Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned

 

The Scripture reading for this reflection can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/013120.cfm

Our first reading for today has everything that would make for a great soap opera: love, lust, deceit, intrigue and murder. In this reading from the second book of Samuel we have the familiar story of King David and his relationship with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. King David allowed his lust to overtake him and as a result had an adulterous relationship with her. In his abuse of power, he first entered the relationship that was sinful. He then gets her pregnant and then tries to hide his guilt from Uriah. He does this by trying to get Uriah to have relations with her just so he could take credit for the baby. When this doesn’t work, David arranges for Uriah to be killed. Just beyond where today’s reading ends, David takes Bathsheba as his wife, thus compounding his sin. With each event, David gets further and further into the darkness of sin. He went from lust to murder. David will eventually seek the forgiveness of God once he is made to see the sinfulness of what he has done.

 All of us, like David, have sinned in same way, shape or form. We may not have sinned to the extent that David did by committing adultery and by committing murder, but we all have done things that we may be ashamed of that we are trying to hide from God and from one another. We may have an old resentment towards a family member or friends that we may hesitate to forgive. Or we may have hurt someone in our family, and we hesitate in seeking forgiveness for the offense we have committed.

In whatever way we have sinned we need to be able to turn to God and to seek His forgiveness and healing. God is always there to forgive us. We can do this through the Sacrament of Confession where we can start our healing with God, and eventually with those in our lives that we may need to forgive or to seek their forgiveness.

“Holy Spirit give me a repentant heart. Help me to confess my sin and seek reconciliation and healing.”

Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/012620.cfm

Last year Pope Francis declared that the Third Sunday in Ordinary time be set aside as “Sunday of the Word of God.” In his comments about this day, he mentioned the importance of having reverence for Scripture. He indicated that scripture is how we can hear God calling us and speaking to us. It is through the prayerful reading of Scripture that we can develop that faith in God and that relationship with Him. This is how we can hear God’s call to us.

In our gospel for today we hear of Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James and John to come and follow him. It appears that they just dropped everything to follow Jesus. I can only imagine what Zebedee, James and John’s father, must have felt when they just dropped what they were doing to follow Jesus. I’m sure Zebedee had a few choice words to say to them as they followed Jesus away from the boat.

This is Matthew’s way of emphasizing the dramatic nature of God’s call. Matthew wants us to realize that they didn’t simply leave their nets out of boredom and being discontent with the familiar. This event was a moment of epiphany.

What was so special about Jesus that they would so dramatically leave their familiar lives behind and to go and follow him? I’m sure they must have seen and heard Jesus going all throughout Galilee preaching about repentance and encouraging people to develop that closer relationship with God. And before Jesus, they heard of John the Baptist preaching about repentance and turning away from sin. As we heard in last weeks gospel, John was pointing to Jesus and saying, “Behold the lamb of God.” 

Further, I’m sure these first followers of Jesus would have spent time in the synagogue on the sabbath listening to the proclamation of the Word of God in Scripture. They were devout Jews awaiting and hoping for the Messiah to come. Then along comes Jesus preaching about repentance and healing the sick! By their being open to God through their reading of scripture, they were able to feel God’s prompting to follow Jesus to a new and totally different way of life.


How is God prompting us to live and follow Jesus to a new and totally different life? The apostles prayed and studied scripture each week at the synagogue. They realized that they must be open to God’s call through prayerful reflection on scripture. They were so open to the word of God that they weren’t afraid to leave behind their familiar way of life for something better.

The charism of Jesus draws them in, they perceive that what he is asking is a new and better way. Jesus seems to have a sense of authority in which his invitation comes to them from God.

As Jesus called the early apostles to a new and better way of life, He is calling each one of us to that way of life. We just need to be open to it and find that call that God has for each one of us. That new and better way of life is that of not only loving God and having that peace that can only come from Him but living a life of service to those that surround us: our family and friends.

By our regular reading of scripture each week, we are called to be open to God’s call through Jesus Christ. We need to make time to read and study scripture in order to hear what He is calling us to do in our lives in our relationships with God. It may be something totally unexpected, as it was for Peter, Andrew, James and John, or it may be just a way of better serving God through our family members.

The apostles were brave enough to leave behind those things in their lives that kept them from following God fully. What is holding us back from following Jesus completely? What are the people and relationships in our lives that distance and separate us from Christ? Other things that keep us from following Christ completely is gossip, cutting corners, immoral behavior, habits of arrogance, rash judgements and addictions! We need to leave these behind in order to follow Christ in peace and contentment.

The reign of God is open to all of us, if we are willing to risk a new way of living and to the commitment of Jesus Christ.

Today’s Gospel suggests that a relationship with Jesus Christ comes from deep within, where he waits for us. Take the leap to enter the heart of God, who abides within you.

In a few minutes we will approach the altar. Let us prepare to meet Christ who invites us to leave behind everything that we are comfortable with in order to develop that closer relationship with Him.

March for Life 2020

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you..." Jeremiah 1:5

This past Friday, January 24th, 2020, thousands upon thousands of people converged upon Washington, D.C. to March for Life to help bring to light the horrors of abortions. A vast majority of those marching were young people from Junior High School to College. There were those in their 20's and 30's with their families and children marching to bring attention to the fact that for the last 47 years innocent children have been killed through the legalization of abortion.

Before the march got started there were several speakers giving support to those marching. But the one that stood out for everyone there was President Trump. Two lines that stand our for me from President Trump during his speech are "Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God", "When we see the image of a baby in the womb we glimpse the majesty of God." What beautiful words. You can check out his whole speech at https://youtu.be/3RjuADPBo-Q

I pray that this message of respect for life from conception to natural death touches the heart of all people, not only here in the United State, but around the world, where respect for life is not something that is practiced.

Heavenly Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit will descend upon all people to have a greater love and respect for all life, from the moment of conception to natural death. It is through your inspiration that can change hearts to love and cherish all life, especially that of the unborn.

If You will it, You can make me clean

Today we have a guest blogger, Arlene B. Muller. Arlene B. Muller, OSF, is a Professed Secular Franciscan, lector & Extraordinary Minister at St. Pancras Church, Member of St. Margaret's Choir, and Itinerant Speech/language Therapist.

The scripture readings for this blog can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/011620.cfm

Probably my favorite account of JESUS healing someone is the account in St. Mark's Gospel of the healing of the man with leprosy, both for what the man with leprosy said and for what JESUS did.

The man with leprosy approached JESUS and said "If You will it, You can make me clean." He expressed faith in Our LORD's power and ability to heal him of leprosy, while at the same time, he did not make demands and was not presumptuous to assume that he would receive an instant healing. He was definitely not of the "name it and claim it" mindset.

As much as it is my human desire that every person who is striving to live a good life of serving God (including myself) would be able to avoid all suffering or receive instant healing as soon as we made our first prayer request, God is still sovereign, and He exercises His right to say "yes", "no" or "wait" when we come to Him in prayer about our problems.  As the saying goes, "the Lord moves in mysterious ways". Sometimes He protects people from suffering (my favorite answer), sometimes He heals quickly (my next favorite answer), at other times He chooses to have our healing process take time, and sometimes He allows us to suffer until He takes us home to heaven and gives us sufficient grace to endure our suffering in HIS strength and not our own. He has His own reasons and purposes--sometimes He enlightens us about His purposes and sometimes we still don't understand but need to trust God that He is somehow working it all out together for our good, His glory, and the benefit of others.

In the Gospels we see examples of a variety of methods JESUS used to heal people. JESUS could have healed the man with leprosy with just a word, He could have sent him to the priests as He did with the ten lepers, or He could have employed some other method. Healing this man with a single word would have protected JESUS from the risk of ritual uncleanness, since lepers were not supposed to be touched and were instructed to cry out "unclean" if they were ever approached.  But JESUS not only healed this man. He TOUCHED him!  Although we cannot fully discern the LORD's mind and motivation, I can imagine that the LORD, in His compassion and wisdom, knew that this man with leprosy needed not only to be healed from his disease, but he also needed to be healed from the pain of his period of isolation from human contact, and he needed a special touch from the  LORD. The man not only needed to be healed physicality but he needed His healing touch emotionally, socially and spiritually.

Reflecting on this Gospel and the man with leprosy's need to be touched by the LORD reminded me that perhaps the greatest need of each of us--and my own greatest need--is to be touched by the LORD. I would imagine that (at least at times), judging by my own experience, most of us are very busy with our lives, and most of our prayers are expressions of concern about various situations in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. Our responsibilities, concerns, and worries can be all consuming and decrease our awareness of our need to experience the LORD's healing touch, since  most of the time we are focused on our various issues and our need for the LORD to fix them or to help us to fix them. In the Church we experience the touch of the LORD when we receive Him in the Eucharist and in the other sacraments, but much of the time we can be distracted by performing a particular ministry and/or our concern over a problem that we are not aware enough to experience the LORD touching us. The LORD desires to touch us but we fail to receive and experience His touch.  I know that at the present time my focus has been on issues surrounding the sale of my Mom's house, my work, my financial concerns and my desire to "get to the light at the end of the tunnel". Reflecting on this Gospel has reminded me that even more than a good outcome in this situation, as serious as it may be, I need the personal healing touch of the LORD and my relationship with Him.

So let us come to the LORD, acknowledging and trusting that He has the power to heal us in the way that He wills and let us be open to receive not only the solution to our problems but His personal healing touch, for that is the hidden and deepest desire of our hearts.

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

 

The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011920.cfm

These very familiar words of John the Baptist are spoken at every Mass when the priest holds up the consecrated host, the Body of Christ, and calls us to recognize the presence of Jesus on the altar. John was able to recognize that Jesus was indeed the Son of Man, the Messiah. Once he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus, John knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

John’s whole life was living in the presence of God. He led a very strict life, living in the wilderness, eating locust and wild honey, wearing what seemed to be strange clothes of camel’s hair. For John, this helped him get closer to God and be ready for the coming of the Messiah. Because of his willingness to proclaim the truth of God and call people to repentance, people became attracted to him and to his message. Many started turning their lives over to God in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. He wasn’t afraid to point out the sinfulness in peoples lives and called all people to repentance and to develop that relationship with God.

His willingness to speak about the truth of God’s commandments to those around him is what eventually got him into trouble with King Herod, who was living in an adulterous relationship with his brother’s wife, Herodias. Herodias hated John so much that eventually she was able to get Herod to kill John by having him beheaded.

This term of the Lamb of God may sound strange to us in the 21^st Century, but it is probably the most apt description of Jesus. Jewish life for centuries embraced rituals of sacrifice to God: offerings, gifts of love, in order to please God.

In the Old Testament, the lamb is central to the Passover story. God passes through the land of Egypt, striking down the firstborn of each household. However, the homes of the Jews who have their doors marked with the blood of the lamb are passed over.

In the Book of Revelation, the term lamb is used 29 times – always referring to Christ, whose blood saves the new Israel from sin and death.

And each time we receive Christ in Holy Communion, we hear, “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

The sacrifice made by the Lamb of God was a perfect sacrifice. The Sacrifice we make as Christians, if genuine, will be perfectly acceptable to God.

We, as Christians, are called to live out our lives, like John the Baptist, by pointing out the Lamb of God to those we know. This could be challenging, as it was for John. But we are, as Christians, called to share our faith in Jesus with others. We are called, like John, to point to Jesus and say, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world.”

