Gospel reading of the day:

Mark 1:21-28

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.

All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

Reflection on the gospel reading: Mark’s gospel portrays Jesus as a man of action who moves swiftly from one event to another in the days that follow his baptism by John in the Jordan. He quickly reveals himself as a man of power, one who has real authority: authority to teach and even authority to force unclean spirits to submit. The gospels over and over suggest that Jesus possessed a constellation of characteristics that created a profound impression among the people who encountered him. The Scriptures present much evidence this. We read about people leaving their ordinary lives to join him, the crowds which come to listen to him, people who bring their sick and disabled for him to minister to them. In many passages of the gospel, such as the one read today, we learn of his fame spreading everywhere. Moreover, the historical record suggests that within 14 years of his crucifixion, there was a sizable Christian community in the capital of empire, Rome. There was clearly something about Jesus’ presence while he walked the earth that evoked a response in the people who encountered him. We who are privileged to live in the time after the resurrection of the Lord continue to experience his call to leave behind our ordinary lives to join him, come and listen to him, and bring to him our burdens. When we cultivate his presence through our prayer, meditation, reading, and service, we still experience his power to change us.

Spiritual reading:

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping Thy presence my light.

(Saint Dallan Forghaill)

What I would like to talk to you about today and what seems to be the major theme of the day is HEALING. In his own time Jesus was known predominately as a prophet and a healer. The Gospel accounts describe many healing miracles to him, and indeed, Jesus said he passed this gift of healing on to his disciples, where we read in Acts of the Apostles that they also were able to go around healing people. In today’s Gospel of Mark we hear of one such healing – the healing of Peter’s mother.

On the one hand, a modern woman might think it a little suspect that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law just  so that she could get up and make them dinner and serve them. On the other hand, the idea of hospitality in the Middle East was such that for her to be sick and not be able to provide for her guests would have been a huge disappointment to a woman of that era.

In passing, I must say that it has bothered me that this gift of healing hasn’t been much passed down to us today.  Rarely, if ever,  do we hear of a priest who is known for his ability to heal.  Is it because we really don’t believe in miracles in our modern society? Or that they, in their medical ignorance, ascribed everything to miraculous healings?

One of the books that was on the CACINA priests reading list a couple of years ago  was ”Jesus the Village Psychiatrist” by Donald Capps. The thesis of that book was that Jesus had a fundamental understanding of psychology (which of course wasn’t even acknowledged as existing till Freud) and that his knowledge of psychology led to the healing of people.  He was able to determine what brought about the sickness, and by getting rid of deep guilt or neuroses, was able to bring about a change in their present conditions. It makes sense to me, even if it does take away some of the magic of ‘miracles’.

This book suggested that perhaps Peter’s mother-in-law had been in a state of depression which caused her to stop eating and made her listless and unable to function, possibly making worse the feverish symptoms of menopause. By visiting with her, taking time with her and giving a purpose to get up again, perhaps Jesus was able to ‘cure’ her.  Surely the fact that she could get up and be a servant to her guests gave her a purpose in life that maybe she hadn’t had in a while. All of this is interesting conjecture, I suppose, and in keeping with our modern society’s need to not believe in miracles and to explain all events as rational and natural, not supernatural. But whatever the reason Jesus was a healer.

Jesus’ healings often involved the forgiveness of sins as well, leading me to believe that perhaps there is a relationship between sickness and  of not being happy with ourselves, so with the resolution of guilt, we can be healed physically as well as mentally.

There is something which makes me think the Church does think that Peter’s mother-in-law’s problems were psychological though. They have paired this healing with the first reading from the Book of Job. In the first reading, which is enough to drive anyone to depression, we meet Job at his most depressed. This section of Job is a real downer!  “When I lie down I say “When shall I rise?” But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. My days… come to their end without hope.” This man is in bad shape.

If you remember the story, God has allowed Satan to test Job to see whether or not he will get angry and curse God. So Satan sends this good man all sorts of miseries, and while he does get depressed about it – as we certainly see here, he never gives up on God, and he comes to realize that “God gives and God takes away. Blessed be the name of God!”

