Sunday, February 11, 2024

SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

(Leviticus 13:1-2.44-46; I Corinthians 10:31-11:1: Mark 1:40-45)

The Book of Leviticus is all about holiness. The Israelites feel a particular call from God to be holy. Leviticus can be described as a manual for fulfilling that vocation. Particularly important to being holy is purity. Uncleanness is associated with illness, bad morals, and impiety. Therefore, the Jews in Jesus' time keep themselves from leprosy, the disease that deteriorates the skin.

The poor lepers have to isolate themselves from other people, even though they may have done nothing wrong! This outrage is mandated because the good of the community takes priority over the psychological good of the patient. The pandemic behind us now, we have an idea of how lepers feel. In many cases, being isolated is not just being alone, bored, and frustrated because you cannot fulfill your responsibilities. Isolation often includes feeling pain and fearing that maybe you're never going to recover. In the case of leprosy, confinement is not limited to four days or a week. Rather, it is the prospect that you will spend years separated from your loved ones.

In fact, it wasn't just lepers who suffered from isolation in the Bible. Women also have to separate themselves after giving birth, just as those who work with dead animals do. True, these can be purified with water ablutions, but this is also a nuisance.

In the gospel Jesus shows compassion to the leper. When he presents himself to Jesus and expresses faith in him, Jesus is not afraid to touch him. More than that, he heals him of his disease. Jesus has come to defeat evil in all its forms. He is not going to allow this man to continue suffering either disease or isolation.

Jesus wants to do the same with us. He wants to alleviate our illnesses, whether physical or spiritual, by putting us in contact with himself. Jesus’ body remains on earth in the form of the community of faith, the church.  That is all of us. That is why we have Lent before us now.  It is the great season of communal penance. We are to pray for, make sacrifices for, and help one another.

What disease do we have?  Is it eating compulsively? We now have forty days that invite us to stop taking seconds, sweets, and snacks. Are we inclined to wander when we pray? Here is a time reserved for coming to church during the week to ask God’s mercy in the Stations of the Cross or at mass. Do we feel guilty about always seeking our own good and not helping the needy? Now we have a stretch of seven weeks reserved to care for the less fortunate. With these acts of love we purify ourselves from our sins while we ease the burdens of people in need.

Lent is difficult for us because sin has warped our thinking. Sin makes us think that our vices are not so bad or, at least, they are necessary for us to survive. It is a lie, and now we have forty days to show that with the help of grace we can overcome bad habits. Penance is necessary if we are to fulfill our vocation. As the Israelites in the desert, we are called to be holy, cleansed of sin, and charitable towards others. We are called to be disciples of Jesus who shows compassion to the leper.

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Friday, February 9, 2024

 Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 (I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:31-37)

The film Babel, an Academy Award nominee a number of years ago, showed how the world is interconnected.  A Japanese schoolgirl is deaf and mute like the man brought to Jesus in the gospel today.  She is also desperately lonely.  Her father, who is depressed over the loss of his wife, had been hunting in Morocco where he left his gun with a guide.  The guide sells the gun to a herder who presents it prematurely to his son.  The son is goaded into shooting at a tour bus and seriously injures a Southern Californian woman traveling with her husband.  The couple left their children with their Mexican housekeeper whose reckless nephew takes them across the border, then jeopardizes everyone’s life by trying to evade the Border patrol upon returning.  The story leaves the viewer identifying with all of these characters in the global human quest for love.

In today’s gospel Jesus takes compassion on the deaf-mute whom he heals.  Most people today have a similar trouble in hearing– not so much with their ears but with their hearts.  They cannot hear what God is telling them through the Scriptures.  They also falter in speech by forgetting to thank God for the blessings they have received. 

In a world where convenience and pleasure have overtaken discipline and dedication as human goals, we do well to allow Jesus to open our ears and to coordinate our tongues.  We want to assimilate the Word of God so that we might proclaim it to the world. This message is similar to that of Babel – people need to listen carefully to one another and to respond compassionately.

 

Thursday, Februray 8, 2024

Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30)

When St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that it is better for a man not to marry because he may try to please his wife and not the Lord, he might have had today’s first reading in mind.  Solomon, married to many woman, pandered to his pagan wives by building altars for sacrifice to their deities.  These sins led to his downfall as a king and as an individual.

God demands sole allegiance from His people for their own sake.  Devotion to other gods will inevitably lead one off the way to holiness. The One God has given the world the truth which leads to virtue and sanctity.  Following other gods or arcane ways of worshiping the Christian God will end in distortion of that truth and then to corrupt actions.

We may be tempted to offer worship to a New Age goddess or perhaps to make money or pleasure our own god.  We must be careful not to yield to these desires.  The One God deserves our singular allegiance because He alone will make us eternally happy.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 10:1-10; Mark 7:14-23)

Old Testament dietary laws were instituted in order to keep the nation of Israel holy.  It was always possible that Jews might imitate the evil customs of neighboring peoples.  It was thought, for example, that if Jews ate pork, in time they would practice idolatry and other sins associated with gentiles.  This background makes it difficult to appreciate Jesus’ action in today’s gospel. 

The Gospel of Mark baldly states that Jesus “declared all foods clean.”  Interestingly, the statement does not appear in the parallel section in Matthew’s gospel.  Most probably Jesus never removed Old Testament dietary restrictions.  If he had, Paul and Barnabas would not have had to go to Jerusalem to discuss the issue with the apostles there.  The statement likely comes from the apostles’ preaching to gentiles about the moral requirements of Christians after the decision to relax dietary restrictions was made.

What is critical is that we follow Jesus’ moral teachings as given in the passage.  Lust, greed, and pride are taboo if we are to follow Christ.

 

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Memorial of Saints Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs

(I Kings 8:22-23.27-30; Mark 7:1-13)

You’re eating an apple.  You put it down to answer your telephone, but it falls on the floor.  What do you do?  You’re unsure so you google “food falling on the floor.” There are many entries for this category.  Some say, “throw the food away.”  Others talk about “a five-second rule” (if you pick it up before five seconds, it is edible).  Still others say that it can most probably be safely eaten.

Just as today, there were different opinions in Jesus’ day about eating with unclean hands.  Some (the pharisees in today’s gospel) saw it as ungodly.  Others wondered, “What’s the problem?” Jesus did not really take sides on the question, but he did declare that there far more important things to engage one’s concern.  Justice – giving each person his or her due – for example, is a major responsibility for all.

For sure, there is valid concern for cleanliness, if not in washing hands before meals, at least in keeping waterways clean of contaminants.  There may be laws to obey although in most cases prudence should guide our actions.  Becoming just human beings, we imitate the Lord of justice.