“Ephphatha’ (that is, “Be Opened!”)

 

The Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear of the healing of the deaf man with a speech impediment. Living out a life without being able to hear and having problems communicating must have been very difficult for this man. I’m sure because of his disability he avoided people. He couldn’t understand or hear what they were saying to him, and because of his speech impediment, he felt embarrassed to speak. Jesus, being sensitive to this man’s needs, took him away from the crowd to bring healing to him.

In many of Jesus’ healings He just Wills the healing to happen, and the healing happens. In today’s healing Jesus felt it was important to put his fingers into the man’s ears and then, spitting, touch the man’s tongue and says “Ephphatha” (that is “Be opened!”) The joy the man must have felt must have been overwhelming to him. I’m sure also that Jesus probably reached out to him with a hug and smile to bring him further comfort during this amazing healing.

Jesus then orders the others with the man not to tell anyone. But they were so amazed and overjoyed at this healing and the love and mercy Jesus showed towards this man that they proclaimed it everyone.

There are times in our lives when we, like the man in today’s gospel, needs to be alone with Jesus to share with him all our issues and problems. We have our cares and worries that only Jesus can respond to and help us with. We should always place all our cares and concerns into the loving hands of Jesus. We can spend this time alone with Jesus at church or in the privacy of our homes. Jesus is always there to reach out to us and give us the healing that we need. Jesus touches us spiritually whenever we study scripture to better understand God’s will for us in our lives. Further Jesus touches us physically every time we receive him in Holy Communion or receive His healing touch during confession. We just need to be patient with Him to bring that healing to us. The healing or answer to our prayer may not happen as fast as we may like, and it may not be in the way we ask, but Jesus will help us in the way that is best for us. Jesus is always there with His loving presence, waiting for us to turn to Him to ask for His healing touch.

Then, after we receive the answer to our prayers, like the people in today’s gospel, we need to go and proclaim Jesus to the world that so desperately needs the healing touch of Jesus. We are to bring other people to Christ by how we live our lives and show our friends and relatives that Jesus is indeed someone that does “all things well.” We may not be called to proclaim the gospel publicly, but we are called to bring Jesus to all we meet by how we live out our lives as Catholics and Christians. Lord Jesus, grant us the healing and peace that can only come from you. Amen

To What shall we compare the Kingdom of God?

 

The Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church | USCCB

Today Jesus is once again talking about the kingdom of God. Today he describes God’s kingdom in a unique way. He tells his disciples that the kingdom of God is like a man who scattered his seeds in his fields. Then the farmer would go about his daily chores, trusting that the seed would grow of its own accord. The farmer is not overly concerned about the seeds knowing what to do. The farmer knows that the seeds will do what is natural for them: they will sprout and grow. When the crop is fully grown, the farmer harvests the crop.

In this parable, Jesus compares the farmer’s and his seed to God’s kingdom. He tells his listeners that the kingdom of God works in a similar manner. The kingdom of God is like the tiny mustard seed that is planted in the earth. It is the smallest of seeds, yet when the plant is fully grown, it is one of the largest plants on earth!

Each one of us have received the gift of faith through baptism, our first Holy Communion and Confirmation. This faith is the seed planted in us by Jesus Christ. We help water the seeds of our faith by our day-to-day love of God and neighbor, by attending Sunday and Daily mass, by going to confession on a regular basis, by making regular time to study scripture, and then taking this faith to others in our day-to-day existence.  By our regular routine of prayer and the sharing of our faith with others, we are helping the Lord to scatter the seeds of faith throughout the world to those we meet. We may not see the outcome of these seeds planted in those we meet right away, but like the seeds in a garden, it takes time for the water and sun of God’s love to work on the growth of this faith in those people that struggle with faith in God. We just need to trust that God is working in those we share our faith with. Further, we water the seed of their faith by praying for them and their needs.

Let us continue to nurture our faith by the regular practice of our faith, by reading scripture daily, by the frequent use of confession and by the regular reception of Holy Communion and bring that love of God to those who needs to be nurtured in their faith in God. It is in this way the Kingdom of God will grow and prosper in our world.

THE GOSPEL & THE GOSPEL OF LIFE - PART IV

 

Today we have a guest blogger, Arlene B. Muller. Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OSF) is a lector and EM at St. Pancras parish, a singer in the choir at St. Margaret's parish, a professed Secular Franciscan at St. Adalbert's Secular Franciscan fraternity & an itinerant speech/language therapist working with preschool children with delayed language development. She enjoys writing and music and sharing Christian and pro-life posts on FACEBOOK.

