FrNikola

2nd Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s First Reading we see beginning of the end for King Saul. The Lord chose him to be king over Israel, and so he was the Lord’s representative: the way he lead was understood by the people to be what the Lord wanted. The Amalekites had a long enmity with Israel, and the Lord expressly ordered not only their destruction as punishment, but the destruction of all their goods: none of it was to be spared. Saul “countermanded” the Lord by not killing the Amalekite king (and a king, being like the head, is like not killing the body at all) and kept the best booty because it would please his troops, sacrificing it as a way to appease them and the Lord, or so he thought.

When the Lord sends the prophet Samuel to denounce Saul for what he has done, Saul repeatedly tries to justify himself: with his own words he shows he did not obey the Lord to the letter, as was expected, and he was not repentant for what he had done. He thought a few sacrifices were enough to appease the Lord, an attitude toward a god that is typical of the nations surrounding Israel, but also an attitude of people worshiping what they thought was a god, but wasn’t. Their gods didn’t speak to them or talk back when they disobeyed them. Saul, to the contrary, had all the means to know God’s will clearly: his very kingship was the Lord’s doing, and he had a prophet who could help him know the Lord’s will as well. In the end he listened to his fears and ego instead and started down the path of losing everything the Lord had given him.

Saul teaches us that separation from God doesn’t happen in an instant: little by little we subtly justify ourselves, switching our criteria for God’s, thinking that one will blend with the other until the moment comes when our criteria and his become like oil and water. Our Lord’s criteria is always the best criteria, and it always has our best interest in mind. Let’s learn from the sad case of Saul not to deceive ourselves into thinking we may know better than God.

Readings: 1 Samuel 15:16–23; Psalm 50:8–9, 16b–17, 21, 23; Mark 2:18–22. See also 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday and 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.

2nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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What starts in today’s Gospel with Our Lord attending a wedding banquet turns into a sign that the Lord’s courtship with Israel has begun in earnest. The transformation of the water into wine is the first sign Our Lord performs in John’s Gospel. John doesn’t speak of miracles as much as he speaks of signs: each sign is an opportunity for Israel to put her faith in the Lord. As today’s First Reading reminds us, nuptial symbolism is very strong in the mind of Israel as the way to understand the joy her salvation will bring. For Isaiah, any checkered past of Israel, any past disgrace will be swept away by the Lord not only wedding himself to her by way of concession, but with the delight of young fiancees in love. That wedding is definitively consummated between him and the Church, with the wedding banquet awaiting us in Heaven.

Wedding celebrations in Jesus’ time were prolonged affairs with abundant wine to represent the joy of the wedding and also the future joy of when the Lord would be wed to his spouse Israel. When it seems today that the joy is going to prematurely run out, Our Lord through transforming the water into wine not only extends the joy, but makes it an even greater joy. All the things we enjoy in life that are good and holy for us will experience a similar transformation. The huge jars of water represent penance, conversion, purification, and baptism, everything that shows our contrition for our checkered past and our desire to change. Our Lord takes that penance and purification and converts it into pure joy, just as he turns the water into fine wine.

Our Lord envisions his relationship with us, whether as Church or as individuals, as one of intimate and joyful love. If we want to be captivated and purified by him in order to achieve a greater joy let’s follow the Blessed Mother’s advice today to do whatever he tells us.

Readings: Isaiah 62:1–5; Psalm 96:1–3, 7–10; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; John 2:1–11.

1st Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord shows an approach to sinners that presents either an innovation or an aberration for the Pharisees: instead of roping sinners off as contaminated and contaminating and socially shunning them, not only for fear of contagion, but in judgment over their behavior, Our Lord actually recruits one and then dines with a score of them. He reminds us today that God works toward reconciliation and healing with the help of others: the flip side of an erroneous attitude of thinking that spiritual matters are strictly between you and God is that logically you won’t get involved in the spiritual matters of others either, since God should sort everything out. The Son was sent by the Father for a reason.

