Memorial of Saint Marianne Cope, virgin
(Hebrews 7:1=3.15-17; Mark 3:1-6)
Back when there was concern that the AIDS virus might be transmitted through touch, a woman visited an old friend dying of the disease in a hospital. While taking leave, she did not hesitate to embrace him as a sign of her affection. The words of Marianne Cope, whose feast is celebrated for the first time today as a saint, echo with the woman’s action: we are “to make life as pleasant and as comfortable as possible for those of our fellow-creatures who God has chosen to afflict.”
Marianne came to the United States from Germany as an infant. At twenty-four, she entered religious life and promptly showed her ability as a school teacher. She also was instrumental in founding the first Catholic hospitals in mid-state New York. Missionary zeal must have moved Sr. Marianne to help the lepers with whom St. Damien worked in Hawaii before the islands became American territory. She continued her mission with lepers and children there until her death in 1918.
Today’s gospel pictures Jesus as performing the same kind of compassionate service as Marianne Cope. Indeed, he no doubt inspired her ministry. In healing the paralytic Jesus shows that he is not afraid of the consequences of doing a truly good deed. Despite the inevitable criticism for healing on the Sabbath – an act which the puritanical find defiant of the Law – he knows that showing such mercy pleases the Father.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
(Hebrews 6:10-20; Mark 2:23-28)
The famous South Rim of Big Bend National Park used to have sections cordoned off so hikers could not pass. The park curators wanted to create sanctuaries so that eagle hens might successfully hatch their offspring. Unfortunately our society does not insist on the same treatment for its human offspring.
Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s infamous decision to allow abortion on demand. For some inchoate reason the majority decided that a woman’s choice to have or dump her already conceived offspring trumps that baby’s right to life. We can see Jesus in the gospel today as protecting that right against the lesser claim. His defense of his disciples’ picking grain to eat on the Sabbath preserves their right to food against the charge of the Pharisees that absolutely no work should be done on the Sabbath.
The leadership of the Church in the United States has asked all Catholics to pray today for an end to abortion on demand. Of course, such a prayer would be in vain if we do not at the same time nurture an ethic of life. We should refrain from harsh judgment and action. Let us also take care of those in need especially by assisting those women with troubled pregnancies.
(Hebrews 6:10-20; Mark 2:23-28)
The famous South Rim of Big Bend National Park used to have sections cordoned off so hikers could not pass. The park curators wanted to create sanctuaries so that eagle hens might successfully hatch their offspring. Unfortunately our society does not insist on the same treatment for its human offspring.
Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s infamous decision to allow abortion on demand. For some inchoate reason the majority decided that a woman’s choice to have or dump her already conceived offspring trumps that baby’s right to life. We can see Jesus in the gospel today as protecting that right against the lesser claim. His defense of his disciples’ picking grain to eat on the Sabbath preserves their right to food against the charge of the Pharisees that absolutely no work should be done on the Sabbath.
The leadership of the Church in the United States has asked all Catholics to pray today for an end to abortion on demand. Of course, such a prayer would be in vain if we do not at the same time nurture an ethic of life. We should refrain from harsh judgment and action. Let us also take care of those in need especially by assisting those women with troubled pregnancies.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr
(Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 2:18-22)
Writer Frank McCourt tells of a bus driver who was able to relate to an African-American high school student in a way that he never could. McCourt’s class was returning from a cultural activity when the student began talking with the bus driver who was also African-American. She asked the driver about his family. The driver said that he had children and was working hard to send them to school so they wouldn’t have to drive buses for a living. He said that Black people had to work hard in the United States if they were going to get by but in the end that was good because the struggle made them stronger.
Just like the bus driver could relate to the student in McCourt’s story, Jesus is able to relate to us. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus knows human suffering and offers men and women a hand in overcoming the self-pity and resentment it tends to create. In fact, with the graces merited by Jesus’ own suffering, humans can turn those bitter reactions into the virtue of compassion. In other words, they can be made stronger.
Today the United States honors one of its greatest heroes. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke up for struggling minorities who were being deprived of opportunity to show their ability. He preached to the well-off of Christ’s love for the poor and also to the impatient of Christ’s way of nonviolence. He dreamed not so much of a color-blind America but of a country where all people would be respected for the “content of their character.”
(Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 2:18-22)
Writer Frank McCourt tells of a bus driver who was able to relate to an African-American high school student in a way that he never could. McCourt’s class was returning from a cultural activity when the student began talking with the bus driver who was also African-American. She asked the driver about his family. The driver said that he had children and was working hard to send them to school so they wouldn’t have to drive buses for a living. He said that Black people had to work hard in the United States if they were going to get by but in the end that was good because the struggle made them stronger.
