February 1-14 in Year A 11

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Pope Benedict's general intention for February is: "That the family may be respected by all in its identity and that its irreplaceable contribution to all of society be recognized."

His mission intention is: "That in the mission territories where the struggle against disease is most urgent, Christian communities may witness to the presence of Christ to those who suffer"

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Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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)

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Scripture today:   Hebrews 12: 1-4;     Psalm 21;      Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed over the Lake in a boat a great multitude assembled together before him, and he was close to the sea. There came one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jairus, and seeing him he fell down at his feet. He implored him saying “My daughter is at the point of death. Come, lay your hand upon her that she may live.” He went with him and a great crowd followed him thronging around him. There was a woman who suffered from an issue of blood for twelve years. She had undergone many treatments from various physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing the better for it, but rather worse. When she heard of Jesus she came through the crowd behind him and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch but his garment I shall be whole.” Forthwith the source of her blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the evil. Immediately Jesus knowing in himself that power had proceeded from him, turned to the multitude and said: “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude thronging around you and you say, who touched me!” He looked around to see who had done this. The woman fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the truth. He said to her: “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace, and be freed of your infirmity.” While he was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying: “Your daughter is dead: why do you trouble the master any further?” But Jesus heard what was said and said to the synagogue official, “Fear not, only believe.” He would only allow Peter, and James, and John the brother of James to follow him. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and he saw a commotion with people weeping and wailing a great deal. Entering he said to them: “Why do you make all this fuss and weeping? The girl is not dead but is sleeping.” And they laughed him to scorn. But having put them all out, he took the father and the mother of the child and those who were with him, and entered in where the girl was lying. Taking her by the hand, he sad to her: “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Girl, I say to you, arise.” Immediately the girl rose up and walked. She was twelve years old. They were greatly astonished. He charged them strictly that no one should know of it, and he directed that something should be given her to eat. (Mark 5:21-43)

Christ loves me      There is no doubt that a principal (human) obstacle to our Lord’s work and mission was the religious leadership of the Jewish people. After all, they were the ones who engineered his death. Repeatedly in the Gospels we see “the scribes and Pharisees” spying on our Lord, watching intently to catch him out in something he said, disputing hotly with him. They enter into league with the Sadducees for the same purpose. We read of conflicts with Synagogue leaders who object to our Lord healing on the Sabbath in the Synagogue. However, we must not imagine that the whole of the ruling class was against our Lord, and especially must we not imagine that our Lord himself was hostile to persons of that class, or of any class. We are perhaps reminded of this by our opening scene in the Gospel of today. Our Lord had crossed over the Lake of Tiberius and a great multitude of people gathered before him. We read that there came one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jairus, and seeing him he fell down at his feet. He implored him saying “My daughter is at the point of death, come, lay your hand upon her that she may be live.” Now, our Lord had a large crowd before him, and may have been in the midst of instruction — but it looks as if he suspended what he was doing and immediately went with the Synagogue leader to his home. The man’s daughter was at the point of death. Christ’s compassion was for all, high or low. On another occasion it was a Roman centurion. A deputation came asking our Lord to come to the centurion’s house to cure his servant. This Jesus immediately set out to do. We see him accepting invitations from the Pharisees to dine at their table — we would find it hard to imagine John the Baptist doing this, but our Lord mixes with all, and enters into their settings, whatever and wherever they may be. Our Lord shows his readiness to serve those of position. During his Passion, he speaks with courtesy to Pilate who was reluctantly doing his job, though in the event he failed miserably in it and Christ went to his death. It was only the state of a person’s heart which blocked out the love of Christ for him. Thus, he refused to speak with Herod, and thus he condemned many of the Pharisees and scribes.

So it was in our Gospel today (Mark 5:21-43) — our Lord accompanied the Synagogue ruler, with the large crowd that had previously gathered, also in tow. They thronged around him and behind him, wanting to be near, and wanting to see what would happen next with the Synagogue ruler. But unknown to all, there was in the midst of the pressing crowd an unnoticed woman carrying her burden of physical suffering. She kept with the crowd and got closer and closer to our Lord himself. Then at a certain point she saw her chance. If only she could so much as touch his garment, she would be well again after all these years of fruitless treatment. She was one of the little ones, not one of the great. All, perhaps, knew the Synagogue ruler, perhaps not many knew her. At least, for sure, she was not one of the “important” people. But that is not how our Lord viewed the matter. She reached out and grasped part of our Lord’s cloak. Immediately a thrill of physical well-being flowed through her entire body. Warmth and wholeness took possession and she had not the slightest doubt that she had been instantly cured of her long-lasting malady. At this she slowed and for a few seconds the crowd surged on past her. But Christ had stopped. He stopped, turned, and looked around, with the crowd coming to a halt and his immediate disciples in wonderment at his wanting to know who “touched” him. There he stood, gazing intently at the crowd of ordinary people before him. He was looking for someone who had “touched” and who had been cured of a significant illness. We notice, incidentally, a combination here of divine and human knowledge — as Son of God he knew a miracle had been worked by him, while as man he wanted to learn who it was. But behind this was his compassion for and interest in the ordinary, little, unknown person. He did not just pass on, allowing the miracle to happen and do its work — he wanted to show his personal love for the individual who had been in so much need. The Gospel text tells us what happened. The woman not only had her cure, but she went away having had a personal meeting with the Saviour, with instruction from him, and the assurance of his personal love for her.

In the case of both the Synagogue ruler and the unknown woman lost amid the crowd, our Lord showed a personal care. He stopped in the case of both and attended personally to their needs. He loves each one of us individually, whether we be high or low, and whatever be our situation and difficulty. In one of his Letters St Paul writes, Christ loved me and gave himself up for me. If we wish to be a disciple of Jesus Christ we must lay the foundation of a strong conviction that Christ loves me — me! On the basis of this, and with the help of his grace, we endeavour to give our lives to him out of love in return. But the basis of all is Christ’s love for me and for us.

                                                      (E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Hebrews 12:1-4)

The fight against sin      One of the very famous books of Catholic spirituality is the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola. The fundamental point from which the Exercises begin is the foundational meditation which sets forth why we are created. We are created to love God above all things, and so we must be detached from all that may come between us and God. Our whole attachment of mind and heart ought be to God, leading us to actively cast off anything that turns our hearts away from God. This is what our passage today from the Letter to the Hebrews (12:1-4) stresses. “With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started.” Let us notice a detail: "we should throw off everything that hinders us — especially sin". So there is “especially the sin,” such as the deliberate venial sins of every day “that clings so easily,” and that all too often we do not really fight. But while we must "especially" throw off sin, there are other hindrances as well, such as various attachments (such as love of our comfort) which may not be deliberate sins, but which nevertheless hinder us in the race we have started at our baptism.

It is a race, a fight, “to the point of death” (12:4). We are called to attain sanctity, a union with Jesus that is total. To reach this, we shall have a fight on our hands. The great danger is that we shall constantly try to avoid the fight against sin, and settle down to a peaceful coexistence with it. “Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection”. Let the living Jesus live by faith in our hearts, and lead us through the fight to life eternal with him.

                                                           (E.J.Tyler)

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Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem because, Sacred Scripture tells us, “there was no room for them in the inn.” I am not departing from theological truths when I say that Jesus is still looking for shelter in your hearts.
                                                            (The Forge, no.274)

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Feast of the Presentation of the Lord A-1

(February 2) 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)

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

When the time of Mary’s purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, they 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)

Obedience to God      One of the very notable things in the public ministry of Jesus Christ was his conflict with many of the religious leaders — not all of them, but with, we might say, the leaders of the leaders. They were continually attacking our Lord for his disregard of what they regarded as the requirements of the Law, and for his claims as to his own Person. It is clear from the ministry and the Passion and Death of our Lord that there was a spiritual corruption among many at the top of the nation’s religious elite. Our Lord dealt severely with them, as did John the Baptist before him — John calling some of them a brood of vipers. Reading all this, the disciple of Christ may slip into thinking that the institutions of Jewish religion were worthy of scant regard, and that our Lord himself had scant regard for them. But nothing could be further from the truth. Our Lord’s condemnation of his enemies concerned their culpably benighted understanding and practice. He himself had the most profound reverence for the religion of Israel — for the simple reason that it embodied God’s unique covenant with his chosen people. It was the religion which the one God — he and the Father and the Holy Spirit — had revealed to Abraham, the Patriarchs, the Prophets and to the chosen people. It embodied the will of God for his chosen people as he formed them to be bearers of the Blessing of all blessings to the nations. In the fulness of time the only-begotten Son became man to take this revealed religion to a new height in a new and final covenant. Our Lord loved the Law and the Prophets and the Temple because it manifested the will of his heavenly Father. As he said to his disciples, his food was to do the will of the One who sent him. Our Lord, we might say, was a magnificent Jew, and fulfilled with a magnificent love all that the Jewish religion truly asked of the chosen people of God. He did all things well, particularly all things pertaining to the observance of revealed religion. We see an allusion to this in the Gospel passage for today which narrates the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple.

