and saddened. Differences of feeling and opinion often divide friends and acquaintances, even those who are religious and devout.

An old habit is hard to break, and no one is willing to be led farther than he can see.

If you rely more upon your intelligence or industry than upon the virtue of submission to Jesus Christ, you will hardly, and in any case slowly, become an enlightened man. God wants us to be completely subject to Him and, through ardent love, to rise above all human wisdom.

(February 2) The Presentation of the Lord
At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honour of his

Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. (Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship.) This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification. The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas. At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.
In Luke’s account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Early references to the Roman feast dub it the feast of St. Simeon, the old man who burst into a song of joy which the Church still sings at day’s end. “Christ himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from him.... But how do we receive it, how do we make it shine? ...The candle tells us: by burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in silent sacrifice” (Paul VI). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture: Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40 or 2:22-32

When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem

to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: a pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. (Luke 2:22-32)

Our Gospel scene today, which we contemplate every time we pray the second Joyful mystery of the Rosary, is that of the child Jesus being brought to the Temple of Jerusalem to be consecrated to the Lord. It was written in the Law of Israel that every firstborn male was to be presented to the Lord in acknowledgment of the sovereign right of God to the love and service of man. But in the case of Christ’s presentation in the Temple, it was an act that involved us too. It was the beginning of his life of

consecration to the Father as the great representative both of the chosen people and of mankind. But I suggest that here we contemplate the scene from a slightly different perspective. The Child is brought to the Temple and as we read, the Holy Spirit was at that point active in the heart of the righteous and devout Simeon. He is moved to recognize that the fulfilment of his life’s hopes had arrived. His life had been marked by a burning hope. He had hoped to see with his own eyes the promised salvation from God and in some way he had been assured that he would. St Luke tells us that “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the promised Messiah.” Now the fulfilment of his grand hope had come. He was now, at this point, led by the Holy Spirit to go into the Temple courts when Mary and Joseph and the Child had arrived. Simeon approached them and taking the Child into his arms he praised God for having seen the fulfilment of his life’s hopes. He could now depart this life in peace. He had seen the one who was the glory of Israel and the light of the world. The Gospel scene of the presentation of the Lord presents us with all the hopes of Israel as represented by Simeon and their realization in Christ’s coming. Simeon’s action and testimony bear witness to the truth that Jesus Christ is the hope of man.

There are those who say that Jesus Christ is not the hope of man. If anything he disappoints our hopes. Usually this position is founded on temporal hopes. It is a position which asks from a Messiah a different and better world, a world better in the way they themselves require. They look around and, in their view, see a world no different than what it was, and even in some respects worse. Jesus, then, is no Messiah. The universal peace has not come. It is basically the position of so many in our Lord’s time. Let us not here give space to a discussion of how in so many ways the world has changed for the better as a result of Christ’s coming. Rather let us look ahead to the final fulfillment of man’s hopes in Christ. Simeon rejoiced to see the Child, knowing that the Kingdom of God had arrived in him, and that gradually, as the future unfolded, this Kingdom would reach its fulfillment. How, he did not know. Precisely when, he did not know. But come it would. So too with us ever since the declaration of Simeon. Christ is the hope of man but the complete fulfillment of these hopes is yet to come. Eyes have not seen nor ears heard of what God has prepared for the End, in Christ. Just as the Child Jesus came into the Temple at his presentation, so he will come at the End. He will come at the End to judge the living and the dead and then the universe itself, freed from its bondage to decay will share in the glory of Christ. It will be a new heaven and a new earth. Thus will the fullness of the Kingdom of God come about, that Kingdom which made its first public appearance, we might say, in Christ’s presentation in the Temple and his encounter with the elderly Simeon. It will be the definitive realization of the saving plan of God which is to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. God will then be all in all.

Let us place ourselves in the Gospel scene today (Luke 2:22-32) in which the child Jesus is presented to God and, in Simeon, to the world. Simeon speaks of Israel and the Gentiles. Let us regard him as representing the chosen people and all humanity in his welcome to Christ. He welcomes Christ as the hope of mankind. In Jesus is realized the promised fulfillment of man’s hopes. But this realization is not instantaneous. Simeon understands that the work and efficacy of Christ lies in the future. We too understand that the full realization of Christ’s redeeming work lies in the future when he comes again. Then there will be a new heavens and a new earth, and every tear will be wiped away. Let us then give ourselves over to the work of Christ here, now, and daily. We have much to hope for.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.1042-1050 (The Hope of the New Heaven & the New Earth)

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At meals don't speak about food: that's vulgar and unworthy of you. Speak about something noble — of the soul or of the mind — and you will have dignified this physical duty.
(The Way, no.680)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Fifteenth Chapter Works Done in Charity

NEVER do evil for anything in the world, or for the love of any man. For one who is in need, however, a good work may at times be purposely left undone or changed for a better one. This is not the omission of a good deed but rather its improvement.

Without charity external work is of no value, but anything done in charity, be it ever so small and trivial, is entirely fruitful inasmuch as God weighs the love with which a man acts rather than the deed itself.

He does much who loves much. He does much who does a thing well. He does well who serves the common good rather than his own interests.

Now, that which seems to be charity is oftentimes really sensuality, for man's own inclination, his own will, his hope of reward, and his self-interest, are motives seldom absent. On the contrary, he who has true and perfect charity seeks self in nothing, but searches all things for the glory of God. Moreover, he envies no man, because he desires no personal pleasure nor does he wish to rejoice in himself; rather he desires the greater glory of God above all things. He ascribes to man nothing that is good but attributes it wholly to God from Whom all things proceed as from a fountain, and in Whom all the blessed shall rest as their last end and fruition.

If man had but a spark of true charity he would surely sense that all the things of earth are full of vanity!

Scripture today: 2 Samuel 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13; Psalm 3:2-7; Mark 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples crossed the sea to the country of the Gerasenes. As he stepped out of the boat, immediately there came to him from tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He had been dwelling in the tombs and no one could now restrain him, not even with chains. Having been often bound with fetters and chains he had burst the chains and broken the fetters in pieces. No one could tame him. He was always day and night among the tombs in the mountains crying and cutting himself with stones. Seeing Jesus afar off he ran and reverenced him. Crying out with a loud voice he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God that you not torment me.” For he said to him, “Go out of the man, you unclean spirit.” And he asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” He besought him repeatedly that he would not drive him away out of the country. There was there near the mountain a great herd of swine, feeding. The spirits besought him saying, “Send us into the swine that we may enter them.” Jesus immediately gave them leave. The unclean spirits going out entered the swine, and the two thousand or so herd with great violence was swept headlong into the sea and there were drowned. Those who looked after them fled and told everything in the city and in the fields. The inhabitants went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been possessed sitting, clothed, and mentally recovered, they were afraid. Those who had witnessed everything recounted it to all, explaining what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. At that, they began asking him to leave their district. When he went into the boat, the one who had been possessed began to implore Jesus that he might remain with him. But Jesus would not permit it, and told him, “Go to your house and to your friends, and tell them how great have been the things the Lord has done for you and his mercy towards you.” He went his way and began to broadcast in the Decapolis the great things Jesus had done for him. Everyone marveled. (Mark 5:1-20)

Christ and Satan Early in January 2010 Discovery Channel announced an “unprecedented” collaboration with the Vatican on a new television series entitled “The Exorcist Files,” which was to explore cases of demonic possession investigated by the Catholic Church. Discovery is an American satellite and cable TV channel providing documentaries that are focused primarily on popular science,

technology, and history. In the U.S., the programs for the main Discovery network are primarily on reality-based television themes, such as speculative investigation (with shows such as Myth Busters, Unsolved History, and Best Evidence). They also feature documentaries specifically aimed at families and younger audiences. It is currently the most widely distributed cable network in the United States, and reaches 431 million homes in 170 countries. Currently, Discovery Communications offers 29 network brands in 33 languages. In a number of countries, Discovery's channels are available on digital satellite platforms with multiple language soundtracks or subtitles including Spanish, German, Russian, Czech, Hindi, and numerous other languages. In Australia, for instance, it is available on Foxtel, Optus TV and AUSTAR. In respect to that series “Exorcist Files,” any formal “collaboration” was quickly denied by the relevant Vatican department, but it was clear that Discovery did plan at least to work with Catholic priests who were involved in the ministry of exorcism all over the world. I introduce this information about Discovery to show that a media outlet of massive proportions took great interest in the Church’s combat with the demonic. All of this indicates a couple of points of significance. Firstly, in a secular age it is yet another sign of the modern fascination with things demonic, and the implicit acceptance of their reality. Secondly, it is also a sign of a general acceptance that it is the Catholic Church which is the religious power which can deal formally with Satan and the demons. If there is to be a show on exorcism, it is a Catholic priest who features as the exorcist. It seems to be yet another indication of the unspoken conviction that if Jesus Christ has any formal and public representative, it is the Catholic Church.

But taking the point a step further, it manifests the general acceptance that if Satan and his kingdom exists, he has but one Opponent who can overcome him — the person of Jesus Christ. I am not aware that there has ever been a presentation (in drama or in any other genre) of a conflict between Satan and, say, Mahomet — and of Mahomet being shown as the one who routinely defeats him. Nor is there anything like this shown in Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism, or whatever. The one figure in history who is accepted as being victorious in multiple encounters with Satan is Jesus Christ. Further, if a modern problem with Satan exists, then it is shown to have its formal answer in Jesus Christ — and Jesus Christ is perceived as being alive and present in the power of the Catholic Church to exorcise, a power exercised in his name. Let all of this introduce us to our Gospel passage today (Mark 5:1-20), which is one of numerous encounters between Christ and the demonic. The foundation of the oft-presented conflict between Christ and Satan is the Gospel account, of which we have a detailed instance here. The striking thing that is immediately noticed is, firstly, the strength of Satan and his minions. We read that the one possessed “had been dwelling in the tombs and no one could now restrain him, not even with chains. Having been often bound with fetters and chains he had burst the chains and broken the fetters in pieces.” Satan is powerful. This point too is taken up in modern drama. The next thing we notice is that the demonic is utterly weak before Christ. “Seeing Jesus afar off he ran and reverenced him. Crying out with a loud voice he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God that you not torment me.” There is not a single instance in the Gospels of the demons not being utterly subject to Christ’s power. They quail before him, and acknowledge their helplessness. He sovereignly commands them to depart, and this they do. But while this was not difficult for Christ, the work of taking away the sin of the world was. It cost him unimaginable suffering and death, for it meant atoning for the world’s sin. He always was the Conqueror, but he gave it his all.

One of the great practical classics of Christian spirituality is the small manual written by St Ignatius Loyola, entitled The Spiritual Exercises. It has repeatedly received the sanction of the Church as an excellent initiation into the practical living of a generous Christian life. It consists of daily meditations on the Gospel, grouped around some key themes. One central meditation is the Meditation on the Two Standards. On one side of the battle-field is the Standard of Satan, and on the other, the Standard of Christ. We are exhorted to make our choice — for Jesus Christ. Let us make that choice, and live it out in daily life by following the way of Christ — the way of the Cross. This will take us to sanctity and to life everlasting. The other way takes us to everlasting death.