While disaster and despair might not be common in our own lives, certainly worry and lack of focus are not – and these can bring us low and to depression as well. The pace of modern society and the lack of time to get everything done that we want to do can also leave us feeling depressed, or if not depressed, bored with our lives.

Perhaps our young people see this in us. They sense a tedium and a staleness about our lives and our religious practices. “Mass is so boring” they might say.  While it’s true a young person is not going to find much entertainment here – especially if you compare it to the 150 cable channels and all the rest of pop culture today – but often our worship together can become rote and lifeless. Is Church just concerned with itself – a symptom of depression – or are we really excited about the message of Christ as Paul was.

Know this: With the coming of Christ, God has in fact, healed all of us.  Jesus provides the antidote to original sin, he opens up the heavenly kingdom for all men and women, and he provides the one thing that we need if we are to get out of sickness and depression – and that things is HOPE. In our Gospel acclamation today this is summed up nicely:  “Christ took away our infirmities and bore our diseases”. This is the ultimate healing.

And besides the physical healing and the hope God has given us gifts whereby we can be forgiven of our transgressions. We never have to feel a lack of hope because Jesus is with us when we are gathered to together, Jesus is with us in the Eucharist, his gift to us, and God is present as the Spirit in our daily lives.

I find it also interesting, that although Jesus cured Peter’s mother and the many ill people who came to Peter’s home, Jesus did not see that as his first mission.  According to today’s reading from Mark, Jesus saw his first mission as preaching the good news of the coming kingdom. And that is what ties our second reading today to the Gospel.  St. Paul also talks about the importance of his preaching. He sees his preaching as an obligation, and sees in it his role of stewardship – service to the Lord.  Like priests in the Catholic Apostolic Church today, St. Paul wants no financial recompense for his preaching, but sees his ability to preach through Jesus, as reward enough. And perhaps through his preaching he can excite people and get them out of themselves.

So service and healing become the dominate themes we want you to think about today. They are intertwined in an interesting psychological way as well. When we serve others, we go outside of ourselves and that alone can heal depression.  Thinking of others, devoting time to others, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, calling up friends on the phone – all these things can take us away from ourselves – and strangely, our depression can lift.  We are healed. Jesus the Psychiatrist, the healer, the giver of Hope.

These qualities Jesus brings to us and that we can use in our daily lives to make them better is the GOOD NEWS I bring to you today.

Fr. Ron Stephens, St. Andrew’s Parish, Warrenton, VA

Mark 4:35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

Reflection on the gospel reading: Over and over in the gospel, as in today’s reading, Jesus tells us not to fear and asks us to trust. Our vocations as disciples of Jesus, women and men who follow his path, call on us to give our concerns and troubles to the Lord. Let us make no mistake about this passage from the gospel. It was an entirely reasonable emotional reaction to the situation where the apostles found themselves to be afraid of the storm. But Jesus already had shown the apostles his power, and his rebuke of them for their lack of faith also reflected evidence they had from their own lives.

When I imagine the future, it may be that I imagine disasters will engulf me and swallow me whole. In those moments of temptation, why is it with all the evidence of my life that God has followed me at each step that I should imagine a future that does not enjoy the presence of God? We may be buffeted by the strong winds that blow through our lives, and we may fear we will perish because of them, but our faith instructs us to live in the peaceful certainty that the God who cares for us today also will care for us tomorrow. When life roughs us up, let us make our way to the Lord to ask for help just as the apostles made their way to the Lord on the boat to seek his aid. God is faithful, so let us be, too: peace be to you; be not afraid.

Saint of the day: Joseph Freinademetz was born in 1852, the fourth child of Giovanmattia and Anna Maria Freinademetz in Oies a section of the town of Badia in the southern Dolomites, which was then part of Austria and now part of Italy. He studied theology in the diocesan seminary of Brixen and was ordained priest on July 25, 1875. He was assigned to the community of San Martino di Badia, not far from his own home.

During his studies and the three years in San Martino, Freinademetz continually felt a calling to be a missionary. He contacted Arnold Janssen, founder of the mission house Society of the Divine Word in Steyl, a village in the south-east of the Netherlands. With the permission of his parents and his bishop, he moved to Steyl in August 1878, where he received training as a missionary.

