His Heart Was Moved with Pity

In today's first reading, Hosea 8: 4-7, 11-13, the Lord is frustrated with His people  for the many ways in which they have abandoned His precepts, created their own gods, worshiped idols and chosen a variety of paths that have led to their own destruction. In grief, God says to His people: "Cast away your calf , O Samaria! my wrath is kindled against them; [h]ow long will they be unable to attain innocence in Israel? the work of an artisan, no god at all.  Destined for the flames--such is the calf of Samaria!  ....Though they offer sacrifice, ..., the Lord is not pleased with them. He shall still remember their guilt and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt."  The responsorial psalm, Psalm 115, confirms Hosea's message in saying that our idols "are silver and gold, the handiwork of men. They have mouths but speak not; they have eyes but see not; they have ears but hear not...."  
We are those people!

 In the Gospel, Matthew 9: 32-38, Jesus encounters us in the demoniac who is unable to speak and cast out the demon. Jesus walked around to "all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel  of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd...."  Jesus walks around our towns and villages, our cities and suburbs,  teaches in our churches and synagogues, cures all of our diseases and illnesses, those of mind and body and spirits. "His heart is  moved to pity", seeing us  "troubled and abandoned, sheep without a shepherd"! He says to us, as He said to those He encountered in all of Israel, Samaria, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and Galilee: "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest--ask Jesus--to send out laborers for his harvest"  (Matthew 9: 38).

Jesus' Attentiveness to Need

In today's Gospel, Luke 7: 11-17, Jesus raises the only son of a mother to life as he is being carried out for burial.  Without the grief-stricken mother asking Jesus for help, He intervenes to dissolve her dire straits, as women in her culture who had no husband or no sons were doomed to the status of a slave, were treated as second-class citizens. They had little or no rights, were not allowed to attend worship, were not allowed to go out in public or to talk to strangers, nor were they allowed to testify in court.  Women in her circumstances were reduced to a level of helplessness that was, in my opinion, cruel.  Jesus was moved to compassion!

In our day, Jesus also is moved to compassion in the areas of our lives where we experience helplessness.  Are we willing to bring our helpless situations to the Lord? If not, why not?

Jesus' Compassion and Mercy

In today’s Gospel, Mark 5: 1-20, we read and reflect upon the story of the person tortured by a legion of evil spirits.  “The man,” Mark tells us, “had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.”  As soon as Jesus and his disciples approached the area where this man was roaming, Jesus commanded the evil spirits to come out of him.  The tormenting evil spirits begged Jesus  to let them stay in the region and be allowed to enter a herd of pigs  ”feeding on the hillside.”  Jesus allowed it.  Possessed of the legion of demons, the herd of 2000 pigs ran down the hill into the sea. All drowned.

The man freed of the evil that had taken possession of him wanted to stay with Jesus. Instead, Jesus asked him to “go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” The man followed Jesus’ recommendation. He returned to his family and to the people who were hurt by his behavior when he was under the torturous ways of evil spirits.   He “went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.”

This sounds like an incredible story. However, evil spirits are as active today as in Jesus’ time here on earth as the Son of Man, as is Jesus’ mercy and compassion.  Many people, today, neglect their children to engage in promiscuous behaviors or space out in their use of alcohol and drugs. Some men and women are “possessed” by  other addictions that destroy family life and corrode faithfulness to marriage vows.

You and I, from time to time, follow directions that do not come from the Holy Spirit. A streak of meanness or attitudes of hatred and bigotry, prejudice and arrogance may take possession of us.   Unforgiveness may grip our minds and hearts. Pride may hold sway over our actions.  Others may say of us: “He/she is simply impossible to reason with.” Or “He/she is so ornery.  Anger and selfishness dominates his/her thinking and behavior. I can hardly take it anymore! I don’t want to be around this person anymore.”

From what “demon” or “demons” do you and I need to be freed?  In what ways has Jesus healed us of addictions that threatened to destroy that which we once held sacred and led to broken relationships?  What “demons” has Jesus commanded to leave us? And to whom do we owe an apology for the ways we hurt them when tortured by “evil spirits” to which we were slaves?

"Take up Your Cross and Follow Me" (Mt. 16: 24)

In today’s Gospel, Matthew 16: 24-28, Jesus says to his disciples, that is to you and me:  “ If ..[you] wish to come after me [you] must deny [yourself], take up [your] cross, and follow me. For [if you wish]  to save[your] life, [you] will lose it, but [if you lose] your life for my sake, [you] will find it.”

Am I willing to take up a cross that is repulsive to me, that I would never choose for myself?  How would I treat someone who treats me coldly, for instance? How would I respond to persons who avoid eye  contact with me, who would walk away when  I am approaching? How would I respond to people who seems to be ignoring me, whose attitude toward me seems filled with hostility and disdain? 

If I am carrying such a cross, I need to think of Jesus. He was treated with hostility.  People treated Him disdainfully, coldly, walked away from Him. They yelled “Crucify Him,” “Crucify Him!” Whom am I crucifying by my coldness, my attitudes of disdain and hatred? I may hate being treated coldly. I may hate it when I am not treated respectfully and kindly.  Jesus says to me: Remember, people hated me and they will hate you as well (John  15:18). We all stand before our God as sinners. We all stand before God needing God’s mercy. No one is exempt from this position. God says to His Father: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” to one another. And when we turn to Him in our dying to urges to retaliate, to return evil for evil, and acknowledge our need for mercy and forgiveness,  Jesus says to us: “This day you will be with me in Paradise.”

"Woman, Great Is Your Faith" (Matthew 15: 21)

In today’s Gospel, Matthew 15: 21-28, a Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon approaches Jesus, asking that he heal her daughter who is being  “tormented by a demon.”   Jesus ignores her and when she persists in pleading with Him to have mercy on her daughter, Jesus says to her:  “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” And when Jesus’ disciples complain about the woman, Jesus reminds them that He  “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  “Lord, help me,” the woman pleads. She is not deterred by the rebuke of the disciples nor by Jesus’ way of talking to her. She knows  that Jesus has healed the sick and can help her.  She lets nothing get in her  way of securing a healing for her daughter.  “Please, Lord, …even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

This woman approaches Jesus in  faith and in humility, addressing Him as “Lord” and “Son of David,” titles of respect,  expressions of faith and recognition of who Jesus is! She will not be turned away without a positive response from the Lord. Jesus, in fact,  is moved toward compassion and affirms her faith. He says to her:  “’O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed from that hour.”

Is my faith strong enough to ignore sarcasm, rejection, opposition?  When others say things that are offensive to me, do I abandon my faith, walk  away? Or do I persist, as the Canaanite woman did and humbly plead for His help, knowing that God is compassionate and merciful even toward those dismissed as unworthy, “as dogs” by the elite and thus, in their minds,  not entitled to God’s healing power or to be treated with compassion? Am I able, in faith, to stand up to “bullies”, so to speak, especially those hardened by traditional beliefs that differ from my own faith?