(E.J.Tyler)

(February 3) St. Blase (d. 316)
We know much more about the devotion to St. Blase by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. The Council of Oxford, in 1222, prohibited servile labour in England on Blase’s feast day. The Germans and Slavs hold him in special honour and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual St. Blase blessing for their throats. We know that Bishop Blase was martyred in his episcopal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. The legendary Acts of St. Blase were written 400 years later. According to them Blase was a good bishop, working hard to encourage the spiritual and physical health of his people. Although the Edict of Toleration (311), granting freedom of worship in the Roman Empire, was already five years old, persecution still raged in Armenia. Blase was apparently forced to flee to the back country. There he lived as a hermit in solitude and prayer, but made friends with the wild animals. One day a group of hunters seeking wild animals for the amphitheater stumbled upon Blase’s cave. They were first surprised and then frightened. The bishop was kneeling in prayer surrounded by patiently waiting wolves, lions and bears. As the hunters hauled Blase off to prison, the legend has it, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blase’s command the child was able to cough up the bone. Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia, tried to persuade Blase to sacrifice to pagan idols. The first time Blase refused, he was beaten. The next time he was suspended from a tree and his flesh torn with iron combs or rakes. (English wool combers, who used similar iron combs, took Blase as their patron. They could easily appreciate the agony the saint underwent.) Finally he was beheaded.
Four centuries give ample opportunity for fiction to creep in with fact. Who can be sure how accurate Blase’s biographer was? But biographical details are not essential. Blase is seen as one more example of the power those have who give themselves entirely to Jesus. As Jesus told his apostles at the Last Supper, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). With faith we can follow the lead of the Church in asking for Blase’s protection.
"Through the intercession of St. Blase, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Blessing of St. Blase). (AmericanCatholic.org)

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered round him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. So Jesus

went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, Who touched my clothes? You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered, and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. Your daughter is dead, they said. Why bother the teacher any more? Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, Don't be afraid; just believe. He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep. But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, Talitha koum! (which means, Little girl, I say to you, get up!). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Mark 5: 21-43)

There are details in this long passage from St Mark that bear reflection. The Christian religion has the living person of Jesus as its object, and the Christian is one who knows, loves and serves Jesus. As with each of the Gospels our passage reveals the person of Jesus Christ and it is for this reason that the Gospels are the most important portions of the Sacred

Scriptures. The Gospels more than any other part of Scripture present Christ’s person for our contemplation. Consider how the drama of today’s passage began. "Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. So Jesus went with him." Christ is immersed as man in the human situation. He does not simply utter a healing word from a distance but goes by foot amid the pressing crowd. He is very much a man, subject to the human condition. When he arrives he goes in to where the child, who has just died, lies. But then he acts divinely. At a word, he raises her immediately to life. Get up, he says to her, and immediately she stands up and walks around. There is no mention of a gradual awakening, the eyes opening, a slight stirring, a slow movement, a sitting up with the help of others, finding her feet, and in general a gradual coming to. No, she immediately stands up and walks around. There has been a massive and sudden transformation from death to full life, reminiscent of the immediate change from water to wine at the wedding feast of Cana. The power that this entails and represents is scarcely imaginable. It is a power that is immensely great and that in unseen manner has to extend over all reality. It is the power of God on whom depends all creation and it subsists in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. There is in his person an extraordinary combination of the human and the divine. He lives and operates within and through two natures, the one human and the other divine.

But let us go back a little in this scene to an event that interrupts the sequence of events. Christ is making his way towards the home of the Synagogue official and is pressed on all sides. Quietly without anyone noticing amid all the heaving of the crowds, a hand reaches forth and momentarily holds the edge of Christ’s cloak, and then withdraws. No one sees it happen, no one notices. No one observes whose hand it is. No one hears anything for all the noise. But suddenly Christ stops. He refuses to proceed. He stops and looks around intently to see who had touched his clothes. He asks what probably seemed an absurd question with the throng pressing on him: Who touched me? (Mark 5: 21-43) He kept looking around with his penetrating gaze, scrutinising all the faces before him. He would not proceed till he had found who it was — and perhaps the woman had withdrawn back into the crowd out of sight. There she was, her face hidden among many others, and Christ did not see her till she stepped forward from her obscurity. Drawn to him as to a great magnet, she comes forward to tell the story of her past condition and of her sudden healing. Well now, consider how we have in these very moments an instance of the person of Jesus displaying in extraordinary fashion two modes of being. As man he did not know who had touched him. He looked around in a hard search to discover who it was. Christ was not play acting. He had healed spontaneously as God without knowing as man who was the beneficiary of his divine action. How great is the mystery and the wonder of the Incarnation, of God the Son becoming truly man while remaining truly God. But there is more to be remembered when we think of an incident such as this. For John the Evangelist writes in the Prologue of his Gospel that through him all things were made, and nothing came to be that did not have its being through him. This divine Person who was looking around the crowd to discover who he had instantly and completely healed is the one who moment by moment was at the same time effortlessly sustaining all creation, visible and invisible.

Yes. Consider how he, the Jesus of our Gospel scene, holds in being all things, visible and invisible. This creative and sustaining action was being effected moment by moment during all his life as man, and the healing of the woman who had touched him was but a tiny instance of this constant divine action that issued forth from him. We cannot conceive of such a thing, let alone imagine it adequately. But such is the mighty mystery of Jesus, a mystery beyond compare. Jesus Christ is Lord, and we who are baptized in him are called to be his friends. Let us love him then!

(E.J.Tyler)

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The day you leave the table without having done some small mortification you have eaten like a pagan.
(The Way, no.681)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

UNTIL God ordains otherwise, a man ought to bear patiently whatever he cannot correct in himself and in others. Consider it better thus -- perhaps to try your patience and to test you, for without such patience and trial your merits are of little account. Nevertheless, under such difficulties you should pray that God will consent to help you bear them calmly.

If, after being admonished once or twice, a person does not amend, do not argue with him but commit the whole matter to God that His will and honour may be furthered in all His servants, for God knows well how to turn evil to good. Try to bear patiently with the defects and infirmities of others, whatever they may be, because you also have many a fault which others must endure.

If you cannot make yourself what you would wish to be, how can you bend others to your will? We want them to be perfect, yet we do not correct our own faults. We wish them to be severely corrected, yet we will not correct ourselves. Their great liberty displeases us, yet we would not be denied what we ask. We would have them bound by laws, yet we will allow ourselves to be restrained in nothing. Hence, it is clear how seldom we think of others as we do of ourselves.

If all were perfect, what should we have to suffer from others for God's sake? But God has so ordained, that we may learn to bear with one another's burdens, for there is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough. Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man's virtue is best revealed in time of adversity -- adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.

(February 4) St. Joseph of Leonissa (1556-1612)
Joseph avoided the safe compromises by which people sometimes undercut the gospel. Born at Leonissa in the Kingdom of Naples, Joseph joined the Capuchins in his hometown in 1573. Denying himself hearty meals and comfortable quarters, he prepared for ordination and a life of preaching. In 1587 he went to Constantinople to take care of the Christian galley slaves working under Turkish masters. Imprisoned for this work, he was warned not to resume it on his release. He did and was again imprisoned and then condemned to death. Miraculously freed, he returned to Italy where he preached to the poor and reconciled feuding families as well as warring cities which had been at odds for years. He was canonized in 1746.
In one of his sermons, Joseph says: "Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel. This is what St. Paul says to the Corinthians, ‘Clearly you are a letter of Christ which I have delivered, a letter written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh in the heart’ (2 Corinthians 3:3). Our heart is the parchment; through my ministry the Holy Spirit is the writer because ‘my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe’ (Psalm 45:1)." (AmericanCatholic.org)

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

Jesus left there and went to his home town, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the

synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. Where did this man get these things? they asked. What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us? And they took offence at him. Jesus said to them, Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honour. He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:1-6)

The first thing portrayed in our Gospel scene today is the perception by the people of Nazareth of something of the grandeur of Jesus. He arrives back in his home town, the locale of some thirty years of residence. His relatives and associates and friends from childhood live there. We read in other parts of the Gospels (such as in John) of certain persons with whom, humanly, our Lord

had a special friendship. We are told that he loved Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. These three were not part of the Twelve, of course, and yet he had a very special friendship with them. We read elsewhere that he said that those who do the will of his heavenly Father are his brother, sister and mother. We may presume that he had special and long-standing friends at Nazareth. Among his relatives — though not necessarily living at Nazareth — were some who were among his disciples. St Paul refers to James the brother of the Lord. So he returns to the scene of his life up to the beginning of his public ministry. His fame has gone ahead of him and he arrives back with disciples about him. The town had not seen all this in him over those years. He had suddenly emerged in Israel as a man of great religious leadership and power, and this was confirmed on the first Sabbath day of his arrival back. He went into the Synagogue and taught, and “many who heard him were amazed.” He showed forth extraordinary wisdom and a wonderful power in speaking. St John writes in his Gospel that at Cana in Galilee he had changed water into wine and in this way had let his glory be seen. So too in Mark’s account the townspeople of Nazareth were seeing now something of his glory, glory they had never suspected during those years of their association with him. Their amazement tells us of the grandeur of our Lord which they were now coming to see in him. However, it also tells us of his hiddenness during those years prior to his public ministry. Let us consider this hiddenness a little. It tells us of the humility and poverty of spirit of the Son of God.

There had in the past been moments of relatively public manifestation. At Christ’s very birth heaven had revealed the fact and its significance to humble shepherds in the hills of Bethlehem. Wise men from the East had been led to the Child to render him homage. At his presentation in the Temple the Holy Spirit had revealed him to Simeon and the prophetess Anna. His extraordinary wisdom had been revealed to the doctors of the Law when at the age of twelve he stayed behind in Jerusalem to listen to and engage with them. But apart from these special moments our Lord during his years at Nazareth lived in obscurity. This is shown by the words of his townsmen on hearing him speak so impressively. “Where did this man get these things? they asked. What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:1-6). They knew him as the carpenter-builder of the town. They had seen him work and undoubtedly his work had been excellent. They knew his mother Mary so well from long observation. They knew his relatives James, Joseph, Judas and Simon, and several women among them besides. Nothing about him had seemed extraordinary in the way that was the case now. All this was illustrative of the choice of poverty and lowliness by the Son of God. St Paul writes that though he possessed the glory of God he did not cling to it but set it aside, becoming as we men are and humbler still, even to death on the cross. Christ’s obscurity in Nazareth was a long instance of this pattern. God is humble. God who was rich chose to become poor so that we might be rich. Let us pray for the grace to follow in Christ’s footsteps! Saint after saint has powerfully perceived this point and has chosen to follow Christ in his path of poverty and humility, poverty not only material but poverty in fame and in so many other aspects of human life.