Our Lord not only dines with tax collectors and sinners, but he has his disciples dine with them too. We all need help to be holy. Even hardened sinners need some presence in their life of someone kind, compassionate, and concerned for them: it’s like a ray of light showing the way out of a pit so dark that up can’t be told from down. Many stories of redemption and conversion recount that one person who seemed to be a lighthouse amidst life’s shipwreck that was needed for a rescue. This love has to be firm as well: it’s not a question of putting yourself in range of being exploited by someone, but of being the voice of reason and hope in their life, helping them to see that goodness and holiness are still possible.

Let’s not only pray today for the conversion of sinners, but work for it as well, just as Our Lord has taught us.

Readings: 1 Samuel 9:1–4, 17–19, 10:1; Psalm 21:2–7; Mark 2:13–17. See also St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

1st Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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When John the Baptist’s ministry started drawing the attention of Israel’s religious authorities, he identified himself as the voice crying out in the desert to make straight the way of the Lord (John 1:23; Mark 1:3; Isaiah 40:3). Conversion in John’s mind was a call to clear a path for the Lord to come as quickly and easily as possible. Our Lord has now come. He also comes into our hearts if we let him. The “straight way” described by John goes two ways: Our Lord has come, but sometimes we are prevented from going to meet him. We can either throw up obstacles due to sin, or face obstacles that seem insurmountable. When a life becomes hardened by sin the sinner soon thinks there is no way out, and no way forward.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that sometimes we have to be creative to clear obstacles in the path to Our Lord. The original etymology of the word “conversion” literally means “with a turning”: the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but logic fails when the straight path is blocked. The paralytics friends started thinking parabolically: up, over and down, with a thatched roof a little worse for wear. Our life may have to take a turn in order to get back on track toward Our Lord, but that is what conversion is all about: taking the right turn in life after having taken the wrong one.

The obstacles we face in the spiritual life cannot always be circumvented, but with the help of grace they can be surmounted. Ask Our Lord today to show you where your spiritual thinking might need to be less linear and more parabolic.

Readings: 1 Samuel 8:4–7, 10–22a; Psalm 89:16–19; Mark 2:1–12. See also 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday and 2nd Week of Advent, Monday.

1st Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday

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In today’s Gospel we are reminded that sometimes the mission of spreading the Good News takes unexpected turns or hits snags. Word of of Our Lord’s miraculous healing abilities starts to spread despite his efforts, and now even when he goes off to a deserted place, people come looking. Our Lord has come to heal the sick and infirm, so why is he avoiding the crowds? In assuming human nature Our Lord works miracles, but also carries out his mission in a human way. If there’s a danger of being swamped, it has to be addressed, because it will hinder his mission, not help it.

The leper healed today was ecstatic over being healed, but did not work with Our Lord, and, inadvertently, worked against him. We forget sometimes that the Lord doesn’t just work flashy miraculous things in our lives: he gives us our existence, our daily bread, help against the evil in the world, and the truth that will set us free. Like the Israelites in today’s First Reading, many of the people seeking Our Lord in the desert wanted nothing other than a quick fix to an immediate problem, avoiding any other obligations or attachments. Just like the Israelites in today’s First Reading treated the ark of God (a.k.a. the ark of the covenant) as an automatic Win-the-Battle card, Our Lord knows those people in today’s Gospel have a deeper need that they are not addressing: the need for friendship and communion with God to be truly healed and whole.  The Israelites took God for granted one time too many, and Our Lord let them be defeated and lose the very sign of his presence among them to the Philistines to show them they had not been acting uprightly toward him. Our Lord heals those people who come to him, but he also knows that for many it will only be a band aid for something deeper to be addressed and changed in their lives, something he has come to address and to fix definitively.

We shouldn’t be discouraged when our own efforts to continue Our Lord’s mission hit snags or take unexpected turns. With Our Lord’s help, let’s be attentive to what others need in order to be cured–communion with God, not just getting caught up in addressing specific symptoms–a handout, a kind word, a helping hand. Let’s not neglect symptoms, but also focus on cures, spurred by compassion and aided by grace in imitation of Our Lord.

Readings: 1 Samuel 4:1–11; Psalm 44:10–11, 14–15, 24–25; Mark 1:40–45. See also Friday after Epiphany and 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.