What's a horse to do?

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lepers are a group of people mentioned often in the Bible which we in the twenty-first century have a hard time relating to. Like tax collectors and Pharisees, we do not run into lepers in our daily lives. Thankfully, advances in medicine have made this horrible disease less frequent and more manageable.

What is leprosy? It is a horrible disease which attacks the whole body leaving ugly open sores on the skin. These sores typically ooze pus and create an awful stench. We know today that the disease is not as highly contagious as people in Jesus' day thought. But imagine their reaction seeing a leper. Not only would they have been revolted by the sores and the stench, they would also have been gripped by the fear that, if they got anywhere near them, they too would catch the disease and spend their lives as outcasts.

Because of the fear and disgust that lepers inspired, people in the ancient world went to great lengths to keep them as far away as possible. They were not allowed in the villages or to enter public places. Wherever they went they had to shout out, "Unclean! Unclean!", to warn people that they were passing by. Add to that the fact that people generally considered leprosy a punishment for sin. And to be afflicted with so horrible a disease, the sin they committed must have been great! So they were looked upon not only with disgust, but with contempt. Even their families would not acknowledge them. Because they were unable to enter the temple to make sin offerings for themselves, they must have felt rejected by God as well.

For lepers there was no hope of ever living any kind of a normal life, of having a family or of worshiping God with the rest of the community.

Then Jesus appears on the scene. It is for this reason that he came - to be hope for the hopeless. The leper in today's gospel would have already heard the stories of Jesus' power to heal and the wonders he was working throughout the town of Capernaum. It was a light of hope in the midst of an otherwise dark existence. Before approaching Jesus, he would have had to have shouted out, "Unclean! Unclean!", as required by the law. Those around Jesus would have quickly run away holding their noses and probably putting their hands over their children's eyes so that they would not be disgusted by the sight. But Jesus is not revolted by the poor man, but welcomes him. The leper drops to his knees begging Jesus for the gift that will change his life forever, the gift of healing. Because of his faith, Jesus grants his request and sends him on his way to fulfill all the hopes and dreams that such a horrible disease had stolen from him.

We in the twenty-first century would like to think that we are more sophisticated than the people in Jesus' day who treated lepers with such superstition and contempt. But a good, hard look at our society tells us something different. It has become common nowadays to abort a baby if it is diagnosed with Downs syndrome or any other birth defect in the womb. We are told that such children are "burdens". Add to that the growing opinion that the elderly, the handicapped, those in comas and the terminally ill should be given a "right to die". We are told that they too are a "burden" and that there is no quality to their lives. What we are really saying is that we do not want to be bothered with having to pay for them or having even to see them. We do not want to be reminded that we too will someday ourselves be old and infirm. For all our technical advances, we have not made much progress in valuing the lives of every human being. In fact, the people of Jesus' day would be shocked and horrified at the way we treat the unborn and the elderly.

How different the gospel message of Jesus is! He came to bring hope for everyone. In Jesus' eyes there is no one so disgusting that they are beyond being loved. There is no one so sinful that they cannot be forgiven. The healing that Jesus most wants to perform in our midst here today is not so much to take away our suffering and illnesses, but to transform our hearts so that we look at that pain in a new way. God has the power to transform suffering. When we offer any kind of hardship or pain to him, then we become like Jesus who offered his suffering on the cross for the salvation of the world. Instead of causing despair, suffering can actually bring us peace and even joy when we realize that God can use it to bring forgiveness and reconciliation to us and to others. If we are caring for someone who is suffering or if we are suffering ourselves, we need not feel like outcasts or burdens. On the contrary, those who offer their sufferings to God in faith provide more blessings for the world than we can ever know.

Again, it is important to remember that suffering is not good. We should try to ease suffering whenever possible. But when pain is unavoidable, we can offer it up to Jesus and watch him use it in powerful ways.

We are here today, each of us, like the lepers in Jesus' day. As beggars and outcasts, we come to him because he is our only hope. Jesus is offering us words that can transform us through the gospel, his body which is broken to heal us, and his blood which is spilled to save us. At this Eucharist, let us offer whatever suffering, hardship or difficulty we have together with the bread and wine on the altar. If we approach Jesus with lively faith, he will work a wonder in our life, and we will leave this place rejoicing and telling of his mighty deeds to everyone we meet.

Setting Time Aside

Many people compare their everyday lives to running on a treadmill. They are always busy, always on the go, but never getting anywhere. Such people find themselves getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home to take their children to whatever after-school activities they may have, grabbing supper on the road, and then going to bed only to start the cycle over again the next morning. Others have unfulfilling jobs that leave them drained at the end of the day. The only thing they have to look forward to is the weekend or their next vacation. After years of living on this "treadmill", people begin to question the meaning of their lives and wonder if all the activity is worth it.

In today's first reading, Job expresses some of the same sentiments. As he puts it, "Life on earth is a drudgery." Remember that Job, in a series of tragedies, lost his wife, his children and all his possessions. In his grief, he couldn't find the strength to pick himself up from the ground. In a near state of shock, he compares his life to that of a slave or hireling who has no share in the profits of his work. These are sentiments we can very easily share, especially during these dark and cold February days.

While Job poses the problem, Jesus provides the solution. In today's gospel, Jesus has had a very long day. The people of Capernaum, hearing that he had the power to heal and cast out demons, were bringing the sick to him while he stayed at the house of Peter's mother-in-law. When everyone had finally left, Jesus slips away by himself to a deserted place to pray. He needed time away from the crowds and the demands of the people to spend time alone with his father.

For Jesus, prayer was a source of strength. All the power to preach the good news, to heal and to cast out demons came from the time he spent praising and adoring his Father in secret. Like all of us, Jesus needed to step aside from his busy, demanding life to take stock of his Father's presence and love.

There was once a woman who found herself in much the same situation we have been describing. She had fallen into a rut. Life seemed to lose its wonder and joy. A friend told her about the power that prayer has to transform our lives and strengthen us. So she began waking up an hour earlier every morning to give it a try.

At first, she would just sit on her couch with a blanket around her not knowing how to begin. Sometimes she would just look out the window at the street light. But with time she began finding that she felt less stressed and less anxious during the day. She began noticing the needs of others around her and would bring their intentions into her daily prayer. Though at first she worried that getting up earlier would leave her with less energy during the day, she actually found that because prayer was revealing to her a deeper sense of purpose, she felt more motivated than ever. And, because she was less stressed, her marriage also improved because she was less irritable around the house and picked fewer fights with her husband.

If we are going to live lives marked by peace and joy, prayer is vitally important to us. It will bring clarity to our minds when we are confused and calm to our spirits when we are anxious. Prayer is like an incubator cultivating faith, hope and love within our spirit.

The reason most people give for not praying is that they do not have enough time. With such hectic lives, the last thing they want is to add another activity to their day. But what those who make the effort to carve out some time for prayer in their day immediately discover is that, instead of ending up with less time, they have more! It could be that they feel more energized because of a new sense of purpose. Sometimes prayer gives people a new perspective on life so that they cut out of their schedule activities that are less important. Whatever the reason may be, it demonstrates an important rule of the spiritual life: God cannot be outdone in generosity. If I give God twenty minutes of my time, he is going to give me forty minutes back. Whatever we give to God - whether it be time, money or talent - we get back in return many times over.

Another reason that people are often afraid of prayer is that they think that they don't know how to pray. They don't know what to do during those twenty minutes. Saint Paul knew very well himself how difficult prayer was. In fact, he taught that none of us knows how to pray as we ought. But through our baptism and confirmation, we have each received the gift of the Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit prays within us and guides us in our prayer. This demonstrates another important rule of the spiritual life: Prayer is not something we do, but something that God does in us. The same God who plants in our hearts a desire to pray will teach us how to pray if we put time into it daily.

We are here today giving God an hour out of our week because we believe something important happens here. We believe that Jesus is speaking to us through the Scriptures we proclaim and giving his very life to us through the gift of his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We are here today because we believe that our lives are about much more than what we do day in and day out. Our lives are rather about who we are - children of God made in his image and likeness. By making daily prayer along with Sunday Mass the foundation of our lives, we will see ourselves being renewed and transformed daily by God's presence and power. Our lives will be marked, not with monotony or drudgery, but with the joy and peace which come from the Holy Spirit.

(photo: Thomas Kinkade)

In Word and in Deed

All of us have wondered what it would be like to meet Jesus in person. What if we could actually speak face to face with our Savior? What would he look like? What would he say to us? How would we feel as he looked into our eyes and spoke to our heart?

Today's gospel tells us about a group of people who actually had the opportunity to meet Jesus and how it changed their lives forever.

Jesus was teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum. Saint Mark tells us that the people were astonished as they listened to him. They were riveted by his words because, unlike anyone they had ever heard before, he spoke with authority. Not only was he interesting to listen to, but his words penetrated their hearts and illuminated their minds. No one had ever spoken to them with such conviction and meaning.

And their astonishment would only grow, because not only did Jesus demonstrate his authority by the words he spoke, he also showed his power by the actions he performed. In this case, a man possessed by a demon was sent into a fit of convulsion when Jesus spoke. The demon knew very well who Jesus was, the Holy One of God. Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of the man with a shriek. The scene must have left everyone in the synagogue shaken and confused. I think we can say with confidence that the people had never seen anything like that before! The authority of Jesus' words was backed up by the power of his actions.

None of us will ever have the opportunity to meet Jesus face to face in this life. That does not mean, however, that we can no longer be astonished by his words or by his works. Jesus is still among us exercising his authority in a powerful way through the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit. He continues to speak to us with authority through the Bible, and his power over sin and evil is powerfully present in the Sacraments.

Let us take a look at how each of us can meet Jesus and be transformed by reading the Bible and receiving the Sacraments.

First, Jesus continues to speak with authority to the world through the Bible. As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Though it was written by men in the language and imagery of their time, it was inspired by the Holy Spirit to such a degree that we can truly say that God himself is its author. In the Bible, we experience the authority of God's Word teaching us the truth about his love and calling our hearts to change. By reading and studying the Bible, we come to understand God in a way that we otherwise would be unable to. Because it is God's inspired word, when we read it privately at home or hear it proclaimed at Mass, it is Jesus himself we are hearing. And so, any of us who have ever wished that we could hear Jesus speak to us should read and study the Bible everyday.

There was a man once who decided to read the Bible from cover to cover. He came across many sections that he couldn't understand, but he kept on going. He simply thanked God for the parts that he could make sense of and asked for help understanding the more difficult sections. That is the way we have to approach the Bible. It is not always easy to read and understand. Rather than be overwhelmed by it, we should start slowly by maybe focusing on the Sunday readings or the daily Mass readings. There are many Catholic magazines such as The Word Among Us which are great helps in guiding our study of Scripture. However we may decide to approach it, the Word of God is indispensable in the spiritual life of all believers.

Second, we encounter Jesus' continuing authority over sin and evil through the Sacraments. Each Sacrament is a real encounter with Jesus. While we meet Jesus in the Bible through words, we encounter him in the Sacraments through signs. These signs are not just symbolic of Jesus' presence and action, they really give us the grace that they signify. For instance, the waters of baptism really grant the forgiveness of sin and make us children of God. Through the Sacrament of Confession, we really receive the forgiveness of our sins. And in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, bread and wine really become the Body and Blood of Christ. It is not just symbols that we receive when we come up to communion, but the body, blood, soul and divinity of the Risen Jesus himself. When we take to heart the mystery of Christ's presence and action in all the Sacraments, how could we not want to receive them as frequently as possible to be transformed by the power of our Savior?

The Sacraments, however, are not magic. For us to have our lives changed by the light and power that the Sacraments offer us, we must strive to live lives that are pleasing to God. We saw in the gospel reading today how the demon shouted out when Jesus walked into the synagogue. That is because Jesus and the Devil cannot be in the same room together. They are mortal enemies. Just so, we cannot welcome Jesus into our lives and continue to hold grudges, gossip, lie or steal. There can be no compromise with sin if Jesus is to have a place in our hearts. It is certainly not easy, and we can never be totally free of sin in this life, but the Sacraments are given to us precisely for this reason - to give us both the desire and strength to change and to make us examples of Jesus' love to everyone we meet.

None of us can hope to meet Jesus face to face in this life. But each of us will one day stand before his throne of glory to give an account of our lives. If we take to heart the Word proclaimed to us today and receive him in the Sacraments with faith, we can trust that we will be ready to receive his mercy and forgiveness when he comes again in glory.

Pro-Life Prayer

Last week was the annual March for Life in Washington. It strikes me that, more than ever, I am hearing people talk about praying for the conversion of the President. It could be because we have never had a President who is so aggressive in his ambitions for the pro-abortion agenda. Nonetheless, I think we are realizing that the struggle is not only for "hearts and minds" but for souls. Our compelling and reasonable defense of the sanctity of life too often hits hearts that are hardened and only prayer can soften them. And so, I found this prayer on the EWTN website:




A Pro-Life Prayer For Our President And Public Officials

Lord God, Author of Life and Source of Eternal Life,

Move the hearts of all our public officials and especially our President, to fulfill their responsibilities worthily and well to all those entrusted to their care.

Help them in their special leadership roles, to extend the mantle of protection to the most vulnerable, especially the defenseless unborn, whose lives are threatened with extermination by an indifferent society.

Guide all public officials by your wisdom and grace to cease supporting any law that fails to protect the fundamental good that is human life itself, which is a gift from God and parents.

You are the Protector and Defender of the lives of the innocent unborn. Change the hearts of those who compromise the call to protect and defend life. Bring our nation to the values that have made us a great nation, a society that upholds the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Mary, the Mother of the living, help us to bear witness to the Gospel of Life with our lives and our laws, through Christ, Our Lord.

Amen.



Imprimatur:
January 22, 2009
Most Reverend Robert J. Baker
Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama

(cns photo)

Conversion of Saint Paul

This year marks the two-thousandth anniversary of the birth of Saint Paul, the apostle to the nations. In commemoration, Pope Benedict XVI has declared this to be the Pauline Year and has invited all Christians to spend it in prayerful study of his teachings and writings.

Saint Paul was a Roman citizen and a scrupulously faithful Jew. He studied the Law under one of the most prestigious rabbis of his day, Gamaliel. Because of his zeal for his Jewish heritage, he went so far as to persecute and conspire to kill the followers of Jesus.

But all that changed one day on the road to Damascus. Paul was on his way there to find followers of Jesus so that he could bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and imprisonment. On the way, Jesus appeared to him in a flash of intense light which left Paul blind for three days. Jesus asked Paul, "Why do you persecute me?", and revealed himself to be the risen Messiah.

After that powerful intervention by Christ, Paul was baptized and became one of the greatest preachers of the gospel. In his many missionary journeys, he brought the good news all along the Mediterranean helping to establish churches in such places as Corinth, Ephesus and Thessalonica. During those years, he also penned letters to believers which became part of the New Testament. Finally, when his work on earth was completed, he was beheaded outside the city of Rome, giving his last breath in witness to the truth of the gospel he had once fought so hard to silence.

This great apostle wrote and taught far more than we could ever cover during one Sunday homily. But I would like to focus today on two important passages from Saint Paul's letters which represent much of what the gospel has to teach us.

The first is taken from Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, verse 23. He writes, "...we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Paul's words powerfully remind us of what we are about as followers of Christ. At the center of our lives as believers stands the cross of Jesus. Without the cross, our preaching and our worship are just pious platitudes. But with his cross ever before us, our worship reaches the God of our salvation, and we are truly forgiven of our sins by the blood Jesus spilled to save each one of us.

The cross is foolishness to a generation such as ours which lives only for pleasure and the accumulation of material possessions. We who believe have a whole other set of values and goals which center around not what we can accomplish but what God has accomplished - namely, salvation of the world and the promise of everlasting life through Jesus' death and resurrection.

The second message is closely tied to the first. It is taken from Paul's letter to the Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." With these words Saint Paul explains to us how he found the power to work so tirelessly in service of the gospel. It was not by his own skill and his own initiative that he could convince people that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah. Rather it was the power of Christ at work in him which accomplished all that he did. In fact, Saint Paul experienced this so strongly in his life that he could say that it was actually Christ living his life in him. He had been taken over by Christ. Because he had so completely abandoned himself to God and to his will, Christ was able to work in a miraculous way through his life.

For us who strive to follow Christ, the same is true. If we were to rely on our own strength to forgive our enemies and to endure ridicule for the way of life we live, we would soon falter. Instead we draw on the power of God at work in us through faith and baptism. We lean on God to be loving and attentive mothers, fathers and children. We call upon God's strength so that we may act with justice in our places of work. No matter what it is we do, Christ lives in us accomplishing his work through us.