The path of evangelical poverty and humility which Christ so decisively chose is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the one who follows in the footsteps of Christ. It is a poverty primarily of spirit, a detachment from the things of this world so as to be free to follow and love Christ totally. It is a great grace, and one to be prayed for and lived by. Let us pray for the grace not to encumber our hearts with the attachment to the things of this world, but to be totally attached to Christ. The hidden years of Christ’s life at Nazareth have much to teach us in this.

(E.J.Tyler)

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You generally eat more than you need. And that fullness, which often causes you physical heaviness and discomfort, benumbs your mind and renders you unfit to taste supernatural treasures.

What a fine virtue, even for this earth, temperance is!
(The Way, no.682)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Seventeenth Chapter Monastic Life

IF YOU wish peace and concord with others, you must learn to break your will in many things. To live in monasteries or religious communities, to remain there without complaint, and to persevere faithfully till death is no small matter. Blessed indeed is he who there lives a good life and there ends his days in happiness.

If you would persevere in seeking perfection, you must consider yourself a pilgrim, an exile on earth. If you would become a religious, you must be content to seem a fool for the sake of Christ. Habit and tonsure change a man but little; it is the change of life, the complete mortification of passions that endow a true religious.

He who seeks anything but God alone and the salvation of his soul will find only trouble and grief, and he who does not try to become the least, the servant of all, cannot remain at peace for long.

You have come to serve, not to rule. You must understand, too, that you have been called to suffer and to work, not to idle and gossip away your time. Here men are tried as gold in a furnace. Here no man can remain unless he desires with all his heart to humble himself before God.

(February 5) Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr (d. 251?)
As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in 251. Legend has it that Agatha, like Agnes, was arrested as a Christian, tortured and sent to a house of prostitution to be mistreated. She was preserved from being violated, and was later put to death. She is claimed as the patroness of both Palermo and Catania. The year after her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mt. Etna was attributed to her intercession. As a result, apparently, people continued to ask her prayers for protection against fire.
When Agatha was arrested, the legend says, she prayed: “Jesus Christ, Lord of all things! You see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am—you alone. I am your sheep; make me worthy to overcome the devil.” And in prison: “Lord, my creator, you have protected me since I was in the cradle. You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Now receive my spirit.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24; Psalm 48:2-4, 9-11; Mark 6:7-13

Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions: Take nothing for the journey except a staff— no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them. They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (Mark 6:7-13)

It is natural and good that a young person has aspirations for his future. We might ask that young person what he hopes to be or do in life, and one of various answers may be given. He may hope to be a doctor, a dentist, a teacher, a researcher or academic. He may hope to embark on a military career, or engage in politics or the law or commerce. These are all very worthy forms of service

and are ways of doing great good in the world. But now, when God saw the state of the world and conceived (from all eternity) the plan to send his divine Son among us as man, what path of work did he map out for himself? What would be his chosen way of doing good to mankind and the world? For instance, would he choose a political career? After all, we all would love to see an outstanding politician leading the country or the world. What great good could be done by such a person! Alternatively would it be a military path, not simply to gain conquests but to establish a wonderful earthly kingdom? Imagine God become man as president, prime minister, or even temporal ruler of the world — a Caesar for the nations! If God wished his divine Son to make the world a better place, and were he to ask advice of men as to how to go about this, undoubtedly the paths just mentioned would have been suggested to him. But no. The mission of Christ in this world involved none of these even though many at the time wished it were. When our Lord fed the thousands with a handful of food they wanted to make him king. They wanted a Messiah who would bring an ideal temporal kingdom, a utopia of happiness in this world. At the threshold of his public ministry there was an encounter between Christ and Satan. Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world — if he would but worship him. It would seem that Satan offered him political, military and social supremacy over the world. But no, Jesus would have none of it. The service he came to give was totally different and far superior.

At a certain point Julius Caesar conceived the idea of a supreme personal rule. So did Alexander the Great. So did Genghis Khan. So did Napoleon Bonaparte. Whether any of them envisaged being ruler of the entire world is another matter. But Christ did set out to establish a world-wide Kingdom, one that would never end and in which he would be the universal King. We might also say that he gathered an incipient army with its officers. In our Gospel passage today (Mark 6:7-13) we see him, having selected and in the process of forming his generals — the Twelve — he sent them out to engage in the initial campaign. When he rose from the dead he charged his disciples to go to the whole world and make of all the nations his followers, for he had been given all authority in heaven and on earth. The book of Revelation speaks of him as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is a King and he has a Kingdom. These expressions are profoundly Scriptural. His Kingdom is that which was promised to the line of David, and as the Angel said to Mary prior to Christ’s conception, this kingdom will never end. Of course to set Christ’s kingship in the category merely of the kings of this world is utterly inappropriate because as he said to Pontius Pilate his kingdom is not of this world. But his plan was to conquer all hearts, then and now. But look at the method! It involved poverty and suffering. It involved speaking the word and not wielding the sword. Its message was to repent so as to receive the news of Christ in faith. This then, inasmuch as it is the work of Christ himself, is the supreme service for mankind. Those whom he calls to associate with him in this work are engaged in the work of all works, the most valuable thing to which one can dedicate one’s life. If any young person who is baptized into Christ is asked what he would like to do in life, the very best answer he could give is to dedicate himself to the work of Christ, either formally or within a particular secular profession.

As we read of Christ calling the Twelve and sending them out to represent him by their preaching and their authority, let us imagine ourselves likewise being called by Christ. He calls by his word and he did so at our baptism. This call was renewed and deepened at our Confirmation and is sustained by hearing the word of Christ as it is proclaimed to us by the Church, and by receiving Christ in the Sacraments. We as members of the Church which is founded on the Apostles are called to share in his divine mission, just as they did but of course in a manner appropriate to our particular vocation. Christ’s mission is the supreme service to be offered to the world, for it serves the world’s salvation. Let us treasure this calling we have received, and strive every day to fulfill it.

(E.J.Tyler)

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I see you, Christian gentleman — that is what you say you are — kissing an image, mumbling a vocal prayer, crying out against those who attack the Church of God..., and even frequenting the holy Sacraments.

But I don't see you making any sacrifice, or avoiding certain conversations of a 'worldly' nature (I could with justice use another term), or being generous towards those in need or towards that Church of Christ, or putting up with a failing in one of your brothers, or checking your pride for the sake of the common good, or getting rid of your tight cloak of selfishness, or... so many things more!

I see you... I don't see you... And yet you say that you are a Christian gentleman? What a poor idea you have of Christ!
(The Way, no.683)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Eighteenth Chapter The Example Set Us by the Holy Fathers

CONSIDER the lively examples set us by the saints, who possessed the light of true perfection and religion, and you will see how little, how nearly nothing, we do. What, alas, is our life, compared with theirs? The saints and friends of Christ served the Lord in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in work and fatigue, in vigils and fasts, in prayers and holy meditations, in persecutions and many afflictions. How many and severe were the trials they suffered -- the Apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all the rest who willed to follow in the footsteps of Christ! They hated their lives on earth that they might have life in eternity.

How strict and detached were the lives the holy hermits led in the desert! What long and grave temptations they suffered! How often were they beset by the enemy! What frequent and ardent prayers they offered to God! What rigorous fasts they observed! How great their zeal and their love for spiritual perfection! How brave the fight they waged to master their evil habits! What pure and straightforward purpose they showed toward God! By day they laboured and by night they spent themselves in long prayers. Even at work they did not cease from mental prayer. They used all their time profitably; every hour seemed too short for serving God, and in the great sweetness of contemplation, they forgot even their bodily needs.

They renounced all riches, dignities, honours, friends, and associates. They desired nothing of the world. They scarcely allowed themselves the necessities of life, and the service of the body, even when necessary, was irksome to them. They were poor in earthly things but rich in grace and virtue. Outwardly destitute, inwardly they were full of grace and divine consolation. Strangers to the world, they were close and intimate friends of God. To themselves they seemed as nothing, and they were despised by the world, but in the eyes of God they were precious and beloved. They lived in true humility and simple obedience; they walked in charity and patience, making progress daily on the pathway of spiritual life and obtaining great favour with God.

They were given as an example for all religious, and their power to stimulate us to perfection ought to be greater than that of the lukewarm to tempt us to laxity.

How great was the fervour of all religious in the beginning of their holy institution! How great their devotion in prayer and their rivalry for virtue! What splendid discipline flourished among them! What great reverence and obedience in all things under the rule of a superior! The footsteps they left behind still bear witness that they indeed were holy and perfect men who fought bravely and conquered the world.

Today, he who is not a transgressor and who can bear patiently the duties which he has taken upon himself is considered great. How lukewarm and negligent we are! We lose our original fervour very quickly and we even become weary of life from laziness! Do not you, who have seen so many examples of the devout, fall asleep in the pursuit of virtue!

(February 6) Saint Paul Miki, martyr, and his companions, martyrs (d. 1597)

Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, killing hundreds of thousands. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children—all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his Church. Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: “The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”
When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Hebrews13:1-8; Psalm 27:1, 3, 5, 8b-9abc; Mark 6:14-29

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him. Others said, He is Elijah. And still others claimed, He is a

prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago. But when Herod heard this, he said, John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead! For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you. And he promised her with an oath, Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom. She went out and said to her mother, What shall I ask for? The head of John the Baptist, she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. (Mark 6: 14-29)

One of the great modern hobbies is family history. Large numbers of people are fascinated by their ancestry. An intriguing question about all this is, just what element of their family history do they find so fascinating? After all, the overwhelming number of persons in their ancestry are ordinary and in no way distinguished. I think that in some cases the most fascinating (though not

the most important) element it is not so much the individuals making up their ancestry but the location where they lived their lives. It could be a certain part of England, or a certain location in Australia which has riveted the imagination of the researcher because, perhaps, of its beauty. That location is the arena of the family saga. Without perhaps realizing it, the researcher in his imagination gazes constantly on the locations within which the action of the generations is played out. Be all that as it may, let us in our mind’s eye gaze on the land of Palestine, the promised land to which Abraham was called and on which the chosen people of God played out its history. Let our mind’s eye rove over the centuries as we gaze on that holy land, that land of so unique an interaction between God and a special people. That location is the setting of the great drama. What are the fundamental issues at work in this great story, issues that are recurring time and again like the ebb and flow of the tide along the shore? The issues are, good and evil, God and sin. There is ever a struggle in process. God is contending for man, and the sin in the heart of man — like a serpent in its lair — is at times receding and at times advancing. This people of God’s predilection is set apart to bring salvation to the world. Finally the time has come and John the Precursor appears. He is taken, and as with Elijah and Elisha, the mantle passes to the One to whom he pointed, the Messiah. But the struggle remains and will continue till the end of the world. It is the struggle between good and evil, God and sin, and man must choose. God will be the victor. In our Gospel passage today we see these very issues being played out. Sin, like a grand serpent, raises its head and strikes. The Precursor is left dead, the mantle passes, and the struggle goes on.