This is the fourth installment in my series of articles on THE GOSPEL & THE GOSPEL OF LIFE. The first installment was an introduction that connected the GOSPEL of Our LORD JESUS CHRIST with the GOSPEL OF LIFE and presented the acronym P.L.E.A as 4 essential tools to promote the GOSPEL of LIFE and fight abortion. P = PRAYER for the conversion of hearts of women at risk of having an abortion, for the conversion of the hearts of politicians who promote and enable abortion, and for laws to protect unborn babies and their mothers from abortion. L = the LEGAL, LEGISLATION & POLITICAL FRONTS: signing petitions, writing/e-mailing our political representatives, and voting for pro-life candidates to the extent our consciences will allow. E = EVANGELIZATION & EDUCATION. A = ADVOCACY to help women in crisis pregnancies get all the support and resources they need to choose life and to support the pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations that help women in crisis pregnancies, especially organizations like THE BRIDGE TO LIFE and GOOD COUNSEL HOMES that help mothers and their babies not only during pregnancy, labor and delivery but after birth as well. Subsequent articles addressed P for PRAYER and L for LEGAL/LEGISLATION/POLITICAL.

This brings us to E: EVANGELIZATION and EDUCATION. First and foremost, we are called to be witnesses of our faith in Our LORD JESUS CHRIST, in the GOSPEL, and in the Catholic Church and its teaching and sacraments. Our first means of evangelization should always be the example of our lives--our charity, compassion, generosity, purity, integrity and joy--following the directive attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach the Gospel always; when necessary, use words." Then we proceed to follow the directive of St. Peter, who, in his epistle, exhorted us always to be ready to give a reason for this hope of ours and to ensure that we do this in a spirit of gentleness and respect. In sharing the Gospel we also share our belief in GOD'S love for every human life that He has created in His image, regardless of the circumstances of conception, because it is for every human life that He sent His only Son to save by His life, Passion, death and Resurrection.

In addition to evangelization, we also can educate people about fetal development and about how ultrasound equipment has enabled us to observe that the unborn baby is truly alive and truly a unique person that can not only move but also assume characteristic poses and activities like sucking his/her thumb. Bernard Nathanson, once an unbeliever, an abortionist, and a staunch pro-abortion advocate, said that if there could be "a window into the womb" he would change his position on abortion. That "window into the womb" is the sonogram, and Bernard Nathanson ended his abortion practice, became a staunch pro-life advocate and founder of a major pro-life organization, and converted to the Catholic faith. When we help provide pregnancy resource centers with ultrasound equipment (e.g. through FOCUS ON THE FAMILY and/or through PRE-BORN) and women in crisis pregnancies see their unborn babies, approximately 80% of these mothers choose life for their babies.

In PRAYER we direct our petitions to the LORD Who is able to change hearts and Who is ultimately sovereign in the events of history, and we acknowledge that without Him we can do nothing. Through voting and expressing our pro-life views to our government we try to do our part to protect unborn human life and the well-being of their mothers. In EVANGELIZATION we obey the LORD'S Great Commission and help bring souls to Him. And in EDUCATION we share our knowledge and understanding to do our part to convince people of the need to protect unborn human life.

Pax et Bonum,

He appointed Twelve, whom he named Apostles

 

The scripture readings on this Memorial of St. Agnes can be found at Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear Jesus appointing the 12 apostles to be his followers and to go forth to preach and to drive out demons. It is from these 12 apostles that we have the foundation of our church: one holy, Catholic, and apostolic. The Catholic Church traces her roots back to Jesus and to these 12 men.

They were appointed to work with Jesus to bring the Good News of God’s salvation to the world. They were involved in every aspect of Jesus’ ministry of preaching and healing. They were 12 ordinary men, mainly fishermen, with no real formal education. But these were the ones that Jesus chose to bring the good news of salvation to the world. As we hear throughout the Gospels, they weren’t perfect. They were just ordinary men with the shortcomings that we all have.

Peter, the first among them, was known to have a short temper. James and John, the sons of Thunder, were looking for ways to move up in importance among the apostles. At one point they turned to Jesus and asked to sit at His left and right hands when He came into His kingdom. Then we have Judas who turned out to be traitor and turned Jesus into the authorities for 30 pieces of silver. These were the men that Jesus turned to for help in order to bring salvation into the world. Regular, everyday people with flaws and problems.

Jesus loved them all and was always ready to forgive them for their sinfulness and shortcomings. After His resurrection, Our Lord forgave Peter for his three-fold denial of knowing Jesus. Further, our Lord would have even forgiven Judas for his betrayal had Judas really understood the love Jesus had for him.