For two thousand years now the teachings and the writings of Saint Paul have inspired and encouraged people to give their lives to Jesus and to experience a new power through faith and baptism. It begins with the forgiveness of sins through Christ's cross and continues with the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in believers. Paul experienced it in his life and ministry and left it as an example to us who study his teaching today.

I would challenge all of us to follow the request of our Holy Father and spend some time every day prayerfully reading through the letters of Saint Paul. It is a good idea as we read along to use a pencil to underline and circle the words or phrases which have a special meaning to us. Another good practise is to memorize those verses that touch us so that we can draw on them in times of temptation and to enrich our prayer life.

Jesus worked powerfully through the life of Saint Paul. And we still have much to learn from this apostle to the nations.

Friends with Jesus

There was a boy named Billy who had trouble fitting in with the other children at his school. Because he was constantly called names and being picked on, he learned to spend much of his time alone. One day, Billy was riding his bike in the park when he noticed one of his classmates sitting on a bench crying. He asked the boy what was wrong, and he told Billy how some older kids had ganged up on him and roughed him up. It left him feeling shaken and hurt. Billy told the boy that he knew how much it hurt to be picked on. And so, the two boys spent the rest of the afternoon in the park playing together. Billy was happy that he finally had a friend.

The next day at school, Billy was excited to see his new friend again. However, when he ran up to him in the bus line, the boy started to make fun of him along with his other classmates. Billy became upset and ran away crying. The boy ran after him and asked Billy, "Why are you crying? You never cried when I made fun of you before." Billy, wiping his face and holding back his sobs replied, "Yeah, but you were never my friend before!"

Each of us had a moment in our lives when Jesus went from being an historical figure or a character in a book to being a living person who knows us and loves us. At that moment, Jesus became our friend. And, like the boys in the story, being friends with Jesus meant we had to change. We could not go on living the way we had before.

Today's gospel reading from Saint Mark gives us the first words that Jesus ever preached: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." These three sentences give us in a nutshell what the life and ministry of Jesus is all about. First of all, Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises of the Old Testament. Secondly, Jesus ushers in the kingdom of God which is God's victory over sin and death. And, finally, if we are going to be a part of this marvelous work of the Father in our midst, we must repent. We must change.

The first examples of the change required to follow Jesus comes in this same gospel reading when Jesus approaches Peter, Andrew, James and John as they are working on their nets along the banks of the Sea of Galilee. He challenges them to be his disciples: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." The four men are faced with a decision. It is clear to them that they cannot become friends and followers of Jesus and continue to live the way they had up to that point. They could either be disciples of Jesus or continue to be fishermen; but they could not be both. Following Jesus required a change. And so, they dropped everything to follow him.

In the first reading from the Old Testament, we find a similar situation. The prophet Jonah is sent by God to the pagan city of Nineveh. Their wickedness had set them on a path to certain destruction. Yet God wanted to show mercy to them. Jonah makes it clear that if they do not repent of their evil ways, they will soon meet catastrophe. The people take Jonah's words to heart and change their behavior. God could then begin to show mercy to them.

Following Jesus and believing in him changes us. When we realize that God created each of us in his image and likeness, then we begin to treat all people with love and respect. When we realize the depth of God's love for each person, we can no longer turn our backs on people when they need us. When we realize how much we have been forgiven by a merciful God, we begin to forgive those who hurt us no matter how great the offense. Friendship with Jesus transforms us from selfish, narrow-minded individuals into people who love truly from our hearts after the example of our Savior.

There is one thing that our friendship with Jesus cannot do, however. It cannot keep us from being sinners. No matter how close we grow to Jesus we will always be tempted to turn our backs on him in one way or another. No matter how long we may have followed him, we will always fall back into sin. But Jesus our friend is forgiving. He will always take us back no matter how we have offended him if we show him that we are sorry and are committed to changing. Though we can and do abandon him, he will never abandon us. Jesus is the most faithful of friends.

Jesus is always there for us to turn to in our time of need. When the bad choices we have made in our lives start catching up to us, Jesus is there to listen and to guide us back on the right path. If any of us wishes to know what life is like with Jesus as a friend, it is as simple as asking him to come into our hearts and our lives. Going to the sacrament of confession and laying out before God all the ways we have chosen the wrong path is an important place to start. Then the regret can give way to peace, the fear can give way to joy, and the hostility can give way to love. And we can say with so many others before us - What a friend we have in Jesus!