We read that “when the time of Mary’s purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, they 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” (Luke 2: 22-32). The presentation of Jesus Christ to the Lord God of Israel in the Temple was in obedience to the Law of the Lord. This is noted very explicitly by St Luke. Both the Child’s presentation and the offering of a sacrifice of doves or pigeons was in obedience to the Law of the Lord. It was one of the institutions of the religion of Israel, and at the outset of his life as man we find our Lord and his parents acting in obedience to it. It is an instance of a whole life of religious observance that characterized this most holy trio, the Family of Nazareth. We read that when our Lord returned to his native town in the midst of his prophetic ministry, he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath, as had been his custom. We can imagine our Lord during those thirty years at Nazareth, duly observing all the feasts and Sabbaths, together with his mother and foster-father. We can imagine the three at home in their round of work, prayer, reading the scrolls of the Scriptures, family relaxation, leading — it scarcely need be said — exemplary lives as adherents of the Jewish religion. They obeyed God in everything, and our Gospel passage today gives us but one instance of this pattern. Mary and Joseph brought the Child to the Temple of Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, and to sacrifice — in keeping with the Law of the Lord. The will of God was everything to them. The will of his heavenly Father filled the soul of Jesus Christ from his earliest days. Luke goes on to tell us how at the age of twelve, the Child went with his parents to Jerusalem. We know the sequel. When they found him, he said to them, “did you not know I must be about my Father’s affairs?”  The will of his Father was everything to him.

Not only was the Presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple a manifestation of his (and their) obedience to the Law of God, but it was an act of formal commitment to it. The Child was being presented in the Temple. He was being offered to God for his service, part of a long line of servants of Yahweh God who had dedicated themselves to a life of obedience to him. But Jesus Christ, of course, surpassed them all in this obedience. Obedience to the will of his heavenly Father would take him through his years at Nazareth, through his public ministry, through his Passion and Death, to his Resurrection and Ascension at the right hand of his beloved Father. From there he pours out his divine Spirit whose mission is to empower each of us to follow in the footsteps of the Son, obedient unto death. Let us pursue this path, then!

                                                     (E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Luke 2: 22-40)

The action of the Holy Spirit         Let us consider in our mind’s eye the figures gathered around the infant Messiah on the occasion of his presentation in the Temple. Let us consider Simeon. “He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit, he came to the Temple.” Notice how in each of these three sentences describing Simeon, the action of the Holy Spirit is expressly mentioned. Simeon is a man whose life was guided by the Holy Spirit — like many other good and holy children of the Old Testament. He was in this respect a forerunner of the New Dispensation, when the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all. Just as the Holy Spirit led him to long for the Messiah, and indeed guided him into the presence of the Messiah, so the Holy Spirit is given to the many now (from the Messiah) in order to guide them to the Messiah. Then there is Anna, the prophetess. She too, though the action of the Holy Spirit in her life is not explicitly cited in the passage, is profoundly under the Holy Spirit’s influence. She too “came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.” The Holy Spirit made of her a true temple for himself, made her holy, and led her to the Messiah. She in turn, led by the Holy Spirit, spoke of the Messiah to others. Then there are Mary and Joseph, outstripping both Simeon and Anna as instruments and temples of the Holy Spirit, especially the all-holy Virgin Mary.

The entire scene reminds us that the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us, gathers us all around the person of Jesus, and leads us to bring others to Jesus. Let us constantly pray to the Holy Spirit for light and strength that we be worthy disciples of the Master.

                                                      (E.J.Tyler)

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Our Lord is upon the Cross saying, I am suffering so that men, who are my brothers, may be happy, not only in Heaven, but also — as far as possible — on earth, if they really embrace the most Holy Will of my heavenly Father.
                                                   (The Forge, no.275)

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Thursday of the fourth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(February 3) St. Blase (d. 316)
We know 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 amphitheatre 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. (AmericanCatholic.org)

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Scripture today:   Hebrews 12: 18-19.21-24;     Psalm 47;     Mark 6:7-13

Calling the Twelve to him, Jesus 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)

The fight     In his presentation of the Gospel, St John takes certain actions or incidents, and with the aid of our Lord’s extensive teaching arising from those incidents, builds up a dogmatic presentation on Jesus Christ. Christ speaks of his own divinity, the Trinity of Persons in the one God, the Eucharist being Christ’s own flesh and blood, and several other fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion — summed up in the dogma that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God. The other three Gospels have so many common elements that they are called the “Synoptics,” from the Greek syn meaning together, and optic meaning seen. To a point, they manifest a common approach, a common method, a common vision. But of course, in fact there are important differences between the three Synoptics too. Nevertheless there is more in common between them than there is between them and the Gospel of St John. One of the intriguing differences between the three Synoptics and the Gospel of St John is the constant action of Jesus Christ against Satan in his public ministry. Little of this is portrayed in St John, even though he refers to it on occasion. For instance, at the end of his teaching on the holy Eucharist, our Lord refers to one of the Twelve as being a devil. In St John it is especially as he prepares for death that our Lord refers to his combat with Satan (12: 31; 14:30; 16: 11). The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ are described as the casting out of the prince of this world. During the Last Supper, our Lord says that “the prince of this world is coming — and he has nothing in me.” These allusions are most important, but they are brief and few. In the Synoptic Gospels, however, from the very outset of the public ministry, the conflict with Satan is immediate, visible and prominent. Each of the three refer to our Lord’s initial encounter with Satan in the wilderness after his baptism. Mark makes a brief mention of it, while Matthew and Luke give the details, so similar as to suggest, perhaps, a common source. One of the temptations which Satan dangles before Christ is his being allowed to become lord of the world. Now, in this there is an interesting claim by Satan. It is that the kingdoms of the world and their glory are his to give away.

In that scene, Christ is taken to a high mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world are viewed and their glory. Perhaps the glory of the Pharaohs, the glory of the Assyrians, the glory of Alexander and his various successors, the glory of Rome and many other passing protagonists on the stage of the world were viewed. It is to be noticed that the text says that “all” the kingdoms (pasas tas Basileias) were seen — and could not Christ have seen in that vision each of us? Assuredly so. He lived and died for each of us: St Paul writes that “Christ loved me, and gave himself up for me.” But the important thing here is that Satan claimed dominion. While we allow for prideful and satanic bravado, we nevertheless remember that St Paul writes in the Letter to the Romans that all men are under the power of sin, and that because of sin death spread through the whole human race. Further, in the account of this temptation Christ does not reject the claim. He rejects the temptation and sends Satan packing. Of course, we must not overdo this point, for the Spirit of God was also at work among the peoples and certainly within the life of the chosen people of God. Many exceedingly holy persons distinguished the history of God’s chosen people, flowering in Mary the mother of Jesus himself. Still, in each of the Synoptic Gospels, this opening scene of the Temptations sets the pace for the public ministry of our Lord. Time and again there are demons seen in possession, and Christ is shown casting them out right and left, as it were. This feature of the Synoptic presentation of Christ’s public ministry shows clearly what is at stake. Christ is intent on gaining the dominion of the world. He is establishing a Kingdom that will never end, and the demons know it. The world is awash with the demonic element and Christ is set on making all things new. This brings us to a significant detail in our Gospel today: “Calling the Twelve to him, Jesus sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.” Then having received this power, “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons” (Mark 6:7-13). Christ is the answer to the power of Satan in the world, and he works in and through his Church.

Let us understand that our life’s work is the following of Jesus Christ. This means the gaining of personal sanctity. It is this which the Church time and again celebrates — and it is the meaning of her highest honour, canonization. A person is canonized for gaining the supreme victory. But holiness involves combat with Satan, who works generally through the temptations of “the world” and “the flesh” — external evil influence and disordered personal desire. Christ established his Church to be his body, his temple, and because of his presence within, that Church is the stronger one against Satan. It is to this that our Gospel passage alludes. Let us take up sword and buckler, then, and take the fight to everyday life, gaining holiness whatever be the cost — through the grace of Jesus Christ.

                                                                            (E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Hebrews 12:18-19.21-24)

Living by faith       I remember a person who some years back was doing a spiritual retreat, and she complained about one feature of Religious Life. She said, speaking of a life consecrated exclusively to the person of Christ, “I want to love someone I can see and touch and hear and hold.” What she found as her stumbling block was the necessity of living by faith and not by sight. In today’s passage from the Letter to the Hebrews the inspired author tells us that what we “have come to is nothing known to the senses” (Heb 12:18). The author in his discussion points to the meeting between God and Moses in which so much of what was seen and heard was spectacular. But in our case the realities we are involved with are relatively unseen. They are God and Jesus and the New Dispensation which has replaced the Old. As our Lord said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” The practical point, though, is that we must be faithful to the means of living a life of constant and deep faith, as if we can indeed see these unseen realities. It requires fidelity to daily and constant prayer, spiritual reading, some regular study of what God has revealed as the Church teaches it to be, reliable spiritual direction, and a fervent sacramental life.

We have received from the Holy Spirit at our Baptism a heavenly gift, a supernatural virtue, enabling and inclining us to believe what God has revealed. We must act on this and with the love and hope which we also received, exercise the gift. Fruits of sanctity will result.

                                                                            (E.J.Tyler)

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It is true that your contribution is nil and that it is God who does everything in your soul. However, let not this be the case as far as your correspondence to his grace is concerned.

                                                               (The Forge, no.276)

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Friday of the fourth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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)

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Scripture today:    Hebrews 13: 1-8;     Psalm 26;     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)

Adverse circumstances     I know a devout Catholic man who did very well in life. Raised a non-Catholic, he met a Catholic girl and, becoming interested in the Catholic religion, received instruction in it and became a Catholic at the time of his marriage. He made excellent progress in his professional career, and also made excellent progress in the practice of his Catholic faith, becoming virtually the religious leader of his large family. He was supported in this by his religious wife who also practised her Catholic faith in an exemplary manner. They had their share of reversals and disappointments in life, nevertheless by normal standards he himself did well. Reflecting on his having had good opportunities which he was able to exploit professionally, he once said to me that he was in the right place at the right time. He was referring to circumstances which favoured him, and which if they had been absent, his life would not have had the same success. There surely cannot be any doubt that the presence of suitable circumstances is critical for abilities to be given scope and for recognition to come. If Napoleon Bonaparte had lived in another era or country, he may never have been heard of. This is not to reduce ability and achievements to favourable circumstances, but there is no doubt that they have a critical bearing. In the religious world of the first half of nineteenth-century England, on all hands it was recognized that John Henry Newman was outstanding. His accomplishments as an Anglican were great. As a Catholic he experienced a train of frustration and disappointment, such that in a letter of 12 October 1864 he wrote that “I am often led to call my life a history of failure” (Letters and Diaries, Vol XXI, p.261). At the end of that same month, the Anglican Dean Stanley visited Newman at Birmingham and wrote of the visit to J. C. Shairp. His impression of Newman was, he wrote, “not of unhappiness or dissatisfaction, but of a totally wasted life..” (Life and Correspondence of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, II, p.340-2). But how mistaken was Stanley! My point in mentioning Newman is to bring out the bearing of circumstances. The Providence of God works amid bad circumstances — and Newman, for instance, has been beatified.

Our Gospel passage today (Mark 6:14-29) reminds us of how one can be at the mercy of circumstances. Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, was despicable in his moral life. Christ referred to him as a fox, and refused to speak to him during his Passion. John the Baptist confronted and condemned him for his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife — for which he gained her implacable hatred. For his insolence, Herod imprisoned John but his superstition held him back from further action. He feared John for his holiness, and John’s intrepid words held sway over his inner fears. Doubtless he could not bear the thought of what might happen to him from above if he did John further harm. Thus far, circumstances favoured John, held as he was in his dungeon — and Herod liked listening to him from time to time. His superstitions induced awe before the holy man. So far, John was protected from Herodias who, uninhibited by the subconscious fears of her husband, desired nothing other than John’s destruction. While Herod was lecherous and sunk in sin, she may have been, in her soul, a virtual atheist, having no fears of the unseen world. But then in a mere hour or so, the circumstances changed. Herodias’ daughter (Salome) dazzled and bewitched Herod and his guests by her dancing. Herod, with liquor in the head, perhaps standing and holding his cup, shouted that he would give to the girl whatever she asked — he was showing himself as machismo in front of the leading persons of Galilee. Thus the circumstances changed. Thus did Satan, perhaps at work in the circumstances, succeed. Thus did John’s fortunes suddenly plummet. Thus did he die, and thus did he gain the crown. But it was not a mere reversal, it was a sudden opportunity to bear witness and to gain the victory. All things are in the hand of God and his holy and mighty Providence. It can be impossible to see why God allows certain circumstances to prevail, in which so much apparent harm ensues and darkness descends for long afterwards. The signal lesson in this regard is the life, the ministry, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He, the jewel of our race, came to a seemingly inglorious end — within a mere three years at most he was crucified outside the City. To use Dean Stanley’s words, what “a totally wasted life”!

But no. By that reversal and that failure the entire human race was redeemed, and this was due to Christ’s obedience. John the Baptist triumphed amid the bad circumstances due to his holy obedience to the will of God. Newman triumphed amid difficult and disappointing circumstances due to his obedience to the will of God. In this they were following in the footsteps of the Master. There are no circumstances which may not become occasions of advance in holiness and in witness to God and Christ. In this sense there is no such thing as bad luck or bad circumstances. Nothing, St Paul writes, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers — nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8: 38-39).

                                                       (E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Mark 6:14-29)

The voice of conscience        Cardinal Newman once wrote that if we are faithful to the voice of our conscience, that voice will take us progressively towards the truth about God and to personal holiness. He taught that the conscience is the echo of the voice of God, and if we are obedient to its dictates (even if mistaken) the hand of God will guide us on. But following the voice of conscience is no easy matter. King Herod as described in today’s Gospel (Mark 6:14-29) had a “conscience” of sorts, and that “conscience” made its voice clear to him. “Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection” against Herodias his wife. When he heard John speak “he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.” If only Herod had submitted to the voice of what conscience he had! But he did not. He listened to other voices. He listened especially to the voice of human respect — what others thought of him. He made his extravagant promise (of half his kingdom) to the daughter of Herodias out of bravado to impress his guests. Then “thinking of his oaths and of his guests” he could not face up to going back on his loud and boastful promise. The voice of his “conscience” was snuffed out and he was led into a terrible sin.

The failure to enlighten one’s conscience as to the truth and then to follow it is the greatest source of human failure. In a lesser yet still tragic scale it can happen to us daily — every time we commit a deliberate venial sin. Let us pray for the grace to do our duty no matter how small and no matter what the cost.

                                                                (E.J.Tyler)

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Practise the virtue of hope and, with God as your motive, even w hen you find it hard, persevere at your work and try to finish it well, convinced that those efforts of yours are not useless in the Lord’s sight.

                                                        (The Forge, no.277)

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Saturday of the fourth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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)

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Scripture today:   Hebrews 13: 15-17.20-21;      Psalm 32;      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 going knew where, 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)

The heart’s choice     There is a detail in our Gospel passage which we may regard as pointing to something much greater than what it actually portrays. One of the distinguishing features of our Lord’s public ministry was its tremendous outreach. Our Lord was engaged in a great effort to reach the whole House of Israel and to draw them into the Kingdom he was to establish, that Kingdom which consisted in union with himself. Apart from his own efforts, and of course due to them, great numbers flocked to him — at least for a time. We read that Jesus and his disciples “went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place” to “get some rest.” However, “many who saw them going knew where, and ran on foot from all the towns and got ahead of them” (Mark 6: 30-34). Of course, these crowds hurried ahead for a variety of reasons — doubtlessly some wished to hear our Lord’s teaching, while others wanted the more material benefits of various kinds of healing. But let us take the image of those people running ahead to be with our Lord as he landed as symbolic of those who have a true eagerness for God and Christ, as against those who do not. Imagine a girl born on a farm in a remote part of the country, raised in a religious family but without any special formal religious schooling. From her earliest years she manifests a true religious spirit. While Sunday Mass is celebrated in her country area once a month, she herself, when old enough, mounts her horse every Sunday and rides quite a distance to get to Mass in the next centre. She truly prays and leads a good life — and all recognize this. She marries, and with her husband moves to the city and there she immediately begins to go to Mass every day. The Rosary is said every day at home, and amid her large family her faith continues to grow. The whole family is raised in a religious practice. She lives out her long life known for her intrepid faith, and dies in the Lord. As she is lowered in the grave, all recognize that her love for Jesus Christ is what distinguished her life. She is one of those in the Gospel who would have run ahead of the Lord to await him as he arrived — but in her case it is for one purpose, to be with him as his disciple.