In March 1879 he and his confrere John Baptist Anzer boarded a ship to Hong Kong, where they arrived five weeks later. They stayed there for two years. Freinademetz was based in Sai Kung until 1880 and set up a chapel on the island of Yim Tin Tsai in 1879. In 1881 they moved to the province South Shantung that they were assigned to. At the time of their arrival, there were 12 million people living in this province, of which 158 had been baptized.

Freinademetz was very active in the education of Chinese laymen and priests. He wrote a catechetical manual in Chinese, which he considered a crucial part of their missionary effort. In 1898, he was sick with laryngitis and tuberculosis, so Anzer, who had become bishop, and other priests convinced him to go to Japan to recuperate. He returned but was not fully cured. When his bishop had to leave China for a journey to Europe in 1907, the administration of the diocese was assigned to Freinademetz.

There was an outbreak of typhus in this time, and he helped wherever he could, until he himself became infected. He returned to Taikia, South Shandong, where he died on January 28, 1908. He was buried in Taikia, at the twelfth station on the Way of the Cross.

Spiritual reading: Love is the only language everyone understands. (Joseph Freinademetz)

Mark 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

He said, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

Reflection on the gospel reading: Scripture scholars agree that the core of Jesus’ teaching was the proclamation of the kingdom of God. Here we have two parables that suggest to us how Jesus understood God’s kingdom arises among us. The first of the two parables talks about the growth of wheat stalks: we may not know how the process occurs, but we believe and behave like it will occur, and it does in fact occur just the way we expected. The second of the two parables describes how the arrival of the kingdom of God starts very small only subsequently to loom as very great. What shall we take away from these two parables? First, God is faithful, and God will act. We may not know how, but we can believe and behave like God will lead us, and God will not disappoint us. Second of all, we can trust that small things will lead to great things (not unlike Jesus’ own ministry to tiny backwater towns in a backwater region of the Roman Empire that has spread to the four corners of the earth.) The coming of the Kingdom of God in our lives, then, is mysterious, reliable to the point of predictability, and immensely productive. You can count on it.

Saint of the day: Born in 1474 in Italy, Angela Merici has the double distinction of founding the first teaching congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular institute” of religious women. As a young woman she became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis (now known as the Secular Franciscan Order), and lived a life of great austerity, wishing, like St. Francis, to own nothing, not even a bed. Early in life she was appalled at the ignorance among poorer children, whose parents could not or would not teach them the elements of religion. Angela’s charming manner and good looks complemented her natural qualities of leadership. Others joined her in giving regular instruction to the little girls of their neighborhood.

She was invited to live with a family in Brescia (where, she had been told in a vision, she would one day found a religious community). Her work continued and became well known. She became the center of a group of people with similar ideals. She eagerly took the opportunity for a trip to the Holy Land. When they had gotten as far as Crete, she was struck with blindness. Her friends wanted to return home, but she insisted on going through with the pilgrimage, and visited the sacred shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm as if she had her sight. On the way back, while praying before a crucifix, her sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost.

At 57, she organized a group of 12 girls to help her in catechetical work. Four years later the group had increased to 28. She formed them into the Company of St. Ursula (patroness of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women) for the purpose of re-Christianizing family life through solid Christian education of future wives and mothers. The members continued to live at home, had no special habit and took no formal vows, though the early Rule prescribed the practice of virginity, poverty and obedience. The idea of a teaching congregation of women was new and took time to develop. The community thus existed as a “secular institute” until some years after Angela’s death.

Spiritual reading: A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges and support of the things of the earth – beware! – is not the true church of Jesus Christ. A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good, so that they are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospel’s call. (Oscar Romeo, Martyr)

Gospel reading of the day:

Mark 4:21-25

Jesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lamp stand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.” He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: Jesus calls us to be light in the lives of people who surround us. It is not enough that we live good lives; we are called to be people who actively manifest the values of the gospel in the lives of our family, friends, coworkers, associates, and acquaintances. Like light, we are to fill up the spaces we inhabit and illuminate everything (and everyone) in our paths.

Saint of the day: Timothy (d. 97?): What we know from the New Testament of Timothy’s life makes it sound like that of a modern harried bishop. He had the honor of being a fellow apostle with Paul, both sharing the privilege of preaching the gospel and suffering for it.

Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother named Eunice. Being the product of a “mixed” marriage, he was considered illegitimate by the Jews. It was his grandmother, Lois, who first became Christian. Timothy was a convert of Paul around the year 47 and later joined him in his apostolic work. He was with Paul at the founding of the Church in Corinth. During the 15 years he worked with Paul, he became one of his most faithful and trusted friends. He was sent on difficult missions by Paul—often in the face of great disturbance in local Churches which Paul had founded.

Timothy was with Paul in Rome during the latter’s house arrest. At some period Timothy himself was in prison (Hebrews 13:23). Paul installed him as his representative at the Church of Ephesus.

Timothy was comparatively young for the work he was doing. (“Let no one have contempt for your youth,” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:12a.) Several references seem to indicate that he was timid. And one of Paul’s most frequently quoted lines was addressed to him: “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Timothy 5:23).

Titus (d. 94?): Titus has the distinction of being a close friend and disciple of Paul as well as a fellow missionary. He was Greek, apparently from Antioch. Even though Titus was a Gentile, Paul would not let him be forced to undergo circumcision at Jerusalem. Titus is seen as a peacemaker, administrator, great friend. Paul’s second letter to Corinth affords an insight into the depth of his friendship with Titus, and the great fellowship they had in preaching the gospel: “When I went to Troas…I had no relief in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia…. For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—external conflicts, internal fears. But God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus…” (2 Corinthians 2:12a, 13; 7:5-6).

When Paul was having trouble with the community at Corinth, Titus was the bearer of Paul’s severe letter and was successful in smoothing things out. Paul writes he was strengthened not only by the arrival of Titus but also “by the encouragement with which he was encouraged in regard to you, as he told us of your yearning, your lament, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more…. And his heart goes out to you all the more, as he remembers the obedience of all of you, when you received him with fear and trembling” (2 Corinthians 7:7a, 15).

The Letter to Titus addresses him as the administrator of the Christian community on the island of Crete, charged with organizing it, correcting abuses and appointing presbyter-bishops.

Spiritual reading: Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence. (Saint Basil)

Gospel reading of the day:

Mark 16:15-18

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: The passage from Mark’s gospel that we read today is one of the alternative endings to the gospel. Jesus, after his resurrection, appears to the apostles and commissions them to go out and teach the whole world about his coming and his way of life. If we read between the lines, it says to us that if we are willing to trust God, extraordinary things will come to pass in our lives and the lives of people whom we encounter.

Saint of the day: Today is the celebration of the call of Paul the Apostle. Paul likely was born on the early first century. The Acts of the Apostles records that he was a citizen of Tarsus, an important Roman city in what is now modern day Turkey. Part of the Jewish diaspora, Paul himself says that he was a Pharisee, and Acts suggests he studied the rabbinic law in Jerusalem. Both Acts and the Pauline letters suggest that Paul persecuted the sect of Jews who believed that Jesus was the messiah. Likely in the late 30s on the road to Damascus to preach against the new sect, Paul had a profound experience. Acts at three places describes the experience, and though the accounts conflict in their details, we know that Paul himself said that he was the last of the apostles to see the risen Jesus, and that it was on account of this that he called himself an apostle. Christians have termed the experience a conversion, but Paul never ceased seeing himself as a Jew, and conversion may overstate the case. The feast might be better styled, “the call of Paul,” for through it, Paul experienced the need to spread the Gospel to the very ends of the earth, and it is quite possible that his missionary efforts extended even to Spain. Paul likely died in Nero’s persecution, probably either in 63 or 67.

Spiritual reading: I assure you, brothers, the gospel I proclaimed to you is no mere human invention. I did not receive it from any man, not was I schooled in it. It came by revelation from Jesus Christ. You have heard, I know, the story of my former way of life in Judaism. You know that I went to extremes in persecuting the Church of God, and tried to destroy it. But the time came when he who had set me apart before I was born and called me by his favour chose to reveal his Son to me, that I might spread among the Gentiles the good tidings concerning him. Immediately, without seeking human advisers or even going to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, I went off to Arabia; later I returned to Damascus. Three years after that I went up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, with whom I stayed fifteen days. I did not meet any other apostles except James, the brother of the Lord. The communities of Christ in Judea had no idea what I looked like; they had only heard that “he who was formerly persecuting us is now preaching the faith he tried to destroy,” and they gave glory to God on my account. (Paul in the Letter to the Galatians)