Like the apostles, Jesus is calling all of us to bring the good news of His salvation to those in our lives, even when we fall short and are sinful. We are to turn to Jesus for forgiveness and then we are to share this good news of Jesus’ love and forgiveness with our families and friends. We are to share this good news by either talking about our faith with those in our lives, or by simply being good examples of what it means to be a Christian living in a sinful world. This is how the good news of Jesus Christ is shared in our world: by simple, everyday people attempting to live out our lives as followers of Jesus Christ for the whole world to see.  Lord Jesus, help us in our journey of faith in you and help us to keep you as the center of all we do. Amen.

Who but God alone can forgive sins?

 

Scripture readings can be found at Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear the familiar story of the paralytic being brought to Jesus by his four friends. Unable to gain access through the front door, they took a dramatic step in going to the roof, breaking it open, and lowering the paralytic down to Jesus. I can only imagine the look of surprise on the face of Jesus and those present. Most were shocked by this, but with Jesus, I think his reaction was that of joy and approval. He saw the strong faith these four friends had in going out of their way to bring their friend to Him for healing.

Upon seeing their faith Jesus says something that upsets the scribes around Him: “Child, your sins are forgiven!” (Mark 2:5) The scribes rightfully know and believe that only God can forgive sins. To their understanding, Jesus was only a man, nothing more. So, this was a teaching moment for Jesus, indicating that He was not only fully human, but fully God. He was revealing His divinity to those present. If Jesus was not God, he would indeed be blaspheming, as the scribes thought, since only God can forgive sins. But Jesus goes on and reveals His divinity by healing the paralytic. Jesus says to the scribes, “…that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth,” and to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat and go home.” (Mark 2:10-11)

As in all the healings of Jesus throughout the gospels, this healing is tied to that of faith in Him and His ability to do the healing. Jesus saw the faith of the four men and the paralytic and proceeded to heal the man in need of healing.

Further, the four men that brought the paralytic are examples of how we are to live out our lives as Catholic Christians. These four men have a friend in need of healing, and they know of the healing power of Jesus, so they bring him to Jesus. We all have family and friends that are in need of various forms of healing, whether it’s spiritual, emotional, or physical. We ae concerned about them and their need for healing. We, as with these four men, can bring those we care about to Jesus for healing. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as lowering them through a roof to be in front of Jesus just to get his attention. Instead, every time we turn to Jesus in prayer, we can and should bring our family and friends before Jesus to grant them the healing they need.

Also, we in turn can turn to Jesus for our own healing. As we see in the gospel, Jesus has the power to forgive our sins. Jesus has given His Church this power to grant forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of Confession. We are all in need of forgiveness of sin, and we have the opportunity to receive that forgiveness in confession. Through each confession, we receive from the priest the forgiveness of our sins, and healing from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us turn to the Lord Jesus often for our own physical and emotional healing and that of all others in our lives that we may have true peace and happiness that can only come from Jesus.

Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.

 

The Scripture Readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday after Epiphany | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear of another healing of a leper by Jesus. The leper humbly, and with great faith, says to Jesus, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean." (Luke 5:12) Jesus reaches out, touches the leper, and heals him. Jesus heals many people throughout scripture and does each in its own unique way. Sometimes, like today, he touches the leper, and the leper is healed. In other places he would ask the person being healed, "Do you believe I can do this?" and then the person is healed based on that faith, without Jesus actually touching him. Then there's the blind person where Jesus spits into the mud, and places it on the eyes of the blind person, thus healing the person. 

In the current time of the pandemic, I feel and believe that Jesus can heal our society from this plague of COVID-19. We just need to say, like the leper, "Lord, if you wish, you can heal us and our society from this disease." Further, in addition to COVID, we have this plague of hatred and mistrust towards people we may not agree with politically. Instead of a healthy dialogue of our difference, we have resorted to name calling and verbal abuse. This is not pleasing to the Lord. We are to show everyone, whether we agree with them or not, the love and respect that God expects us to have towards everyone. And further, there's the problem with the rising of crime in our cities. We are worried and fearful about simply going into the subway. This shouldn't be and needs to be addressed by those in authority to protect our citizens from crime.

In all these issues, we need to place our trust in the Lord to heal us of COVID, heal us of political divisiveness and heal us of the crime that we are so fearful of in our cities. One way to bring about this healing is to follow the teachings of love God and our neighbor that the Lord was always teaching. St. John illustrates this so well when he writes, "This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:21)

Let us pray this day, and every day, "Lord, if you wish, you can heal our society from this pandemic, from this hatred towards one another, and from this crime that is afflicting our cities. We place all these concerns into your loving hands, with love and trust. Amen."