John the Precursor has been arrested for his prophetic denunciation of Herod’s marital situation. One Gospel has it that Herod wanted to imprison John, while our Gospel today from Mark tells us that it was mainly because of Herodias whom Herod had married. Mark records Peter’s recollection, and presumably it means that while Herod imprisoned John willingly, it was Herodias who was the primary instigator and force behind the arrest. The passage directs our gaze on these personalities and they assuredly represent the sin to which I have been referring. There is also the black spirit behind the drama, and that is Satan who hates the holy Baptist who had been preparing the people for the far holier Messiah. The Fiend has no handle on John. All he can hope to do is have him destroyed, and Satan, as Christ said of him, is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Herod has a kind of superstitious awe of John but he is weak and very sensual, proud, vain and childish in his boasting and bravado. He is ensnared in his desire for human respect. Christ later called him a fox and refused to speak to him during his Passion. Herod provides one figure of sin. But look at the other figure as presented in our Gospel passage today (Mark 6: 14-29). I refer to Herodias. Her hatred of John was intense and implacable. There is no sensitivity to the holiness of John, as there was in Herod. Herod would not accede to the demands of his unlawful wife to do away with him, for John’s goodness in a sense dominated him. Not so Herodias. Her conscience had been utterly corrupted and God and the moral law was absent from her heart. It seems that her daughter, though less wilful perhaps than her mother, had been raised in the likeness of her evil parent. So the chance came when the daughter with her dancing captivated the king and his court. She skipped out to her mother to whom she was attached and skipped back with her terrible request. Her conscience too had gone and sin reigned in her as it did in her mother. The serpent raised its head and struck, and the good man lay dead, a witness to the truth.

The issues characterise the story of the chosen people of God and the story of the world. Across the centuries God and sin are in constant conflict. The conflict reaches its crescendo with the arrival of the Precursor and when he is taken, with the arrival of the Messiah himself. Their witness to the truth unto death is the means of victory. But we too must understand the issues. The issue is, what is it to be? God or sin, good or evil? There are two Standards held aloft, and behind each there is a kingdom, a household, a Leader. Let us choose for Christ and follow his way, allowing no truck with sin. All for Christ, then! Away with Satan, for the victory is the Lord’s. Let us make this the cry of our hearts for every day.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Your talents, your personality, your opportunities... are being wasted: you are not allowed to make full use of them.

Meditate well these words of a spiritual writer: 'The incense offered to God is not wasted. Our Lord is more honoured by the immolation of your talents than by the vain use of them.'
(The Way, no.684)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Nineteenth Chapter The Practices of a Good Religious

THE life of a good religious ought to abound in every virtue so that he is interiorly what to others he appears to be. With good reason there ought to be much more within than appears on the outside, for He who sees within is God, Whom we ought to reverence most highly wherever we are and in Whose sight we ought to walk pure as the angels.

Each day we ought to renew our resolutions and arouse ourselves to fervour as though it were the first day of our religious life. We ought to say: "Help me, O Lord God, in my good resolution and in Your holy service. Grant me now, this very day, to begin perfectly, for thus far I have done nothing."

As our intention is, so will be our progress; and he who desires perfection must be very diligent. If the strong-willed man fails frequently, what of the man who makes up his mind seldom or half-heartedly? Many are the ways of failing in our resolutions; even a slight omission of religious practice entails a loss of some kind.

Just men depend on the grace of God rather than on their own wisdom in keeping their resolutions. In Him they confide every undertaking, for man, indeed, proposes but God disposes, and God's way is not man's. If a habitual exercise is sometimes omitted out of piety or in the interests of another, it can easily be resumed later. But if it be abandoned carelessly, through weariness or neglect, then the fault is great and will prove hurtful. Much as we try, we still fail too easily in many things. Yet we must always have some fixed purpose, especially against things which beset us the most. Our outward and inward lives alike must be closely watched and well ordered, for both are important to perfection.

If you cannot recollect yourself continuously, do so once a day at least, in the morning or in the evening. In the morning make a resolution and in the evening examine yourself on what you have said this day, what you have done and thought, for in these things perhaps you have often offended God and those about you.

Arm yourself like a man against the devil's assaults. Curb your appetite and you will more easily curb every inclination of the flesh. Never be completely unoccupied, but read or write or pray or meditate or do something for the common good. Bodily discipline, however, must be undertaken with discretion and is not to be practiced indiscriminately by everyone.

Devotions not common to all are not to be displayed in public, for such personal things are better performed in private. Furthermore, beware of indifference to community prayer through love of your own devotions. If, however, after doing completely and faithfully all you are bound and commanded to do, you then have leisure, use it as personal piety suggests.

Not everyone can have the same devotion. One exactly suits this person, another that. Different exercises, likewise, are suitable for different times, some for feast days and some again for weekdays. In time of temptation we need certain devotions. For days of rest and peace we need others. Some are suitable when we are sad, others when we are joyful in the Lord.

About the time of the principal feasts good devotions ought to be renewed and the intercession of the saints more fervently implored. From one feast day to the next we ought to fix our purpose as though we were then to pass from this world and come to the eternal holyday.

During holy seasons, finally, we ought to prepare ourselves carefully, to live holier lives, and to observe each rule more strictly, as though we were soon to receive from God the reward of our labours. If this end be deferred, let us believe that we are not well prepared and that we are not yet worthy of the great glory that shall in due time be revealed to us. Let us try, meanwhile, to prepare ourselves better for death.

"Blessed is the servant," says Christ, "whom his master, when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you: he shall make him ruler over all his goods."

(February 7) St. Colette (1381-1447)
Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention. Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21 she began to follow the Third Order Rule and became an anchoress, a woman walled into a room whose only opening was a window into a church. After four years of prayer and penance in this cell, she left it. With the approval and encouragement of the pope, she joined the Poor Clares and reintroduced the primitive Rule of St. Clare in the 17 monasteries she established. Her sisters were known for their poverty—they rejected any fixed income—and for their perpetual fast. Colette’s reform movement spread to other countries and is still thriving today. Colette was canonized in 1807. Colette began her reform during the time of the Great Western Schism (1378-1417) when three men claimed to be pope and thus divided Western Christianity. The 15th century in general was a very difficult one for the Western Church. Abuses long neglected cost the Church dearly in the following century; the prayers of Colette and her followers may have lessened the Church’s troubles in the 16th century. In any case, Colette’s reform indicated the entire Church’s need to follow Christ more closely.
In her spiritual testament, Colette told her sisters: "We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance, and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by his holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation. Amen." (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21; Psalm 23:1-6; Mark 6:30-34

The apostles gathered round Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognised them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. (Mark 6:30-34)

Let us place ourselves in the scene of today’s Gospel. Our Lord had sent his Apostles out on mission. It was their active entry into his work of proclaiming the Kingdom to the House of Israel, and their training experience for the future. They had gone out to preach, to heal, to cast out demons — and in this way to prepare the people for our Lord’s coming. So now they were back and we can imagine them “gathered round Jesus” and reporting to him “all they had done and taught.” Let us notice the ease they felt in

the presence of our Lord and how eager they felt in the high flush of their apprenticeship. Each spoke his piece, and we can imagine our Lord gazing with love and deep interest as each spoke to him. They had experienced power at work in them when they acted in his name. Judas too was among them, giving his account in turn. Christ gazed on him in love too, perceiving the limitations and flaws in his character as with each of them. Within not too long a time he would notice with mounting apprehension that the heart of Judas was secretly turning from him. But there they were, each in turn telling our Lord the story of their work for him. That is an image of what every disciple of Christ ought be doing. Every person in this world has his work to do. We are born to work, and whether we realize it or not, man’s work in life has its origin in the plan and will of God. The Christian knows that his work in life has its origin in the will of Christ. Every day Christ does with us what he did to his Apostles: he sends us out to do the work which by the providence of God and our God-given calling we have ahead of us. He gazes at us as we set out, he is with us during the work of the day, and he wants us to come to him at the end to place in his presence what we have done in his name. All this is to say that the work of man is to be suffused with prayer. Christ is to be the beginning of our work, its constant companion within it, and its end. What the Apostles are seen to be doing in our Gospel passage today each of us ought do in our own way every day.

In another part of the Gospel the people comment on our Lord’s work. They say that he has done all things well. Elsewhere when the leaders of the people attack our Lord for “working” on the Sabbath, which is to say for healing on the Sabbath, Christ replies that inasmuch as his Father is working, so he works too. So work is at the centre of our Lord’s life. He was born for a great work, and we who are likewise born into this world and born again in him by baptism, also have a work to do. Our Gospel passage shows both our Lord’s disciples and himself intensely at work, so much so that “because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place”. That is to say, part and parcel of a life of work is retreating from our work in order to spend time with the divine master of all human work. As mentioned earlier, the Apostles at the end of their mission returned to our Lord to tell him all they had done and taught. But the work still continued at great intensity and our Lord now takes them apart to rest with him awhile. It is a variant of the great pattern that ought mark all human life: work is to be suffused and combined with prayer. But what do we read? “Many who saw them leaving recognised them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things” (Mark 6:30-34). Christ, filled with compassion once again gave himself over to his great work which was the salvation of souls. He had launched a great work in the world, one which would grow into a mighty tree and endure to the end of time. The work would go on, and we all of us are called to be part of it.

With good reason governments place a high priority on generating work for as many citizens as possible. Work is a most fundamental component of human life and is integral to his dignity. But we should think carefully of how our work in life is to be done and what its fundamental components are. Christ is our exemplar and the Gospels reveal how the Christian is to work. He works with Christ and in him, just as the Apostles are shown in our Gospel today to be doing. Let us make Christ the centre of all we do, and whatever we do let us do for the glory of God.

(E.J.Tyler)

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The storm of persecution is good. What is the loss? What is already lost cannot be lost. When the tree is not torn up by the roots — and there is no wind or hurricane that can uproot the tree of the Church — only the dry branches fall. And they... are well fallen.

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Twentieth Chapter The Love of Solitude and Silence

SEEK a suitable time for leisure and meditate often on the favours of God. Leave curiosities alone. Read such matters as bring sorrow to the heart rather than occupation to the mind. If you withdraw yourself from unnecessary talking and idle running about, from listening to gossip and rumours, you will find enough time that is suitable for holy meditation.

Very many great saints avoided the company of men wherever possible and chose to serve God in retirement. "As often as I have been among men," said one writer, "I have returned less a man." We often find this to be true when we take part in long conversations. It is easier to be silent altogether than not to speak too much. To stay at home is easier than to be sufficiently on guard while away. Anyone, then, who aims to live the inner and spiritual life must go apart, with Jesus, from the crowd.

No man appears in safety before the public eye unless he first relishes obscurity. No man is safe in speaking unless he loves to be silent. No man rules safely unless he is willing to be ruled. No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey. No man rejoices safely unless he has within him the testimony of a good conscience.

