Hebrews 10:19-25
Psalm 24:1-6
Mark 4:21-25
Our first reading from Hebrews reminds us of our duty to our fellow Christians: “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.” It is possible when trying to make progress in the spiritual life to confuse Christianity for one of those Eastern religions where a devoted person slowly achieves mastery and becomes very powerful, trying to become a Saint by mastering Christian spirituality. A Christian becomes a master only when they forget about themself.
When Hebrews tells us that “we should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another” a certain kind of selfishness is condemned, where a person thinks only of their own relationship with God and the progress they are making or failing to make. There may be a place for this kind of self-concern in the beginning stages of the Christian life, when the new Christian is actively converting bad habits of life. But just as an adolescent becomes an adult when they take responsibility for another, growing up in the faith means being less self-centered and more focused on others.
Eventually a serious Christian will reach a point where they have removed all attachment to sin and are ready to move on to the purpose of the Christian life: love of God and love of neighbor. This will not include the end of every sin or even the end of every tendency to sin. Though the Devil will always lie and call sin good, the attachment is broken when the lies are seen clearly and sins are committed with a sort of freedom which has all the potential for sanctity or for evil. It is a mistake when, upon reaching this point, the threshold of maturity, the Christian continues trying to root out every sin. This will never happen. We will be sinners until the day we rise.
The mature Christian instead ought to turn to those around them and love. They ought to forget themself and pay attention to others. This is the first way that a Christian becomes a shocking creature to the world. The world is not surprised by a person trying to make themself better. The world is astounded by someone who begins to truly encourage others. After all, we are lamps and Jesus did not light us in order to put us under a basket. After a lamp is lit, the lamp itself is forgotten and becomes useful.
Daily Homilies
January 28, 2013 - Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 9:15, 24-28
Psalm 98:1-6
Mark 3:22-30
When Jesus and the Pharisees have their conversations, it is amazing, almost fun, to see how Jesus can give an answer that silences them. They are the know-it-alls who get taken down at their own game. Sometimes though, as in today’s Gospel, it is necessary to better understand Jesus’ answer in order to truly appreciate his wisdom.
At first it seems like Jesus does not understand their accusation. The Pharisees claim that Satan is being sneaky the way that Satan is sneaky. We can imagine a false prophet who can cast out demons with an evil power. It would convince people to follow him, like a cunning general who retreats in one place so as to lead his enemy into a trap. Jesus is not contradicting this possibility.
We must be aware that not everyone who heals people or tells the future or even seems to cast out demons is from God. Until the end of this world, when Satan’s power is destroyed, there will always be two sources of supernatural power in this world. To the extent that any supernatural power in this world is real, we must judge the source, whether it is from God or the evil one.
Jesus, however, was no magician. He did not go around working a few tricks for money or out of pride. How many miracles are written down for us! And still St. John tells us there could never be enough books in all the world to record everything that Jesus did. To accuse Jesus of using a few magic tricks to win power in the end for Satan is ridiculous. If the Pharisees did not know that their accusation was ludicrous, then they are guilty of greatly underestimating the work of Jesus. The Bible does not give us an exact number of people whom Jesus healed during the three years before the Cross, but any number measured in less than tens of thousands would not be faithful to the descriptions we have.
I sometimes wonder, what if I were a Pharisee when Jesus came? Would I have thought about him as the Pharisees did, as we do about cult leaders today? Jesus gives us a convincing defense: he simply did too much. How many prostitutes and tax collectors turned their backs on sin? Too many for Satan to be pleased. How much suffering was removed from the world? Too much for it to have been Satan’s work.
Psalm 98:1-6
Mark 3:22-30
When Jesus and the Pharisees have their conversations, it is amazing, almost fun, to see how Jesus can give an answer that silences them. They are the know-it-alls who get taken down at their own game. Sometimes though, as in today’s Gospel, it is necessary to better understand Jesus’ answer in order to truly appreciate his wisdom.
At first it seems like Jesus does not understand their accusation. The Pharisees claim that Satan is being sneaky the way that Satan is sneaky. We can imagine a false prophet who can cast out demons with an evil power. It would convince people to follow him, like a cunning general who retreats in one place so as to lead his enemy into a trap. Jesus is not contradicting this possibility.
We must be aware that not everyone who heals people or tells the future or even seems to cast out demons is from God. Until the end of this world, when Satan’s power is destroyed, there will always be two sources of supernatural power in this world. To the extent that any supernatural power in this world is real, we must judge the source, whether it is from God or the evil one.
