His Word Today: Helping

Good morning everyone,

Today's gospel places us in the village of Bethsaida, on the Sea of Galilee.  When Jesus and his disciples arrived there, people brought a blind man and asked Jesus to touch him (Mk 8:22).  This is one of the moments when we see other people (who are aware of Jesus' ability to heal) coming to the help of their friends.

Like them, we can bring our friends, relatives and people we know to Jesus by remembering them in our prayers, especially when they are sick, or when we know that they are facing difficult moments.  We can also pray for others, giving thanks to God on their behalf when they have encountered moments of celebration and joy - although I wonder how often we take the time to pray in thanksgiving, either for ourselves or on behalf of others.

Inspired by those who brought the blind man to Jesus, let us take some time today to bring to mind all of our friends: the ones who we remember in our prayers, the ones for whom we give thanks to God.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Broken Bread

Good morning everyone,

Today's gospel passage begins by explaining to us that the disciples were in the boat and that they only had one loaf with them in the boat (Mk 8:14).  At this point, the disciples had just experienced the miraculous multiplication of loaves; they had left the place where that miracle had been performed and were on their way across the lake.

Jesus took advantage of this private moment with his disciples to deepen their understanding of the miracle that they had just witnessed.  It is interesting to note that the disciples had one loaf of bread with them on the boat (and that it was presumably whole).

The key to understanding the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes is that these foods had to be broken in order to be shared.  Even today, it is only when we are able to break bread together that we are able to share it; it is only when we are able to recognize our own brokenness that we are able to share ourselves with others.

Jesus invites us to recognize the gifts we have been given, and as a response to God's gifts, to be able to share the fruitfulness of God's wisdom with those we encounter.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Signs

Good morning everyone,

In today's gospel passage, we are reminded of a moment when the Pharisees began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him (Mk 8:11).  Many centuries later, the modern-day disciples of Jesus still seek signs from time to time.

It seems as though the process of looking for signs is a human response to Jesus' invitation to enter into a personal and loving relationship with our God.  In Jesus, God has revealed the depth of his love for us, but it is up to us to respond to God's love, and our response is what is known as faith.

While the human response to God's invitation is to ask for visible and tangible signs, the only response that we can really make is to have faith.  Let us pray for the grace of faith, and let us ask the Lord to help us increase our faith in Him.  With enough faith, there will be no need for visible and tangible signs.

Have a great day.

Filfill the Law

At the beginning of today's gospel passage, Jesus says: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill (Mt 5:17).  David Bivin, an Israeli-American biblical scholar teaches that the phrase to fulfill the Law is often used to mean to properly interpret the Torah (the Law of God) so that people can obey it as God really intends.  In other words, to fulfill to Law is to do as God truly wants us to do.

If we want to discover God's will, and if we want to do what he wants us to do, we need to develop the habit of listening for his voice, and we need to develop the habit of acting on his words.  The entire bible is filled with details about all the things that our God has done since the beginning of time in order to convince us that we are loved, first and foremost by God, but the fact that God loves us does not mean that He is somehow bound to do what we want him to do.  I wonder sometimes if this understanding of love has not been turned upside down in our modern-day society.  For example, it is right that parents should love their children, but love for their children does not mean that parents should always do what children want them to do.

It is truly an act of humility - not humiliation - for us to realize that we are not entitled to God's love yet God chooses to help us, and God's choice is motivated by perfect freedom, offered from a place of pure love.  The Law that God gave us was not meant to limit us, but rather to ensure that we use the gift of God's love which has been freely given to us in a way that is good for us and for others.  As the Book of Sirach counsels: If you trust in God, you ... shall live and ... act faithfully as a matter of your own choice (Sirach 15:15).  In other words, having experienced God's love, we will come to trust Him and we will also learn how to freely share God's love with others, as a matter of choice.