More than this, the security of the saints was always enveloped in the fear of God, nor were they less cautious and humble because they were conspicuous for great virtues and graces. The security of the wicked, on the contrary, springs from pride and presumption, and will end in their own deception.
(Continuing)

Prayers this week: Come, let us worship the Lord. Let us bow down in the presence of our maker, for he is the Lord our God. (Psalm 94: 6-7)

Father, watch over your family and keep us safe in your care, for all our hope is in you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

(February 8) St. Josephine Bakhita (c. 1868-1947)
For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave but her spirit was always free and eventually that spirit prevailed. Born in

Olgossa in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, Josephine was kidnapped at the age of seven, sold into slavery and given the name Bakhita, which means fortunate. She was re-sold several times, finally in 1883 to Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in Khartoum, Sudan. Two years later he took Josephine to Italy and gave her to his friend Augusto Michieli. Bakhita became babysitter to Mimmina Michieli, whom she accompanied to Venice's Institute of the Catechumens, run by the Canossian Sisters. While Mimmina was being instructed, Josephine felt drawn to the Catholic Church. She was baptized and confirmed in 1890, taking the name Josephine. When the Michielis returned from Africa and wanted to take Mimmina and Josephine back with them, the future saint refused to go. During the ensuing court case, the Canossian sisters and the patriarch of Venice intervened on Josephine's behalf. The judge concluded that since slavery was illegal in Italy, she had actually been free since 1885. Josephine

entered the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa in 1893 and made her profession three years later. In 1902, she was transferred to the city of Schio (northeast of Verona), where she assisted her religious community through cooking, sewing, embroidery and welcoming visitors at the door. She soon became well loved by the children attending the sisters' school and the local citizens. She once said, "Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God!" The first steps toward her beatification began in 1959. She was beatified in 1992 and canonized eight years later.
Josephine's body was mutilated by those who enslaved her, but they could not touch her inner spirit. Her Baptism set her on an eventual path toward asserting her civic freedom and then service to God's people as a Canossian sister. She who worked under many "masters" was finally happy to address God as "master" and carry out everything that she believed to be God's will for her.
During his homily at her canonization Mass in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II said that in St. Josephine Bakhita, "We find a shining advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life inspires not passive acceptance but the firm resolve to work effectively to free girls and women from oppression and violence, and to return them to their dignity in the full exercise of their rights." (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Job 7:1-4, 6-7; Ps 147:1-6; 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and

she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: Everyone is looking for you! Jesus replied, Let us go somewhere else— to the nearby villages— so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come. So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. (Mark 1:29-39)

Our Gospel scene today presents us with a striking picture of man burdened by sickness and disease. We read that as soon as our Lord returned to the home of Simon and Andrew they told him about Simon’s mother-in-law. She was in bed with a fever. He healed her of her fever. That evening (presumably because now the Sabbath was over) “the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.” In our modern

age we have the benefit of so many resources and such tremendous developments in medicine that, bad as sickness always is, we in our day can have great difficulty appreciating the havoc wrought by sickness and disease in the world prior to the modern period. So little was known about sickness and man was largely helpless before it. In the Old Testament sickness was not only experienced as a sign of profound human weakness but was revealed as mysteriously bound up with sin. We remember how when approaching a blind man our Lord’s disciples asked him if his blindness was due to his own sin or that of his parents. Our Lord did not deny its connection with sin, but he did deny that it stemmed from either his sin or that of his parents. Most significantly, he said that God had allowed it that he might be glorified. We remember how on another occasion when our Lord healed a cripple he told him later to sin no more lest something worse befall him (John 5:14). The prophets — especially Deutero-Isaiah — had seen that sickness could also have a redemptive value for one’s own sins and for those of others. Sickness was an evil, it did have a connection with sin, yet God allowed it for a greater good. In our Gospel scene today our Lord has just come from preaching in the Synagogue and soon he would be preaching in the Synagogues of Galilee (Mark 1:29-39). His message was that the Kingdom of God had come and with it the ultimate victory over sin, suffering and death. His numerous healings were a sign of this and a sign that contact with him brought one into contact with God’s Kingdom.

While the coming of the Kingdom would mean the ultimate victory over sin and death, this is not to say that Christ came to take away suffering from this world. His own example showed this. Christ went on to suffer on a scale that will never be equalled because he was, in his sufferings, expiating for the sin of the entire world. By his sufferings and death he gave a new meaning to human suffering. When it is united to his own, it becomes a means of purification and of salvation both for us and for others. While sin brought suffering and death into the world, Christ made of this same suffering and death a means of new and eternal life. The key to the transformation of the meaning of suffering is to suffer in union with the will of God. More concretely, the key is to suffer in union with Christ who by becoming man mysteriously united himself to every man. He became a brother to all, and we as brothers and sisters of Christ, most especially if we are baptized, are able to suffer in union with him. If we do this, our sufferings are redemptive and productive of great good in the world. That is Christian teaching. Beyond that, the Church and her members have received the charge from the Lord to care for the sick and the suffering and we do this by our prayers and by our ongoing care. In particular the Church has been granted a great Sacrament specifically intended for the benefit of the sick, the Sacrament of the Anointing as administered by the ordained priest. Any member of the faithful can receive this Sacrament as soon as he or she begins to be in danger of death because of sickness or old age and indeed several times if their illness becomes worse or another sickness afflicts them. In that Sacrament Christ himself approaches the sick person to pour his sustaining grace into his heart. This grace unites the sick person more intimately with the Passion of Christ for his good and for the good of the Church, and gives comfort, peace, courage, and even the forgiveness of sins if the sick person is not able to make a Confession. On occasion it can even heal physically.

Our Lord said that if anyone wishes to be his disciple he must renounce himself and take up his cross daily and follow in his footsteps. That takes us to Calvary. The challenge for the Christian is to make of suffering a true means of union with Christ, and so an instrument of great good. We must care for and love the sick and the suffering and do all we can to bring Christ to the one who suffers. If we succeed in suffering with Christ a share in the peace and joy of Christ will be granted to us, and we shall bear much fruit, fruit that will last. Let us ask for the grace to embrace the cross when it is placed on our shoulders and not to run from it. It will bring holiness and life eternal.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.1499-1523 (Prayer and healing in the anointing of the sick)

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All right: that person has behaved badly towards you. But, haven't you behaved worse towards God?

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Twentieth Chapter The Love of Solitude and Silence

Never promise yourself security in this life, even though you seem to be a good religious, or a devout hermit. It happens very often that those whom men esteem highly are more seriously endangered by their own excessive confidence. Hence, for many it is better not to be too free from temptations, but often to be tried lest they become too secure, too filled with pride, or even too eager to fall back upon external comforts.

If only a man would never seek passing joys or entangle himself with worldly affairs, what a good conscience he would have. What great peace and tranquillity would be his, if he cut himself off from all empty care and thought only of things divine, things helpful to his soul, and put all his trust in God.

No man deserves the consolation of heaven unless he persistently arouses himself to holy contrition. If you desire true sorrow of heart, seek the privacy of your cell and shut out the uproar of the world, as it is written: "In your chamber bewail your sins." There you will find what too often you lose abroad.

Your cell will become dear to you if you remain in it, but if you do not, it will become wearisome. If in the beginning of your religious life, you live within your cell and keep to it, it will soon become a special friend and a very great comfort.
(Continuing)

(February 9) St. Jerome Emiliani (1481?-1537)
A careless and irreligious soldier for the city-state of Venice, Jerome was captured in a skirmish at an outpost town and chained in a dungeon. In prison Jerome had a lot of time to think, and he gradually learned how to pray. When he escaped, he returned to Venice where he took charge of the education of his nephews—and began his own studies for the priesthood. In the years after his ordination, events again called Jerome to a decision and a new lifestyle. Plague and famine swept northern Italy. Jerome began caring for the sick and feeding the hungry at his own expense. While serving the sick and the poor, he soon resolved to devote himself and his property solely to others, particularly to abandoned children. He founded three orphanages, a shelter for penitent prostitutes and a hospital. Around 1532 Jerome and two other priests established a congregation dedicated to the care of orphans and the education of youth. Jerome died in 1537 from a disease he caught while tending the sick. He was canonized in 1767. In 1928 Pius Xl named him the patron of orphans and abandoned children. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Genesis1:1-19; Psalm 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10 and 12, 24 and 35c; Mark 6:53-56

When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognised Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went— into villages, towns or countryside— they placed the sick in the market-places. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. (Mark 6:53-56)

Sickness constitutes a tremendous stain on the creative work of God. If someone hires a computer engineer to build a top class personal computer, and if when completed that computer is found to be often seriously malfunctioning and finally to grind to a halt beyond repair, what would be thought of the engineer? He would not be asked again and would not get any recommendation for

further work. There might even be a request that he prove he was a computer engineer: an authorized statement of his qualifications may be sought. If he could not provide it, he could be charged by the police. Well then, let us take the point to God. All admit that man is the supreme element in the material world, but look at him! Just consider the unending trail of his sicknesses and, beyond the spectacle of his sicknesses and disease, his inevitable end in death. If man is the work of God and made in his image, what is to be said of the quality of God’s creative work? It is like the computer that, once built, appears to be continually malfunctioning and finally heaves into complete expiry. Can we say, at the sight of the sicknesses that plague the happiness of man, that the First Cause of his being fulfils our description of God? Let us take it further and look at the entire creation. It is marred by defects and limitations. Some might say that it is all a very bad job and that if it comes from the hand of a single First Cause, that Cause cannot be what the “revealed” monotheistic religions claim “him” to be. This is what we call the problem of evil. As I have presented it there is plenty of logic in the religious scepticism that in so many cases it prompts. Of course the argument from suffering and evil that I have just presented does not take account of the fundamental revelation of the Fall. God has revealed that the universe did indeed come from his hand and was made “good”. Man in particular was made “very good” (Genesis Ch. 1). But Man chose to rebel against God and with his disobedience death entered the human race, and the world was left profoundly wounded and in disarray.

God created the world and man. Man’s original sin is the ultimate origin of his innate proneness to sin and his sickness and death. But let us place ourselves in today’s Gospel scene as we watch people hurrying to their homes to gather the sick and diseased in order to place them before Jesus. We read that “wherever he went— into villages, towns or countryside— they placed the sick in the market-places” (Mark 6:53-56). No one would have claimed that the only possible assistance and form of alleviation of illness was to bring them to Jesus. The sick had been cared for in their homes and we read of doctors. The woman who touched our Lord’s garment elsewhere in the Gospel had been going to doctors for several years. In her case it availed not at all, but there were doctors and many people who nursed the sick. But what we do see here is the belief that the only complete answer to sickness and disease was the action of Jesus. From him would come effortless and instant healing. No sickness or disease was beyond the reach of his sovereign power. Death itself he could set aside. At a word he raised people to life. The demons who brought on or at least used sickness and disease were sent packing by the all-powerful word of Jesus. All this reminds us that however wonderful the advances of medical science and nursing care might be and further become, sickness and death will never be eliminated from the face of the earth by the efforts of man. Our Gospel scene reminds us that the only Liberator that can take away the tears from every eye is Jesus Christ. He is the answer to the intractable problem of evil, brought on by the sin of man. He came to drive out not just the symptoms but the root problem which is original, inherited and personal sin. His healings are signs of what he has done and will do for man and the world. His healings were beneficial signs of the arrival of the Kingdom of God in his own person and of what man can expect from the final flowering of that Kingdom in the world without end. There every tear will be wiped away and God will be all in all.