Jesus, however, was no magician. He did not go around working a few tricks for money or out of pride. How many miracles are written down for us! And still St. John tells us there could never be enough books in all the world to record everything that Jesus did. To accuse Jesus of using a few magic tricks to win power in the end for Satan is ridiculous. If the Pharisees did not know that their accusation was ludicrous, then they are guilty of greatly underestimating the work of Jesus. The Bible does not give us an exact number of people whom Jesus healed during the three years before the Cross, but any number measured in less than tens of thousands would not be faithful to the descriptions we have.
I sometimes wonder, what if I were a Pharisee when Jesus came? Would I have thought about him as the Pharisees did, as we do about cult leaders today? Jesus gives us a convincing defense: he simply did too much. How many prostitutes and tax collectors turned their backs on sin? Too many for Satan to be pleased. How much suffering was removed from the world? Too much for it to have been Satan’s work.
January 26, 2013 - Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 10
Mark 3:20-21
We are told that “When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.’” The original words in Greek here can mean relatives, but it literally means “his own”. Jesus’ own people, his mother and brothers.
Now we know that Jesus did not have any brothers, strictly speaking. The word brothers refers either to his step-brothers from a previous marriage of Joseph or to his cousins who were sometimes called brothers in that culture. We also know that Mary, Jesus’ mother, did not really think that he was out of his mind. She knows that he is God. While she did not understand everything that he did, she did trust him completely. I think that when Jesus’ brothers decided to go, she simply went along because she would never turn down an opportunity to see Jesus.
But what about these brothers? Anyone with a sibling who causes trouble can understand their minds. They are concerned for Jesus, that he will hurt himself or get himself killed. They are also concerned for the family’s reputation. They are going to go find him and “seize him” as the Gospel says, take hold of him, get him under control.
When they arrive they find something very different than what they were evidently expecting. They do not find crowds of people laughing at Jesus. They do not find a small contingent of equally crazy people following him around. They find crowds of sane people listening. They hear his teaching: rather than the crazed rambling they expected. It is beautiful to listen to. They find that one of their brothers, James, has become an apostle of Jesus.
When we look at the world around us, we too might be convinced that God is crazy. There is too much violence and too much suffering. The wicked go unpunished. We might have a temptation to go to God and take hold of him and tell him how he ought to be running the universe. Then we look around and see the whole world, a delicate balance of physical laws and living creatures and free people and realize that we must trust God, simply. We can have faith in him; we do not need to be afraid.
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 10
Mark 3:20-21
We are told that “When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.’” The original words in Greek here can mean relatives, but it literally means “his own”. Jesus’ own people, his mother and brothers.
Now we know that Jesus did not have any brothers, strictly speaking. The word brothers refers either to his step-brothers from a previous marriage of Joseph or to his cousins who were sometimes called brothers in that culture. We also know that Mary, Jesus’ mother, did not really think that he was out of his mind. She knows that he is God. While she did not understand everything that he did, she did trust him completely. I think that when Jesus’ brothers decided to go, she simply went along because she would never turn down an opportunity to see Jesus.
But what about these brothers? Anyone with a sibling who causes trouble can understand their minds. They are concerned for Jesus, that he will hurt himself or get himself killed. They are also concerned for the family’s reputation. They are going to go find him and “seize him” as the Gospel says, take hold of him, get him under control.
When they arrive they find something very different than what they were evidently expecting. They do not find crowds of people laughing at Jesus. They do not find a small contingent of equally crazy people following him around. They find crowds of sane people listening. They hear his teaching: rather than the crazed rambling they expected. It is beautiful to listen to. They find that one of their brothers, James, has become an apostle of Jesus.
When we look at the world around us, we too might be convinced that God is crazy. There is too much violence and too much suffering. The wicked go unpunished. We might have a temptation to go to God and take hold of him and tell him how he ought to be running the universe. Then we look around and see the whole world, a delicate balance of physical laws and living creatures and free people and realize that we must trust God, simply. We can have faith in him; we do not need to be afraid.
