2/17/2012 – Friday of the sixth week in ordinary time – Mark 8: 34 – 9: 1

Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship.  In light of this message, we may ask ourselves: Why would these disciples have followed Jesus, a man who was about to be crucified?  As in our modern society, I am sure the disciples in Jesus' day had their fair share of rejection and suffering without taking on more.  Objections to taking up our own crosses and following Jesus would appeal to our instinct for self-preservation, our longing for security and prominence, for health and a long life here on earth.  

         Yet, I think only those who follow Jesus to the cross, those who carry their own crosses on their journey of faith, will know who Jesus really is.  If we stop half-way and don't journey to the cross, then we misunderstand Jesus and his teachings.  He will just be another miracle worker or another wise and compelling teacher.  If we don't journey with Jesus to the cross, if we don't take up our crosses to follow him, what will we really know about the Messiah we profess to believe in and proclaim.  In understanding the cross of Jesus, in carrying our own crosses, only then will we truly understand that Jesus is the son of God.

         This image of the cross may still seem foreign and strange to many of us in our modern age.  But it is a crucified Messiah who reveals God as a vulnerable, suffering God.  It may be a comfortable thought to desire an invincible God who shields us from our vulnerability.  But Jesus, the son of God who was crucified and who asks us to carry our own crosses, is the Jesus who hears the cry of the poor, who defends the immigrant and the unborn, who suffers with others, who was born among the homeless, who associated with the outcasts, who compared receiving the kingdom of God to the joy and innocence of a little child. 

         This is God.  This is God who asks us to take up our crosses, to follow him.  

2/16/2012 – Thursday of sixth week in ordinary time – James 2:1-9

        What interesting words of wisdom we hear from James this afternoon.  He tells us that even though we profess to be followers of Christ, our actions may often not be congruous with the values Christ proclaimed.  How often do we judge people on how they are dressed or how rich they are or by their status in society?  James points out followers in the early Church often did not welcome the poor in their assemblies, that they often treated people different depending upon their status in society. 

        We want to be a welcoming, diverse community of faith.  We want to welcome the child and the grandmother, the rich and the poor, the immigrant and the person whose family has lived here for generations.  And in many ways we in the Catholic Church can be proud of how diverse and welcoming we are.  But it is something we cannot take for granted.  We need to reach out to many people in so many ways.  We need to meet people in their reality, in the place where they are in their lives.  May we always be challenged in our faith, may we always look inside of our hearts to see the ways we need to change and grow in order to really live out the Gospel message.  

2/15/2012 – Wednesday of the sixth week in ordinary time – Mark 8:22 – 26

       In today's Gospel reading, we hear how Jesus restores the sight of a blind man.  But there are other types of blindness that exist besides sight, such as blindness of the heart.  The sight of the blind man is restored in stages as he responds to the healing touch of Jesus.  Finally, the Gospel of Mark tells us that the blind man “looked intently, was restored, and saw everything clearly.”  Jesus tells him not to enter the village after his sight is restored, possibly a warning to avoid those who still are in spiritual darkness, blindness of the heart. 

         I think it is important to ask ourselves periodically: Are there any blind spots in our lives that cloud or block our vision of God & his kingdom?  With the power of God's grace, we can again walk in the light of his redemption.  The beginning of the holy season of Lent is just a week away, so it is fitting that we look at where our blind spots exist, to realize those areas of our lives that need illumination from the light of Christ.  May the spiritual practices we adopt during the holy season of Lent help us to restore our sight. 

2/14/2012 – Tuesday of 6th week of ordinary time - Mark 8:14-21 -

      Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees & of Herod – that's what Jesus tells his disciples in today's Gospel.  So, often the disciples don't understand what Jesus is talking about, just as we might miss his point sometimes as well, or we might focus on some surface issue, missing his underlying message.  Jesus points out to them that being able to feed them was not a problem, taking note of his miracle in multiplying the loaves and the fish. 

      The leaven of the Pharisees is pride and scrupulosity, it is placing more importance to following a strict, rigid adherence to the letter of the law, and often violating the spirit of the law.  It is molding God and their religion into what they themselves want it to be rather than letting God be God. Do we do the same thing in our lives of faith?  Are we so busy telling God how to be God, trying to tell him what commandments we should be following, that we don't have any time to listen to his will in our lives?

     What could Jesus mean be the leaven of Herod?  Could it be the lure of materialism, wealth, power, pride and selfishness that he displayed as the king of Israel, those values that seduce many of us in the modern world today? 

     The leaven of the Pharisees & the leaven of Herod – we need to be careful of them as we start our Lenten disciplines next week, as we enter the holy season of Lent in our preparations for Easter.  May we not fall into temptation – may our hearts & prayers be set on the Lord rather than the ways of the world or our own rigid, distorted concepts of God.