Love cannot be compelled; it must be freely offered and freely accepted.  This means that even if we desire to offer love to another person, that other person must be free at all times to refuse our offer.  It might seem strange to think of God ever saying no to us, but this is the point.  If we truly want to live in a mature and loving relationship with God, we need to respect God's freedom, and we need to realize that God always respects our freedom.  We should always seek to use our freedom in a way that gives glory to God.  If we do, we will strengthen our relationship with God and with others.

Today we have come to pray together.  Here, in this place, we ask the Lord to show us what he truly wants us to do in the coming days, how we can be his faithful disciples.  No one compels us to gather here.  We have freely chosen to come, so that we can seek the wisdom of God, advice which is capable of guiding our steps in the coming days.  As we celebrate the Eucharist, a sacrifice that was made freely on our behalf, let us ask forgiveness for the times we have ignored God's invitation to follow him, and let us embrace the gift of God's law and the true freedom that it leads us to discover.

His Word Today: Saints Cyril and Methodius

Good morning everyone,

The gospel passage today recounts the encounter between Jesus and a deaf mute (Mk 7:31-37).  As he did in other cases, people brought ... a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him (Mk 7:31-33).  It is interesting to note that other people who had heard (or encountered) Jesus' good works were bringing this man to Jesus.  This is one of the signs of the fruitfulness of God's presence in our lives: when we have encountered Him and discovered the power of his love in our own lives, we are driven to share this good news with others ... even to bring them to Him.

Jesus took the man off by himself, away from the crowd.  He put his finger into the man's ears and touched his tongue (Mk 7:33).  In other words, he stopped, recognized the man's need and tended to him.  Perhaps we know what it is like to encounter Jesus in this way.  Perhaps we have had the great privilege of experiencing his gentle yet powerful presence in our own lives.  Perhaps we have even seen the power of Jesus at work, opening the ears of those who had previously been deafened to the sound of His voice and touching the tongues of those who have been muted so that they can regain the power of speech.

Saints Cyril (826-869 AD) and Methodius (815-885) were brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians.  They are most famous for inventing the Cyrillic alphabet which allowed them to translate the scriptures and to evangelize the Slavic people.  Like Jesus who opened the ears of the deaf man, Saint Cyril and Methodius made it possible for the Slavic people to hear the good news of the Gospel proclaimed in a language that they could understand.  Having opened their ears in this way, these two holy brothers also played a big part in freeing their tongues so that they in turn could share the joy of knowing Jesus with others.

Be on the lookout today for the ways in which Jesus invites us to be the agents of change, and pray for the courage to cooperate with such endeavours if you are invited to take part.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Foreign

Good morning everyone,

Today, we encounter the meeting between Jesus and a woman who he would never have met under normal circumstances.  She was a Syrophoenician, not a Galilean; she was a woman, not a man; and Jesus was not in his home territory, where he would have been most comfortable.  Still, the woman bravely came forward to present her plea on behalf of her daughter, and Jesus welcomed her prayer (cf Mk 7:24-26).

What can we learn from this encounter?  Jesus was not afraid to welcome the plea addressed by the woman, and neither is he afraid to listen when we offer our prayers.  The woman must have been brave in order to voice her request, and so we must also be brave, confident in our faith so that we too can voice our requests in prayer, trusting that Jesus will stop, stoop down to us and listen to our prayers.

With the knowledge of God's openness to listen to our prayers, let us bravely approach; let us confidently speak our concerns and let us grow together in our trust that our prayers will be answered.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Defile

Good morning everyone,

When Jesus appeared on the scene, he brought with him a new message which was spoken with freshness.  This message was born and first nourished within the Jewish faith.  Today's gospel passage gives us an example: Nothing that enters ... from outside can defile a person, but rather the things that come out from within are what defile (Mk 7:15).

This teaching was meant to differentiate the new way from the ancient tradition of dietary laws, but Jesus wanted to extend his teaching far beyond the confines of food.  Rather, he challenges us to keep care of our own behaviour and language.  The reason for this is so that we may realize the truth that faith is meant to be lived and that living our faith has its influence on those we meet.

What words come out of my mouth?  What thoughts arise in my heart?  Do these words and thoughts reflect the faith that I am striving to live?

Have a great day.