January 25, 2013 - Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle
Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22
Psalm 117:1-2
Mark 16:15-18
The conversion of St. Paul proves the possibility of the conversion of anyone. St. Paul hated Christianity. He was not merely ambivalent. His life’s purpose was killing and arresting Christians. He helped kill St. Stephen the deacon, who prayed for his persecutors as he was dying. We believe in the power of those prayers. Sometimes it seems impossible that prayers will change someone’s heart, but St. Paul could not have been converted by anything less, just as St. Augustine was converted by the prayers of his mother; just as countless people have been converted by the prayers of another. If we want to bring about the end of abortion in this country, we need to pray for conversions. If we want to have peace and prosperity in this country, we need to pray for conversions. If we want the makers of television and movies to stop showing pornography and start preaching the Gospel, we need to pray for conversions.
And as we look outward at those hardened hearts which seem impossible to convert, we must also look inward at our own hearts. St. Paul says that he was a very zealous follower of God. Indeed, that is why he felt compelled to kill Christians. When we consider ourselves, if we do not have any need for conversion, then Jesus has nothing to offer us. Jesus came to change the world by starting a Church and then dying for it. We might disagree with his methods of changing the world, with the speed at which the world is changing, but the only place we have the power to make the change is in our own hearts.
“Be the change you want to be in the world.” Someone said that. No one knows who, though people often attribute it to one famous person or another. Regardless, it is a very Christian concept: revolution through conversion. How much good can be traced back to the conversion we celebrate today! What if we had a conversion like that? What is stopping us? Is it because Jesus does not appear and blind us? We who want the world to change must not let anything prevent us from changing. The appearance might not be there, but the grace is. The same powerful God who turned Saul into Paul can turn me into who he wants me to be, can turn you into who he wants you to be; he can turn us into the person who we always wanted to be.
Psalm 117:1-2
Mark 16:15-18
The conversion of St. Paul proves the possibility of the conversion of anyone. St. Paul hated Christianity. He was not merely ambivalent. His life’s purpose was killing and arresting Christians. He helped kill St. Stephen the deacon, who prayed for his persecutors as he was dying. We believe in the power of those prayers. Sometimes it seems impossible that prayers will change someone’s heart, but St. Paul could not have been converted by anything less, just as St. Augustine was converted by the prayers of his mother; just as countless people have been converted by the prayers of another. If we want to bring about the end of abortion in this country, we need to pray for conversions. If we want to have peace and prosperity in this country, we need to pray for conversions. If we want the makers of television and movies to stop showing pornography and start preaching the Gospel, we need to pray for conversions.
And as we look outward at those hardened hearts which seem impossible to convert, we must also look inward at our own hearts. St. Paul says that he was a very zealous follower of God. Indeed, that is why he felt compelled to kill Christians. When we consider ourselves, if we do not have any need for conversion, then Jesus has nothing to offer us. Jesus came to change the world by starting a Church and then dying for it. We might disagree with his methods of changing the world, with the speed at which the world is changing, but the only place we have the power to make the change is in our own hearts.
“Be the change you want to be in the world.” Someone said that. No one knows who, though people often attribute it to one famous person or another. Regardless, it is a very Christian concept: revolution through conversion. How much good can be traced back to the conversion we celebrate today! What if we had a conversion like that? What is stopping us? Is it because Jesus does not appear and blind us? We who want the world to change must not let anything prevent us from changing. The appearance might not be there, but the grace is. The same powerful God who turned Saul into Paul can turn me into who he wants me to be, can turn you into who he wants you to be; he can turn us into the person who we always wanted to be.
January 24, 2013 - Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 7:25 -- 8:6
Psalm 40:7-10, 17
Mark 3:7-12
“Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.” In other words, we have a friend in Jesus; we have someone on our side. We have a high priest who is constantly interceding for us before the Father in heaven, and our high priest is the Son of God himself. Sometimes, though, it seems like we are on our own down here. It does not matter whether we have been disappointed because God did not have us win the lottery or because someone died even though we prayed for their life. Either way, we have come to realize that we do not hold a sort of magic power over God. Sometimes we ask something in Jesus’ name, even something good and unselfish, and it is refused.
The reason for the refusal is easier to understand than to accept. Our relationship with God is not that he is a servant to do our will, but that he is our Father. We are like small children who depend on him completely, but he will only give us what is actually good rather than what merely seems good in the moment. A mature faith does not see our Father as a genie in a magic lamp. A mature faith has trust in the Father to provide the very thing we need, when we need it.
