Month: February 2016

5th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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Blessing yourself with holy water is not the same as being baptized, but both are useful. If someone was dying of thirst you wouldn’t take the last water available and say, “sorry, I need to bless some holy water.” Charity to God and charity toward others are the bedrock of every other thing we believe and do as believers. Our Lord in today’s Gospel is criticizing the Pharisees for focusing so much on the secondary and contingent things that they feel justified in neglecting the essential and necessary things. Ritual sprinklings of water outside the Temple were like today’s popular devotions; some people use holy water, and others don’t. The Pharisees were criticizing the disciples for not sprinkling water on themselves while ignoring the fact that as disciples of Jesus they were doing an even greater service to God by studying with a Rabbi.

Our Lord condemns the Pharisees for simply paying lip service to God out of their own interests. Even today when someone is consecrated to God their natural obligations toward family are not suspended–if their parents are in need, they support them. The Pharisees used a pretext of consecrating their wealth (which was not giving it away, but saying it could not be used for non-sacred things) as a reason for not providing the material support for their parents, a practice that flew in the face of one of the Ten Commandments and dishonored their parents.

It is good to have religious practices beyond our religious obligations, but optional practices and obligatory ones should work together to ensure that love for God and love for neighbor are protected. Charity toward God and toward others is the best religious practice we can undertake.

Readings: 1 Kings 8:22–23, 27–30; Psalm 84:3–5, 10–11; Mark 7:1–13. See also 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

5th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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St. Thomas Aquinas said that one of the reasons that it was fitting for man to be saved through sacraments was because just as man fell through material things, so he should be redeemed through material things. In today’s readings we’re reminded of the importance of holy things to bring us closer to God. Our Lord has taken flesh and lived among us; he doesn’t just expect us to reach out to him immaterially. In today’s Gospel the people are straining to just touch the tassel of his cloak to receive healing. In today’s First Reading the Israelites carefully transfer the holy objects that used to be kept in and around the Ark in the Tent of Meeting into the new Temple, and the Lord through the cloud shows he is pleased to have a place where people can come to be with him and to pray.

God is Spirit and therefore has no need of material things or places, but he has shown us through his Word that we can dedicate material things and places to enable us to draw spiritually closer to him. Many of the sacraments show God working through material things, such as bread, wine, and water. Therefore even though he is spirit our devotion to him can be spiritual through the material. We consider certain things holy–churches, rosaries, icons, etc.–but only inasmuch as they help us draw closer to God. We cherish and respect them because, like those tassels the people were straining to touch in today’s Gospel, they help us to reach out to God through them.

Make an inventory of the religious articles in your home today and whether you’re using them to draw closer to God. Visit your parish and draw physically closer to Our Lord himself in the Blessed Sacrament. Every step we take toward a holy thing out of love for God is a step we take closer to him.

Readings: 1 Kings 8:1–7, 9–13; Psalm 132:6–10; Mark 6:53–56.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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All three readings today share one common thread: an experience of God’s majesty and power, a call to mission and conversion, and the need for God’s grace and encouragement to change and to accept the invitation. Throughout the Old Testament a basic principle was that anyone who looked upon the Lord would die. Isaiah in today’s First Reading experiences a vision of God’s glory and thinks he’s about to die, and die as a sinner. The Lord sends the angel to purify him and then invites him to be his prophet.

Paul in today’s Second Reading recalls the core of the Gospel: that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. When he recalls his own encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus he also recalls his unworthiness to be commissioned as an apostle, but by God’s grace he’s made capable of carrying out his mission. Lastly, upon seeing the miraculous catch of fish that makes him go from calling Jesus “Master” to calling him “Lord,” Peter acknowledges his sinfulness and unworthiness for what Our Lord is asking him. Our Lord gives him the grace of expressing his confidence in him, a confidence that we know later was tested, but in end, by Our Lord’s grace, merited.

Not every believer is called to be an apostle or prophet, but every believer can expect a deeper experience of Our Lord if it is sought. Many simple don’t look. It may not involve visions or great miracles or revelations, but it will be a moment of realizing that God is somebody, somebody amazing, and somebody who loves you. You may feel like a tiny speck in his presence, but he will give you the grace to be great in his eyes. Seek him out and you will find him, knowing that he is seeking you as well, just as he sought Isaiah, Peter, and Paul.

Readings: Isaiah 6:1–2a, 3–8; Psalm 138:1–5, 7–8; 1 Corinthians 15:1–11; Luke 5:1–11. See also 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday and 1st Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.

4th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday

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If you knew the Lord would grant you a wish, what would it be? Every time we pray, as today;s First Reading reminds, we are expressing a wish with the faith and hope that Our Lord will grant it. Our wishes say a lot about ourselves, what we think of others, and what we think of God. Solomon shows a great wisdom in wishing for more wisdom in order to be a good king. For him being a king was not about glory or personal accomplishment; it was about ruling well and ensuring the well being of his subjects. His wish showed selflessness and humility.

The Lord knows very well what kings usually ask for, and to reward Solomon he promises him not only wisdom, but also riches and glory. The kingdom later thrived under Solomon’s rule, and it was one of the most glorious times Israel ever experienced in its history. Solomon also became synonymous with wisdom, so much so that the books of the Old Testament categorized as Wisdom literature were believed at one point in history to have all been written by him personally.

Philosophy literally means a love for wisdom. Wisdom enables us to seek a higher vantage point in life in order to see the big picture and grow in understanding. When Our Lord shares his wisdom with us, as he does in today’s Gospel, he is sharing wisdom from the highest vantage point of all: God’s. Let’s follow Solomon’s sage advice and ask Our Lord for wisdom.

Readings: 1 Kings 3:4–13; Psalm 119:9–14; Mark 6:30–34.  See also 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B and 18th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.

4th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel we’re reminded that it is pointless to kill the messenger once the message has already been delivered. As Herod starts to hear about Our Lord he sees the message he’d first heard on the lips of St. John the Baptist coming back to haunt him, so much so that he thinks Jesus is John himself returned from the dead. Mark felt obliged to explain why Herod was so interested in Jesus, probably because Herod usually didn’t show must interest in anyone.

Herod’s “wife” also thought that by killing the messenger she could erase the message. As Herod himself learned, once something is said, it’s hard to ignore or retract. He made a foolish promise in front of all the powerful people who mattered to him, and Herodias trapped him and got what she wanted. John didn’t return from the dead after his martyrdom, but his message never died. In fact, it lived on, because it was the truth and the truth can never be erased. People try to forget the truth at times, but it doesn’t take long for something to arise and remind them of it.

Let’s not be shy about communicating hard truths, because we know the truth not only sets us free, but can liberate others as well.

Readings: Sirach 47:2–11; Psalm 18:31, 47, 50–51; Mark 6:14–29. See also 17th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, Passion of St. John the Baptist, and 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday.