6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B - February 11, 2018

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

February 11, 2018

 

Hospital Isolation

Last winter, I visited a man named Jim at Upper Chesapeake Hospital.

Jim was seriously sick with a bacterial pneumonia.  There was a “Do Not Enter – Report to the Nurses’ Station” sign on his door. 

I was required to put on a hospital gown, a mask and gloves before entering his room.  Jim’s wife and I approached his bedside and I leaned over and spoke to him for a minute or two, even though he was barely responsive. 

Then, I led us in prayer and in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.  As I left, I took off the hospital gown, the mask and gloves and was instructed to wash my hands thoroughly.

I have to admit that I felt some anxiety about contracting the bacteria that had attacked Jim’s lungs.  I also wondered how Jim was feeling emotionally, since he was so alone and so isolated.

 

Lepers

That experience gives us some appreciation of the situation of lepers.

In Jesus’ day, they labeled as leprosy many skin diseases, whether they were real leprosy or simply something like psoriasis. Lepers were excluded, cut off and alienated from society. 

Today’s first reading tells us that lepers had to shave their heads and wear torn clothes so that they could be easily identified and avoided.  They had to live alone, outside the town and declare themselves “Unclean!” if anyone approached them.

They had to be feeling physically bad, at least to some extent.  But probably worse than that was the pain of isolation, of being unwanted and cut off from others.

Jesus’ Response: To Feel and to Heal

This is the context for today’s gospel.

A leper dares to approach Jesus.  With humility and trust, he says, “If you will it, you can make me clean.”

And how does Jesus respond?  He feels and heals the pain of this man.

Jesus reaches out and touches him.  His compassion – his feeling the pain of this man is so strong that he ignores the risk to himself and touches the man.

Jesus says, “I do will it.  Be made clean.”  And then Jesus tells the man to follow the rules of the day for being declared clean because he wants the man to be re-included and restored to the community.

And this is something that Jesus consistently does.  He consistently feels and heals the pain of those on the outside, the excluded of his day.

We see him doing this with the poor, with women, with sinners and on it goes.  He feels and heals the pain of those on the outside and draws them back into the community.

 

Our Response: To Feel and Heal

Jesus’ example calls us to do the same.

For example, there are homeless persons in Baltimore City and probably in every county of Maryland. Often we do not physically see them and the danger is that they can lie outside of our vision and concern.

They easily become lepers – unwanted, outside and alienated.  Jesus’ example calls us to draw these people back into the community by reaching out and providing – to feel and to heal.

In terms of our Church, sometimes those who are divorced feel very excluded and unwanted.  Sometimes our approach makes these persons feel like lepers.

We need to feel the pain that many of these people have suffered, often quite innocently.  Jesus’ example again calls us to reach out and make sure these people feel welcome in our community – to feel and to heal.

I also think of those who are grieving.  Sometimes we tend to step away from the widowed or anyone who is grieving.

Maybe we distance these persons because we are afraid we will not know what to say or afraid to deal with our own feelings.  Again, Jesus’ example calls us to listen, to be with and to include – to feel and to heal.

Conclusion

So, a very powerful gospel with a very challenging example and lesson for us today. 

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B - February 4, 2018

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

February 4, 2018

Saint Mary Parish, Pylesville 4pm

Saint Matthew Parish, Baltimore 11am

Respect

Today I want to talk about respect.

One word – respect. It may sound simple, but it may not be.

The Word Respect

Our English word respect – like many of our words – is derived from Latin.

It is made up of two Latin words: 1) re (spelled R-E) which means back, as in going back, and 2) specere (spelled S-P-E-C-E-R-E), a verb that means to look at. And so, our word respect literally means to look back at, to take a second look.

And from this, the word has come to mean to treat someone with regard and dignity. Negatively, it means to refrain from injuring someone.

The connection between the original and the developed meaning of the word is clear. If we don’t just take a quick look, but if we look back and take a second look, then we are valuing others.

As a result, we are much more likely to act out of that – to treat them with regard and dignity. And, of course, we are much more likely to refrain from any behavior or word that would injure.

Okay, so why am I so focused on this word respect today? Why? Because I see respect lying beneath today’s gospel.     

Jesus Respects Women

The context is that Jesus goes into Peter’s house.

Peter’s mother-in-law is sick in bed with a fever. I have to wonder if it was something like the flu that has been going around this year.

At any rate, and here’s the key point, Jesus goes right up to this woman and takes her by the hand. Now to us, that may not sound like a big deal, but it was in Jesus’ day.

In those days, men were forbidden to touch any woman other than their wife. They couldn’t even shake hands with a woman.

Now it’s important to know that this prohibition did not exist out of respect for women. On the contrary, it existed out of disrespect for them.

It was a highly patriarchal and male-dominated culture. Women had no rights and were seen as at best inferior.

So, a point that’s easy to miss here is that Jesus, right at the start of his ministry, is breaking a barrier. I mean, this is chapter one of Mark’s Gospel – Mark talking about the first things Jesus does in his ministry.

And here, Jesus breaks the gender barrier. He respects this woman as a person with dignity, as a person in need, and he wants to help her.

Apparently, Saint Mark is really out to make a point about this. I say this because at the end of the gospel, as Jesus ends his ministry, dying on the cross, Mark carefully notes the presence of women.

He points out that these women were disciples of Jesus. So Mark’s entire Gospel is framed or bookended with Jesus showing respect for women.

Respect Women Today

All of this got me thinking about something very current.