The Gospel today provides an example of how people were blinded to their true good by self-concern. Jesus has to teach from a boat off-shore so that the crowds do not crush him. Among these people there are surely many whose stories would touch our hearts, yet Jesus is not a sort of good-luck charm. We know that these people did not understand him. Where were they at the Cross?
Every one of us has a story. We all have disappointed expectations and tragedy in our lives. We could ask why God has not made our life easier, better, richer, or, worse, we could try to explain his will as if we could understand it. But there is something better out there for each of us: faith. We can simply trust that God does love us, that Jesus is eternally interceding for us. This does not make our life easier or more comprehensible. It does, however, free us from all fear. It does give us confidence in the plan of God for the world.
Psalm 40:7-10, 17
Mark 3:7-12
“Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.” In other words, we have a friend in Jesus; we have someone on our side. We have a high priest who is constantly interceding for us before the Father in heaven, and our high priest is the Son of God himself. Sometimes, though, it seems like we are on our own down here. It does not matter whether we have been disappointed because God did not have us win the lottery or because someone died even though we prayed for their life. Either way, we have come to realize that we do not hold a sort of magic power over God. Sometimes we ask something in Jesus’ name, even something good and unselfish, and it is refused.
The reason for the refusal is easier to understand than to accept. Our relationship with God is not that he is a servant to do our will, but that he is our Father. We are like small children who depend on him completely, but he will only give us what is actually good rather than what merely seems good in the moment. A mature faith does not see our Father as a genie in a magic lamp. A mature faith has trust in the Father to provide the very thing we need, when we need it.
The Gospel today provides an example of how people were blinded to their true good by self-concern. Jesus has to teach from a boat off-shore so that the crowds do not crush him. Among these people there are surely many whose stories would touch our hearts, yet Jesus is not a sort of good-luck charm. We know that these people did not understand him. Where were they at the Cross?
Every one of us has a story. We all have disappointed expectations and tragedy in our lives. We could ask why God has not made our life easier, better, richer, or, worse, we could try to explain his will as if we could understand it. But there is something better out there for each of us: faith. We can simply trust that God does love us, that Jesus is eternally interceding for us. This does not make our life easier or more comprehensible. It does, however, free us from all fear. It does give us confidence in the plan of God for the world.
January 23, 2013 - Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17
Psalm 110:1-4
Mark 3:1-6
There is such a contrast today between Jesus, whose life “cannot be destroyed”, who would rather “save life than destroy it”, and the Pharisees who are taking counsel with the Herodians to put him to death. The Herodians were the servants of King Herod, a man whose life consisted of parties and submitting to the Roman conquerors. He and the Herodians are the natural enemies of the Pharisees who are trying to be faithful to the Jewish Law. The only characteristic that these two opposing groups have in common is extraordinary selfishness.
It is so strange to read that their first tactic was to “watch Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath”, like a store security guard watch potential shoplifters, as if Jesus might try to sneak in a healing without being noticed. These Pharisees have hardened their hearts. They refuse to be open to the teaching of Jesus. When he asks them a difficult question, they do not even try and answer.
If we want to understand their position, we could look to the answer given by another at a similar time: “there are six days for healing, come then.” Why did Jesus heal on the Sabbath when he could have simply healed on the next day? Jesus is teaching us not only that healing is permitted on the Sabbath, but that healing is the very thing to do on the Sabbath. The Sabbath should be spent doing good rather than evil, saving life rather than destroying it.
We who are followers of Jesus Christ ought to take this teaching to heart. Our Sabbath must not consist of resting and relaxing ourselves. Sunday is not a day for more selfish indulgence. We should follow Jesus and do good on Sunday, not evil. Sunday ought to be a day where we live life to its fullest, live life as we would if we needed nothing. In a perfect Christian culture, we would spend six days working when we needed and resting when we could, but on the first day of the week we would make provision for the poor and the sick and the lonely, we would go to Mass and pray, we would celebrate with family in a simple way, we would, in short, be completely unselfish. We do not live in this perfect culture, but what is preventing us from beginning?
Psalm 110:1-4
Mark 3:1-6
There is such a contrast today between Jesus, whose life “cannot be destroyed”, who would rather “save life than destroy it”, and the Pharisees who are taking counsel with the Herodians to put him to death. The Herodians were the servants of King Herod, a man whose life consisted of parties and submitting to the Roman conquerors. He and the Herodians are the natural enemies of the Pharisees who are trying to be faithful to the Jewish Law. The only characteristic that these two opposing groups have in common is extraordinary selfishness.