Mark 3:31-35

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: This passage from the gospel sometimes causes confusion when people read it. Jesus isn’t rejecting his family in this passage. We see over and over again throughout the gospels that Jesus uses the circumstances around him as teachable moments for his listeners. He always looks beyond the basic facts of the situation, such as the arrival of his family of birth, to make a deeper point that reflects the central truth about his mission. Here it is that all of us who strive to understand and do God’s will are the family of Jesus in a way that Jesus teaches is more fundamental to human existence than even the bonds that unite a natural family.

Saint of the day: Born in Savoy in 1567 to a well-placed family, Francis de Sales’s parents intended that he become a lawyer, enter politics, and carry on the family line and power. He studied at La Roche, Annecy, and Clermont College in Paris. He pursued legal studies at the University of Padua and became a Doctor of Law. He returned home and found a position as Senate advocate.

It was at this point that he received a message telling him to “leave all and follow me.” He took this as a call to the priesthood, a move his family fiercely opposed. However, he pursued a devoted prayer life, and his gentle ways won over the family.

Francis became a priest and assumed the position of Provost of the diocese of Geneva, Switzerland, a stronghold of Calvinists. A preacher, writer, and spiritual director in the district of Chablais, his simple, clear explanations of Catholic doctrine, and his gentle way with everyone, brought many back to Catholicism.

He became the Bishop of Geneva at age 35. He traveled and evangelized throughout the Duchy of Savoy, working with children whenever he could. He was friend of Saint Vincent de Paul. He turned down a wealthy French bishopric and helped to found the Order of the Visitation with Saint Jeanne de Chantal. He was a prolific correspondent and has been named a Doctor of the Church. He died on December 28, 1622 at Lyons and is buried at Annecy.

Spiritual reading: If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love. (Juliana of Norwich)

Mark 3:22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Reflection on the gospel: In today’s gospel, the scribes from Jerusalem, Jesus’ most determined opponents, accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. In fact, a grammatical form in the text suggests it was an ongoing line of attack. Jesus, showing himself to be a master rhetorician, argues persuasively that the scribes’ proposition is absurd on its face: if Satan’s house is divided against itself, Satan’s reign is at an end. Jesus goes on to charge the scribes with obstinacy in the face of so much evidence his ministry comes from God and warns them that resistance to such clear evidence represents an ultimate insult against God. Essentially, Jesus is saying that once we we have closed our minds to God’s presence in our lives, God cannot reach us.

Saint of the day: Nikolaus Gross was born on September 30, 1898 in Germany. A miner, he became the father of seven. A member of the Christian miners’ labor union at age 19, he became its secretary at 22. A member of the Zentrum Christian Party at age 20, he worked at age 22 on the West German Workers’ Newspaper, the newspaper of the Catholic Workers’ Movement and became its director at age 24.

A nonviolent opponent of Nazism from its beginnings, Nickolaus worked with distinguished Catholic intellectuals who opposed the regime. From Cologne, he exposed the lies and harmful effects of Nazi propaganda, and he worked for the revolt of consciences against Hitler. Declared an enemy of the state, his newspaper was shut down in 1938, but at great risk, he continued to publish an underground edition.

He tried to organize resistance among Catholic workers in preparation for the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944. Though neither he nor the members of his group were implicated in the assassination attempt, Nikolaus was arrested on August 12, 1944 for treason, and sentenced to death by a People’s Court on January 15, 1945. A martyr, he was executed January 23, 1945 at the Berlin-Plotzensee prison. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered.

Spiritual reading: The majority of great enterprises result from daily fulfillment of one’s duty in small, everyday things. What is valuable in the doing is our special love for the poor and the sick. (Nikolaus Gross)

Gospel reading of the day:

Mark 1:14-20

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

Reflection on the gospel reading: In the gospel of the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, the passage at Mark 1:14-20, Jesus calls James and John to come follow him, so they might become, “fishers of men.” From various passages in the gospels, it is clear that Jesus sees his call to follow him as far more important than the ordinary obligations of survival and even the natural affections within families.