There are many who would regard a person’s religion as little more than a subjective disposition, part of a personal make-up, a feature of one’s temperament that could be the product of any one of several causes. It could be part of one’s hereditary constitution in the way that one’s height, or colour of one’s eyes, or even intellectual capacity might be. Alternatively, it could be the direct result of one’s education, or environment. Religion is considered as instilled into the person from various external influences. That is to say, there is nothing objective in religion. It is just a subjective opinion, feeling, disposition or whatever. But of course this is just a tremendous assumption, one to which a secular culture is especially prone, but an assumption nevertheless. It is an assumption springing largely from the deeper assumption that God is scarcely an objective fact. In the case of our profoundly religious wife and mother mentioned above, she herself was part of a family that was religious, but not all in the family were very religious. One was barely so. The difference cannot be due simply to environment or heredity. If, rather, it is allowed that there is a God, the great God who is Lord of heaven and of earth, then the woman whom we have mentioned was aware of him from her earliest days. In a host of ways, there bore on her mind and heart the fact of God’s reality and presence. The person of Jesus Christ and his Church were perceived as most real and worthy of belief. She somehow had the necessary foundation, the right starting points, the requisite disposition of mind and heart to perceive these objective facts, and to do so with ease. Of course, by the power of her baptismal grace, she was given the faith that gave her an instinctive inclination to believe, but others too were baptized, and in the event did not believe very much. She did believe, and it was due to, as I said, basic dispositions of mind and heart and it had to do with a choice born of love. In her heart she chose to love God and to follow Christ. This is what her heart preferred. Her preference was not due to other influences, but to herself. She was responsible, as we all are, for her choices.

Let us ask God for the right starting points, the right foundation of mind and heart that will equip us to make our choice for him. We ought pray for grace every day, the grace to have a heart made for God and Christ, the grace to be faithful to him to the very end. Every day let us begin again. We must be such as to want to run ahead to where the Lord might be, as did the people in our Gospel passage today. In our case it should be in order to be with him and to listen to his word — and then to have the love to put that word into practice. In this way we shall be pleasing to God.

                                                                                (E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Mark 6:30-34)

Times of holy rest       In our Gospel scene today (Mark 6:30-34), the apostles had been busy with the work of the Lord, “for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat.” They told our Lord all they had done and taught. Our Lord did not say that they were doing too much. Rather, he said that they “must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while.” This provides us with a lesson. It is important that we do as much as we can for God in life. We were, in a sense, created to work — provided we transform our work into a worthy offering for God. But we must also rest, provided our rest too is something holy and pleasing to God. It ought be a renewal of our physical, intellectual, and above all our spiritual life, enabling us to begin again at the work God has given us to do and which will bring glory to Him. Just as the apostles worked with our Lord, so they rested with our Lord.

How should we rest? Just as we should work with our Lord and for him, so we should rest with our Lord and for him — as did the disciples themselves. We rest with our Lord in gentle prayer and prayerful thought, and by pursuing our physical, cultural and intellectual interests. But whether in work or in wholesome rest our call to holiness must be uppermost in our life. Let us then remember that every day just as God awaits us in our work, so he awaits us in our rest.

                                                                             (E.J.Tyler)

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When there is the desire and also the reality of pleasing God continually in your daily work, which is normally made up of many little things, I assure you that nothing is ever lost.

                                                                 (The Forge, no.278)

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Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time A

Prayers today: 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 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, immediately killing over 37,000 people. 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)

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Scripture today:   Isaiah 58: 7-10;    Psalm 111;    1 Corinthians 2: 1-5;    Matthew 5: 13-16

Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5: 13-16)

Salt and Light      I have heard it argued that a principal feature of the Anglo-Saxon trial system is that it is adversarial, as opposed to the European system. Whatever be the truth of this comparison, all in the English-speaking world are aware of the adversarial character of courts of justice. Prosecution and defence do not work together to find the truth, rather they are adversaries. What matters is the win. The culture is such that if a criminal walks out of court having won, then he can ignore the responsibilities he has flouted by his crimes. Perhaps there were no real witnesses, or the witnesses were not convincing, or the law on convictions was too demanding to gain a conviction, or the defence counsel was far superior to the prosecution, or the one breaking the law was just too smart. Now, trial, judgment and conviction in the life of society prompt thoughts in us of each person’s responsibilities. Man enters the world with the power to choose, and with this power comes the responsibility to choose what is good, and avoid what is evil. This fact of responsibility is fundamental in the life of society and every man. After reaching the age of reason, man thenceforth has before him certain responsibilities. He is required to fulfil them, under pain of sanctions — he senses this in his conscience, and to a point, society too makes him aware of it. But what society enforces does not exhaust the matter, for each of us has responsibilities towards God. Each member of Christ’s faithful, which is to say every baptised member of the Church, has responsibilities that can be fulfilled or ignored. Our Lord told many parables about those who ignore their responsibilities and the divine judgment they face. There is no doubt that our Lord, precisely as prophet, spoke more about God’s judgement after death than any prophet before him. In the final analysis, as far as each of us is concerned there will be two beings that matter: God and my self. That meeting between God and me will involve a judgment and no one will be able to come between me and my Judge. No defence counsel will be able to outwit judge and jury. Judgment will be brief, manifest, ultimate, and with no further recourse. This judgment will turn on how we have fulfilled our God-given responsibilities in life.

There is one responsibility to which our Lord often refers. Each person baptised into Christ has the responsibility of bearing witness to him in family, workplace, friends, parish, wherever. It is this to which our Lord refers in today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:13-16). We, who are baptized, are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt of the earth! In those days salt not only gave flavour to food and made it pleasing, but it preserved it from corruption. Right up to the invention of advanced refrigeration, whenever a long sea voyage was being undertaken, the meat would have to be salted for its period at sea. This was critical for sea travel and naval warfare. Salt preserved the meat for a time, otherwise the carcase would quickly corrupt. The Christian who gives his life to Christ and to the pursuit of holiness makes the world pleasing to God and preserves it from corruption and spiritual death. But if the salt loses its saltiness, it is useless and has to be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men. The Christian loses his saltiness by neglecting to cultivate his union with Jesus Christ. Our Lord says that we are the light of the world. The Christian is this because he possesses from his baptism the true Light, which is Christ. His light must shine in the sight of men, but all too often it is barely a flicker, indeed in too many cases it has gone out. Even if it is shining still, it should be shining far more. It will not shine brightly if we have not made Christ the great Light of our lives, if he is neglected and disregarded. We must be the true salt of the earth, and the light that enlightens those around us in the world. This is to say that we must be assiduous in our daily spiritual life, having a plan of spiritual living which is very well advised, well thought out and faithfully adhered to. We ought begin each day prayerfully, offering the day to God and perhaps with the Gospel in our hands. We should do a little spiritual reading each day. We should have a regimen of prayer, a daily examination of conscience, and we should devoutly receive the Sacraments. We ought sanctify our daily work.

We are all called to personal holiness. We are all born into the world with responsibilities — and our first and greatest responsibility is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This is what it means to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We cannot be this if we are not making a persevering effort to seek union with Jesus Christ through daily personal prayer, a holy reception of the Sacraments — especially the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance — and by living according to his commandments. At the end, we shall be judged, but not in a human court which can be evaded by adversarial methods. We shall be judged by God, and his judgement is final and everlasting. It is assuredly coming. Let us never imagine we can evade it.

                                                         (E.J.Tyler)

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You would be right in thinking: how good the Lord is, who has sought me and has made known to me this holy path where I can be effective and where I can love all men, bringing them peace and happiness. This thought has then to be turned into resolutions.

                                              (The Forge, no.279)

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Monday of the fifth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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)

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Scripture today:    Genesis 1: 1-19;     Psalm 103;     Mark 6:53-56

When Jesus and his disciples 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)

God’s power     There are various views on the meaning of the traditional religion of the Australian Aborigines, and it is a brave (or foolhardy) man who presumes to pronounce firmly on it. It is manifest, though, that the Dreaming (as it is commonly called) is fundamental. It is largely a religion of the Dreaming. That is to say, it involves an evocation of the Dreamtime and, through song and ritual, a process of making it present. The Dreamtime is the original coming-to-be of the world (of the tribe or clan) with its pulsating life and fertility, imparting to the world all that sustains life and happiness. To evoke the Dreamtime is to make present once again something of that great original impulse, and to ensure the active presence of what the family, the clan, the tribe or the people need for life and happiness. It renews life, and by drawing on the power of the Dreaming, vulnerable man is sustained and enabled to flourish. It is obvious that elements of this religious approach can be harmonized with a sacramental religion, which is what, for instance, the Catholic religion is. But one thing about it is obvious, and that is the effort of man — in this case the traditional Australian Aborigine — to gain access to a greater and higher Power. Man needs contact with real power that will meet the needs of his weakness and liability to destruction. Across the spectrum of primal religions we see this seeking to befriend and win over the unseen powers that can control the adverse forces of the world. There are other aspects of this in many traditional religions, such as the sense of guilt. In many cases the adverse conditions and threats which the religion in question seeks to remedy are perceived as punishments for offences against the deities. Be all this as it may, the general point I wish to make here is that the religions of man manifest his profound need for help from above — he needs the help, the constant help, of higher and greater powers. He needs access to a Power which is friendly to him. His religion is very much an expression of this — while being other things too. How great is the excitement when this kindly Power is discovered to be present among men!