We may not have to point out Jesus as dramatically as John. But we can point out Jesus by how we live our lives as Christians. John’s whole mission was to have people turn away from sin and put their faith in God. As Christians we can do this in the way we practice our faith, and how we love and treat others with respect. By loving God, and loving those people in our lives unconditionally, we are pointing others to Jesus, as John pointed the people of his time towards Jesus.

The regular attendance at Sunday Mass and our regular use of confession are a couple ways we can point others to Christ. Further, we are to take the love of God that we hear about at Mass, and bring it to others, whether it’s visiting a sick relative or friend, doing volunteer work at a soup kitchen, or just by being available to someone who needs to talk about their problems, we are then pointing them towards Jesus and saying, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

When we receive the Lamb of God in Holy Communion we will declare that we are not worthy for him to enter under our roof. Yet, blessed are we who are called to the supper of the lamb.

Child, your sins are forgiven!

 

The scripture for today's reflection can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011720.cfm

How far would you go to bring a friend to Jesus? In our gospel for today, we see four men going out of their way to bring a paralyzed man to Jesus for healing. They have a strong faith that Jesus can do this.

I’m sure they tried other ways to help their friend get the healing he needed. But, upon hearing about Jesus, and developing a faith in Jesus that can indeed heal their friend, they go out of their way to bring this man to Jesus. The crowds did not even stop them. Can you imagine the look on the people in the room where Jesus was, seeing this man being lowered from the roof? These men didn’t allow anything from keeping them from getting their friend the healing he needed.

Upon being lowered, I’m sure the paralyzed man was hoping that Jesus would just reach out and touch him and heal him, much like he’s done in the past with the leper that Jesus healed just by touching him. And Jesus could have healed him that way if he wanted to.

Instead, Jesus sees something more that needs to be done. Aside from the physical healing that the paralyzed man needed, Jesus saw that he needed spiritual healing, and forgave the man’s sins. This was an opportunity for Jesus to bring not only physical healing to this man, but to bring spiritual healing to him in order to develop a deeper relationship with God.

Further, this was a teaching moment for Jesus to the scribes that were there. They ask, “Who but God alone can forgive sins?” To the scribes Jesus was blaspheming, but instead, Jesus was revealing that He, the Son of Man, was also God.

This gospel can teach us also to bring others in our lives to Jesus for healing, not only physical healing, but spiritual healing. We may not bring those in our lives to Jesus as dramatically as these four men, but we bring those in our lives to Jesus through our prayers for them, that they may receive not only physical healing (if that’s what they need) but also spiritual healing as well.

Finally, we pray for our own healing. Jesus has the power to forgive us our sins. Let us use the Sacrament of Confession often for the sinful inclinations that we may have in order to get the healing that can only come from Jesus through the Sacrament of Confession.

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world

 

 The scripture readings for today can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010320.cfm

These very familiar words of John the Baptist are said by the priest at every mass as he holds up the Host. “Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb”. These words of John the Baptist are said at every mass to remind us of the true presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

John’s whole life and ministry was being open to the will of God, and to point out the savior when He appeared. John recognized that Jesus was the savior once he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus. Once John saw and accepted that Jesus was the savior, he encouraged others to follow Jesus and to develop that relationship with God through Jesus. John wasn’t afraid to speak the truth about Jesus and about those who were not living their lives according to the laws and commandments of God. As a result of his willingness to continue to speak the truth, he lost his life.

We are called to live out our lives, as John did, by pointing others to the Lamb of God. By our daily mass attendance and regular use of the sacraments, we are sharing the love of God with others. By leadings lives of Christian Charity and love towards the Lamb of God, we are pointing out to others that Jesus is their savor. This may not always be easy. There may be those in our lives who may reject this message of the love of God towards them. But we are called, like John, to continue sharing the truth that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

During this new year let us attempt to grow ever deeper in our relationship with God by the daily reading of scripture, the daily attendance at Mass and more frequent use of confession. And finally, let us, like John, point out to others in our lives that Jesus is their savior, and in Him they can find peace and happiness.