However perplexing the problem of suffering, sickness and evil, and however much an obstacle to the faith of some it is, the Gospels and the Church proclaim that Jesus Christ is the healer and redeemer of man. He is the Saviour of the world, its Saviour from sin, and ultimately its Saviour from every form of suffering in the fullness of time. Then there will be no more death, neither sorrowing, nor crying, nor any pain, for all these evils will have passed away. All things will be made new. Let us then take our stand with Jesus Christ and follow him to the end. We must suffer, but if we suffer with him we shall rise and reign with him.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Jesus: wherever you have passed no heart remains indifferent. You are either loved or hated.

When an apostle follows you, carrying out his duty, is it surprising that — if he is another Christ — he should arouse similar murmurs of aversion or of love?

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Twentieth Chapter The Love of Solitude and Silence

In silence and quiet the devout soul advances in virtue and learns the hidden truths of Scripture. There she finds a flood of tears with which to bathe and cleanse herself nightly, that she may become the more intimate with her Creator the farther she withdraws from all the tumult of the world. For God and His holy angels will draw near to him who withdraws from friends and acquaintances.

It is better for a man to be obscure and to attend to his salvation than to neglect it and work miracles. It is praiseworthy for a religious seldom to go abroad, to flee the sight of men and have no wish to see them.

Why wish to see what you are not permitted to have? "The world passes away and the concupiscence thereof." Sensual craving sometimes entices you to wander around, but when the moment is past, what do you bring back with you save a disturbed conscience and heavy heart? A happy going often leads to a sad return, a merry evening to a mournful dawn. Thus, all carnal joy begins sweetly but in the end brings remorse and death.

What can you find elsewhere that you cannot find here in your cell? Behold heaven and earth and all the elements, for of these all things are made. What can you see anywhere under the sun that will remain long? Perhaps you think you will completely satisfy yourself, but you cannot do so, for if you should see all existing things, what would they be but an empty vision?

Raise your eyes to God in heaven and pray because of your sins and shortcomings. Leave vanity to the vain. Set yourself to the things which God has commanded you to do. Close the door upon yourself and call to you Jesus, your Beloved. Remain with Him in your cell, for nowhere else will you find such peace. If you had not left it, and had not listened to idle gossip, you would have remained in greater peace. But since you love, sometimes, to hear news, it is only right that you should suffer sorrow of heart from it.
(concluded)

(February 10) Saint Scholastica, virgin (480-542?)
Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, Benedict, both established religious communities within a few miles from each other. Born in 480 of wealthy parents, Scholastica and Benedict were brought up together until he left for Rome to continue his studies. Little is known of Scholastica’s early life. She founded a religious community for women near Monte Cassino at Plombariola, five miles from where her brother governed a monastery. The twins visited each other once a year in a farmhouse because Scholastica was not permitted inside the monastery. They spent these times discussing spiritual matters. According to the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, the brother and sister spent their last day together in prayer and conversation. Scholastica sensed her death was close at hand and she begged Benedict to stay with her until the next day. He refused her request because he did not want to spend a night outside the monastery, thus breaking his own Rule. Scholastica asked God to let her brother remain and a severe thunderstorm broke out, preventing Benedict and his monks from returning to the abbey. Benedict cried out, “God forgive you, Sister. What have you done?” Scholastica replied, “I asked a favour of you and you refused. I asked it of God and he granted it.” Brother and sister parted the next morning after their long discussion. Three days later, Benedict was praying in his monastery and saw the soul of his sister rising heavenward in the form of a white dove. Benedict then announced the death of his sister to the monks and later buried her in the tomb he had prepared for himself. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Genesis 1:20-2:4a; Psalm 8:4-9; Mark 7:1-13

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were unclean, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give

their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands? He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. And he said to them: You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, 'Honour your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that. (Mark 7:1-13)

There are a few very interesting things implied in our Lord’s response to the criticism of the Pharisees and teachers of the law in our Gospel scene today. Consider the setting. The Pharisees and teachers of the law involved in this encounter had come from Jerusalem and were gathered round Jesus probably presenting him with various questions — or, rather, objections — when they

spotted our Lord’s disciples eating food without first going through the quasi-ceremonial washing urged on observant Jews. Our Lord had made not the slightest attempt to correct them. Why was this? The elders had instituted and insisted on this tradition. He Pharisees were faulting not merely the disciples, but our Lord himself. Notice our Lord’s immediate reply in which, while giving the text his own twist, he applied to them the condemnation of Isaiah the prophet. “He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'” In the first instance, then, he was condemning the state of their hearts. Their hearts were far from the Lord, implying that this was the main reason why they went wrong in their understanding of the will of the Lord. It was not just a mistake of the intellect. It was a turning away of the heart. The allegiance of their hearts was not to God but to themselves and to their own authority. They were investing their own rules and traditions with the authority of God because the love of their hearts was for themselves and not for God. And so, he continued, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. And he said to them: You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

The next point we notice is the instance our Lord cites of their doing this. In their teaching they neglected the commandment of God to honour one’s parents and substituted their own regulation for it, and this is just one instance among many that our Lord could have given. “For Moses said, 'Honour your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that” (Mark 7:1-13). Let us notice how our Lord chooses to highlight the neglect of this particular commandment of God. It shows his, and therefore God’s, strong feeling about this divine directive. Children are to honour and assist their parents. This is, of course, a natural law — a law which our very nature directs us to fulfil — but one which God explicitly imposes on all who accept revealed religion. In these words our Lord is especially emphasising the appropriate and practical assistance children are bound to give to their parents. Now this is something which, for numerous reasons, advanced civilizations are in danger of forgetting. Elderly parents can be forgotten amid the pressure of career and family and bundled off to nursing homes for others to care for them. Moreover, with the growing pressure to legalize euthanasia many are warning that the time will come when many elderly will feel pressured to ask for an end to their debilitated life because of the inconvenience they believe they are causing. Apart from a violation of the sanctity of life, such a situation would amount to a tremendous violation of the commandment of God (and of nature) to honour and assist one’s parents. By contrast, how pleasing to God are those who have dedicated themselves to the care of their elderly, sick and needy parents, even at the cost of career, marriage and family life!

Let us resolve to cleave to God and his holy will with all our hearts. Let not our hearts stray from God and from obedience to him. This is the fundamental commandment. We are to love God and show our love for him by obeying his commandments, never substituting other courses of action for what he wants of us. Let us also take our cue from our Lord’s words in today’s passage and remember again how seriously God means us to observe his command that we honour and assist our parents. God will not be pleased with the one who neglects this.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Once again they have spoken, they have written: in favour, against; with good and with not so good will; faint praise and slander; panegyrics and plaudits; hits and misses...

Don't be a fool! As long as you are making straight for your goal, head and heart intoxicated with God, why worry about the voice of the wind, or the chirp of the cricket, or the mooing or the grunting or the braying?

Besides, it's inevitable; don't waste time answering back.
(The Way, no.688)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Twenty first Chapter Sorrow of Heart

IF YOU wish to make progress in virtue, live in the fear of the Lord, do not look for too much freedom, discipline your senses, and shun inane silliness. Sorrow opens the door to many a blessing which dissoluteness usually destroys.

It is a wonder that any man who considers and meditates on his exiled state and the many dangers to his soul, can ever be perfectly happy in this life. Lighthearted and heedless of our defects, we do not feel the real sorrows of our souls, but often indulge in empty laughter when we have good reason to weep. No liberty is true and no joy is genuine unless it is founded in the fear of the Lord and a good conscience.

Happy is the man who can throw off the weight of every care and recollect himself in holy contrition. Happy is the man who casts from him all that can stain or burden his conscience.
(Continuing)

(February 11) Our Lady of Lourdes
On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the Catholic faith was scarcely more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed. She also knew the prayer of the Miraculous Medal: “O Mary conceived without sin.” During interrogations Bernadette gave an account of what she saw. It was “something white in the shape of a girl.” She used the word aquero, a dialect term meaning “this thing.” It was “a pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm.” Her white robe was encircled by a blue girdle. She wore a white veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot. A rosary was in her hand. Bernadette was also impressed by the fact that the lady did not use the informal form of address (tu), but the polite form (vous). The humble virgin appeared to a humble girl and treated her with dignity. Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the faith of millions of people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other parts of France and from all over the world. In 1862 Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes became worldwide in 1907. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17; Psalm 104:1-2a, 27-30; Mark 7:14-23

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him

'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean'. After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. Are you so dull? he asked. Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body. (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean'. For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean'. (Mark 7:14-23)

It is very clear from the Acts of the Apostles that the issue of eating “unclean” food was a cause of contention and perplexity within the infant Church. In Acts 10:13-16 (and recalled in Acts 11:8-10) Simon Peter is directed by a voice from heaven to eat “unclean” foods despite his protestations. In his trance he was told that God had made such foods clean. Peter pronounced on the

matter in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts ch.15). In our Gospel passage today (written many years later) Mark quotes our Lord to the effect that all foods were clean. Presumably Peter, who is Mark’s Gospel source, came to remember quite clearly that our Lord had himself taught on this point. This, as with many other teachings of our Lord, Peter and the Apostles over the course of time came to recall with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, one of whose tasks was to remind them of all our Lord had told them (John 14:26). This point about foods has long since passed into Christian awareness and needs no comment. What is most worthy of reflection, though, is our Lord’s explanation of his declaration that all foods are clean: “Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'?” And he continues, “What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean'. For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean'” (Mark 7:14-23). We are here reminded that the source of the world’s evils is the heart of man. The same thing is to be said of the angelic world. The heavenly world with its myriads of angelic persons came from the creative hand of God. But out of that world arose the blackest of the black, a rebellious army of liars and murderers who were cast out. I refer to the Devil and his angels, and our Lord describes Satan as a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Evil arose in heaven from the heart of Lucifer and his companions. So too evil arises in the world from the heart of man.

