Seeking Help, Being Helped, Blocking Help

In today's Gospel, Mark 2: 1-12,  some friends of a paralytic man bring him to the house where Jesus is healing the sick. The crowd has blocked entrance to the house, so the men climb up on the roof, create an opening and lower the paralytic man. "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him. 'Child, your sins are forgiven." Some scribes who were in the house object and, in their minds, accuse Jesus of blaspheming: "Who but God alone can forgive sins?" Jesus knows what they are thinking and says to them: "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk'? But that you may  know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth'--he said to the paralytic, 'I say to  you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home'!" 

Who are you, am I, in that scene? The persons who bring their friend to the Lord for healing? the paralytic in  need of Jesus' healing? the scribes who question Jesus' authority? or part of the crowd seeking healing from Jesus?  You or I may be any or all of those persons!

We might ask ourselves the following questions:  What in me, like the roof or the crowd, blocks Jesus from getting to me or me going to Jesus for healing?  From what do I need healing? What keeps me, also, from helping others in need of healing? Am I willing to do whatever it takes to help others or am I one who blocks others from getting the help they need from the Lord and from others? Furthermore, am I one questioning Jesus' authority; or, when God works through another person, am I one who is accusing them of overstepping their authority?

Aware that Our Actions Have Consequences

In today's gospel, Mark 1: 40-45, a leper approaches Jesus, kneels down and says: "'If you wish, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to  him, 'I do will it. Be made clean.' The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean."  Jesus asked him to tell no one about the healing. However, he broadcast it everywhere to the point that "it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places...."   Jesus suffers the consequences of the leper's inability to respect Jesus' request for privacy and ends up in the position of lepers who had to remain apart from people and stay in deserted places.

The question we need to ponder is: Are we aware of the consequences of the choices we make when faced with sharing our pleasant or unpleasant experiences? When something exciting or painful or traumatic happens, it is easy to get caught in the trap of impulsively sharing it with someone, if not everyone who crosses our path. The temptation to blurt everything out "on the street corners"  is powerful! However, God is far more powerful than Satan and is always at our side with His guidance and wisdom!  May God's wisdom prevail!  

Purposeful living!

In today's Gospel, Mark 1: 29-39, Jesus, with James and John,  visited Simon and his brother Andrew.  When Jesus entered their house, Simon and Andrew immediately told Him that Simon's mother-in-law was ill. Jesus approaches her, grasps her hand, and helps her up. Immediately "the fever left her" and she proceeded to wait on her guests.  Toward evening the entire town brought the ill and possessed to him and he healed them. Early in the morning he found a deserted place to communicate with His Father. He wasn't there very long when those who were with him found him to tell him that "[e]veryone is looking for you."  Jesus does not get hooked into pleasing those who were awed by his miracles. He says to his disciples, "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose I have come."  Jesus knows what His mission is and is not into being gloated over, into being popular, seeking prestige or honors! He says "no" to those things and moves on!  He is clear about His purpose for being here on earth!

What motivates me in the choices I make? What motivates you in the choices you make?  Am I, are you,  seeking honor, glory, prestige or power? Or am I, are you, following the Spirit's lead to help others in need and then moving on to the next mission? Are we clear about why we are here on earth for a short time?

"Left nothing not subject to Him" (Hebrews 2: 5-11)

In today's first reading, Hebrews 2: 5-12, St. Paul reminds us that God "left nothing not 'subject to him [Jesus]. Yet at present we do not see 'all things subject to him,' but we do see Jesus 'crowned with glory and honor' because he suffered death, he who 'for a little while' was made  'lower than the angels,' that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

The author of the Entrance Antiphon for today's liturgy says to us: "Upon a lofty throne  I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold, the name of whose empire is eternal."  That man is the son of man to whom God "left nothing not 'subject to  him'" and whom God "made...for a little while lower than the angels; [God] crowned him with glory and honor, subjecting all things under his feet"(Psalm 8).

It is this son of man whose "fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee" (today's Gospel, Mark 1: 21-28), following his miracles: his casting out Satan from possessed individuals, his healing of the sick and the lame, his raising the dead to life, his restoring lepers to wholeness, and his forgiveness of sins.  This son of God transformed bread and wine into His body and blood at the Last Supper before He died and continues doing so on every altar during the Catholic Mass and says to us: "Take and eat--this is my body given up for you; take and drink--this is my blood poured out for you"  (Luke 22: 19-20). It is this son of man who died upon the cross,  rose again, and ascended into heaven, from whence He sends the Holy Spirit as our Advocate throughout our life here on earth. It is that Spirit who opens our minds and hearts to all that Jesus taught in the Gospels, who transforms us into the person God intends us to be and cleanses us from all of our sins in the sacraments of the Catholic Church!