It is under this aspect that God entered the life of Moses and directed him to lead his people out of the land of slavery to the Promised Land. We read (in Exodus 2) that Moses was tending the flock of Jethro when he saw the bush which, though on fire was not consumed. There he heard the voice of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who said that “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint... Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land...” God presents himself as all-powerful and friendly to his people. This is exactly what man needs, and it is what he is ever seeking. It is exactly what the people believed they had found in Jesus of Nazareth in our Gospel today. He was friendly, he loved them, and he was full of power in their regard. We read that “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.” There was nothing menacing about Jesus Christ — at least to those who recognized their need. People ran to him. They did not ask whether he was tired, or needed some peace and quiet with his disciples. They did not consult for a minute about his convenience. They did not ask whether they were in such a state as to be pleasing to him. They certainly did not reflect on whether he would be angry or irritated with them — and the anger of the gods was usually a significant issue in the religions of man. They simply ran to Jesus Christ with their needs. He had the fulness of power, he was holy, and they knew he was very friendly, kind, compassionate. God was present in him somehow, and so they ran to him. Therefore, “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). The one, almighty God was accessible to them through this man Jesus Christ. They had yet to learn that he himself was this one, almighty God become man.

The first thing we generally think of when we think of God is his power. The God of historical revelation has revealed himself to be infinite in his power. Indeed, this may be a unique feature of revealed religion. I am not sure that there is any other religion which teaches that the power of its deity is infinite. This one God had the power even to become a vulnerable man. He had the power to take away the sin of the world, and he did it by atoning for it as a victim for our sake. God can do all things. Most of all he can and wants to redeem and sanctify us so that we can be with him for ever in heaven. Let us rely on the power and grace of God, then, and see in Jesus Christ our all. As St Paul writes, this is the mystery now revealed, “Christ in you — your hope of glory.”

                                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Genesis 1:1-19)

Our work       One of the most common mistakes is to think that our work is not of much intrinsic value, and then to think that the work of others is not of much value. We tend to think that the only value our work has is that of meeting mere necessities or of delivering into our hands a pay packet. Were it not for certain necessities, and for the pay packet, we would not work at all. But that is not how God is revealed to be acting. From the very first pages of the Bible, God is revealed to us to be at work creating this world. So to be at work, provided it is work in accordance with God’s will, makes us similar to God. As God works, so should we. So intent was the inspired compiler of the first chapter of Genesis on giving us this picture of God, that he shows God engaged in a working week, finishing with a day of rest. If we work well — and God worked well, for everything he made he saw to be good — if we work well each day and each week, and duly observe our Sabbath rest as God commands in the third commandment, then we shall be very like God. We should aspire to work well all our lives and to make our work a means whereby we grow in the likeness of our heavenly Father.

We should make our work a means of sanctification. Our Lord said, when attacked for curing on the Sabbath, that “My Father is working, and so I keep on working.” The Gospel is full of the portrayal of our Lord busy at his work. We should strive to be like him, busy at our God-given daily work, making it something holy.

                                                                           (E.J.Tyler)

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You know that you will never lack God’s grace, because he has chosen you from all eternity. And if this is what he has done for you, he will grant you all the help you need to be faithful to him as his son. Go forward, therefore, with a sure step and try to correspond at every moment to the promptings of God’s grace.

                                                                 (The Forge, no.280)

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Tuesday of the fifth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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.
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) 

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Scripture today:    Genesis 1: 20-2: 4;    Psalm 8;      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)

God’s will       Our Gospel passage today presents yet another instance of the clash between Jesus Christ and the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees require of him an explanation of why his disciples do not conform to the received rules of washing. They saw “some of his disciples eating food with hands that were unclean, that is, unwashed.” St Mark gives his reader the context of this. “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.” Of course, practices such as these, though excessive, were not wrong in themselves, and could claim a certain likeness with the prescriptions of purity and cleanliness in the Scriptures such as those in the book of Leviticus. Further, they could have been a reminder of the requirement of inner purity of heart from the filth of sin. But, as we read from our Lord’s instant accusation, as observed by the Pharisees they substituted for inner purity, and masked a false disposition of the heart. Our Lord said his accusers were hypocrites, giving the impression by such man-made practices that they were one thing, whereas in reality they were entirely different. In their hypocrisy they substituted their own religious customs for what God required of them, thus deceiving their own consciences and those of others. For example, by declaring something to be a gift to God (that is, “Corban”), they erased from consciences the divine command to care for parents. “And,” our Lord said, “you do many things like that” (Mark 7: 1-13). Let us ponder on those final words, because in one way or another they can apply to us. In “many things” we can substitute what is more useful, convenient, or advantageous for what God has commanded in Revelation or in the natural law. We can cloak this sleight-of-hand substitution by regarding what is but a preference as “our duty.” We rationalize away the doing of God’s will, and create in ourselves a false conscience, which is no conscience at all.

In a brief address Pope Benedict XVI gave to the directors and officers of the Police Headquarters in Rome (January 21, 2011), he made mention of the objective demands of the conscience and how they can be reduced to mere subjective preferences. The Pope referred to the breakdown of a moral consensus. If there is to be co-existence in society, the institutions and laws which make this possible must be supported. But law involves ethical principles, and if there is a lack of consensus on these principles, then the forces mobilized to defend society will fail. Now modern thought places great stress on the subjective dimension of existence. The “subject” is given a special importance, and while this has a strength, it carries a certain risk in relation to the theory of the conscience of man. It has come to be thought, as Benedict said, that “there are no objective references in determining what has value and what is true; rather, each possesses his own truth and his own morals.” On the contrary, “the true meaning of ‘conscience’ is man's capacity to recognize truth and, even more so, the possibility he has to hear its call, to seek it and to find it.” So in a sense we have a more serious situation than that which our Lord was criticizing in the scribes and Pharisees. We are liable to think that “my conscience,” which is simply what I happen to think, constitutes my duty, and takes precedence over objective moral obligation. I take it for granted that if I think something is right, then by that mere fact it is right. In this way I can not only substitute what is more convenient for objective moral obligation, and explain it away to myself as being what is morally right. I can also consider that there is no objective moral obligation binding me anyway. I make up my own mind, and no more ultimate word need be said about the matter. That is to say, while in every age and place there has been the perennial temptation to substitute self-aggrandisement and convenience for what is objectively right in the moral order and in religion, in our modern age we have a view of the conscience to justify this to ourselves. The conscience is not deemed to be man’s capacity to recognize objective truth, to hear its call and to seek it. Rather it is just what I think and decide, and nothing more.

The point here is that we must so tune and develop our consciences that they remain sensitive to the objective law and will of God, as it is expressed in the natural law and in what God has revealed. Let the example of the scribes and Pharisees whom our Lord criticized be a warning to us. For one reason or another, consciously or unconsciously, we can avoid doing the will of God and substitute for it an action suited to our own convenience or will. This involves an objective offence against God and, to a greater or lesser extent, a rejection of his position as God. As our Lord said on one occasion — whoever does the will of God, he is my mother, brother, and sister.

                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Genesis 1:20-2:4)

We are God’s children       In our passage today from the first chapter of Genesis, God is portrayed as the Creator all that exists. Everything that he made is good. So, bearing the Creator’s imprint, the world ought constantly remind us of the reality and goodness of God. Now, the teaching of the inspired chapter is that the crown of our world is man. While the things God has made are “good,” man, made in his own image, is “very good.” But man, created “very good” in his nature, has been profoundly spoilt and wounded. But by our baptism we are placed in Christ and filled with the holiness of God, sharing his own divine life. A higher calling comes into being, which is to resist his propensity to sin and to live in this divine life. By his baptism man is called to be a saint.

Let us be profoundly grateful for the gift of human life and the gift of divine life, making us God’s children. Let us live what we are, recognising our dignity, and live it to the fullest.