Foods were not in themselves unclean. The world of itself is not unclean. Man is unclean because of sin and it is from his heart that what is unclean pours forth. This is because his heart is fallen. The nature that man receives from his parents and forebears going back to the dawn of human history is profoundly wounded by sin. It is not totally depraved. There is the spark of the divine in it and so man is capable of some good but he is incapable of overcoming the sinful bent which drags him on to personal sin and to death. And so it is that he is born into a sinful condition and he chooses to sin as his power of choice develops. Out of his heart come evil thoughts, words and actions and this is the principal source of the world’s evils. In the beginning the sin of our first parents not only deprived them (and us) of the gifts of grace and natural integrity with which they were endowed by God, but the rest of nature too was mysteriously affected. As God said, “Accursed be the soil because of you. With suffering shall you get your food from it every day of your life” (Genesis 3:17). What makes a man unclean and rotten and what has introduced evil into the world is not anything God the Creator has done but man’s free and sinful response. Our Lord’s explanation of the cleanliness of all foods provides us with light on the problem of evil in the world. He reminds us that it is sin that is bad, and not the world. So when we speak of this evil and difficult world let us remember that the evil and difficulty stemming from the world has ultimately come from the heart of man. While we continue to struggle — as we must — against disease, disaster and all else that strikes and buffets us, we must remember its ultimate cause and the root enemy. We must struggle against sin. If there is ever a choice between the worst natural evil and the slightest deliberate sin, we must reject the sin and accept the natural evil. As St Thomas More said just before he mounted the scaffold, though I lose my head I’ll come to no harm. He was prepared to accept the worst the world could offer rather than turn away from God. He knew the real evil and its true source.

So, thinking of our Lord’s words that it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean, let us remember that we have a great choice. We can choose for God or for self, for Christ or for Satan, for good or evil. We must exercise choice in life and we do so multiple times every day. In one form or another, to a greater or lesser extent, with full deliberation or only partial, we shall be choosing for God or for self, for Christ or for Satan. Let us make a clear stand for Christ and live accordingly. If we do so, good will increase and evil will decrease. So then, now I begin!

(E.J.Tyler)

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Tongues have been wagging and you have suffered rebuffs that hurt you all the more because you were not expecting them.

Your supernatural reaction should be to pardon, — and even to ask pardon, — and to take advantage of the experience to detach yourself from creatures.
(The Way, no.689)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ      (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Twenty first Chapter           Sorrow of Heart

Fight like a man. Habit is overcome by habit. If you leave men alone, they will leave you alone to do what you have to do. Do not busy yourself about the affairs of others and do not become entangled in the business of your superiors. Keep an eye primarily on yourself and admonish yourself instead of your friends.

If you do not enjoy the favour of men, do not let it sadden you; but consider it a serious matter if you do not conduct yourself as well or as carefully as is becoming for a servant of God and a devout religious.

It is often better and safer for us to have few consolations in this life, especially comforts of the body. Yet if we do not have divine consolation or experience it rarely, it is our own fault because we seek no sorrow of heart and do not forsake vain outward satisfaction.
                                                                (Continuing)

(February 12) St. Apollonia (d. 249)
The persecution of Christians began in Alexandria during the reign of the Emperor Philip. The first victim of the pagan mob was an old man named Metrius, who was tortured and then stoned to death. The second person who refused to worship their false idols was a Christian woman named Quinta. Her words infuriated the mob and she was scourged and stoned. While most of the Christians were fleeing the city, abandoning all their worldly possessions, an old deaconess, Apollonia, was seized. The crowds beat her, knocking out all of her teeth. Then they lit a large fire and threatened to throw her in it if she did not curse her God. She begged them to wait a moment, acting as if she was considering their requests. Instead, she jumped willingly into the flames and so suffered martyrdom. There were many churches and altars dedicated to her. Apollonia is the patroness of dentists, and people suffering from toothache and other dental diseases often ask her intercession. She is pictured with a pair of pincers holding a tooth or with a golden tooth suspended from her necklace. St. Augustine explained her voluntary martyrdom as a special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, since no one is allowed to cause his or her own death. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Genesis 2:18-25; Psalm 128:1-5; Mark 7:24-30

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not

keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. First let the children eat all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, Lord, she replied, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Then he told her, For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter. She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. (Mark 7:24-30)

There are a couple of especially interesting features of our Gospel scene today. To begin with, we are told that our Lord “entered a house and did not want anyone to know it”. This is Mark’s account, so we may presume it reports Simon Peter’s recollection of the event. We are not explicitly told this in Matthew’s narration (15:21). Our Lord did not want to be disturbed by requests for

miracles — and undoubtedly for very good (redemptive) reasons. We remember that at the wedding feast of Cana when he had returned from Galilee after his baptism the wine ran out and his mother presented the situation to him. His initial response shows that he did not want to engage in miraculous action at that point: What is that to me? My hour has not yet come, he replied. But he could not refuse her, and so he let his glory be seen (John 2:11). In a certain sense, Christ’s plans were altered by prayer. In our Gospel scene today our Lord’s plan was to remain hidden, out of sight and out of mind of the pagan neighbourhood he had quietly entered. But no, it was not to be. His plans were altered by the importunate prayer of one who, especially being pagan, would have had a very limited and defective notion of the religion Yahweh God had revealed. But whatever of her religion, when somehow word reached her that Jesus of Nazareth had been seen in the town and was in the house she refused to let her opportunity pass. No matter what our Lord might have wanted and no matter how unreceptive he might have first appeared, she would not let him go. She just would not take no for an answer. She believed that Jesus could do what she wanted, and that he had the goodness to allow her to press her request on him. Her attitude and her action reminds us that though there may seem to be no signs of divine response to our need and to the prayer arising from that need, prayer will in some way prevail. But we must persist and not lose heart. The Syro-Phoenician woman is an example for everyone in need.

Yes, she is an example for everyone, for everyone. It is divinely revealed and is a teaching of the Church that faith in Christ is a divine gift. It is a special grace of the Holy Spirit. But what about those who have not (yet) been granted this gift? The Syro-Phoenician woman was a pagan, but she had enough faith in our Lord to come to him and press her request upon him. Let all who are in need, no matter what their religion or comparative lack of it, no matter what kind of faith they may have, come to Jesus and ask help and solace of him. Pope Benedict once suggested that those who do not believe in God ought live as if he did exist. Presumably he meant that whatever be the stage a person is at in belief or the lack of it, a certain relationship with God is possible. So too with Christ. There is no reason why a Muslim cannot turn to Christ and ask for his help. Nor is there any reason why a Hindu cannot, or a Buddhist, or an agnostic, or an atheist. They will have varying opinions of Jesus of Nazareth, and varying degrees of blindness and light concerning the true nature of his ineffable person. But the fact is that the living risen Jesus loves all men and gave his life for each. By his Incarnation he united himself to every man. He is the God and Lord of all and so he welcomes with love any approach from anyone, however limited in understanding it may involve. There may be a testing silence and a seeming rebuff as was the case with the woman of our Gospel scene today (Mark 7:24-30). But the case of our pagan woman shows that Christ will hear persistent prayer. Persistent prayer shows faith, just as it showed the faith of the Syro-Phoenician, and it was her persistent faith that Christ rewarded. The Christian ought readily encourage the non-Christian to approach Christ when in need, for our Lord once said, “Come to me all you who labour and are over-burdened, and I will give you rest.” He was addressing this to all, to all who laboured and were over-burdened, to all.

The prayer of faith moves mountains because it involves faith in the One who moves mountains. If the Syro-Phoenician woman had not the faith to act once she heard that Jesus was within reach, she would not have got her daughter back from the vice-like clutches of the demon. We do not hear of her becoming a disciple or a follower, let alone subsequently a Christian. Presumably she never acquired the faith for this. But she had a faith of sorts, one sufficient to lead her to come to Christ when she was labouring and over-burdened, and she found rest. Let all mankind understand that Christ, though unseen, is alive, is good, and is all-powerful. Go to him then!

(E.J.Tyler)

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When you meet with suffering, contempt, the Cross, your thought should be: what is this compared with what I deserve?
(The Way, no.690)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ    (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Twenty first chapter          Sorrow of heart

Consider yourself unworthy of divine solace and deserving rather of much tribulation. When a man is perfectly contrite, the whole world is bitter and wearisome to him.

A good man always finds enough over which to mourn and weep; whether he thinks of himself or of his neighbour he knows that no one lives here without suffering, and the closer he examines himself the more he grieves.

The sins and vices in which we are so entangled that we can rarely apply ourselves to the contemplation of heaven are matters for just sorrow and inner remorse.

I do not doubt that you would correct yourself more earnestly if you would think more of an early death than of a long life. And if you pondered in your heart the future pains of hell or of purgatory, I believe you would willingly endure labour and trouble and would fear no hardship. But since these thoughts never pierce the heart and since we are enamoured of flattering pleasure, we remain very cold and indifferent. Our wretched body complains so easily because our soul is altogether too lifeless.

Pray humbly to the Lord, therefore, that He may give you the spirit of contrition and say with the Prophet: "Feed me, Lord, with the bread of mourning and give me to drink of tears in full measure."
                                                                              (Concluded)

(February 13) St. Giles Mary of St. Joseph (1729-1812)
In the same year that a power-hungry Napoleon Bonaparte led his army into Russia, Giles Mary of St. Joseph ended a life of humble service to his Franciscan community and to the citizens of Naples. Francesco was born in Taranto to very poor parents. His father’s death left the 18-year-old Francesco to care for the family. Having secured their future, he entered the Friars Minor at Galatone in 1754. For 53 years he served at St. Paschal’s Hospice in Naples in various roles, such as cook, porter or most often as official beggar for that community. “Love God, love God” was his characteristic phrase as he gathered food for the friars and shared some of his bounty with the poor—all the while consoling the troubled and urging everyone to repent. The charity which he reflected on the streets of Naples was born in prayer and nurtured in the common life of the friars. The people whom Giles met on his begging rounds nicknamed him the “Consoler of Naples.” He was canonized in 1996.
In his homily at the canonization of Giles, Pope John Paul II said that the spiritual journey of Giles reflected “the humility of the Incarnation and the gratuitousness of the Eucharist” (L'Osservatore Romano 1996, volume 23, number 1). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Genesis 3:1-8; Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7; Mark 7:31-37

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.

There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, Ephphatha! (which means, Be opened!). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. He has done everything well, they said. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. (Mark 7:31-37)

Jesus has left the pagan territory of Tyre, gone through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and goes now into the region of the Decapolis. The route of our Lord’s journey is a little confusing for the reader, but the important thing is what happens when he reaches this fairly Gentile area. Let us notice what some people do at this point. They bring to him a man who was deaf and who can hardly talk. They ask Jesus just to place his hand on the man. Let us not read too much into their request, but we cannot help

but notice that all they ask is, not that our Lord heal the man (which is, of course, what they want), but that he simply place his hand on the man. It looks as if things are reaching the point where some are looking on our Lord almost as a source of magic. That is to say, they seem to be thinking that power goes out of him automatically and all that is needed is some physical contact as one would with a talisman. Power did indeed go out of him — and we remember the poor woman who had secretly clutched at his garment from within the milling crowd, thinking (correctly) that if she could just touch his cloak she would be healed. But the specific danger here is of missing the personal contact with Jesus in receiving so quickly the benefit. Christ himself was being forgotten amid his gifts so liberally bestowed. In the case of the woman in the crowd, our Lord immediately stopped, and while in his human consciousness was unaware of who had been healed, he did know that he had healed someone. He insisted on making personal contact with the beneficiary of his divine power. All through the Gospels our Lord is looking for faith in his person, and we read how when he returned to his own town he worked very few miracles there because of their lack of faith — faith not just in the divine power at work in him, but faith in his own person. In our passage today our Lord again insists on acting in a way that would show to the deaf and dumb man especially, but also to the others, that he himself was fully involved in what was being done for the debilitated man. He was not just a magic wand, as it were.

