Year II

2nd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord is not just sizing up a political situation and reading body language and expressions: he is reading hearts, and he is saddened by their hardness. Today he encounters not just people who unknowingly and perhaps unwillingly work against him and his mission, but those who do so willingly and knowingly: the Pharisees. They don’t approve of what he is doing and they want to use it as something with which to accuse him and condemn him.

Mark simply tells us that Our Lord is angry and sad at their attitude. We can only guess at all the reasons running through his mind: the expectations he had of those who had been entrusted with watching over Israel, and seeing them simply acting as political agents trying to shore up their position against an apparent pretender to their throne. When Our Lord invites them to reveal why they’re really in the synagogue they opt for a strategic silence. They don’t hide their intentions well enough, or else Mark would have never known that from that moment they sought to kill Jesus.

As we saw yesterday in the case of the Lord choosing David as a new king, Our Lord doesn’t judge just by appearances; he judges hearts. When he looks at my heart today, how does he feel? Politics don’t work with him. Have a heart to heart conversation with him today and see how you can make him happy. His happiness is yours, guaranteed.

Readings: 1 Samuel 17:32–33, 37, 40–51; Psalm 144:1b, 2, 9–10; Mark 3:1–6. See also 23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.

2nd Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s First Reading the prophet Samuel has certain expectations for what the new king of Israel will be like. He’s expecting another Saul, someone tall and strong, with a great presence and bold spirit. One by one he sees the qualities of each of Jesse’s sons (except one), but the Lord doesn’t choose any of them, because he sees the heart, not just appearances. The Lord knows who he is going to pick, but by going through every son of Jesse but the last he is reminding Samuel, and us, not to judge by appearances nor expect our appearances to mean anything to him. In the end the Lord chooses little David, seen as so insignificant that he was sent to do chores while his father and brothers focused on more important things, and who became a great king.

When we’re interested in a job we focus a lot on externals–our personal presentation, the polish of our resume, how to show we’d be a good fit–but if we’re truly interested in our lives, which go beyond a job, we have to focus on our hearts, because that’s what the Lord sees, and that’s what the Lord cares about above all, not just for his glory, but for our good. We can fudge a little to try and get a better job or recognition, but the Lord sees us in our hearts exactly as we are. That can be a source of anxiety or a source of strength, depending on how we see our own heart.

Ask Our Lord today what he thinks of your heart: it’s a chance for great consolation and great conversion.

Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1–13; Psalm 89:20–22, 27–28; Mark 2:23–28. See also 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday and 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

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.

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.