                                                                         (E.J.Tyler)

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I ask the Mother of God to smile on us if she wishes, if she can..... She will indeed do so. Moreover, she will reward our generosity a thousandfold here on earth. A thousandfold, that is what I am asking her for!
                                                                    (The Forge, no.281)

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Wednesday of the fifth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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, the Clerks Regular of Somasca, 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)

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Scripture today:   Genesis 2: 4-9.15-17;     Psalm 103;      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 passes on. (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)

Out of the heart       Our scene is Palestine, and it is a little over two thousand years ago. A child is born to a Jewish family in Galilee, a family observant of the Law of God. The child is given the name Simeon, or Simon. His brother is Andrew. They grow in their childhood, into adolescence, and then as vigorous and devout young men. They absorb the great hope of Israel for the coming Messiah and make it their own. Their business is with fishing on the Lake of Galilee, and they are competent and successful in their work. Simon marries, but perhaps — for we do not know one way or the other — his young wife dies. That he married is clear because we read of his mother-in-law, but we read nothing at all of his wife. He is a good man as is his brother, and news comes to Galilee that there is a prophet in Judea, John, and numbers are going to him to be baptized in the river Jordan, as a grace-filled expression of repentance. There is talk of the coming of God in some way, indeed of the Messiah. We know the grand sequel. It was there that Simon and his brother Andrew — Andrew first, and then Simon — met the Messiah and became his friends and disciples. They are called to be of the Twelve, with Simon being, and being called, the Rock. Their goodness flowers, and despite their faults they go on to holiness of life, spending their lives in the greatest cause of all — spreading Christ’s Church and bringing others into union with Jesus the Messiah and Son of God. They end their days as martyrs for the name of Jesus, and now reign with Christ in heaven. Out of their hearts could have come a trail of mediocrity. But with the aid of the grace of God and their own good resolution, from their obscure and ordinary beginnings came untold good. At the same time all those years, while they were growing up, so was another good young man, Judas Iscariot. He too meets Jesus and, so great is his promise and so special the choice of God, that he is called not only to be a disciple but one of the very Twelve. But how sad and tragic is the sequel! From the heart of Judas came betrayal, tragedy, despair, and a total moral catastrophe. From the heart of each, on the one hand Judas and on the other Simon, came very different things. It is the drama of every soul.

A child is born, and the birth gives great joy to his parents. He is a healthy baby, and his entry into the course of life floods the hearts of his parents with happiness. He is taken to the Church and is baptized into Christ, and the life of God floods the soul of the infant. What awesome prospects lie ahead! From his heart, renewed wonderfully by grace but wounded by original sin and personal sin, can come very opposite things. He could be a saint — and numbers upon numbers become saints, some known and recognized by decree of the Church, many more known only to God in heaven. They are the heroes of human history, and out of their hearts have come untold good. Others, though — oh, how sad is their course! Adolf Hitler was a baptized and confirmed Catholic. He had been given the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual means of growing in holiness, but how colossal was the moral tragedy of his life! Out of his heart flowed not great good, but incalculable harm. Such is the drama of the human being. A man’s heart can become very good, or it can become very bad. It can grow in goodness, it can be but mediocre, or it can descend into moral corruption. In our Gospel today (Mark 7:14-23), our Lord sets aside all thought that it is basically what enters a man from outside that “makes him unclean.” That is to say, he is responsible for himself, for it is from him, from his own heart that the true evil of the world flows. So it was in the beginning. Man was constituted as good, but he decided to follow a path that was evil. Out of his heart, made good by God at its creation, came evil, and this because of his own personal decision to sin. Thus sin entered the world and with sin came death, and death has spread to the whole human race. This is the fallen condition into which every man is born, and it is compounded by his own decision to sin. As our Lord said, “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).

Let us understand the situation before us, then. We must make a choice every day. Because of the work of Christ and our own baptism which brings that work to our souls, we have the spiritual wherewithal to combat our own hearts and to make it possible for grace to change them. Out of our hearts can come good, or evil. Let us make sure that our hearts are transformed into the likeness of Christ, so that what poured out of his heart for the benefit of mankind will be replicated in small measure in us. Let us so strive as to become like Christ.

                                                       (E.J.Tyler)

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Practise a cheerful charity which is at once kindly and firm; human and at the same time supernatural. It should be an affectionate charity, knowing how to welcome everyone with a sincere and habitual smile, and how to understand the ideas and the feelings of others. In this way, with gentleness and strength, and without concessions in matters of personal morals or in doctrine, the charity of Christ — when it is being well lived — will give you a spirit of conquest. Each day you will have a greater desire to work for souls.

                                                                  (The Forge, no.282)

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Thursday of the fifth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(February 10) St. Scholastica (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, 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 central Italy 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)

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Scripture today:    Genesis 2: 18-25;     Psalm 127;     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)

The Gospels     It is useful comparing the different Gospel accounts of the same scene in our Lord’s ministry, for there are differences. Each in its own way helps us know the Lord. Our Gospel passage today from Mark is a case in point. Both Mark (Mark 7: 24-30) and Matthew (15: 21-28) situate the event immediately after our Lord’s confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem over eating with unwashed hands. Following this, Christ teaches that it is the heart of a man that can make him unclean, not the food he eats. Then we read in Mark that “Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.” Matthew adds Sidon, telling us that “he arose and departed from there for the district of Tyre and Sidon.” This is no real difference, because Mark tells us that after the event our Lord departed again “from the district of Tyre, and came by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee.” Matthew (having mentioned both Tyre and Sidon), is content to tell us that our Lord “left that country and passed along the sea of Galilee.” Mark gives further detail about the visit to Tyre. He writes that “he entered a house, and did not want anyone to know it,” whereas Matthew mentions nothing of the house nor of the secrecy. All he tells us is that Jesus went to the region. The details, given in Mark and missing in Matthew, make the scene live. They suggest that our Lord, truly human as he was — though divine too — wanted rest, time with his heavenly Father, and perhaps prime time with the Twelve for their instruction. Mark tells us that despite our Lord’s efforts, his presence became known — indeed, the Canaanite woman was on to him immediately. This suggests the urgency of her case and her desperation, together with our Lord’s own fame. He was known more widely than, humanly speaking, he expected. He expected that he would arrive and spend time there incognito, but no. Immediately his presence was detected, and the desperate pagan woman lost not a second of time. With that, our Lord’s precious retreat in the house of that neighbourhood was at an end. At least in these first sentences, Mark’s details illustrate the very human circumstances involved. The Incarnation was real. The Son of God did not escape the coincidences and unexpected exigencies of real life. God though he was, he was truly man enmeshed in our human situation.

 But we then notice a certain emphasis in Matthew’s account of what our Lord said that is missing in Mark. Mark portrays the Syro-phoenician woman simply importuning our Lord with her pressing need. Our Lord’s reply to her refers to the bread of “the children” and that it should not be cast to “the dogs” — clearly a reference on the one hand to the children of Israel, and on the other to the Gentiles. This too is included in Matthew’s account. But in Matthew’s account our Lord tells his own disciples (before speaking to the pagan woman) that his mission “is only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Matthew’s Gospel would seem to have been written with the Hebrews especially in mind — and Jesus was God’s gift for them. They are privileged in God’s sight, for the Saviour of the world was sent in a special way to them. That is one reason why the Christian of our day would look somewhat askance at the suggestion, heard in recent years, that no effort ought be made to bring the Jewish people to Christian discipleship. A reading of Matthew’s Gospel would suggest that St Matthew would not at all agree with this. Further, in Matthew the Canaanite woman comes to our Lord addressing him as “Lord, Son of David.” This is missing in Mark. So Matthew has the pagan woman recognizing our Lord’s exalted status (“Lord”) and his most significant lineage (“Son of David”). Even if the woman did not appreciate the transcendent sense of the terms she used, Matthew is drawing out yet again the great theme of his Gospel that Jesus is the fulfilment of all the prophecies and expectations of the Scriptures. He is the Messiah of God’s chosen people, the promised Son of David. But all of this having been said, both accounts of the interchange between Christ and the woman continue and end with the same facts. Our Lord’s studied reserve towards her, her immediate parry and response, and our Lord’s admiring acknowledgment of her faith and his granting of the miracle, are common to both accounts. Even so, the accounts end with differences. In St Mark, our Lord tells her that “the devil has gone out of your daughter,” and when she returns to her house she finds the devil gone. In Matthew our Lord simply says, “let your will be granted. And from that moment her daughter was cured.”

Each account of the Gospel has so much that can nourish our knowledge of and love for Jesus Christ. Let us read the Gospels daily and prayerfully, asking the Holy Spirit for light and love to advance in the Christian life. At its heart the Christian religion consists in a personal friendship with Jesus Christ, and a sharing in his life by grace. Let us make this our daily path, using the Scriptures, and most especially the Gospels, to help us on our way as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus our Saviour.

                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

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My son, I said with assurance, in spreading our “madness” to other apostles I am not unaware of the “obstacles” we will find. Some of them may appear insurmountable... But inter medium montium pertransibunt aquae — the waters will pass through the midst of the mountains. Our supernatural spirit and the drive of our zeal will cut through the mountains and we shall overcome those obstacles.