So what does our Lord do? He goes to unusual lengths — perhaps because of the region and people he is now in — to show that he himself engaged in this healing with full deliberation. Each person was very much the object of his love and attention. We read that “After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, Ephphatha! (which means, Be opened!). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly” (Mark 7:31-37). Perhaps our Lord was trying to illustrate that an approach to him was to be very personal. He himself made it very personal. It needed to involve a personal relationship with him. Because of the very real danger that this could be and was in fact being forgotten, he then insisted (unsuccessfully) that he and they not tell others about the healing. The danger was that people were forgetting him and the real blessing faith in him brings, for other things they wished to get out of him. Religion was being turned into, we might say, a technology. I have mentioned in a previous comment that I once attended a lecture on religion given by a Zoroastrian scholar. He described religion as a technology. The practitioners of religion seek to gain certain things by their religious rites. Now, all too often religion in practice is indeed just this. But it ought not be so. In the divine intention religion is man’s personal relationship with God and the more something else takes the place of this the less is man truly religious. Religion gradually becomes magic and a shell of what it should be — and it should be a tremendous enhancement of the dignity of man coming from his union with God. As we visualize our Gospel scene today we see that the healing of this poor deaf and dumb man away from the crowd and his friends involved a personal relationship with Jesus. Christ involved himself with this man and did not simply send him off healed by a mere word.

Our Lord made it abundantly clear throughout the Gospels that he wants us to ask him for all our needs. St Alphonsus Ligouri once wrote that the reason why we do not receive more from God is that we ask for so little — because of our lack of faith. He went on to stress the importance of asking for what we truly need, and insisted that the prayer of petition is of great importance in life. But in all our prayer to God for his aid and support, let us truly think of God. He himself is the object of our life and all our prayers and we ought never allow our religion to deteriorate into a spiritual technology. It ought nourish love, a burning and constant love leading to a close following of Christ and to a Christ-like service of others, especially those in need.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Are things going against you? Are you going through a rough time? Say very slowly, as if relishing it, this powerful and manly prayer:

'May the most just and most lovable will of God be done, be fulfilled be praised and eternally exalted above all things. Amen, Amen.'

I assure you that you will find peace.
(The Way, no.691)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul.

Twenty second chapter Thoughts on the Misery of Man

WHEREVER you are, wherever you go, you are miserable unless you turn to God. So why be dismayed when things do not happen as you wish and desire? Is there anyone who has everything as he wishes? No -- neither I, nor you, nor any man on earth. There is no one in the world, be he Pope or king, who does not suffer trial and anguish.

Who is the better off then? Surely, it is the man who will suffer something for God. Many unstable and weak-minded people say: "See how well that man lives, how rich, how great he is, how powerful and mighty." But you must lift up your eyes to the riches of heaven and realize that the material goods of which they speak are nothing. These things are uncertain and very burdensome because they are never possessed without anxiety and fear. Man's happiness does not consist in the possession of abundant goods; a very little is enough.

Living on earth is truly a misery. The more a man desires spiritual life, the more bitter the present becomes to him, because he understands better and sees more clearly the defects, the corruption of human nature. To eat and drink, to watch and sleep, to rest, to labour, and to be bound by other human necessities is certainly a great misery and affliction to the devout man, who would gladly be released from them and be free from all sin. Truly, the inner man is greatly burdened in this world by the necessities of the body, and for this reason the Prophet prayed that he might be as free from them as possible, when he said: "From my necessities, O Lord, deliver me."
(Continuing)

(February 14) St. Cyril (d. 869) and St. Methodius (d. 884)

Because their father was an officer in a part of Greece inhabited by many Slavs, these two Greek brothers ultimately became missionaries, teachers and patrons of the Slavic peoples. After a brilliant course of studies, Cyril (called Constantine until he became a monk shortly before his death) refused the governorship of a district such as his brother had accepted among the Slavic-speaking population. He withdrew to a monastery where his brother Methodius had become a monk after some years in a governmental post. A decisive change in their lives occurred when the Duke of Moravia (present-day Czech Republic) asked the Eastern Emperor Michael for political independence from German rule and ecclesiastical autonomy (having their own clergy and liturgy). Cyril and Methodius undertook the missionary task. Cyril’s first work was to invent an alphabet, still used in some Eastern liturgies. His followers probably formed the Cyrillic alphabet (for example, modern Russian) from Greek capital letters. Together they translated the

Gospels, the psalter, Paul’s letters and the liturgical books into Slavonic, and composed a Slavonic liturgy, highly irregular then. That and their free use of the vernacular in preaching led to opposition from the German clergy. The bishop refused to consecrate Slavic bishops and priests, and Cyril was forced to appeal to Rome. On the visit to Rome, he and Methodius had the joy of seeing their new liturgy approved by Pope Adrian II. Cyril, long an invalid, died in Rome 50 days after taking the monastic habit.

Methodius continued mission work for 16 more years. He was papal legate for all the Slavic peoples, consecrated a bishop and then given an ancient see (now in the Czech Republic). When much of their former territory was removed from their jurisdiction, the Bavarian bishops retaliated with a violent storm of accusation against Methodius. As a result, Emperor Louis the German exiled Methodius for three years. Pope John VIII secured his release. The Frankish clergy, still smarting, continued their accusations, and Methodius had to go to Rome to defend himself against charges of heresy and uphold his use of the Slavonic liturgy. He was again vindicated. Legend has it that in a feverish period of activity, Methodius translated the whole Bible into Slavonic in eight months. He died on Tuesday of Holy Week, surrounded by his disciples, in his cathedral church. Opposition continued after his death, and the work of the brothers in Moravia was brought to an end and their disciples scattered. But the expulsions had the beneficial effect of spreading the spiritual, liturgical and cultural work of the brothers to Bulgaria, Bohemia and southern Poland. Patrons of Moravia, and specially venerated by Catholic Czechs, Slovaks, Croatians, Orthodox Serbians and Bulgarians, Cyril and Methodius are eminently fitted to guard the long-desired unity of East and West. In 1980, Pope John Paul II named them additional co-patrons of Europe (with Benedict). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Genesis 3:9-24; Psalm 90:2-6, 12-13; Mark 8:1-10

During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have

compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance. His disciples answered, But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them? How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked. Seven, they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterwards the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. (Mark 8: 1-10)

There is a well-known key to the knowledge of people: get up close and if possible live with them. From afar a person may seem admirable, while close-up he may well show up as being very different. Alexander the Great shot like a great meteor across his era and in his short life nothing seemed able to thwart him. He was great in his rapid conquests but of course he was full of flaws. He

was a bloodthirsty young adventurer with no regard for human life if it stood in his way. He was proud, vain and possibly (many historians think) an active homosexual. The single reference to him in the Old Testament was anything but laudatory. The glory of Alexander was (in respect to his character) a hollow glory, and there are very many of whom this could be said. But get up close to Jesus Christ and it is altogether different. In our Gospel passage today (Mark 8: 1-10) our Lord does something which as far as I am aware no one else in the history of the world is reputed to have done. He took a handful of bread and a little fish and having given thanks simply gave it to his disciples and told them to distribute it to a crowd of thousands of hungry people. The entire throng ate and were satisfied. Presumably their satisfaction refers not only to the seemingly unending quantity of food but also to its taste and quality. Though simple, it was a sumptuous and delicious meal. Moreover, plenty of food was left over, implying that the crowd simply had no desire to eat more. They had been given much more than they needed and a lot of food was left: seven basketfuls of broken pieces was gathered up. We remember the wedding feast of Cana. Well into the wedding celebrations the wine ran out and our Lord (at the prompting of his mother) simply directed the stewards to fill up the large jars with water. That water was turned into magnificent wine. Presumably there was more than was needed with some being left over. St John writes that at the wedding feast of Cana our Lord let his glory be seen and his disciples believed in him.

The disciples were up close to our Lord and they saw his glory. In the Acts of the Apostles our Lord’s “mighty works” are often referred to. Our Lord himself invited his own disciples at one point to believe him on the basis of his works if they needed to. No one in the history of the world can be likened to Christ in his miraculous actions, all at the service not of himself and his own glory but at the service of those in need. Alexander the Great and all his like were nothing, nothing, compared to the grandeur of Christ and the power of his word. He raised the dead at a word. He drove out evil spirits at a word. He healed all kinds of disease and sickness at a word. He calmed a storm at sea at a word. He came to his disciples across the Sea of Galilee and bade Simon Peter to come to him across the water, which he did till he failed in faith. The power of the man Jesus over nature and the underworld had no limit. Strangely, many did not accept him. Let us listen to the testimony of John the Evangelist, writing at the beginning of his Gospel and long after the events he narrates. John exults that he had seen and known Jesus of Nazareth. Throughout the Gospel he refers to himself as “the beloved disciple.” He had been beloved of Christ and so had been truly up-close. All he could say was, we saw his glory. Christ truly had glory. John writes that “the Word was made flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). His glory included his unmatched power over nature and the world, but it especially included the grace and truth that filled his person and that comes from him to the world. The grace of God can be accessed and it is accessed only in Jesus Christ. He is the one who has brought the grace and the truth of God to the world. It resides in him in its fullness and it flows from him, present as he is in his body the Church, to the world.

As we think of Christ effortlessly feeding four thousand people with a mere handful of food let us think of the glory of Jesus Christ. With him present in our midst — and through his body the Church he remains constantly with us — we have all the anchor we need. Let us remain with him each day, coming to know his glory more and more, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

(E.J.Tyler)

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You suffer in this present life, which is a dream, a short dream. Rejoice, because your Father-God loves you so much, and if you put no obstacles in his way, after this bad dream he will give you a good awakening.
(The Way, no.692)

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Continuing The Imitation of Christ (Book 1: Thoughts helpful in the life of the soul)

Twenty second chapter Thoughts on the Misery of Man

But woe to those who know not their own misery, and greater woe to those who love this miserable and corruptible life. Some, indeed, can scarcely procure its necessities either by work or by begging; yet they love it so much that, if they could live here always, they would care nothing for the kingdom of God.

How foolish and faithless of heart are those who are so engrossed in earthly things as to relish nothing but what is carnal! Miserable men indeed, for in the end they will see to their sorrow how cheap and worthless was the thing they loved.

The saints of God and all devout friends of Christ did not look to what pleases the body nor to the things that are popular from time to time. Their whole hope and aim centred on the everlasting good. Their whole desire pointed upward to the lasting and invisible realm, lest the love of what is visible drag them down to lower things.

Do not lose heart, then, my brother, in pursuing your spiritual life. There is yet time, and your hour is not past. Why delay your purpose? Arise! Begin at once and say: "Now is the time to act, now is the time to fight, now is the proper time to amend."
(Continuing)