I think that Jesus would be supportive of the main thrust of today’s #MeToo movement. Today his respect for women might be shown by speaking out on behalf of the dignity of women.

He would speak out against verbal abuse, demeaning jokes, sexual harassment of any kind, and even less pay for the same work and same competence.  I believe that Jesus would call out all of this as wrong.

He would want us to take a second look at what’s been going on. He would want us to be respectful in our attitudes, our words, our workplace policies, and in our Church practices.

So, yes, there is a spiritual and moral dimension here. There is a gospel-dimension to the women’s isue that is before us.

Respect Everyone

I want to add one more point.

Jesus pushes this respect beyond the gender barrier. In various other incidents, Jesus breaks through other barriers – religion, race, culture, and nationality.

And Jesus always does this out of respect. He respects the dignity of all persons.

He wants to bring a wholeness and fullness to our lives. And he wants to do this for us as individuals, for our society and for all of humanity.

So, he treats all persons with respect, with no barriers allowed to stand in the way. His example raises the question: are we doing the same?

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B - January 28, 2018

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

January 28, 2018        

Authority

In the life experience that you and I have, authority is almost always related to a position or a title.

For example, a business employer, a school teacher, an elected official, a parent, a basketball coach, a priest – all of these people have a certain authority.  It is related to their position or their title or to both.

This is very different from Jesus because he has no position or title.  But today’s gospel says that “The people are amazed at his teaching, for he taught as one having authority.”

 

Jesus’ Authority

A few years ago I came across an interesting insight about Jesus’ authority.

The original word for “authority” in this passage is Greek.  It literally means “out of being” or “out of his own being.”

So Jesus teaches and drives away evil in this incident “out of his own being.”  He does this from his inner self, from who he is as a person.

Now, it is easy for us to think of Jesus doing this “out of his own being.”  After all, we believe – as the unclean spirit says in this passage – that he is “the Holy One of God.”

He is the Son of God.  So no wonder he can teach and cast out evil “out of his own being,” out of his inner self, out of who he is as a person.

Our Authority

It is not so easy to think of ourselves as having this kind of authority.

But, I believe, Jesus calls us to this and it demands some work from us.  It demands above all that we be quiet and slow enough to look within ourselves and be aware of who we are.

It demands that we know our strengths, like having a keen mind to understand things quickly or having good relational skills.  It also demands that we know our weaknesses – like always wanting everything our own way or not being very flexible.

Having and living with the authority of Jesus also means that we allow Jesus and his presence within us and his grace to empower us. It means that we try to really take in and embrace his way. 

And then, with this inner self, we can act with the authority of Jesus.  We can lead the business or coach the kids or whatever out of our inner being and allow that to influence what we say and do.

Authority over Evil

Today’s gospel also shows Jesus using his inner authority to cast out evil spirits from the man in the synagogue. 

My thought is that there are evil spirits that Jesus can cast out today.  And these are fairly prevalent, maybe in all of us through the cultural air that we breathe. 

I am thinking, for example, of the evil spirit of instant gratification.  This spirit is pretty easy to identify:  we want what we want when we want it and that usually means right now. 

This spirit can lead us to an inappropriate expression of sexuality.  My pleasure right now becomes the driving force above any other consideration.

Or this spirit can lead us to an overall impatience.  We get impatient with slowed traffic or with anything or anyone who interferes with what we want right now.

This cultural tendency to instant gratification is really an evil spirit that needs to be cast out of our personal lives.  It can have harmful effects.

Conclusion

So, today’s gospel has two lessons for us.

First, our real authority, the power to impact others for the good doesn’t come so much from a position or a title but from our inner selves.  We see this in Jesus and this can be true for us too.

And second, we can allow Jesus to be alive within us and act with and through us.  If we do that, then evil spirits can be cast out of us too. 

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B - January 21, 2018

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Cycle B

January 21, 2018

The Word “Immediately”

In these weeks in our Church calendar, we are beginning what is called Ordinary Time.

These are the ordinary weeks of the year.  Right now, there is no special season, like Advent or Lent.

We just continue the everyday, ordinary journey with the Lord.  And as we begin this, we hear from Saint Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 1, and there is one thing I want to point out about Mark’s Gospel and today’s passage.

In his Gospel, Mark uses the word that we translate as “immediately” or “at once” 43 times. In Chapter 1, Mark uses this word 11 times.

In today’s passage, he says that Peter and Andrew immediately left their fishing nets and followed Jesus. And then James and John immediately left their father Zebedee and followed him.

 

God Acts “Immediately”

Mark’s first point is that God’s action is happening – right now, immediately, at once.

Jesus is fulfilling God’s plan and promise to humanity – right now, immediately, at once. What is the lesson for us?

First, let’s look for how God is doing that for us right now.  Here in the Word of God and in the Sacrament of the Eucharist God comes to us with his saving word and grace – immediately, right now.

God may come today in the wise words of a person with whom we are speaking – words that we may or may not welcome. God may come in the simple smile or joy of a child.

So, let’s be alert to how God comes to do his work with us right now. God is acting immediately.

We Respond “Immediately”

And then, let’s respond immediately, at once, like Peter and Andrew and like James and John.

Let’s not make excuses and not rationalize and delay. Let’s respond today, immediately, at once, to the promptings of God, whether they come to us directly or through others.

Let’s keep in mind that one word: “Immediately.” Mark keeps repeating this throughout his gospel and doesn’t want us to miss it.