Just like the bus driver could relate to the student in McCourt’s story, Jesus is able to relate to us. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus knows human suffering and offers men and women a hand in overcoming the self-pity and resentment it tends to create. In fact, with the graces merited by Jesus’ own suffering, humans can turn those bitter reactions into the virtue of compassion. In other words, they can be made stronger.
Today the United States honors one of its greatest heroes. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke up for struggling minorities who were being deprived of opportunity to show their ability. He preached to the well-off of Christ’s love for the poor and also to the impatient of Christ’s way of nonviolence. He dreamed not so much of a color-blind America but of a country where all people would be respected for the “content of their character.”
Friday, January 18, 2013
Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
(Hebrews 4:1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)
In a discussion of a supreme power that gave rise to the forces producing the universe, the celebrated atheist Richard Dawkins once admitted the possibility of such a being. But he quickly distanced himself from belief in any kind of God who cares about individual humans. In today’s gospel Mark gives glimpses of Jesus who does precisely what Dawkins finds incredible.
In the Old Testament, God is said not to judge by appearances because He knows the human heart. Jesus in today’s passage likewise knows the hearts of the scribes who silently accuse him of blasphemy. More than that, Jesus shows that he indeed can forgive sins, which is also said to be an attribute only of God, when he heals the paralytic after pronouncing his sins pardoned. It may be added that the four men who work to put the paralytic before Jesus show the same faith in Jesus as was reserved for God in the Old Testament.
Lots of things today interfere with faith in Jesus. People look for instant gratification of all their desires. Scientists like Dawkins regularly scoff at the idea of a loving God. The majority in society no longer attends church. We must not let these or any other condition interfere with our trust in the Lord. Staying close to him, our sins will be forgiven and we will enter unhampered into eternal life.
(Hebrews 4:1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)
In a discussion of a supreme power that gave rise to the forces producing the universe, the celebrated atheist Richard Dawkins once admitted the possibility of such a being. But he quickly distanced himself from belief in any kind of God who cares about individual humans. In today’s gospel Mark gives glimpses of Jesus who does precisely what Dawkins finds incredible.
In the Old Testament, God is said not to judge by appearances because He knows the human heart. Jesus in today’s passage likewise knows the hearts of the scribes who silently accuse him of blasphemy. More than that, Jesus shows that he indeed can forgive sins, which is also said to be an attribute only of God, when he heals the paralytic after pronouncing his sins pardoned. It may be added that the four men who work to put the paralytic before Jesus show the same faith in Jesus as was reserved for God in the Old Testament.
Lots of things today interfere with faith in Jesus. People look for instant gratification of all their desires. Scientists like Dawkins regularly scoff at the idea of a loving God. The majority in society no longer attends church. We must not let these or any other condition interfere with our trust in the Lord. Staying close to him, our sins will be forgiven and we will enter unhampered into eternal life.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Memorial of Saint Anthony, abbot
(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)
The life of St. Anthony is as edifying as it is interesting. He was born into a wealthy Christian family in Egypt. Listening to the gospel story of the rich, young man, Anthony decided not to allow himself to lose eternal life. He sold what he had, gave his money to the poor, and went into the desert to follow Christ as a monk. There he found a monastery from which he emerged, at 105 years of age, to defend orthodox Christianity against the Arian heretics.
Anthony’s feast day gives us opportunity to consider Egypt’s Christian minority today. Descendants of a rich Christian tradition that includes Anthony, Athanasius, and a host of other saints, Egyptian Christians are being persecuted as a religious minority. The country’s recent revolution, well supported by Western powers, has not helped their lot. More than ever, their lives and well as their faith totter under Muslim prejudice.
The situation of Christians in Egypt may not differ much from that of the “Hebrews” to whom the first reading is addressed. They likewise have the difficult task of opening their hearts, as the letter asks of the Hebrews, to their neighbors, some of whom revile them. They too have to show Christ’s love for their persecutors which will win them salvation.
(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)
The life of St. Anthony is as edifying as it is interesting. He was born into a wealthy Christian family in Egypt. Listening to the gospel story of the rich, young man, Anthony decided not to allow himself to lose eternal life. He sold what he had, gave his money to the poor, and went into the desert to follow Christ as a monk. There he found a monastery from which he emerged, at 105 years of age, to defend orthodox Christianity against the Arian heretics.
Anthony’s feast day gives us opportunity to consider Egypt’s Christian minority today. Descendants of a rich Christian tradition that includes Anthony, Athanasius, and a host of other saints, Egyptian Christians are being persecuted as a religious minority. The country’s recent revolution, well supported by Western powers, has not helped their lot. More than ever, their lives and well as their faith totter under Muslim prejudice.
The situation of Christians in Egypt may not differ much from that of the “Hebrews” to whom the first reading is addressed. They likewise have the difficult task of opening their hearts, as the letter asks of the Hebrews, to their neighbors, some of whom revile them. They too have to show Christ’s love for their persecutors which will win them salvation.
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