The Risen Jesus never leaves us and brings to completion what God has begun in us in our baptisms! At the end of our lives, it is Jesus who comes back to us and takes us where He is, that is to the "empire [that] is eternal," where "a host of angels adore" Him, the Son of God made man!

The Kingdom of God is at Hand!

In today's first reading, Hebrews 1: 1-6, St. Paul reminds us that in the past God  spoke to His people "in partial and various ways...through the prophets."  Today, which Paul calls the "last days", God speaks "to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe."  This Jesus, the Son of God, "is the refulgence of [God's] glory, the very imprint of [God's] being".  Jesus, the word of God made flesh, is the one who "sustains all things by his mighty word.  He sustains you and I.  "When he accomplished purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, as far superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."  It is this Jesus who says to us in today's Gospel, Mark 1: 14-20, "This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel."  Following that proclamation, Jesus passes by the Sea of Galilee, sees Simon and his brother Andrew and calls them to follow Him and become "fishers of men."  A little further on, he calls James and his brother John for the same purpose. All four men leave their fishing business to become Jesus' followers and take on a new profession, that of evangelists and apostles.  What role do you and I assume to spread the Word of God, the message of Jesus' Gospel?

In "these last days," you and I are called to follow Jesus. "This is the time of [our]  fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand" for us!  Are we heeding Jesus' voice?  Or are we too busy to take time to build our relationship with Christ and with others in love, forgiveness and justice?  Are we too busy with our own affairs to lead people to Jesus, as Simon, Andrew, James and John did? How, you ask, are you to do this? By living according to the Gospel, doing what Jesus did in his ministry to the people of his day: being just and compassionate, being loving and forgiving, healing the sick and infirm, welcoming all to the table, touching "lepers" and welcoming them to the Eucharist and to experience a heart full of love.

"The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel!"   Live it one day at a time!

"God Sent His Son Born of a Woman" (Gal 4: 4-5)

The Entrance antiphon of today's liturgy reminds us that "God sent his Son, born of a woman, so that we might receive adoption as children" (Gal 4:4-5).  God is father of both Jesus and us, as God is our Creator.  In  taking on human nature in Mary's womb through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus becomes a brother to us and we a brother/sister to Him. As adopted brothers and sisters of Jesus, we share the same inheritance that is His as a human being.  That inheritance is heaven!  And we know the ransom Jesus ultimately paid to open heaven for us--He was obedient to God the Father unto death on the cross. At the end of our lives we, too,  in obedience to God's will, will die with Jesus. At that moment our spirit self, our true selves, will return to heaven from whence we have come, unless we deny God.   If we deny God, God will deny us!  At the  final resurrection our mortal bodies that were returned to the earth in our burial will also rise and enter eternal life with Jesus forever.

The Entrance Antiphon clearly states that Jesus assumed human nature, entering Mary's womb--human nature and divine nature are united! Our humanity is lifted up to a state of divinity, though we are not God.  We share God's divine nature, as Jesus shares our human nature! What a gift! And what humility on the part of God becoming a human being, just like us in all things but sin!  Jesus shows us the depth, the length, the breadth, and the width of God's love for us and also shows us the way to the Father, the way of loving others and ourselves unto death! Love casts out fear, hatred, lust, envy, jealousy, selfishness, pride, greediness and any other sin that separates us from one another and causes divisions among us! The Gospels give witness to how Jesus fostered union with others, how He loved others and reconciled people with His and their Father God.  We are to do the same!

Recognizing our "Leprosy" and Posing the Right Question

In today's Gospel, Luke 5: 12-16, a leper approaches Jesus and says to Him: "'Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.' Jesus stretched out his ha d, touched him, and said, 'I do will it. Be made clean.' and the leprosy left him immediately."

Well aware of the fact that he is to yell out "unclean, unclean," to warn people to keep their distance, the leper bravely, determinately and unafraid of what anyone thinks, approaches Jesus! He takes responsibility for change in his life, for crossing barriers that lock him into an unhealthy state in life. Jesus, in turn, knowing the cultural situation in that He, too, is to stay away from lepers, not touch them, stretches out his hand and commands the disease to exit this man's body!  Both take risks!  Both take responsibility! Both do what the Spirit leads them to do!  Both experience and exercise freedom!  Both are true to themselves!

Like the leper, you and I are unclean. The leprosy of selfishness and pride, greed and envy, lust and avarice, fear and shame, or whatever, creates barriers between ourselves and others, just as the disease of leprosy was a barrier that kept those with the disease from having healthy contact with others.  Jesus and Jesus alone is the answer to the removal of obstacles to healthy living in our personal lives and relationships!  When we approach Him and pose the question "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean," Jesus responds: "I do will it. Be made clean."

 If we remain in "leprous" states, what do we need to do differently so that, like the leper, we seek Jesus, fall on our knees, and pose the question!