Friday, January 24, 2025

Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

(Hebrews 8:6-13; Mark3:13-19)

Mark, the evangelist, describes Jesus’ choosing his apostles with discretion and formality.  He summons not everyone who desires the office but those he wants.  He does not ordain them anywhere but on a mountain.  This arrangement indicates the importance of the apostles. They will not only preach the kingdom of God to the nations but also will form the framework of his Church. 

Today the church celebrates a man who was in the line of these apostles.  Francis de Sales was bishop of Geneva during the time of the Protestant Reformation.  Like all bishops, Francis was ordained in a direct line of succession from the apostles.  Again, as all bishops he was given the solemn duty of maintaining the faith of the apostles.  And like all others Francis provided the sacraments which Christ instituted to maintain a physical presence in his Church.

Francis is portrayed in descriptions of the saints as an affable man with a desire to reach out to those who left the Church and to uplift those who remained faithful Catholics.  It is said that his preaching converted many protestants while his book Introduction to the Devout Life deepened the spirituality of many laypersons.

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 7:25-8:6; Mark 3:7-12)

Catholics often pray to Mary as their chief intercessor.  Such a practice is valid, but there is an intercessor even greater than the Mother of God.  That is her son, Jesus.  Although not commonly considered as an intercessor, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews indicates as much when he calls Jesus a “high priest” in heaven.

The role of the priest is to offer sacrifice and to pray for the people.  Hebrews commends Jesus as the greatest priest for two reasons.  First, Jesus is without sin so that there is no need for him to pray for himself.  Second, he is at the right hand of the Father who sends the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer.

Then why not always pray to Jesus?  We might, but often we tire of praying to one person.  Also, some people are oriented so that it is easier to pray to a mother figure than to a brother figure.  In any case, prayer to Mary, the saints, or even asking another living person in the world to pray for us has a positive effect.  God loves us and wants to see us turn to Him in our needs.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

 Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

 (Hebrews 7:25-8:6; Mark 3:7-12)

Once a seminary professor was complaining to his class about the way they were praying.  “Why do you always say ‘just’ when you pray?” he asked.  “Why do you say, ‘We just want to thank you, Lord,” and “We just want to ask you, Lord.”  A student drummed up the courage to respond to the professor.  “Just is a word we used to express awe,” he told him.  “We don’t feel that we are on equal terms with God.  I suppose that when you are a seminary professor with a Ph.D., you can walk up to God and treat him like a pal.”

Perhaps some of us often lack a sense of awe in praying to God as well. God is so much greater than we that we might as well be fruit flies communicating with a whale.  What is remarkable – no, more than that, stupendous – is how much God wants to hear us.  He sent His Son to open communication lines with us.  It is as if for negotiations of the utmost importance, a president looks not to the Secretary of State but his own father, whom he trusts implicitly.

This is what the Letter to the Hebrews tells us today and over and over again.  Jesus Christ is not the ordinary high priest but a unique one.  He is akin to Melchizedek who makes a fleeting appearance in the Book of Genesis.  Jesus is the only one worth praying to because he has complete access to God.  He came from Him and has returned to Him.  Furthermore, Jesus knows our condition intimately.  He has walked in our shoes.  He has traveled our ways.  We must never stop entrusting our lives to him.

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

 

Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr

(Hebrews 6:10-20; Mark 2:23-28)

In today’s gospel we hear Jesus saying, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” Some may think this means that people can do as they please on Sunday.  But they would be mistaken.  Jesus uses the saying to defend his disciples who had to find something to eat on Sunday.  The Pharisees were criticizing them for picking grain when there was no prepared food to eat.

Made for human physical as well as spiritual welfare, Sunday first beckons all to worship God together in church.  Second, as a day of leisure, Sunday provides time to engage in other activities that uplift the soul.  People visit friends, or the poor.  Reading and recreation also comprise fitting Sunday activities.  St. John Paul II suggested observing nature on Sundays.

Too often we think of Sunday as time to catch up with our work.  Such activity is not necessarily forbidden, but it should be avoided as much as possible.  If we are to grow in Christ, we will get better acquainted with him by using Sundays for its acclaimed purposes.  After all, it is the Lord’s Day.

Monday, January, 20, 2025

Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 2:18-22)

The Letter to the Hebrews recognizes Christ as both human and the Son of God.  But it realizes that this does not mean that the human Jesus always had consciousness of being Son of God.  Rather, as today’s reading from the letter shows, Jesus had to learn how to conform his will to God’s.  As for everyone else, it was not an easy lesson.

The passage speaks of Christ’s learning obedience, the conforming of one’s will to another’s, through suffering.  As the first three gospels testify, in the garden Jesus asked God to release him from the Passion he was about to endure.  Nevertheless, he submitted himself to God when he said, ”…not my will but yours be done.”  As might be expected, the result of trusting himself completely to God was his death blossoming into resurrection glory.

Today’s reading from Hebrews makes the point that the merit of Christ’s obedience accrues entirely to those who choose him as their priest.  Being sinless, he did not need redemption.  It is to our advantage, as well as to the addressees’ of this letter, that we continue to follow him.