                                                                  (The Forge, no.283)

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Friday of the fifth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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)

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Scripture today:   Genesis 3: 1-8;    Psalm 31;     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)

The Decapolis     Let us notice that, following on the event described in the preceding passage (i.e., the deliverance of the Syro-phoenician woman’s daughter from the demon), our Lord continues his sojourn in pagan territory. He had retired to the pagan district of Tyre, wishing his whereabouts to be unknown, but it was not to be. Immediately the pagan woman extracted from him a striking exorcism. At a word and at a distance, he cured her daughter of the possession. Presumably word was out, and perhaps for this reason our Lord left that neighbourhood, travelling through Sidon and “down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.” Like Tyre, the Decapolis was a pagan area. He may still have been looking for time away from all the crowds of Galilee and Judea. However, we ought remember that Mark was, as Simon Peter’s later assistant in Rome, writing also for a Gentile audience. So he may also have been intending to show instances in our Lord’s life of his contact with the Gentiles and of his brief ministry among them. By his entry into a pagan territory such as the Decapolis (the Ten Towns), our Lord may also have been interested in introducing the Twelve to a taste of their future mission. While his own specific mission was to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, they themselves would be sent to the whole world to make disciples of all the nations. In Matthew’s account, after the encounter with the Syro-phoenician woman at Tyre, our Lord departs and goes to the Sea of Galilee where he ascends a mountain and the people come to him. Matthew makes no mention here of the visit to the pagan territory of the Decapolis. It may not have fitted into his purpose, but it must have been part of Mark’s. Indeed, Mark’s account of this visit to the Decapolis is not just a passing incidental. As a matter of fact, his account of the visit to the Decapolis is nearly as long as that of the visit to Tyre, and it is just as vivid in detail. Interestingly, we notice that as soon as Jesus arrived (7:31-32), the inhabitants had work for him.

That is to say, as soon as our Lord arrived at the Decapolis (7:31), he must have been recognized, just as he had been in Tyre. Now, in Mark’s Gospel this is not the first time that our Lord had visited the Decapolis. Two chapters earlier (Mark 5:1-20), at the end of extensive teaching and work, our Lord decides to go “to the other side” with his disciples — to the Decapolis region. It was an excursion for a little rest and recreation, and perhaps further instruction. At the end of an eventful passage during which our Lord calms the storm at a word, they arrive in “the country of the Gerasenes.” It was one of the Ten Towns, the nearest to Galilee across the Lake. Arriving, there then follows our Lord’s dramatic encounter with the man hopelessly possessed by several demons. At a word our Lord ordered the demons out, and with his (merciful) leave, they entered the pigs — and forthwith the pigs perished in the Lake. The upshot was that the inhabitants of the town came out and, filled with superstitious perplexity, asked our Lord to leave. The restored man, however, pressed to be allowed to remain with him. No, our Lord replied — you are to stay here and “go home and tell them all the Lord has done for you in his mercy.” Obediently, this is just what the man did — he “began to proclaim in the Decapolis” — and not just in the Gerasene area — “the things that Jesus did for him” (Mark 5: 20). So this man made Jesus known. In his own limited way, he became a proclaimer of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This alone may account for the fact that when our Lord arrived in the Decapolis area again, following on his visit to Tyre, he was immediately presented with the deaf-mute of our Gospel today. “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” (Mark 7:31-37). Still, our Lord did not want this known and so he took the man aside and healed him, afterwards ordering his friends to keep the matter quiet. In the case of this particular healing, our Lord does it in a way that suggests ceremony and effort. Perhaps he was also intending to introduce his disciples, by their witnessing of this event, to the sacramental character of their future ministry.

Our Gospel event to day presents our Lord’s brief involvement in the pagan region of the Decapolis. Others from the Decapolis were among the crowds following and hearing our Lord, we read in St Matthew (4: 25). It reminds us that, as the (heretical) Samaritans of St John’s Gospel said (4: 42), Jesus is the Saviour of the world. Let us appreciate that anew. He is the only way to the Father. To see him is to see the Father. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Let us resolve to bring Jesus Christ to those around us in our everyday life, and by our lives to be a true witness to his Person.

                                                           (E.J.Tyler)

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My God, my God! All of them were equally loved, through you, in you and with you, and now they are all scattered.” Thus you complained when you saw yourself once again all alone and lacking in human resources.
 
 —But Our Lord immediately made you feel sure in your soul that He would sort it out. And you said to him: “You will fix everything.”
 
 —And so he did. God solved everything sooner, more fully and better than you expected.

                                                                  (The Forge, no.284)

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Saturday of the fifth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(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)

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Scripture today:   Genesis 3: 9-24;   Psalm 89;    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)

Seven loves, seven baskets     Anyone familiar with the principal elements of the Old Testament, especially the rescue by God of his people from slavery and his bringing them into the Promised Land, might see certain allusions in our Gospel event today. Interestingly, the passage begins with the vague phrase, “during those days.” Perhaps there is there a slight allusion to the days long past when great things happened. We can imagine the children of Israel reminiscing of the wonderful things of the past, things that happened “during those days.” Here, there is a great crowd with our Lord, and we learn later that it is in the “desert” or wilderness. Perhaps again we are reminded of the things that happened “during those days” when the children of Israel were in the desert, the wilderness, following the lead of Moses the servant of God. We read in Exodus 16 that “the whole community of Israel came into the desert of Sin” many weeks after their departure from Egypt. “Here in the desert the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” They accused Moses of leading them to their deaths by famine. There is no complaint against Jesus by the multitude before him, but he anticipates their need. “If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” Mark seems to be looking on Jesus as the new Moses who is about to feed the people with manna from heaven. We know the sequel: “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.” From the seven loaves (and a few fish), seven baskets of left-overs were gathered up. In the desert, it had been manna and quail. Here it was bread and fish. Let us notice another point. In the other case narrated by Mark of our Lord feeding the multitude (Mark 6: 35-44) there were five loaves and two fish, and twelve baskets full of scraps were gathered up. I have always been intrigued at these differences in the number of loaves and baskets used in each event.

There is no difficulty in there being twelve baskets of scraps in the earlier miracle of Chapter 6. We immediately think of the Twelve who did the distribution and who gathered up the scraps. There were twelve baskets, one for each Apostle. One wonders whether there is a point in these details — that the Church of the Twelve, commissioned and led by Jesus Christ, is that to which the twelve tribes of Israel is being called as to their home and their true nourishment. But in the next miracle of the feeding of the multitudes reported by Mark, there are seven loaves used and seven baskets that were gathered up, and the crowd is of a different size. Perhaps the crowd in this case symbolized a different people of the future — the Gentile people. We remember how, in the Book of Deuteronomy (ch.7 :1), Moses, having summoned the people to him, says to them that the Lord God will bring them into the promised land — a land of “seven nations more numerous and powerful than you.” The seven nations are named, and they will be overcome. Here in our Gospel passage today (Mark 8:1-10), Christ, possibly as a new Moses, feeds the multitude with seven loaves and gathers up seven baskets of scraps left over. It may allude to the Gentile nations who would be fed by Jesus Christ as members of his new people. This is conjectural, but at least the factual details can remind us of certain Scriptural allusions. Further, it is not immediately clear where exactly this event in Mark took place. It immediately follows — without an explicit naming of the location — our Lord’s healing of the deaf-mute in the “district of the Decapolis.” On that occasion our Lord took the deaf-mute away “from the crowd” and dealt with him privately. So there was a “crowd” there. That event over, Mark immediately takes us to our scene today, which occurred “during those days,” with “the multitude being great” (8: 1). Did it occur also in the pagan Decapolis? The parallel account in Matthew (15: 29-39) suggests not, but Mark does not clarify it for us. My point is that we are at least reminded of the future mission of the Church to the Gentile nations. At the time of his writing of the Gospel, Mark was assistant to Simon Peter in Rome, the heart of the Empire.

Let us think of the compassion of Jesus Christ for the whole world. His own particular mission was to the chosen people of Israel, but it was the beginning of his mission to the world as head of his Church. We ourselves are being continually fed by his divine nourishment, which is none other than his very self, coming to us in his word, in the holy Eucharist, and in the ministry and life of his body the Church. Let us hear his call, then, to be his friends and disciples, keeping ever close to him and living faithfully according to his teaching. Our calling is to become like him, sharing in his life, and preparing for life eternal in his presence.

                                                                  (E.J.Tyler)

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It is indeed just that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit should crown the Blessed Virgin as Queen and Lady of all created things.

 —You have to make use of her power! With the daring of a child join in this celebration in Heaven. — For myself, I crown the Mother of God and my Mother with my purified failings, since I have no precious stones or virtues.