The case of the call of James and John is quite to the point. James and John were fishermen who apparently worked in the family trade along with their father Zebedee and his hired men. The ownership of a boat and the employment of men suggest the family business had enjoyed some measure of success, but since the family still worked, their futures apparently were not secure. The gospel records that James and John, upon hearing Jesus’ call, simply walked away from their father, the family business, the boat, and the hired men. To follow Jesus, they abandoned the ordinary obligations of survival and turned their back on the natural affections that tied them to their father.

Elsewhere, when Mark describes the call and provides the names of the 12 apostles, we are told that James and John are the sons of thunder. One well can imagine that Zebedee’s reaction at the departure of his sons from the family business was explosive. Fathers often do not react well when their sons leave their chores to pursue activities they associate with leisure. Jesus in other gospel passages reflects that he has come as a sign of contradiction: “Do you imagine that I have come to bring peace?” No, he tells us but rather a sword that divides mother against daughter and father against son. Our Lord perhaps had in mind a reminiscence of Zebedee’s fiery reaction to his sons’ sudden departures from the family’s trade.

There is a lesson in all of this for us. How are we to understand the purpose of our lives? How are we to cooperate with the adventure? It is in reflection upon the events that fill our lives and the patterns that develop across the years. Jesus clearly came to understand his mission through the events that took place in his life. Jesus recognizes that he stirs opposition and even division in families, but he tells us that his mission is more important than the tensions he creates.

Dorothy Sayers, the Anglican author and humanist who died in 1957, once wrote,

I believe it to be a great mistake to present Christianity as something charming and popular with no offense in it . . . We cannot blink at the fact that gentle Jesus meek and mild was so stiff in his opinions and so inflammatory in his language that he was thrown out of church, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbeted as a firebrand and a public danger. Whatever his peace was, it was not the peace of an amiable indifference.

Let us never be afraid to stir controversy on behalf of the vision we believe God has given us. The call that each of us received in baptism to become “fishers of men” is not for the feint of heart.

Spiritual reading of the day: What is a faithful man to do in the chaos of events which seem to swallow him up? He must sustain himself calmly by Faith. Faith will make him adore the eternal plan of God .Faith will assure him that to those who love God all things work together for good. (William Joseph Chaminade)

I want to discuss some controversial things today that come out of today’s readings. Most of you in the Catholic Church have, like myself, come from the Roman Catholic tradition and we all probably have many reasons why we remained Catholic even though we may have come from or moved to a different tradition. Today’s readings bring out some of the things that have influenced my journey.

The topics that come up in the readings and that I would like to discuss in some depth are the concepts of ‘authority” in the church, celibacy and sexuality in the church and the literalness of the Bible itself.

I will begin with the third one – the authority of the Bible and what to believe about it.  As you know many Christians believe in the literal meaning of the Bible. Unfortunately, I think that believing in the literal meaning of the Bible is childish and superstitious and a denial of the intellect created in us to separate us from the other animals. I certainly believe in the Bible and strive to understand what the Bible means for our time, but to think that it is literally the Word of God is to ignore great evidence and to completely misunderstand what the Bible is trying to do.

Let’s look at today’s reading for example.  It comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible and the last of the Torah, the five great books of the Hebrew Bible. The Torah contains the basic laws that must be followed to live as a faithful Jew. Hebrew tradition says that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible which are called the Pentateuch.  But we know that the Hebrew Bible was written over the expanse of hundreds of years and although Moses may have been raised in the court of Pharaoh and was an educated man who would have been able to write, he did not live to be 900 years old. Similarly Bible historians have shown how the Pentateuch was made up of two separate books that at some point got joined together.  That is why we have two separate creation stories of Adam and Eve, both quite different.

Then what are we to believe?  The Bible – both the Old and New Testaments were written so that we might learn something about God, something about our relationship to God and his relationship to us. A more poetic way of saying this is that the Bible is God’s love letter to us. The Bible tries to point us to God, but is not God.  When we say “The Word of God” we mean in the Apostolic Catholic Church that God inspired people to write about him, in their own language, through their own prejudices and experiences, in a particular time and moment of history. That there is God’s truth behind the words, and that as the intelligent creatures that God created, we need to hear those words and apply the truths behind them to our situations, our time, our culture. That is the ‘authority of the Bible. We are the living Bible for others. But how are we to know our interpretations are correct?