It is so strange to read that their first tactic was to “watch Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath”, like a store security guard watch potential shoplifters, as if Jesus might try to sneak in a healing without being noticed. These Pharisees have hardened their hearts. They refuse to be open to the teaching of Jesus. When he asks them a difficult question, they do not even try and answer.
If we want to understand their position, we could look to the answer given by another at a similar time: “there are six days for healing, come then.” Why did Jesus heal on the Sabbath when he could have simply healed on the next day? Jesus is teaching us not only that healing is permitted on the Sabbath, but that healing is the very thing to do on the Sabbath. The Sabbath should be spent doing good rather than evil, saving life rather than destroying it.
We who are followers of Jesus Christ ought to take this teaching to heart. Our Sabbath must not consist of resting and relaxing ourselves. Sunday is not a day for more selfish indulgence. We should follow Jesus and do good on Sunday, not evil. Sunday ought to be a day where we live life to its fullest, live life as we would if we needed nothing. In a perfect Christian culture, we would spend six days working when we needed and resting when we could, but on the first day of the week we would make provision for the poor and the sick and the lonely, we would go to Mass and pray, we would celebrate with family in a simple way, we would, in short, be completely unselfish. We do not live in this perfect culture, but what is preventing us from beginning?
January 22, 2013 - Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 6:10-20
Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10
Mark 2:23-28
Jesus tells us that the “Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” We are all sons and daughters of humans. In this case the example of David and the Apostles means that religious laws are important, but some can be broken for good reasons. If God had not told us “Thou shall not kill”, murder would still be wrong, but if he had not told us to rest on the Sabbath or which bread was special, there would be no reason not to work on the Sabbath or eat the bread. So, since these laws are not intrinsically necessary, it seems that each person, using their conscience needs to decide when to follow them and when to break them.
There is a problem with this interpretation. There is no reason to suggest that the disciples of Jesus were particularly hungry. Were they just so rural that they had no idea that picking heads of grain on the Sabbath would be frowned upon? This seems unlikely. Did Jesus tell them that it was okay? Did he command them to do it? He is the Son of Man. Has he come to change a law? But he says that he will not change any laws.
The real difference is Jesus. His presence changes how to understand the Law. David and his companions did not follow the letter of the Law because they were starving. The disciples do not follow the Law because the point of the Law was fulfilled in their midst. As Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God did not create us so that someone would be resting once a week. God created the once-a-week rest for us.
Work is a punishment that came after Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden. The Sabbath is a little Eden at the end of the week, but Jesus is our Eden. The Pharisees could only remember paradise because the punishment of work was taken away for one day. We can experience paradise in Our Lord. Jesus was not just a teacher with some good ideas. He is God. We are not supposed to hear his teaching as more work for us to do. We are supposed to take up our Cross and follow him, and come rest in his arms. The taking up the Cross and the resting are one and the same.
Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10
Mark 2:23-28
Jesus tells us that the “Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” We are all sons and daughters of humans. In this case the example of David and the Apostles means that religious laws are important, but some can be broken for good reasons. If God had not told us “Thou shall not kill”, murder would still be wrong, but if he had not told us to rest on the Sabbath or which bread was special, there would be no reason not to work on the Sabbath or eat the bread. So, since these laws are not intrinsically necessary, it seems that each person, using their conscience needs to decide when to follow them and when to break them.
There is a problem with this interpretation. There is no reason to suggest that the disciples of Jesus were particularly hungry. Were they just so rural that they had no idea that picking heads of grain on the Sabbath would be frowned upon? This seems unlikely. Did Jesus tell them that it was okay? Did he command them to do it? He is the Son of Man. Has he come to change a law? But he says that he will not change any laws.
The real difference is Jesus. His presence changes how to understand the Law. David and his companions did not follow the letter of the Law because they were starving. The disciples do not follow the Law because the point of the Law was fulfilled in their midst. As Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God did not create us so that someone would be resting once a week. God created the once-a-week rest for us.
Work is a punishment that came after Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden. The Sabbath is a little Eden at the end of the week, but Jesus is our Eden. The Pharisees could only remember paradise because the punishment of work was taken away for one day. We can experience paradise in Our Lord. Jesus was not just a teacher with some good ideas. He is God. We are not supposed to hear his teaching as more work for us to do. We are supposed to take up our Cross and follow him, and come rest in his arms. The taking up the Cross and the resting are one and the same.
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