 —Take courage!
                                                                  (The Forge, no.285)

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Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Prayers this week: Lord, be my rock of safety, the stronghold that saves me. For the honour of your name, lead me and guide me. (Psalm 30: 3-4)

God our Father, you have promised to remain for ever with those who do what is just and right. Help us to live in your presence. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

(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)

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Scripture today:    Ecclesiasticus 15: 15-20;    Psalm 118;    1 Corinthians 2: 6-10;     Matthew 5: 17-37

Jesus said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife — marital unfaithfulness is a separate case — causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5: 17-37)

The Law of the Gospel   Our passage today consists of twenty verses from the Sermon on the Mount, which was Matthew’s compilation of Christ’s teaching, at the start of his account of the public ministry. It is the Law of the Gospel, promulgated by Jesus Christ on the Mount, reminiscent of the promulgation of the Law of God on Mount Sinai over a thousand years before. As our Lord explains, his Law fulfills the Law of Moses and the Prophets. Jeremiah had prophesied that God would establish a New Covenant with the house of Israel. “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer 31: 31-34). St Augustine wrote that the Sermon on the Mount expresses “the perfect way of the Christian life (and) .... all the precepts needed to shape one’s life” (quoted in CCC 1966). It sets forth a life that reflects that of Jesus Christ, fulfilling, refining, surpassing and leading the Old Law to perfection. The gift of the Holy Spirit is at the heart of the way described in our Gospel today (Matthew 5: 17-37), and it is the Holy Spirit who can take the Christian beyond normal morality to the exceptional sanctity described in the Sermon on the Mount. It shows in greater detail what it means to imitate Jesus Christ in everyday life. Now, what is especially noteworthy about the Sermon on the Mount is the general picture of sanctity that it provides — and history is not short of instances of this superior Christian sanctity in the most unlikely places. Let me nominate one unlikely place where sanctity is not usually expected: in the halls of secular power. We do not expect to see sanctity in those wielding power in the top echelons of civil society. I am thinking of monarchs, military generals, or those close to them in the work of government. We expect to see there men or women of very mixed motives and less than excellent actions. We could almost regard such a class of persons as a test case of the possibility of the Holy Spirit empowering man to live according to the Law of Christ, and in a way surpassing the Old. There have been saints who were civil rulers. One such was King Louis IX of France (1214 – 1270), canonized 27 years after his death by Pope Boniface VIII, and the only canonized king of France.

Consider another example of shining sanctity in the midst of matters military and political. I refer to Joan of Arc. She was called by God to a brief career as a military general, a fighting warrior, a person of the sword, a leader attacking strongholds and restoring a temporal kingship. She was born into a prosperous peasant family, and her life was lived in the context of the Hundred Years War between France and England. She had a notable place in the decline of the English campaign. At the age of thirteen, through the 'voice' of St. Michael the Archangel, Joan felt herself called by the Lord to intensify her Christian life and to act personally to free her people. She made a vow of virginity and redoubled her prayers, participating in sacramental life with renewed energy. She, a young French peasant girl, had singular compassion and commitment in the face of her people's suffering, and this was made even more intense through her mystical relationship with God. God intervened in her life, calling her to union with him but with this rather original feature. She had from God a political and military mission — and in a sense she could be looked on as an inspiration for those in these spheres of life. Her activities began in early 1429 when she managed to meet with the French Dauphin, the future King Charles VII. He had her examined by theologians of the University of Poitiers who found her to be a good Christian. On 22 March of that year Joan dictated a letter to the King of England and his men, who were laying siege to the city of Orleans. She wanted peace between the two Christian peoples, but the offer was rejected. So she fought for the liberation of the city. A culminating moment of her work came in July 1429 when King Charles was crowned in Reims. The following year she fell into the hands of her enemies at Compiegne and was taken to the city of Rouen. There, after a long trial, she was condemned to death on 30 May 1431. She died burning at the stake not yet twenty years of age, holding the crucifix and calling on the name of Jesus. She was a magnificent example of one who loved and served Christ in a political and military setting. She ended her short life in the most horrible fashion, but resolutely in the arms of Jesus Christ and a heroic Christian warrior to the end. Exonerated by the Pope twenty-five years after her execution, the Maid of Orléans was canonized by a later Pope in 1920.

In our Gospel today, our Lord says that he had come to fulfil the Law and the Prophets. The sanctity he offers as our Redeemer is one that surpasses ordinary morality. He has given to us the Gift that makes this possible, the Gift that is the Holy Spirit. But it means that we must work at our union with Jesus Christ, making him and his love the soul of all that we do, no matter what our calling in life may be. It has been said that the present age is the age of the laity. This must mean especially the call on the laity to bring Jesus Christ and his love to every secular setting, even the most unlikely. Louis of France and Joan of Arc may provide us with inspiration in this. Let us follow their example in our modern day, a day that is so very secular.

                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.1965 — 1974 (The New Law)

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I want to warn you against a difficulty that may arise: it is the temptation of weariness and discouragement.

 —Isn’t it still fresh in your memory what life — your old life — used to be like, with no aim to it, no purpose, no sparkle, and then, with God’s light and your own dedication, a new direction was given to it and you were filled with joy?

 —Don’t be so silly as to exchange your new life for that other one.

                                                                  (The Forge, no.286)

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Monday of the sixth week in Ordinary Time A-1

(February 14) Saints Cyril and Methodius (d. 869; 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. Cyril 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)

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Scripture today:    Genesis 4: 1-15.25;     Psalm 49;     Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it. Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side. (Mark 8:11-13)

Signs      My impression is that outside the population of believers who truly practise their religion, miracles are generally viewed with disinterest and skepticism. Of course, the Catholic Church views claims of miracles with some skepticism too. The assumption is that things happen according to the laws of Nature, that Nature of which God is the Author — until in some particular case the contrary is shown to have moral certainty. Newman once claimed in a sermon in 1826 that it was Revelation’s insistence on one infinite Creator which was a significant stimulus to the scientific mentality. Prior to the dogma of one Creator of all, man tended to consider the governance of the world as being in the hands of a host of deities, each with a different stake in the world’s activity. Neptune was involved with the sea, Jove with war, and so forth. That is to say, the world was not governed according to consistent laws coming from the one Creator, but according to the different whims and aims of this or that deity. So the world’s functioning could not be studied systematically. When scientific and empirical investigation did gather momentum, the notion of consistent physical laws embedded in the course and constitution of the world was supported by the acceptance of a single, supreme God. So, though God might later be disregarded and abandoned, he was taken to have done a good work in favouring the assumption of a consistent universe that could be studied scientifically. In fact, we have gone beyond this to assume that miracles are like magician’s tricks: if only we knew what is happening out of sight we could explain everything that we see being done. It is also assumed that religion rests on claims of miracles, whereas in reality it is only part of the broad basis of religion. The long and the short of it is that there is, among very many, a modern prejudice against claims of miracles. When the Church accepts the fact of a miracle as a divine stamp of approval for its conclusion that an individual practised heroic Christian virtue, that ecclesiastical decision tends to be dismissed as slightly ridiculous and certainly over-credulous. The miracle is a non-event.

The modern prejudice against claims of miracles is in effect a statement that they are so unlikely as not to warrant acceptance. They lack all antecedent probability, so they cannot be accepted seriously. This prior assumption against their probability can be so great as to leave a person absolutely cold in the face of excellent evidence for the miracle in question. It reminds us that the acceptance of something beyond temporal experience is not just a matter of rational evidence, nor even that “seeing is believing.” Of critical importance are fundamental attitudes and prior assumptions in the face of reality. Everything hinges on one’s starting points, where one is coming from, what one’s fundamental assumptions and beliefs are — and this brings us to our Gospel today (Mark 8:11-13). We read that “The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.” These people were not instances of modern secular man, instinctively rejecting the notion of a miracle while condescendingly tolerant of benighted believers and religious institutions such as the Catholic Church. No, the Pharisees absolutely accepted miracles and demanded them. But the problem was still a matter of their prior assumptions, beliefs and attitudes. They were hostile towards Jesus Christ, and their request for a sign from heaven was but the manifestation of this hostility. Even if Jesus had provided them with a sign from heaven there and then, they still would not have believed. On one occasion our Lord was teaching a crowd in a filled house and from the roof there was lowered a paralytic on his stretcher. Our Lord proceeded to forgive the man’s sins, and by way of proof of his authority to do this, proceeded forthwith to heal the man of his paralysis. But the scribes and Pharisees immediately went into consultation with one another on how to do away with him. The miracle had absolutely no effect. In our Gospel today, our Lord sees in the hearts of his interlocutors the same hostile attitude of heart. Miracles would have no effect on them. They asked for a sign from heaven. He gave forth a deep sigh, and left them.

Let us take our brief Gospel passage today as a reminder of something of fundamental importance in any religious life and in life in general. I refer to the state of a man’s heart. Everything depends on this. God asks of us that we love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. With such an attitude we shall be open to all that God chooses to do in our regard. Let us then give him our hearts and follow him to the end. We shall indeed see many signs of his Person and his love.

                                                                                   (E.J.Tyler)

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If you feel for whatever reason that you cannot manage, abandon yourself in God, telling him: Lord, I trust in you, I abandon myself in you, but do help me in my weakness!

 And filled with confidence, repeat: See Jesus what a filthy rag I am. My life seems to me so miserable. I am not worthy to be a son of yours. Tell him all this — and tell him so over and over again.

 —It will not be long before you hear him say, Ne timeas! — do not be afraid; and also: Surge et ambula! — rise up and walk!

                                                                  (The Forge, no.287)

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