When Jesus was teaching in the Gospel reading, the people listening to him were astonished, but questioned his ‘authority’.  Jesus was interpreting the words of the Hebrew Bible, creating  a message and a meaning for that particular time and place, with truths that go beyond time and space, that can be used by us today as well. But what gave this man, this carpenter from Nazareth, this illiterate wanderer the ‘authority’ to say these things – who gave them “a new teaching”. The authority first of all comes from God. In our first reading God said through Moses: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him. Whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it.” Jesus was given the authority first from God to speak.  But how were they to know that God had given him the authority? that he wasn’t a false prophet that God also mentioned to Moses?  And so Christ performs a miracle. And that convinces them. Interestingly, though, in Mark, Jesus never wants anyone to be quiet about the miracles. He doesn’t want the miracles to overshadow his teaching.  It is also interesting that it takes forever in Mark for the apostles and others to recognize who Jesus really is. The devil or the unclean spirit Jesus exorcises is really the first to recognize him: “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”

In the Roman Catholic Church, authority has always come from two places – the Scriptures, and from the teaching authority of the Church which in recent years has been placed in the Pope and his infallibility that was only defined a hundred years ago or so. Before that, the councils had the most authority. We place the authority certainly on the Scriptures, but not only on the Scriptures as many protestant churches do, but on the traditions of the Church and the teachings of the Bishops as a whole. In fact, in the Catholic Apostolic Church, each year we have a General Assembly where the Bishops discuss with the clergy and elected parishioners matters of faith and morals, interpretations and questions. We do not believe that authority resides in one man. That is certainly one controversial item which sets us apart. So how do we know what to believe? We look at the words of Scripture, we look at interpretations of Scripture by the Church fathers and its Bishops, and we meet as a church body to formulate a common understanding of meaning. We inform our consciences.

In the second reading today we have a reading which is almost an embarrassment to some people, especially when it is read out of context as we usually are forced to do. St. Paul offends just about everybody in this reading. But, St. Paul was writing at a time when he believed the second coming of Christ was immanent. He believed that any day Christ would come again and establish a new order. Now if you really believe that, you will want to make sure that you are really ready for that coming and you will change certain things.

Let us say for example that you found out tomorrow, God forbid, that you had cancer and had a year to live.  What would you do differently?  How would you change your life? St. Paul felt like that, and so he recommends that his people need to free themselves up from anything that worldly that worries them so that they can concentrate on getting ready to die. He advocates celibacy in this light. A husband or wife has to think first about each other, so he says it would be better – though he wasn’t making it a rule – that people not marry, in order to have the time to get their spiritual lives in order. When we look at this out of context we see how over the years the Church has taken this to mean that sexuality is bad and encumbering, why its priests have been asked not to marry and why so many writers after Paul have taken this to mean that sexuality is opposed to Christianity. So unfortunate, and it has caused so many unnecessary problems and demeans sexuality even up to our own times when it still does. This is again why it is so important that we study the Scriptures, put them in a context, use our intellects to understand them, question them, interpret them and not just take them literally or on the basis of what one person says they mean. God gave us intellects to use them. The year I came to St. Andrew’s I thought it would be good to have a Lenten program to look at one of the Gospels, say the Gospel of Mark since it was read to us that year, and place it into its historical, cultural context and see what Mark was trying to do differently from the other Gospel writers. So that was the theme for Lent that year. I have continued to use that approach.

In any case, this is where my faith has led me.  The last time I went to church just as a parishioner with my family, I  was told in a homily that there was no need for me to think – I just had to follow the rules, do what I was told to do and follow directives of the Church, which knew better than I.  I think that is very wrong! God gave us minds and wants us to think. We need the church community to help us to inform our minds and tradition to direct us – but we need to think as well.  Like Mary, we need to ponder these things in our hearts and this will hopefully lead to the path, the way, of Jesus.   And that is the Gospel or Good News I bring you today.

Fr. Ron Stephens, St. Andrew’s Parish, Warrenton VA