DO NOT BE AFRAID, FOR BEHOLD, I PROCLAIM TO YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY THAT WILL BE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE. FOR TODAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU WHO IS MESSIAH AND LORD" (Luke 2:10-11)

 

Today we have a guest blogger, Arlene B. Muller. Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OSF) is a lector and EM at St. Pancras parish, a singer in the choir at St. Margaret's parish, a professed Secular Franciscan at St. Adalbert's Secular Franciscan fraternity & an itinerant speech/language therapist working with preschool children with delayed language development. She enjoys writing and music and sharing Christian and pro-life posts on FACEBOOK.

Blessed Christmas! Today, New Year's Day, is the 8th day in the Octave of Christmas, and in the Church Christmas is not confined to a day or two but is a season that continues through the feast of the Epiphany and the Feast of the Baptism of the LORD, and in some traditions it is celebrated up to and including February 2, the feast of the Presentation of the LORD, also known as Candlemas Day. So although some people who put up their Christmas trees before Thanksgiving will probably take down their decorations tomorrow, and live trees will appear on the curbs to be picked up by the Sanitation Department, in the Church we are still celebrating Christmas! So it's actually not weird to reflect today on the words the angels announced to the shepherds on that holy and otherwise silent night when JESUS CHRIST was born!

This message was given over 2000 years ago for the shepherds who were watching their flocks, and this message of good news was also meant for all people throughout the world in every time and season.

Imagine the shepherds, tired & busy ensuring that the new lambs would be delivered safely and the rest of the sheep would not wander off. Suddenly they see bright angelic creatures lighting up the night sky who were larger than life. This must have been a truly awesome sight that sent shivers down their spines. So, of course, they were awestruck and terrified and needed the angels to say "DO NOT BE AFRAID". On another level, they were living in fearful times with a murderous maniac named Herod the Great governing their geographical area, and their nation had been overtaken by the mighty Roman Empire. The good news of great joy was that FINALLY the long awaited Messiah has been born. He is not only the long awaited and hoped for Messiah but also the Savior and LORD!

Although the literal historical and geographical context is now very different from Bethlehem over 2000 years ago, the message of the angels is for all time and especially needed in our time. In 2021-2022 America we are living in somewhat chaotic and divisive times, overshadowed by the dark cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic that provides an atmosphere of unpredictability, uncertainty and much fear, anxiety and confusion. This is a time when we sorely need comfort and encouragement not to be overcome by fear and anxiety but to look to JESUS, our Savior, Messiah and LORD, Who was born to us as our EMMANUEL "GOD WITH US". Because GOD Himself took on our humanity in the Person of JESUS CHRIST and chose to walk with us and still promises to be with us and within us, even though we cannot see Him with our physical eyes or hear Him with our physical ears, we don't have to be victims of our circumstances, but our hearts and minds can transcend our earthly fears and enter into great joy as we embrace the good news.

Several days ago I found it very easy to write that in our challenging times we need to live neither carelessly not fearfully, but with prudent caution and holy joy. I still believe this, but my exhortation not to be afraid has definitely been challenged, because a few days ago I found out that a friend with whom I had been singing at the same microphone a few days prior had tested positive for COVID-19. I confess that I have been feeling rather shaky and worried not only about my own health but especially about the health of friends with whom I had been in contact and the children I had taught during the week when I was unaware that I had been exposed to COVID-19. Naturally I had to communicate to them about their potential exposure to COVID-19 through me, and I also have questions about how long I need to quarantine, when I can get accurate test results, and when people, especially my friend who has Crohn's disease, can be safe around me. I definitely have lots of questions and worries. In a time of constant change regarding COVID-19 and an administration not always protective of human life (e.g., the unborn, people left behind in Afghanistan), how can we ensure we are protected and safe?

The good news of great joy is that GOD became Incarnate, and He is still faithful, He is still with us and loving us, no matter what happens, and that we can depend on Him to help and strengthen us. JESUS CHRIST is still our Savior, our Messiah and our LORD, even though life might not necessarily turn out like the last 10 minutes of a HALLMARK movie. So far I feel reasonably well, and hopefully I will test negative and free of COVID-19. But because JESUS is our EMMANUEL, our Savior and LORD, we can have the assurance that He will walk with us through every circumstance, no matter what. The dark clouds still overshadow us, but the LIGHT OF CHRIST can still break through & give us joy.